Amelia Anderson Photography
Subscribe
X

Subscribe to Forte Magazine

Amelia Anderson Photography

Behind everything Amelia Anderson does there’s a fierce drive to achieve the unthinkable. When finishing high school seemed like an unachievable task, a small deal with a peer proved to be just the motivation she needed to succeed.
“I was trying to look for any avenue to get out of high school – I really didn’t like it,” Amelia says with a smile.
“I managed to get an interview with the International College of Photography and I went along there and showed him my portfolio. Straight away he said, ‘You’ve got a scholarship, but on one condition: you have to finish school’. He saw the importance of me finishing school so that kept me motivated to finish up.”
With an even stronger focus on photography after finishing her course at the ICP, Amelia took a trip to South America. While travelling overseas wasn’t new for her – she’d previously travelled to Mexico, Fiji and Europe – she had a new take on capturing the cultures she was experiencing.
“I went on a Contiki tour bus so while everyone was sitting in the back and sleeping, I was always sitting up front with the driver with my camera on me,” she says.
“They were all relaxing a lot of the time and I really felt like I couldn’t stop because the scenery was so amazing over there. I think my camera bag that I took with me was about 20kgs – something really heavy – so I had that strapped to my front and then my traveller backpack on my back.”
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Her determination to pursue photography has since continued, and even having two young children a daughter Indiana, 4, and son Hudson, 2, hasn’t slowed her down.
The kids have actually accompanied Amelia while taking photos in Kenneth Creek, and in fact, the Cockatoo image purchased recently by Dale and Sophie from The Block was captured at that very location.
“Every time I go anywhere there I put the camera bag in the back of the pram and go with the kids. I know there’s wildlife down there and I wanted to get a photo of a cockatoo, but whether I’d get the right positioning or something I didn’t know. But it all just fell into place and just worked,” she says.
It doesn’t take much to see the immense detail of each photo that Amelia captures, and it’s a testament to her talent that each one has been captured in a chance encounter.
With the level of detail achieved in each shot, it’s almost as if Amelia has shared the same air as the animal she’s capturing. I couldn’t help but ask, just how close does she get?
“I get pretty close. Actually I get very close,” Amelia says as a smile spreads across her face.
“The other day over the Easter weekend I almost got attacked by a koala. I was from here to maybe the end of the table away and he went to swipe me as I was taking pictures.”
By luck and proximity, Amelia takes the perfect shot worthy of a spot on any wall. And while her eye may be drawn to birds, there have been other animals, people and landscapes that have fallen in line with her lens.
The drive is very much there, but also the patience to do it right. “I don’t want to go too far and rush things, I want to do them properly,” she says.
And while there’s no question Amelia loves her kids – they are often the helpers in styling shoots and her assistants on photography excursions – she still wants to be recognised for her passion and not just as a mother.
“I just want to be successful, and so often I’m ‘just a mum’,” she says.
Amelia’s work can be purchased from her website, perused on her Facebook  or seen in the flesh at Living Etc or Ballyhoo Arts.
Written by Amanda Sherring