Amanda’s Story
If anyone would’ve said I would be living in the USA with my soul mate I would have laughed in their face and think they were off their rocker!
I’m Amanda, and I’m a Brit living in the grand ole’ state of Indiana after marrying my American Prince Charming who completely swept me off my feet.
I grew up in Nottingham, England. Great childhood with lots of love and family time with my parents, who have been married for 45 years this year, and my 2 siblings. My mum and dad would take photos everywhere we went with a 110 camera, then later on a 35mm. We would take the films to the chemist to get them developed not knowing what was on the film, whether the pictures would be compromised, or whether there would be a thumb covered photo! Oh those were the days! My parents still have boxes and boxes of pictures from our youth!
My parents got me my first 110 camera when I was around 12 years old for Christmas. I was so excited! We didn’t have much in the ways of spare money and lived on a tight budget so this was an extravagance! It was bright pink, with a built in flash and a wheel you would crank after taking each photo. It was so fancy and I would take that camera everywhere I could, even on school trips!
My picture taking with that little 110 camera was insane but to get the films developed would cost a fortune so eventually the camera got put away. Fast forward a few years, I got myself a small 35mm camera which I used on vacations and various trips around the world. Taking eight to ten rolls of film into the chemist after a vacation was not unusual but still very expensive in the UK, so I was delighted when I could afford a digital camera! A proper digital camera! I felt very grown up - I was about 27 years old and in the full swing of my healthcare career! LOL.
Being able to see the photos as you took them was the way to go! Deleting the bad ones as you went along, no thumb covering photos were ever seen again and no film going bad, it was and continues to be amazing.
I started not just taking photos of vacations and trips, I began taking my camera on walks to capture photos of how beautiful nature is and using those photos to create art for my home. I would also take my camera into the city where I would get images of people going about their day, capture special moments of people meeting up for lunch or coffee, and really looking around my city at the architecture of buildings that had been around for hundreds of years that I had not noticed in the past.
Looking through the lens of a camera really opens your eyes to your surroundings. You start to notice things you haven’t during the life you’ve lived in a place - the structures, the colours, the antique windows and sconces. But most importantly, you start to notice the people - the busker on the corner trying to earn a few quid playing to an audience running past to catch a bus or train or get to work, the homeless person selling the Big Issue (a magazine produced to help the homeless get themselves out of poverty), the vendor on the corner selling ice creams, the market stall with oodles of fresh fruits and veg for sale, the business man rushing from one meeting to another, the mum that had to nip into town to get something but had to take her small children with her….. The list goes on and on.
Photography for me is an art. It can be beautiful. It can be sad. It can capture real life and real people. But ultimately it can tell a story - a love story, a story of empowerment, a dream to be something more, a story of family and of people. And thats my vision for Sugar & Spice Moments.