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

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

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

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! 

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!

Presenting Alex Salmond

On Tuesday the 15th September I presented Alex Salmond with one of my images. During the summer holidays I received a phone call from the lovely Rhonda Fraser to ask if I would have an image available which was taken in and around Inverurie or would I be able to do one. Having been quite busy over the summer holidays with shoots, delivering babies and everything else I hadn't had much time to be creative in taking any kind of self portrait. Anyway, I had this idea of taking an image showing Bennachie in the background in a hay field but that didn't turn out so on driving home I stopped at the woods beside my house where I took a few shots whilst being bitten alive by little beasties!!!

The Tuesday of the presentation was very daunting indeed. I turned up to find all these men in suits, so I grabbed a cuppa tea trying to hide the nerves. Rhonda went over what I had to do and I had this vision of tripping up the steps as I presented him with my framed picture. However, all went well and I met some lovely people. Even the men in suits were quite friendly ;-)

Alex Salmond himself was very polite and seemed genuinely pleased with what I gave him, whether he was pretending or not he did a good job of hiding it.

Anyway, I thought I would get this posted as my Granny has been trying to get on my blog and I think she's been looking out for this post! "Hi Granny"

Some pics taken by a lovely lady I met called Kate Sutherland.

A little something for the weekend

Here's some Cupcakes I made this weekend and I have to say they taste as good as they look, especially the chocolate one! They were soooo easy to make and I've included the recipe.




My Favourite



Vanilla buttercake
90g butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanill extract
1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar
2 eggs
1 cup (150g) self-raising flour
2 tablespoons milk

Butter cream frosting
125g butter, softened
1 1/2 cups (240g) icing sugra
2 tablespoons milk
50g dark eating chocilate, chopped finely
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
pink food colouring

Decorations
Anything you like

1. Preheat oven to moderate (180C or 160C fan-assisted). Line 6-hole large or 12-hole standard muffin tray with paper cases.

2. Beat butter, extract sugar, eggs, flour and milk in small bowl with electric mixer on low speed until ingredients are just combined. Increase speed to medium, beat until mixture is changed to a paler colour.

3. Divide mixture among cases, smooth surface.

4. Bake large cakes about 25 minutes, small cakes about 20 minutes. Turn cakes onto wire rack to cool.

5. Make butter cream frosting.

Butter cream frosting

Beat butter in small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy, beat in sifted icing sugar and milk, in two batches. Divide mixture among two small bowls. Add chopped chocolate to one and sifted cocoa powder. Using colouring to tint one pink.

Tip

I found the icing to be quite thin so added more icing sugar till I was happy with the consistency. Instead of using dark chocolate I used milk chocolate (Galaxy to be exact).

Enjoy........lovely to eat but bad on the waistline ;-)

Products

Some new products now on offer from Amara Ritchie Photography. There are many other options available and with Christmas not too far away (eek)....... Calendars are the perfect stocking filler for Grandparents and family. I'm currently offering the Long Wall Calendar but please ask for more details.



A gorgeous and contemporary and stylish way to show off your images.
Overall size of around 24x24 inches with 9 equally spaced 6x6 apertures.
Your images are carefully placed behind highly polished 15mm thick acrylic blocks and then fixed into each aperture in your chosen order. The product is finished with a high gloss lacquer in three popular colours - red, black and off-white.



Why not send out your images on a Christmas card.....



Alternative framing.....

Beautifully presented in a material lined black display box. Mounting the print to the back of the 30mm block gives a prism effect, allowing you to view the image in different ways from many angles.



Or why not treat yourself to a stylish 12"x12" custom designed Coffee Table Book to show off to all your friends.



Amara Ritchie offers many products with a variety of framing choices, please ask for more details.

I WANT your ideas, I WANT you to tell me what you WANT so that we can work together to create something that you will love.

Cute Bundles

I know I said I would blog more but it would help if I could remember my password to get in. It normally takes me about half an hour or I figure it out!

Anyway, on Sunday I had the pleasure of photographing this gorgeous little girl called Murron. Her name is from the film Braveheart and she sooooo suits it. She had the cutest, little face and was an absolute joy to photograph. It was rather tricky in getting her to sleep with a few piddly accidents on the way but who cares when you get shots as gorgeous as she was. So mum, dad and I sat and waited and chatted and had numerous cups of tea until little Murron fell asleep.

Things have been pretty hectic with me these past few weeks but I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.