Amandalynn Jones: Professional Photographer

Sky On Fire | Madison WI Fine Art Photographer

Amandalynn — Fri, 05 Jun 2015 23:29:15 +0000

Tuesday I was outside photographing my daughter’s 9 month milestone portraits (already!) in the lovely evening light. Although I was trying to focus on her, I kept looking at the sky and thinking, “Those are great clouds, I bet the sunset tonight is going to be really beautiful.”

When we picked my husband up from kickboxing I said “I want to catch the sunset, go to Pope Farm” and we arrived as the sun sank behind the tree line. I popped out of the car and ran up the hill, and got this last moment of luminance and color. Within a few minutes the sky was darkening and the colors were diminished.

Want a print? Purchase HERE!

IHF Challenge: Water | Madison WI Photographer

Amandalynn — Tue, 05 May 2015 20:38:08 +0000

As spring starts to take hold in Madison I’m looking forward to the summer of weddings, events, and fun creative projects that are rapidly approaching. Although I’m excited for the next couple of weeks to pass quickly, I know will quickly come to miss the lazy winter days with my girl.

IHF Challenge: Pastel | Madison WI Photographer

Amandalynn — Sun, 05 Apr 2015 18:15:52 +0000

Nothing says Spring in Madison to me like the UW Arboretum, I can’t wait for the magnolias to bloom again! In the meantime here’s my lovely friend Q enjoying them last spring.

IHF Challenge: Everyday Life | Madison WI Photographer

Amandalynn — Wed, 25 Feb 2015 21:49:01 +0000

3/4 of the year when my business is in hyper-drive I race around juggling a dozen hats: Photographer, accountant, light wizard, master of the schedule, location scout, office manager, customer service, housekeeper, mom, food stylist, etc… and then winter rolls around and although business doesn’t shut down entirely it does slow to a moderate jog.

This is my every day life this week, and I’m loving every bit of it.

IHF Challenge – Best Face of 2014 | Madison WI Photographer

Amandalynn — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 02:39:59 +0000

I’ve had so many truly enjoyable clients this year, and I feel impossibly lucky that I was able to photography every single one of them. That said, I’m a mom who is very much in love with her kids and incredibly, shamelessly biased. The BEST face of 2014, for me, was a dead tie between my incredibly energetic, brilliant tween mancub and my laid back, go with the flow, baby girl. And since the Tween has officially rejected having is portrait taken, the baby gets the honored title this year. My best face of 2014:

Have a great portrait from 2014? Enter it in the challenge!

www.iheartfaces.com

IHF Challenge: Pets | Madison WI Photographer

Amandalynn — Mon, 10 Nov 2014 19:57:02 +0000

Puppies are always good for a giggle in the most endearing ways, and this funny fellow wiggled his way into my heart during his people’s engagement session.

Got a funny, sweet, loveable pet photo of your own? Check out the I Heart Faces challenge this month!

Gone, Gone, Gone…

Amandalynn — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 01:47:16 +0000

Fall in the Midwest is a stunningly beautiful season. The trees blaze red, orange, and yellow, and we celebrate their beauty and brilliant radical change to the landscape as the leaves drop away – the same way we joyfully celebrated their emergence in the spring. When all the leaves have fallen we lament the bare branches that have lost their vibrance, and how much colder the world seems since.

Growing up I had the fortune of having some incredibly beautiful, brilliant, trail blazing, passionate, fiery female role models. They taught me about convictions, the value of history and community, and how to live joyfully and with purpose. With humor, stories, a dedicated (if imaginary) walk around the world, and even a college scholarship that set me on the path to meet my husband; they prepared me for adulthood in a way that I am so grateful for… I would not be the person that I am without the support and inspiration that came from knowing them.

Now I find myself very unprepared for the loss of three of them within a month. Aunt Ruth, Aunt Dot, and Colleen Sutherland have passed, and I feel the absence of their vibrance. It’s hard to imagine that my children will not really know them… and yet I feel it’s comforting to realize that the impact and wisdom they have left behind has significantly shaped the communities they lived in, and their influences stretches around the world. Dmitri and Astraea will live in a world that was made better by these Aunties. It’s humbling to have been supported and loved by great, powerful women… and I hope that each of them knew what a difference they made in my life.

With deepest love, may they rest in peace.

IHF Challenge: Bright & Vivid | Madison WI Engagement Photographer

Amandalynn — Mon, 06 Oct 2014 22:53:00 +0000

See more at http://www.iheartfaces.com

IHF Challenge: Beautiful Eyes | Madison WI Photographer

Amandalynn — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 04:08:34 +0000

3-1/2 weeks ago my husband, son and I welcomed a new family member when I gave birth to our little girl, Astraea. The pregnancy was shockingly easy, and the end was incredibly hard. An undetected infection meant we were both critically ill when I went into labor, a fact that the nurses and my doula thankfully shielded me from at the time while the babe and I both made it through a very rough night together.

Needing treatment for the infection and because she had some breathing issues Astraea spent the first 4-1/2 days of her life in the NICU which was both a blessing to have available and a source of desperate sadness to have to endure. I know that we were far more fortunate than many NICU families who have to wait weeks or months to take their babies home, as well as those who heartbreakingly never get the opportunity at all.
All the same, it’s very hard to bond with your baby through a plastic box, and we had to wear isolation gear (mask, gown, gloves) during every visit, so we couldn’t really touch her and often when my husband and I would visit her she would be sleeping or have her eyes covered. All sense of connection had barriers and felt artificial.

When we finally did see her open those eyes, it was the most beautiful moment, and the beginning of our bonding… at last.

She’s had us all wrapped tightly around her chubby little finger ever since.

Friendship | IHF Challenge

Amandalynn — Mon, 04 Aug 2014 02:40:05 +0000

Dmitri and Sonya have been best buddies since they were toddlers. A couple of years ago we bought a house, and that same summer her family moved to IL, ending the 4 years we had spent as neighbors. Through trips back and forth the kids still get to see each other several times a year, and it’s always such a special reunion… these two really “get” each other.

We’re hoping to sneak in one last visit before summer is over.

Want to see more fun friendship photos? Check out the other entries on I Heart Faces: