“I’m always looking to change up my creative work,” says photographer Amanda Powell to the Phoblographer in an interview. “I get frustrated if I’m seeing the same sorts of output from my creative time. So, I tend to bounce around with different processes.” Amanda shoots lots of images, but she doesn’t get so entranced with one technique that she needs to share everything at once. And indeed, that’s what we see — a master of minimalism.
All images by Amanda Powell. Used with permission. For more check out her Blog and Glass.
Amanda started out in photography using film-cameras. 36 frames a roll means that you often need to be really selective. For her, Amanda felt that photography allowed her to explore her voice and share others voices too.
“It’s a wonderful, diverse medium.”
She’s come a far way from shooting film, however. These days she reaches for a Canon 6D Mk II, 35mm and 85mm Sigma lenses, and Canon speedlites. “I haven’t wanted to shell out the funds for mirrorless or retrain my muscle memory with those Canon dials,” Amanda expresses to us. “I shoot in manual for absolute control, relying heavily on remotes and the Canon Camera Connect app for proper focus. Sigma lenses are my forever lenses- the sharpness and quality for the price can’t be beat.”
These images are shot with second-curtain flash. For the uninitiated, it’s a method where the flash fires right before the shutter curtains return to where they’re supposed to be. And it results in incredible photos where a subject is often perfectly still but there are streaks or movement in the background.
Here’s what Amanda had to say about this project.
Movement is a huge component to my life and mental health. As a result I love bringing it into experimental aspects of long exposure. I love the paradox of movement within a still. If I’m wanting a mix of sharpness with the movement, I pull out my flash. Using a slow shutter with a rear sync flash can be magic, where motion is captured but enhanced with any movement outside that burst of light. The results are often somewhat unpredictable from frame to frame. For this image, I goofed around with my flash, and discovered that I could move my hands to make them look like a flame. Fire is very human, so it seemed only natural to explore the concept.
Amanda Powell
Amanda deeply understands the difference between capturing and creating. The former is the idea of pushing a button and not thinking about the shot at all. Creating, on the other hand, is being intentional and involved with the entire process. Bearing this in mind, she thinks that AI can be a great tool for very specific aspects of the job. For the lead image, she didn’t have the capacity to make the aspect ratio larger in-camera. In this case, she uses Photoshop Content Aware fill.
“I don’t use AI as a crutch, or often, because I’m very controlling with what I make,” she explains. “I want the resistance of bringing an idea to life, and I tend to ignore everything else. AI as a small tool can be phenomenal, but using it as a replacement for being involved in the hard work of art, isn’t art.”
Authenticity Statement about Amanda Powell
As part of the Content Authenticity Initiative, The Phoblographer works with human photographers to verify that they’ve actually created their work through shoots. These are done by providing us assets such as BTS captures, screenshots of post-production, extra photos from the shoot, etc. We do this to help our readers realize that this is authentically human work. Here’s what this photographer provided for us.
