Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Amanda Stayer. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Amanda thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you share a story with us from back when you were an intern or apprentice? Maybe it’s a story that illustrates an important lesson you learned or maybe it’s a just a story that makes you laugh (or cry)?
This past summer I had the opportunity to spend my time working as an intern in New York City. This was my first working in a full-time position and my first time being that far away from home. I knew it was an essential part of my education, and something I wanted to do, but I was very anxious. Only days after the semester ended, I moved to a new city hundreds of miles away. The first week was stressful, I had to adapt to so many new experiences while not really knowing anyone around me. But after the first few days, things began to click. I understood what I was doing at work, I was starting to enjoy it. I found a wonderful community of people at the place I was staying. I started to truly feel like I belonged there, home didn’t feel too far away. I remember a phone call with my mom where she said, ” I feel like we lost you to the city,” and I think she was right. I’ve always been a homebody and I come from a small, rural town, I never expected a large city to feel so right – but it did.
One story that sticks out the most to me is from the very end of my time working. I only had two weeks left and we had one of our largest shoots to date. I and the other photography intern had been planning for a few weeks. This shoot involved hiring a baby to model for us, building the set within our office space, and coordinating with multiple teams in the company to create our product list. I didn’t sleep at all the night before, all the “what-ifs” running through my mind. When I got to the office the next day, it was go-time. We had two hours to build our set, finalize details, gather the last remaining products, and triple-check all our equipment. The moment of truth arrived with our model, a 12-month-old little boy and his parents. We were all waiting to see how he would act, what the parents were like, everything. To our great relief, they were all lovely. We shot for over 3 hours, switching between upwards of 50 products. It was exhausting. I took on more of a directing role, deciding posing, and propping. What made the shoot even more high stakes was the set – we were inside the office, not on location. This meant our supervisors, visiting clients, and even the president of the company, were all walking by to observe the shoot. As a young intern, it was nerve-racking. We were able to keep our cool and have a successful shoot, but I completely crashed once I got home.
My entire internship experience allowed me to grow, not only as a photographer but as a person. I had an incredible support system with me in the other interns and the people I lived with. I met one of my best friends there. I came away with so many amazing things. I feel so much more confident in myself than I ever had before. I don’t doubt the work I create anymore. Most importantly, it gave me a vision and a goal for my future that I had lacked before. This was so important for me as I have to start thinking of life after my graduation. The internship gave me an appreciation and love for the production and directing side of photoshoots: hiring models, working with the talent, styling the set, and all the little details. It’s something I see myself doing long-term. By not spending all my time solely behind the camera, I got to fall in love with the process of photography in a new way. I am utterly grateful for that chance and the knowledge I will carry with me into my professional career.
Amanda, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I started working in photography during my junior year of high school. My parents gave me their old camera and I started to drag my siblings and friends into random photoshoots. I also started to focus on art a lot more seriously in my classes at school. I started taking clients and doing some senior photo portraits. I knew I wanted to study photography in college, so that’s what I did. I am now in my senior year at Kent State University.
Since starting school, I have been able to refine my photographic style. I focus a lot on editorial and documentary work, storytelling is a key part of what I want to do. I also found a love for fashion photography during a recent course I was a part of. I explore all of this during my classes, as well as independent projects I work on outside of class.
On top of classes, I am also heavily involved with a student-published magazine on campus, Fusion. I have worked there for over two years now, first as photo editor and now as editor-in-chief. Through this, I have had the opportunity to see many facets of magazine production and publication. We have work published on web, on social media, and in print magazines. My work was featured in our spring issue, with my photograph being used as the cover image. It was a fashion project done in collaboration with a student designer, D’Antae Butler. Magazine publication and editorial work have become an important part of my style.
In the spring, I created a mini-magazine, entirely self-published. I did it as an honors project to dive deeper into my fashion photo coursework. I wanted to research more into adaptive fashion. I conducted interviews with individuals like Lolita Milena and Becky Stayer; designers like Jayda Breiding, and larger companies. I collaborated with even more people to have multiple photoshoots to fully encompass the topic. This even involved shooting an adaptive fashion runway show held at the university. Accompanying the photos was an over 5000-word article I wrote diving further into the topic. It’s the project I’m the proudest of. It was a culmination of the skills I have been working to grow over the past few years. It can be viewed on my website or at this link: https://online.fliphtml5.com/ejizg/zvkc/
This is the work I hope to continue post-graduation. After my time in New York this summer, I know I want to return to the city and work for a major publication. I feel motivated to continue telling stories with my work. I also believe working for a publication would allow me to embrace the none photographic talents I have as well. My work is based on the world around me, and there are a lot of stories I want to tell.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
A goal that has been on my mind from the moment I started my photography journey is to do a cover for a major magazine. For a while, it felt like some lofty goal or some far-off dream that every young photographer has. A lot of people didn’t put a lot of stock in this dream when I first told them about it and brushed it off as naivety. I almost started to believe that myself, but one of the most important lessons I’ve learned is to not dismiss childhood dreams. I feel like they are a foundation for what I choose to do in my life and essential to my hopes for the future.
My dreams of doing a magazine cover haven’t faded, but have changed. I don’t hold myself to an impossible standard and am focusing on more achievable dreams first: like being hired by a major publication or hoping to be a part of a major shoot. I think starting small, and taking those stepping stones is the best path for me. The cover isn’t fully about the fame, it’s about a recognition of the hard work I would have put in to get there. I’m excited about the journey ahead of me and where it may take me.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
One of the most difficult parts of a creative’s journey is just how discouraged pursuing an art career is. Starting in elementary school, art is not included in the main curriculum; it’s a “specials” class or an additional class you may be lucky to take every few days. Classes like math and science are always emphasized and if you do poorly you are looked down on. If you excel in art, it’s brushed off by academics as not as essential. I always did well in school growing up, I was top of my class. When my high school graduation came and I told people I was pursuing photography, many of them were concerned, they thought I was “wasting my potential” and should “pick an actual career.” All because I chose something I was passionate about. Artists are always discouraged and told every reason to not choose that path. I’m lucky I was surrounded by a very supportive and encouraging family that didn’t let me think this way.
I feel this shows the struggle of non-creatives to see the importance art has in our society. There are artists involved in every aspect of our lives. They’re in the entertainment we consume, they design the products we use every day, and they teach our children and educate us. Artists are the backbone of culture. I hope that non-creatives find more respect for the artists and don’t push back against every child that has a creative dream. There are endless careers for artists, they just need to be given a chance.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://amandastayer.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/astayerphotos/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-stayer-3529b3205/
- Other: https://ohiofusion.comhttps://ohiofusion.com
Image Credits
Amanda Stayer