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Hi! I'm Amanda, a 24 year old wedding and portrait photographer from Northern California, now living in Boise, Idaho. I've been documenting the loveliest of folks for 9 full years, meaning that my cameras and I have been hand-in-hand since 15. However, art in general has been with me since long before that - nearly all of my memories revolve around creating. Whether it was used as a tool for remembering, making a mess of my backyard with ground-up chalk, or filling in my fingerprints with the smudges of charcoal and the like, art has been the thread woven throughout my entire life.
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I heavily gravitated toward studio and performance arts as a kid. I loved the idea of being a part of something that had a profound message, felt bigger than myself, and allowed me to express what was on my mind boldly and unapologetically. To me, art was easy, because it tapped into those big feelings I had and at times made me feel like they were actually an incentive. It was one of the first places I felt genuinely connected to the things that made life feel full. As my love for art evolved, I became enamored by real people and the world around me, studying how the two overlapped and intertwined. My adoration for the arts and interest in the human experience became the very catalysts that led me to pick up a camera years later.
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What years of exploring this craft have taught me is that art is anything but predictable. It’s a wild concoction of the messy, raw, electric, sometimes ridiculous, and always, always rooted in something real, no matter how abstract it may seem. This is exactly why I’m so drawn to capturing it all, making sure these moments and all their essence move forward with you. I can't stress it enough; my heart is filled with gratitude every. single. day. for the chance to witness the most fulfilling parts of this life up close, and then to help immortalize them for the most interesting and incredible of people.
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Amanda Ruth Photos isn’t a just my career; it truly is who I am, on paper and in pixels. It's my belief in God and awe of Creation, my infatuation with storytelling and world-building and aesthetics, my goal to keep a sense of wonder and humor alive all throughout my entire life and hopefully share that with others, meaning all others.​ With that, this work is for everyone. People of all cultures, backgrounds, ethnicities, and my LGBTQIA+ friends alike. My ultimate goal is that everyone I get to create with feels deeply treasured and cared for.
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The takeaway is: I hope to experience a curious, enriched, all-in type of life. I want to wear bright cherry red because it's my favorite color, I want to use a vernacular garnished with words that I made up and swap polish for polish remover. And I want that all for you, too. Ultimately, when I think of the art I am so blessed to create with other humans, I'd like for it to feel true yet fantastical, allowing room for your silly and campy and lighthearted just as much as your emotional and heavy and unfiltered. This work isn't prescriptive, it's responsive. Whatever feels like you, and all of the realistic bits of pieces of you - that's what I'm most inspired by.
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AT THE CORE OF IT ALL IS A DEVOTION TO NOTICING.
When it comes to choosing your photographer, I really believe everything runs on two gears: connection and trust. You want someone you can genuinely vibe with, someone who values documenting their own story, and someone who trusts their intuition enough to serve you with confidence.
For me, documenting the everyday moments of my own life i.e. a cocoa-powdered mocha with lipstick on the cup, my folks in amber light around the Thanksgiving dinner table, the things people may usually let pass, have completely transformed how I see my earth experience. With that, it has transformed how I see your day. It means I’m not showing up as a content farmer aiming to dominate your timeline with strait-laced portraiture. I’m arriving as an observer with quiet poise, someone who understands the weight of the real moments and chooses to photograph your event as it genuinely exists, with the people you love, in the rhythm that feels true to you.
And while I lean deeply into intuition, I’m also a huge people-person. I know when to step forward and guide the room with both ease and self-assurance, and when to step back and let the energy breathe. Nearly a decade of shooting all kinds of timelines, lighting situations, weather patterns, and wedding dynamics has made me grounded, adaptable, and steady. I’m fully certain in making your photos look sincere and artful, so that you may be certain all through the process, too!
I have been pursuing photography with a full-attention approach for all nine years. It is the only job I have ever had and the Bachelor's degree I earned in 2023 - because, tying it back to the ideology above, you deserve someone with the drive, the passion, and the unbroken attention to make your photography experience the absolute most refined it can be. In an industry packed with truly talented photographers (and the occasional distant family friend with a camera that hasn't seen daylight in 30 years, IYKYK), experience matters. Commitment matters. Once the candles have been blown out, the cake has been eaten, and the last song has been played, these memories will keep living onwards in tangible form for generations, so they deserve nothing less than the utmost attention and intention!
