Portrait of a Lady: Five minutes with Amanda Summons

Posted on 18 September, 2018

Amanda Summons is a Canberran photographer showcasing inspirational women in her life.

Ahead of her photography appearing in PhotoAccess’ Subliminal exhibition, which opens this Thursday 20 September, we caught up with Amanda about her #52 Ladies Project.

How does this exhibition fit into your wider photographic practice?

I’m a portrait photographer and within this group exhibition, I’m exhibiting fifty-two portraits of women in my life. I’m really passionate about taking photos of other women; making sure they love the photos of themselves, making sure they are comfortable in front of the camera, making it easy and producing simple, no fuss kind of images.

Amanda Summons

I love how you talk about trying to make these inspirational women in your life look at themselves through your eyes and hence see themselves the way you see them. How do you manifest your own perspective in your portraiture?

I love photos where [people] are comfortable, happy and smiling, so I try and make them laugh. Some people trust the photographer more whilst some people want more of a say. I’ll show them the image and if they like it that’s easy but if they don’t, that’s fine we can keep working on it. I want them to love the final portrait so however we come to that is a good way of doing it.

Why is it important to highlight these women?

I think a lot of the time we look to famous people and their friendship groups. We spend a lot of time praising and idolising people we’re never going to meet. Why can’t the person you idolise be your housemate? I really wanted to highlight that the most important people to look up to are the people in your own life.

A lot of these are very personal connections. How do you deal with vulnerability and exposure while expressing a personal narrative?

I had gathered fifty questions from which the subjects chose ten for an interview to accompany each portrait. Some were really deep and honest whilst others were a little easier, just to make people feel comfortable and so they had a variety of questions to answer. Some people were definitely more willing to be open and vulnerable whilst others opted to be more private. That in itself revealed different things about different people.

One of my friends kept editing her answers because, after watching Hannah Gadsby’s Nanette, she decided she didn’t want to be so self-deprecating. I found that really empowering.

How has the Personal Photography Project enhanced your practice?

It was a great opportunity to see and learn from other people’s work and process. I’d originally wanted to do a standalone solo show of the #52 Ladies Project but I decided that this was a good opportunity to finish and exhibit it. Since there were set scheduled meetings, you had to go and track your progress. I work full time as a graphic designer and have other photography projects on the side, so I have to consider when I would have free time and can actually have a life.

I found it really useful and a good way of working on as well as actually finishing a project which is always really difficult. It’s one thing to have an idea for a project, it’s another to actually finish it.

What’s next after the #52 Ladies Project?

I want to photograph a hundred ladies. So this Sunday 23 September, I’m minding the Photo Access gallery and inviting people to come and check out all the exhibitions and be photographed for the next instalment.

I’m hoping to do a solo exhibition on International Women’s Day next year. The project started on International Women’s Day a year and a half ago so I thought it would be a nice way to bookend it with the final hundred portraits.

the essentials 

What: Amanda Summons’ #52 Ladies Project, showing as part of Subliminal, a Personal Photography Project Exhibition
When: 20 — 30 September 2018
Where: PhotoAccess, New South Wales Crescent, Griffith
More information: photoaccess.org.au/see/exhibitions/personal-photography-project-exhibition
Website: amandasummons.com
Instagram: @amandasummons

All photography: Amanda Summons