Yummy Cupcakes

Yesterday I had a mini shoot session at Hoodles Playbarn, photographing the gorgeous cupcakes that they sell and I have to say they taste as good as they look and are made by a lovely lady called Marion who takes great pride in making these ;-).  This coming Monday she will have a giant cupcake made for me for a shoot that I have with a little boy who will no doubt take great delight in destroying it.  In the meantime, I'm hoping to catch some fab expressions.  


For now I will leave you with some pics and strongly advise you treat yourself to one of these gorgeous cupcakes.

I'm on a CD

Can't believe what arrived in the post today!!  My very own copy of a CD featuring my images from a Band called Dunno from Spain.  Roger contacted me early last year and I finally received my copy today. Thought I would share it on here.


You can check out there stuff here http://www.rogergascon.com/

FAB FREE PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION

We have a fab compeition running throughout the month of April for anyone who would like some updated family or kiddie photos.  Amara Ritchie Photography is offering 5 lucky readers a free sitting of up to a max of 4 people.  One lucky winner out of the 5 selected free sittings will win a free 20”x16” Photo Finish Fine Art Wrap worth £175.00 of an image of your choice! Yep that’s right – you choose the image and we frame it and it’s yours to keep with no obligation or pressure to buy anything else!  The four runners up will all receive one free 10"x8" print of your choice if you blog/facebook or twitter about Amara Ritchie Photography or forward on an email to friends/family raving about Amara Ritchie Photography!!

How to enter:

Go to www.amararitchie.com and head over to the blog.

Leave a comment/link showing me you have blogged/tweeted/facebooked about Amara Ritchie Photography.

Send and email and attach a favourite/creative image to joanne@amararitchie.com  and why you would like to win this fab offer or just give your photo a cool and eye catching title.  Make sure you put April Competition in the Email Subject.

Three judges will shortlist the final 5 who will receive a free sitting.  One image from each of the sittings will be posted online for your friends and family to vote to win the overall prize.

So come on – show me how creative you all are and good luck!

Winner will be announced no later than Friday 7th May 2010.

FREEBIE - Newborn Template

I have my creative head on at the moment and came up with this design today for a New Baby Template.  Feel free to download and use as you like.  


They are sized 5"x7" with a front and back but use as you wish.  
Click here for download http://www.mediafire.com/myfiles.php

My all new Marketing Kit

I've been meaning for a while to get myself sorted out with a Marketing Kit and I have finally got round to editing it the way I like it.  In fact I love it so much I can't wait to get it printed and I'm hoping to design some more so if anyone fancies a kit designed let me know!  I also have some templates that will be available to buy.  They are perfect for book templates or flat cards and are easily customised to suit your own needs.  These are the perfect packages to get you on your way.  I also wanted to tell you about Studio Cloud http://studiocloud.com/ I came across it while surfing the net and landing from one site to the next as you do and it's the perfect FREE program to help keep you organised with you clients, I have already started using it and it's fab.


Let me know what you think xx

Mental Mother

This was taken a good few weeks ago by my good friend and photographer Paul Mackie, who I've known for years but didn't know he was into photography until recently.  Anyway I photographed his wedding to Sarah at the gorgeous location Loch Muick back in August and I've been meaning to go on a photography expedition with Paul for ages now.  After chatting to Paul I told him I had not been feeling very creative and that I had had some ideas and would he like to come out.  I have NEVER, ever let another photographer photograph me when it comes to my self portraits, as I generally feel like a right idiot!  When I'm posing I'm glad that no one can actually see the ridiculous poses that I pull in order to get a picture that I'm satisfied with, so it was a little daunting to have Paul take my picture.  Of course I had my gorgeous daughter Amara at hand should the shoot fail as you can be guaranteed to get a good photo when she is around!  Why can't we all be that photogenic?


This was taken on a very very cold afternoon at the bottom of my road with the odd passing car, however it was rather embarassing when my postman stopped at the house where we were taking the pictures to deliver mail.  I was absolutely mortified and tried to slide down the chair so that he couldn't see me.  I guess I need to be a little braver and not worry about having to explain myself and just let them think I'm truly mental.  Hence the title of this image.......

Amara gets her ears pierced!

She went on and on and on and on about getting her ears pierced and I eventually gave in no thanks to my neighbours daughter Megan who informed Amara that it was better to get your ears pierced when your younger as it doesn't hurt so much lol! This is what happens when you let your little girl go for a sleepover with a slightly older lovely little girl ;-). I believe they had great fun, playing with makeup and probably dancing to Hannah Montana at full volume. she came back the next day 5 going on 15!!!!

Dad had told her that she had to be 10 but I gave in so on Friday after Nursery we headed down to Sinclairs in Inverurie for her to get them done. I asked if she was nervous in which she replied "don't be silly". I think I was the nervous one to be honest which resulted in a phonecall to my mum asking her to come with me ha ha!!!

Anyway, thought I would share this picture of her in her proudest moment of having her ears pierced and not even crying.

Happy Birthday Amara

Yes I'm a little lazy and slack at wishing my gorgeous daughter a Happy Birthday.  She turned 5 on the 30th January and unfortunately we had to cancer her birthday party due to the horrendous snow we have had.  Poor Amara! Not once did she complain though unlike her brother who would have had a huge breakdown had his party not gone ahead.  Instead it was spent at home with some friends and my little sister Kelly, MJ and baby Cody (who is growing sooooo fast).

I would have posted a rambling blog sooner but I always forget what my password is and give up after a while.  I did start to store my passwords on one of those account password thingys but yet again I forgot the password for the password website.  You know what I mean right?

Anyway, hope the start of the year is going well for all of you, mine is off to a slow start but I'm getting there.

My gorgeous birthday girl x

Here's to a New Year "Happy 2010"

I've actually been thinking about my new years resolutions the whole month of December and as much as I would love to say that I will stick to them I normally don't. However, I am going to try my best this year ha ha!!

So here is my list.......

Eat Healthy (will only last a couple of weeks probably)

Loose Weight (it will all be back on by the end of the year)

Start running (that's if I don't kill myself after the first run)

Make more time for myself

Get a six pack (highly unlikely)

Learn to knit and sew (again unlikely with my patience)

Read more books

Learn something new in photography

Spend more time doing stuff I like

Hardly exciting but I am very much looking forward to a New Year and I wish you all the best for yours!

I thought I would add a "awwww pic" just to put a smile on your face x

Merry Xmas

Gosh I can’t believe it’s that time of year again! 

I’ve neglected the blog once again but it’s all been down to being extremely busy all thanks to you guys who so kindly booked me for your wedding, portrait shoots etc. This year so far has been a good one for me in photography terms and I hope it continues and hope to offer new and old customers something new for next year!

The past couple of days have been lovely, spent at home, snowed in and cleaning cupboards.  I feel like we have loads of room now in our house ;-).  Four big black bags later as I de-junked the kids bedrooms I can safely say we are ready for Santa arriving.

So I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and hope you get everything you wish for. xxxx

P.s I got a nice surprise Christmas card in the post today from Alex Salmond!!

Off our heads

When I first started college I wanted to make sure I could use the best models so I searched on Facebook and came across Erin, going through her pics I asked if she would like to model for me on some of my projects. I think Erin modelled for me once and she became more than a friend over the past couple of years than anything else. So anytime we meet up or arrange a night out we always talk about doing a pic together but very rarely get round to taking one.

However, Erin and I had a night out on Fri in which we got "off our heads" (I wasn't that bad in all honesty), just felt real crap with colds, bugs and ill children the next day. Anyhow, after our wild night we went for lunch and ran over some ideas and this is what we came up with.   In all the time I have known Erin she has been one of the most kindest and caring friends I have ever come across and I will really miss her when she moves to London in January ;-(

Air Head

FINALLY today I had the chance to take a self portrait. Actually I think it was 30 mins in total before the school called to say that my little lad wasn't well and could I come pick him up, therefore the shoot was cut short.

On editing my darling little daughter asked what I did with my head and asked if I actually took it off and was really concerned for my brain because it wouldn't be able to breath if it wasn't on my body! lol

Lately I seem to have been a total air head, forgetting things, appointments, you name it I forget it! This idea has been in my noggin for a moment or two, although there is another one that I haven't been able to get out of my head for about 6 months or longer so I must give it a go, however I'm a little scared it doesn't turn out as I envision it.

Yesterday I was sent an email to ask if one of the photography students could come and photograph me for her photojournalism project which would involve documenting my life and my business, feels a little odd to not be in control of a camera and I'm absolutely terrified at the thought.

Anyway, I wish my forehead was as smooth as this balloon ha ha but then again there is always botox right? Bring on the needles I say!!!!!

My Graduation

Yay, I finally graduated on Monday after studying for two years in Photography and Digital Imaging.  Part of me is soooo sad it's all over and part of me still wishes I was learning.  However, it's nice to be at home and not up till all hours of the morning putting my workbook together.

I'll never forget my first day of college .......... I was absolutely terrified and after having been handed what seemed like a million briefs I came home, sat at the kitchen table and cried and cried and cried.  I said to Graeme (my husband) "I can't do this, I don't understand the briefs blah blah blah".   After him having no luck what so ever in calming me down I called Tim (my neighbour) who is a Uni lecturer.  Well to this day I can't thank Tim enough for coming up and explaining what seemed like a complicated brief was actually quite a simple brief.

So here I am after two years and probably a couple of years before that (studying or mucking about with a camera on my own) later and now almost finished in setting up my business, the only thing left to complete is my studio conversion which is in the middle of happening and I can't wait!

I made some great friends, one in particular but I know that I will NEVER regret going back to study.  I also can't thank my family and friends enough for all the help over the two years and I'm sorry for being unsociable and ignoring you all ;-)

Anyway this post is just to show off my graduation picture and to show you all how proud I am of myself hee hee and to say it's never too late to go back to school.

My family

Karen and I (my best friend at college)



















Me

The Girls

How sheep eat!

Yeah I know the title is a little silly but that's kinda where the inspiration for this image came from.  I've been dying to take some new self portraits for a while but just been too busy with other shoots to indulge.  Soooooo, today after my morning shoot with some gorgeous little people I managed to indulge before picking Ritchie up from the school bus.

Now.... Granny if your reading this I really didn't wonder about the countryside naked but I can't tell you on here so if your interested I'll tell you all about it the next time I see you ;-).

I'm very much looking forward to producing some new selfies for a change, it helps to keep my mind insane ;-)

Theeeeeee funniest shoot ever!

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of photographing a gorgeous little girl called Marlie.  Her Uncle Lee wanted to give her and her parents something different for her first birthday in November so the idea of a photobook sounded good.  The only thing was getting Marlie to me without Marlie's Mum and Dad knowing, which wasn't so bad as Granny has her on certain days so it was arranged that Granny would come over and we would take some pics.  I don't think I laughed so much in all my life at the cute little faces she pulled as I snapped away.

Anyway I've been dying to upload and share some of these with everyone and now I can as Mum and Dad received the photobook today.  My daughter and I have bumped into Michelle (Marlie's Mum) a few times and it's been difficult to not be overly chatty to little Marlie at times.  I almost died when Amara and I met Mum and Marlie in Tesco and Amara is shouting "Hi Marlie cooochie cooochie coooooo" lol.

These last few weeks have been busy with shoot after shoot, I suppose it's because we are nearing Christmas....... OMG only 8 weeks to go or something like that eek!   Hope everyone has had a Happy Halloween xx

Little Munchkin

Well this has been another busy week.  I was away with hubby and my darling children for a few days in Aviemore which was lovely, but it's now back to madness and trying to get organised for school next week. My house is in total chaos as we are or should I say hubby is laying new flooring in the kitchen, I had no idea how much dust there would be let alone how far it would travel.  So at the moment it means the studio conversion is on hold for a day or two till hubby completes the kitchen complete with the odd four letter rant at times!

Today I photographed another little girl called Murron, this time she was only 4 weeks old and boy was she a little munchkin.  She did not want to sleep but she did want to eat ;-) hee hee.  Anyway she was a little star and I got some great shots of her in the end! 

What to expect

Thought it was time for an update on what my plans are for now and the future and a little insight into what to expect on one of my shoots.

I never seem to have the time anymore to enjoy or take self portraits which is how I started out in photography.  Starting my business seems to have taken over a lot of things as well as trying to raise two children or should I say three including hubby!  I can’t complain of course as things are going well and I’m enjoying every shoot that I take on. Having the chance to do a self portrait allows me to get all those mad little ideas that go on in my head out in the open.  I hope to be able to incorporate these ideas into other shoots that I take on leaving the customer feeling that they have some images that no other person, couple, family have.

The kind of customers I’m aiming to attract and have done so far are those that want that little something different and are willing to work with me on creating the images you have in YOUR head as well as me throwing in my little bit of creativity …..after all the images are for YOUR wall not mine! But don’t worry if you haven’t a clue we can sit down and come up with some ideas together.   This is just all part of the extra service that I provide.  Chances are your sitting fee goes towards a prop that I will use for the shoot anyway.  So you tell me “what other photographer offers styling, locations at the drop of a hat with a vivid imagination”?  Hubby argues that I’ll never make money if I continue to buy as much props as I have been but I’ll do anything for that special shot!  I remember feeling quite anxious when I took my kids to get their photos taken (this was before I became a photographer) I felt silly asking for poses etc and that I should just shut up and let “them” do their jobs.  I never want for my clients to feel like that and what I hope to offer is a relaxed atmosphere with a few cups of tea thrown in for good measure!  There are also many products/framing options available for everyone’s budget.

So what are the plans for the future?

Well I’m in the middle of converting our garage into a studio and very much looking forward to having a wee opening night.  I’ve also been asked quite a lot for Boudoir photography.  Many women of all ages are really wanting to try this and why the hell not?  So whether you’re a mum of five or a bride to be or a hen party or just an average girl wanting some seriously wowzer images then watch this space as that’s coming soon also!

That’s about all I can tell you for now I will continue to strive for originality in every way possible and always stay one step ahead of the game and please, please feel free to ask me anything about anything. x

Vintage Wedding Ideas

I love shopping about looking for things online especially vintage style things and this website www.etsy.com is one of my favourites especially for something a little quirky or if you want to be a little different. It's the perfect place for Brides to look to find anything and everything to add that extra special touch to their wedding day. There is everything from hand made invitations to head pieces to designer dresses and gorgeous shoes and flowers. It's THE absolute heaven of a places to visit. Go check it out for yourself.

Click on Vintage Wedding Ideas ^ to take you to shopping heaven!

A quick glance

Little People

This past week has been quite busy with the little people. I've had great fun on the past few shoots. I have to admit that it's getting colder at this time of year but little Leyton who loves windmills and my pink lady apples was soooooo cute but absolutely frozen. My other shoot was with Joss, his mum and dad were great sports also and mum Louise was like a personal stylist to Joss...... so cute!

Little Leyton



he loved the windmills


I love his little expression on this one


Little Joss and super Dad








These are just a few of my fave's from both shoots.

Now it's time for a cuppa and a biscuit.

A wedding with a difference

On Sunday I had the pleasure of photographing Nancy & Ryan's wedding day which was held at Pittodrie House Hotel. YES ....... it was a wedding with a difference to say the least! I have included some insanely funny photos and it was surprisingly easy to get the guests to dress up especially with the help of Josh, Nancy's son as he was dragging everyone in and dressing them as well as trying to sneak in every shot wearing multiple moustaches and feather boas as hair!!!!

Nancy and Ryan let me drag them all over Pittodrie to take lots and lots of lovely snaps that I hope they'll be happy with.

Here's a few of the willing participants....

Click on pic to view large!


The lovely couple







So if your looking for a little something different for your wedding that is a little insane you've come to the right place!