Amanda Jae Photography

A camera can’t photograph smells or sounds…And yet somehow, you find one old photo and your brain goes, “Oh yeah…I forgot all about that.”

I can’t remember what I had for dinner last week, but apparently my brain will always remember the sound of my grandparent’s screen door or the way their garage smells. And all it takes is one photo of my time spent there as a kid, to bring it all back to the surface.

I think that’s part of why old photos hit really hard sometimes. Because they bring up memories that aren’t actually in the them.

They’re layered and personal. They never change but every person looking at them can remember something completely different.

All of these are from my own family archive 💘

Hi. I still exist 👋🏻

I realized the other day that I spend so much time posting other people that I've accidentally disappeared from my own page.

So here's a little introduction... or reintroduction... depending on how long you've been here.

I recently watched the documentary “André Is an Idiot” (which was great!), and this quote has been rattling around in my brain ever since:

“We paint the portraits of ourselves that we want people to see, but the most beautiful portraits are the ones that show the flaws within us."— André Ricciardi

I liked that because I think it's really easy to make your job a highlight reel, especially on social media.

Photography is a huge part of my life, but it's definitely not the only thing.

So here are a few little pieces of my life outside of work.

Kitchens explain more about a family than almost any other room in the house.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
They show where people naturally gather. Which chair is someone’s favorite because it’s just a little more faded than the others. The little things that get left on the counter because they get used every day.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
It’s the place in houses where everyone eventually passes through at some point, even if they start somewhere else.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀





Willamette Valley family photographer
At home family photos
In-home family photography in Oregon