Amanda is a teacher, a reiki master, a photographer — a woman who holds many kinds of knowing. We made these portraits in deep winter (after I tripled checked with her about braving the cold)- just as the days are getting a tad longer and roots arewere stirring beneath the surface, still going undetected but on the cusp of breaking through for spring. Across the world, it was orange season. In ancient Japan, they believed oranges came from the Eternal Land — a place beyond time, where past, present, and future blur into one sweet, golden now. I brought some Sumo Citrus mandarins to our session because they reminded me of a pregnant belly: radiant, otherworldly, impossibly full of life.
This session was a meditation on duality — the soft, supple glow of expectancy and the fierce, grounded strength of motherhood. We honored both. Candlelight, bare skin, and tender connection gave way to wool cloaks, winter stillness, and the pointed edge of sais — ancient tools of defense and devotion. Amanda stood in every version of herself, timeless and whole, and the camera simply followed her lead.
