vul·ner·a·bil·i·ty - noun: the quality or state of being exposed to the possibility of being attacked

The Girl Behind The Camera.

Always looking for a poem with my lens.

I'm Amanda.

I'm not a "boss mom." I'm not the super inspirational "momtrepreneur" that you'll find posting elaborate TikTok's about my cleaning schedule and meal preps. I mean, I guess by definition I am the same as those moms. But I'm not.

I am a full time stay-at-home mom of 2 young, wild, fearless and sensitive boys. I am the domestic half of my marriage to my very hardworking and very blue collar husband. I am happiest within the walls of the home that my husband and I have worked very hard to build, grow and nurture. While I exist within a fairly traditional dynamic in my home, I am quite progressively humanitarian on the outside. You won't catch me doing anything that could harm others in any manner regardless of the social category they exist within and that is something I am very serious about, especially in raising boys that will become men.

After nearly losing my life in each of my pregnancies that were just 12 months apart, feeling helpless during the premature birth of both of my children as well as leaving them behind in the NICU and then continuing to fight for my life over the course of the next 6 months following their births, the lens that I saw life through drastically changed. While my health is mostly stabilized today, the damages done during that time will forever be part of our lives and will forever be something I have to face and plan our lives around. The trauma, both physical and mental, that I have endured has created a field of view in my eyes and in my brain that is much different than it was before I met the angel of death and pleaded for more time. Since that time of great suffering, every experience that I have watched through the lenses of my own eyes now has a “neon highlighter” that rapidly scribbles over small details and shifts in people’s energies that would otherwise go unnoticed. Things that become mundane parts of everyday life, habits that we get accustomed to, rituals that we repeat every day that have lost meaning, I see those things differently than you do. That place on the side of your child’s face that you brush that same piece of hair away from every day. The side of your partners arm that you rest your hand on as you say your goodbyes each morning. The chip of paint next to your front door that you made when you moved into your home all those years ago. Those are all highlighted in my lenses. You’ve forgotten that those little touches happen, that those little dents and scratches are there. I haven’t, because they are new to me. Their beauty takes on a new meaning once my highlighter finds them. My job, then, is to remind you that they are worthy of being highlighted.

My photography is in the art of storytelling. While I offer just about everything, my areas of specialty are in couples (engagement and wedding/elopement) and motherhood milestone (maternity, fresh 48, newborn, childhood milestone) for obvious reasons.

If you are looking for the type of photographer that poses you with a hand on your hip and your chin pointed at the camera, we may not be the right fit for each other. And that’s okay. Find the right photographer for you and make them part of your journey. Art is only valuable if the person who’s holding it thinks it is. If you are looking for someone who will guide you to interact naturally and capture the organic movements of you and your family just "being," you've found the right person.

I hope you’ve made it this far.

If you have, I hope I get to meet the eyes that are reading this.

With love,