From portrait and fine art photography to conceptual and editorial shots, Amanda Powell’s photography is filled with passion and skill that Flickr members have been enjoying for years.
Amanda is based in Washington State and while her Flickr photostream highlights many of those stunning Pacific Northwest landscapes, her artistry is also captured in thoughtful self-portraits and delicately edited photographic art. Amanda shoots natural light, school portraits for area schools and headshots for local businesses. During the slower seasons, she enjoys working on different art projects as well as engaging in online educational photography communities.
Amanda’s interest in photography began in high school, experimenting with a Minolta camera that belonged to her grandparents. She remembers the teacher from her first high school film class, sparking her interest in photography through a myriad of challenging projects and valuable critiques. This sparked a love of the craft that continues to draw her inward, in search of shots that tell a story.
When asked to describe her style, Amanda says, “Minimal, focused, contrasty, dramatic, with a sprinkle of magic. I like to infuse ambiguous feelings into my work. Hopefully, someone sees or feels something relatable. Art can slow us down, make us think in the best way. Given how quickly information comes and goes now, my goal is a style that encourages introspection.”
Along with many other photographers during the early days of the pandemic, Amanda spent time during the lockdown with limited location options but, in turn, this helped her to be resourceful using the spaces, gear and locations she did have access to. Today, she still draws on those resources, but also focuses on the human stories that come along with those locations.
Her current gear of choice consists of: Canon Mark II 6D, Sigma Art 85mm, Sigma Art 35mm, Canon 50mm, and on the rare occasion, a Canon Speedlite.
Amanda is a member of our pilot Flickr Print Sellers program, which you can read more about here. We asked her to share one of the photos she loves most from her Print Shop submissions and to give a little backstory about the image.
Amanda says, “My current favorite print available is called “A Gift & Curse.” It was inspired by a Janelle Monáe song I’d just listened to, alongside a painting I saw, and, thoughts I’d been having. It’s a very old idea at this point, but these thoughts inspired this visual illustration: we think of ourselves as separate from nature, however, we’re a part of the global ecosystem, not set aside from it. We exist in all of this, we do have an effect. The sort of impact we have is up to us.”
She also shared her process in capturing this photo, saying, “This image was shot with ambient light from the window in my office, against a black backdrop. I wore a black button down, intending to hide the rest of my arm in the shadows. I use the Canon app on my phone as a remote and for live viewing to make adjustments. Then I gave it a simple, but moody edit via Lightroom.”
Along with photography, Amanda enjoys all other forms of art from music, paintings and poetry to movies and books. She loves spending time with her children and partner, drinking coffee and keeping her plants alive.
Amanda has been a Flickr member since 2008 and while she took a hiatus when starting her family, she became active again in 2018. Like many photographers, she finds value in the support and comradery of the Flickr community. She’s been met with kindness and enthusiasm from so many other Flickr members in her time here.
Check out more of Amanda’s work in her Flickr Print Shop Gallery and her Flickr site,
She can be found at these other spaces online as well:
Her photography site is: www.amandapowell.net
Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/mandap/
And for some of her more experimental work, visit: https://52frames.com/photographer/14676
