We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Amanda Burck a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Amanda , thanks for joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

In the past year, I’ve done a lot of meaningful projects for example doing some to help others and make them feel beautiful. One of the most meaningful projects I’ve done was for school but enjoyed and learned a lot from the experience. The project was about doing a public experiment with time. To start I came up with questions not a lot of people think about or ask. I looked and did research on what would be good for a project. The question that came from a self-help journal was What would you do if you weren’t afraid? as that’s a very long question. I chose to cut it down and write Share a secret anonymously on a poster board with a box that said For an art student for a local project. As well as notecards and a pen. This came to me from being a shy person and not really talking about my problems. Some people said about me that I’m in my own world. Might as well see who else doesn’t share a lot. I placed this box at a local bread shop knowing the audience would be from little kids to older people. I know some of the workers wrote some to support the project. In the middle shelf between some bread, it would get people to think and get some stuff off their chest. I left it there for two days with 20 answers. With the shop hours being early morning to six at night. Some were hard secrets about cheating, and not having the same option as everyone else. Even some personal stories and confessions. Before I talked to the owner to see if it was okay after I got them back. She told me that it helped her get some stuff off her chest and was very appreciative of how it helps others. A guest told her that it made her day and lifted a weight off her shoulders. That will always be stuck with me and give love to others. It showed that you don’t ever really know what people are going through.

Amanda , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

For people who don’t know me my name is Amanda Burck. Currently, I’m a student photographer at Rocky Mountain School of Art and Design. When I was little a camera was involved in one way or another in every holiday taking family pictures in front of the Christmas tree.To pictures on birthdays at restaurants and on trips. My mom always found a way to get everyone to pose and smile for pictures. In general, coming from a big family of eight it’s hard for everyone to be serious for a few minutes to look good in the picture. It is a great form of art, that I was always interested in from how she took a picture to looking at it later. It wasn’t used a lot besides events. My sister and I would use it to take pictures and videos of our stuffed animals and make stories from it. Then I started to get older, and I learned how a camera works with shutter speed and lightning. Slowly growing up I took a lot of art classes to find what I really what to do in the future. Figuring out what you want to do in the future and your career path is hard. I took photography classes in middle school and high school. Even doing yearbook classes and learning more about different types of photography. As the school years started to pass discovered that I could go to college for it. In 2020 my grandma died and looking through her old camera that she barely used filled with dust. In a box having old film cameras and video cameras.From not looking at the image and waiting a few weeks to now seeing it at the moment taken. The history of all the old cameras got me into the film as I’m still learning now. Learning from digital to film can help train your eyes as an artist.
Before starting a photography business I’ve been creating strong pieces for a portfolio. I enjoy shooting lifestyle and portrait photography. There isn’t a big field for lifestyle photography as people mainly use it for social media purposes. Even recently shot band photography for some small bands with gigs in the Denver area. Slowly trying to get connections to people who could help grow my photography and get a name for myself. This past year through school and shooting with modeling. If I could call my style anything it would be playful, kidlike with abstract emotions.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

There isn’t just one thing that feels rewarding about being creative rather the overall process. I think about how the models get dressed up or even do fancy makeup. Looking forward to a shot having inspirational photos and talking to the model. The rewarding thing is seeing how excited people get to be modeling for photographers. Weirdly, random strangers take pictures of another stranger. Without knowing what they could do, stranger danger is not creepy at all. During a shot talking and getting to know the person and becoming friends. Even showing how the shot is going so far and getting reactions. It shows how beautiful anyone can be when they express themselves. While editing photos, I have some fun with adding fun edits and editing photos in different ways. Seeing how you can create and fix little miskates in images. Knowing that any of the images could be their favorite and sending them all of them. Even sending it to the modeling and their overall reaction to what they thought they were going to look like versus how they turned out.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

If you are a non-creative things that could be hard to struggle to understand is the creative process. In most creative fields no one comes up with an idea instantly and can achieve it. It makes time to be in the right head space and mindset to think of what to shoot as an artist. Getting the creative juices going with how to achieve the idea with the visual idea in mind. Not all ideas have a reference photo to look at or even shoot from a simple creative idea no one has done before. That’s hard these days as it feels like everything has been done already. For example as a photographer, I look at locations and visualize a model and pose with an outfit and lighting during that time of day. Thinking about how the lighting can change or the location getting too busy. Not knowing what could happen until the shot and seeing the chances of it all coming together.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amandas.filmview/
• Email: amandaburck@icloud.com
• TikTok: goodnoodleisconneected