Ratchford Studio

There are some people who just make a photo session easy.

Angela Ford is one of those people.

This was a really nice session with Angela and her son Carter, and also we had somebody extra special with us. Angela’s mother, Martha, who now lives in Alberta, was home and joined us for a few portraits as well.

Three generations.

And when you see them together, you don't have to look very hard to see where the genes came from. Martha is a gorgeous lady, Angela looks like her, and Carter certainly carries some of it along too.

The apples don't fall very far from the tree in this family. 😊

Now, the first thing you notice when you meet Carter is his energy.

He is one of those young fellows who is instantly smiling, and before long, so are you.

He also has one of those charming smiles that I think might get him pretty far in life.

So naturally, I had to ask him:

"Have you ever gotten out of a speeding ticket with that smile?"

His answer?

"Not yet." 😂

Which might be a good thing, considering his dad is a police officer.

And that brought us into something I really enjoyed hearing about.

Carter genuinely admires his dad. In fact, he told me his father is one of his role models.

But there's more than just a father-son relationship there. You can tell they're friends.

We got talking about that Instagram account where the young fellow is constantly finding good-natured ways to annoy his father, and Carter laughed because apparently he and his dad have a little bit of that relationship too.

So I asked him how he decided that he wanted to become a police officer himself.

His answer was pretty simple.

He watched his dad.

He knew college wasn't really for him. He didn't want to do a trade. He said he did OK in school, but also admitted he probably didn't work as hard at it as he could have.

And that's OK.

School isn't everybody's thing. We're certainly not all meant to follow the same road.

But what impressed me about Carter is that he seems to know himself pretty well.

You see that in his hockey story too.

Carter has always been a smaller guy. He's around 140 pounds now and really only had his growth spurt this year.

So growing up playing hockey, he was often competing against bigger kids.

He had to figure out another way.

He told me he learned to play smarter.

I loved that.

He wanted to play hockey because he loved the game, and if he couldn't compete with size, he was going to figure out how to compete another way.

And he did.

He made the high school team, which wasn't easy. They won Cape Breton and finished fourth in the province.

His grandmother Martha said something about him that stuck with me.

She said she always admired his heart.

I think maybe another word for it is tenacity.

He just kept going.

His mother says he's also the social guy on the team. Apparently she and his father can be sitting in the parking lot for quite a while because Carter will inevitably be the last one out.

But one of my favourite parts of our conversation was hearing him talk about his mother.

He laughed and told me he admires the fact that his mother knows how to put him in his place when he's being — and I'll use Carter's terminology here — "a sh****ad." 😂

He admitted she's right most of the time.

Actually, he said something I don't hear from young people every day:

"She knows better than me. Both my parents do."

Hmmmm.

I don't get THAT answer very often. 😂

But it told me quite a bit about him.

There's a self-awareness there, but there's also a very obvious respect for his parents.

And then came the scavenger hunt.

Apparently this was VERY important because Carter made sure I knew — I believe three times — that THEY WON. 😂

You wouldn't know it from the finished photographs because we did a little repair work, but Carter's eyebrows looked like somebody had taken a lawnmower to them.

There was a reason.

During the scavenger hunt, he had three choices.

He could have his eyebrows hacked up.

OR...

Call one of his parents and tell them he'd gotten someone pregnant, before eventually admitting it wasn't true.

OR...

Call his parents and tell them he'd been pulled over for stunting and was going to lose his licence.

Carter apparently didn't need much time to weigh the options.

Goodbye, eyebrows. 😂😂😂

He had absolutely NO interest in listening to his police-officer father lose his mind over the stunting story...

And apparently telling his mother she was about to become a grandmother wasn't terribly appealing either.

So the eyebrows took one for the team.

And remember...

THEY WON. 😂

The more I thought about that story, though, the more it seemed to fit everything else I learned about Carter that day.

He's funny. He's social. He likes to have a good time.

But underneath all of that, there seems to be a young man with a pretty good sense of who he is, a lot of heart, and a genuine respect and love for his family.

And I think that's a pretty darn good foundation for wherever life takes him next.

Angela, Martha and Carter — thanks for another really enjoyable day.

And Carter...

The eyebrows grew back.

The pictures are safe.

And yes...

I promise everybody now knows you won the scavenger hunt. 😂

Is it possible to be too happy? Is it possible to be TOO cute? 😂❤️

What would you think if your baby was so happy that the doctors actually wondered if something was wrong?

I'm not kidding.

Little Billie was only 10 days old when she went in for a checkup, and suddenly the tone in the room changed.

Medical professionals were concerned because...

she was smiling too much.

Imagine that! 😂

She was smiling so often that there was actually concern she could be having seizures. There was talk of head scans, and she ended up having an EEG done.

Now imagine being her mom and dad, Abby and Kyle, sitting there listening to all of this with your 10-day-old baby.

I think I'd have aged about 15 years in 15 minutes.

Thankfully, it turns out there was a much simpler diagnosis:

Billie is apparently just ridiculously happy. 😂❤️

And after photographing her, I believe it!

She wasn't even three months old when we did this session, and I honestly don't know if I've ever photographed a baby that young who smiled SO MUCH.

But maybe I shouldn't be surprised.

More than 20 years ago, I photographed her mom, Abby, when she was a little girl, and I remember thinking she was one of the cutest kids I had ever seen.

Well...apparently the cute gene survived another generation. ❤️

The apple didn't fall far from the tree.

And now little Billie is officially one of our newest Cutest Little Caper entries!

Our Cutest Little Caper is back for 2026/early 2027, and we'd LOVE to photograph your little one too.

This promotion has always been about more than cute photographs. It's also a fundraiser for our hospital foundation, and over the years we've climbed past $35,000 raised.

Now we've got our eyes on the next big number:

🎯 $40,000!

Wouldn't it be wonderful to hit it this year?

It's a great cause, it's a ton of fun, and let's face it...

Show me a kid who isn't cute. I don't think they exist. 😂

Want your little one to be part of our next Cutest Little Caper?

📩 Message us right here on Facebook
☎️ Call Ratchford Photographic Studio at 902-794-8880

And Billie...

please keep smiling. Apparently you've already had it medically confirmed that you're allowed. 😂❤️

WE ARE CLOSED UNTIL 2:30 TODAY

I can’t imagine what it would be like to discover you’re pregnant at 18 years old.

At that age, you’re still trying to finish high school, figure out who you are, make plans for your future and do all the things young people normally do at that point in their lives.

And suddenly, everything changes.

Jennifer told me she was terrified when she found out she was pregnant with Hayden. She laughed and said she was scared of babies and scared to have one.

I think that’s probably pretty understandable at 18.

Actually, it’s probably understandable at 28, too.

Jennifer will also be the first to tell you that she and Hayden have been through their share of ups and downs over the years.

But through all of it, something pretty wonderful happened.

Today, Jennifer looks at her daughter as her best friend.

And after spending some time with Hayden, I can understand why she is so proud of her.

Hayden is artistic. She’s comfortable being different. She has her own look, her own personality and doesn’t seem terribly interested in fitting herself neatly into somebody else’s box.

I liked her right away.

She even has one set of eyelashes that is blonde and the other dark. It’s such a distinctive little feature and somehow seems absolutely perfect for someone with an artistic soul like Hayden.

But what stood out to me even more was her personality.

She is kind, considerate and compassionate.

I also loved seeing how much she enjoyed having her grandparents there for the photo shoot. You could tell immediately how much Hayden is loved by them.

And I think having her dad there meant every bit as much to Jennifer.

Every time we talked about it, Jennifer would tear up.

Actually, tears became a bit of a recurring theme when we sat down afterward to look at the photographs, too. 😂❤️

Hayden’s stepmother came to the reveal as well, and I loved seeing the relationship there. There was no sense of “step” anything. You could tell she simply looks at Hayden as family.

I haven’t had the chance to meet Hayden’s dad yet, but hopefully someday I will.

Jennifer told me that Hayden is the greatest gift she has ever received.

But I don’t think she really needed to tell me.

I could see it.

The smiles you see on Jennifer’s face in these photographs are completely real.

I honestly don’t know if I’ve ever photographed a mother who was more visibly excited or more incredibly proud of her daughter. I’ll remember standing there in the studio that night and watching Jennifer smile from ear to ear while we photographed Hayden.

There was something very special about seeing a mother who once found herself at 18 years old, terrified at the thought of having a baby, standing there all these years later absolutely bursting with pride over the young woman that baby became.

Funny how life can write a story you never could have imagined at the beginning.

And Hayden, I hope this isn’t the last time I get you in front of my camera.

I would LOVE to see you become part of Ratchford Next Top Model someday.

We love celebrating young people here, but I have a particular soft spot for the ones who are willing to be a little different, take some chances, express themselves and not worry too much about looking like everybody else.

I think you’d fit right in.

And Jennifer, all those tears at the reveal?

That’s allowed.

Isn’t that what a proud mama does? ❤️

Only today and tomorrow left for the best sale of the year for RNTM and RNTT!! $200 OFF!!

Ratchford Next Top Model (RNTM) is much more than a modeling competition.

It’s confidence-building

It's personal growth

It's also photography experience created by our studio that celebrates young people from across Cape Breton and beyond.

Over the years it has grown into one of the signature brands of Ratchford Photographic Studio.

* 📸 Professional fashion and editorial-style photo shoots in stunning locations.

* ✨ Hair and makeup by talented artists like Wren Fraser.

* 👗 Creative styling, dramatic gowns, and unique concepts that look like magazine editorials.

* 🌍 Incredible prize trips and destination shoots. Past winners have photographed in places like Las Vegas, Valley of Fire, Nelson Ghost Town, and Red Rock Canyon, Arizona and even a castle in Italy!

* 💪 A journey that helps participants discover confidence, poise, and who they are, not just how they look.

* 🤝 Lifelong friendships with other participants and families.

* 🎉 A glamorous gala where everyone is celebrated.

One thing that has always stood out about our program is that it isn’t about finding the “prettiest” person.

When we talk about our participants, we almost never focus on appearance alone.

Instead we tell stories about their kindness, perseverance, faith, family, dreams, sense of humour, or the obstacles they’ve overcome.

The photographs become the visual chapter of a much bigger story.

If we had to boil RNTM down to one sentence, it would be:

Ratchford Next Top Model is a life experience disguised as a modeling competition.

The runway and the gowns catch people’s attention, but the confidence, friendships, memories, and personal transformation are what people remember long after the lights go out. ✨

Don't miss out on this opportunity! Reserve your spot today before this amazing deal is gone!!