Portland Parents

Looking for something new and exciting to spice up your photo collection? If so take notice there is a new girl in town about to blow the lid off the local photography scene. Amanda Lindahl of A Lindahl creations is infusing a much needed breath of fresh air into the local art and photography scene. With her surrealistic approach to photography and her refined skills as a professional photographer and artist Amanda Lindahl is making a local name for herself. With her newest local photography business, A Lindahl Creations, Amanda hopes to bring fresh options and opportunities to the Portland art and photography scene.

Born and raised in Fennville Michigan, Amanda has had a life long love affair with photography and art. Growing up in a creative environment, Amanda studied and practiced art and photography as a hobby and a pastime. As an adult Amanda studied photography at Western Michigan University, then attended art school in Florence Italy, and finally graduated with a BFA at Pacific Northwest College of Arts in Portland OR.

In the winter of 2007 Amanda returned to the Portland area and began putting together the product and plan for what would eventually become A Lindahl Creations. Recently we caught up with Amanda at a function where she was advertising her business providing local photography services. Particularly intrigued with her creative children’s photography we asked Amanda Lindahl to give us a little insight into A Lindahl Creations.

I have always enjoyed taking pictures that create a sense of timelessness and serenity. While still maintaining that imagery I combine multiple images to alter the perception of reality. I try to evoke mystery from ordinary objects by freeing them from their traditional roles and placing them where one wouldn’t expect. When I was a little girl and flipped through a picture book, I believed that if I looked at the page long enough, the figures would come to life and the landscapes would become real. The illustrations gave me clues to the untold words of the story. This is what I try and create with my surreal brand of photography. Through my photographs I create a believable world of fantasy with real landscapes and characters. For children I try and uncover their gift of imagination revealing the hidden world in their young minds and display it through my photography. By challenging the power of imagination I want to expose a more playful side of life with my photography.

As a young entrepreneur Amanda hopes to make her mark in the Pacific Northwest with her surreal brand of photography. Since opening A Lindahl Creations Amanda has attended many local events and markets helping to bring her photography out into the public’s eye. So far her work has made a great impression in the community and she says “The community is spectacularly supportive” and feels she has been welcomed with open arms. Currently A Lindahl Creations offers many different kinds of products for the photographic needs of the community. Placing emphasis on her creative children’s photography she also does her surreal work with animals and as Amanda puts it “kids of all ages.” If the buyer does not want or need a creative piece of work A. Lindahl Creations does regular portraits and photography work as well. Many customers have asked for regular portraits and then ordered a creative photo where Amanda can let loose and work her magic with a surreal piece of work. A Lindahl Creations also does contract work for business advertising and many other business photographic needs. With both Portland and Saint Helens locations A Lindahl creations is here and ready to provide the local customers with superior quality and top notch service. If you are lucky you can find Amanda displaying her work at local children’s events. If not you can reach Amanda Lindahl at her website.

Wanna go see a movie?

Away we go is playing tomorrow night at the Fox Tower (846 SW Park Ave) at 7:00 PM. The Fox Tower is across the street from Pioneer Courthouse Square. I have a double handful of passes; ten passes each for “you and your guest.”

A couple who is expecting their first child travel around the U.S. in order to find a perfect place to start their family. Along the way, they have misadventures and find fresh connections with an assortment of relatives and old friends who just might help them discover “home” on their own terms for the first time.

Unfortunately, I can’t go; I have a prior engagement.

It’s short notice, but if you drop me an email today (not tomorrow, I’ll be out most of the day… well, ok you can try), I’ll see what I can do to get you into the screening. They suggest arriving 45 minutes before the film starts (so, 6:15) because the passes don’t guarantee seating. Use the contact form. I can only offer ten passes.

In another lifetime, I mean, during this lifetime but a long time ago, before we had kids and a mortgage, I was a storyteller. I told stories for audiences, around campfires, and at dinners. And I was pretty good; not the best, but getting some practice and finding some comfort in it. One question, however, kept coming to me- “How do you learn all these stories?”

I always replied that they could do it too. And in fact, they already had dozens of stories. They could tell me the Three Little Pigs, or Rapunzel, or Cinderella, Snow White — they could even tell me a synopsis of books they had read. They knew these stories. I think the hard part is actually believing in yourself enough to tell someone else the story.

My wife’s favorite memory of her grandfather is how he used to tell them stories; she and her sister would lie in bed and he’d tell them the story of two princesses (coincidentally named the same as the girls), and how they saved the kingdom. Or escaped in a hot air balloon. Or fell down a mountain. Sometimes I think about this as my daughter begs me to read her a book, tell her a story, and sing her a song before bedtime. I indulge her and let myself ramble on. My current favorite story to tell is pretty much a combination of Naoise and Deirdre and their elopement, and a story where the bride has three treasures to throw behind her, that create a forest, a lake and a mountain. It’s actually the original way I heard the Flight of Deirdre but I can’t find an example now.

Anyway; the point I’m leaning toward is that our kids crave stories. And we have them for only a short time where we can give them everything they want. They want adventure and magic, mystery, science, puzzles – all of that stuff. And I’ve been thinking of recording bedtime stories, not just for my kids but also for other kids as well. In fact, I was considering sort of a podcast. But then I started looking around, and there’s some already out there!

If you don’t believe you can tell your kids a bedtime story, maybe you could try one of these podcasts. Don’t sleep with the earbuds in, but play them on some speakers. You could listen in too- you never know what you’ll hear.

• Miette’s Bedtime Stories
• Escape Pod
• “Children’s Fun Storytime,” somewhere out there on iTunes!