Shoot By Design Registration Is Now Open

Posted on Monday, January 23, 2012 by Amanda

The Shoot By Design Spring session registration is now open.

The Spring class runs from Monday March 5 to Friday April 13, 2012. You can find out about the course here, read the testimonials page here and register here now.

To coincide with the Spring session, I’ve written a guest post about style and photography over on Shutter Sisters. Check it out…there’s a little surprise at the end.

Thank you so much for all the wonderful suggestions for Paris. I have such a great long list to go through and have been checking out a lot of your suggestions online. I greatly appreciate your help- thank you so much. Have a great Monday!

Letters to Lovers: Paris

Posted on Wednesday, January 18, 2012 by Amanda

Dearest Paris,

For the longest time I have loved you from afar. You with your style and poise, never once knowing the longing in my glances, never once feeling the depth of my passion, you and I have been absent lovers for the longest of times.

In vain have I struggled. Struggled to recreate your seductions with charlatan croissants and lesser baguettes. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.

I cannot wait any longer. With every fiber of my being, I will cross ocean and sea to be with you. I shall come in late winter when I will have you all to myself. We shall dance under the light of La Tour Eiffel and wander the hills of Montmartre as we have long dreamed.

With love and undying affection, I will see you very soon.

Love Amanda xx

Check out my Letters to Italy, France and Japan.

*Some lines of this letter may have been “borrowed” from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

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Yes, friends, can you believe it, I’m going to Paris! Finally! On my way to Marrakesh (where I am teaching our Instant Love retreat with Susannah and Jen), I am flying through Paris, so I am having a few days of awesomeness in the city I’ve been dreaming about for the longest time.

I am totally paranoid about speaking the language and looking like a hobo, so if you have any tips, I would greatly appreciate them. Cute areas to visit, cafes to eat at, museums to wander, outfits to wear, views to see and shops in which to spend Euro – I would love to hear all of your suggestions, so hit me!

The Forest- a new project

Posted on Friday, January 13, 2012 by Amanda

The woods and I have become kindred spirits.

- from a little project I’m working on. I’ll be adding more each week to the set here.

Lately I’ve been:

enjoying flickr on a daily basis. Rachel from Buttons Magee wants us to bring back the flickr love and I’m totally on board. I’ve posted every day bar one so far this year and it feels great!
loving the daily polaroids and photography of Amanda Marsalis
sharing a little sneak peek of what’s at my bedside.
doing internal high kicks because we scored Seattle Radiohead tickets.
thinking I need to add more blazers to my wardrobe like this one and this one.
rewatching Season 1 of Community- it’s even funnier the 2nd time around.
loving this lady’s outlook on life and beautiful photography.
getting excited about Wes Anderson’s new film.

p.s. Shoot By Design Spring 2012 is coming! I’m taking early registrations for the Spring class NOW and the official registration date is Monday January 23rd at 9am (PST). The Spring class goes from Monday March 5th to Friday April 13th. Check out the new testimonials page here!

Magical Canadian Experiences

Posted on Tuesday, January 10, 2012 by Amanda

One of the best things about living in Canada is the time spent experiencing new things and ones that I dreamt about as a kid. Wandering around a Christmas tree farm, all snuggled up in our winter coats and boots is a fairytale kind of existence, if only for an afternoon. I guess when you grow up with it, it doesn’t seem so special but for me it was one of those purely magical moments that I will treasure forever. The same way I’ll remember my first muddy tromping through a pumpkin patch and my first play in real snow. I guess I’ll always be a kid at heart and I’m ok with that. We all need magic in our lives, no matter our age.

All images were shot on Kodak Portra 400 film.

Instant Love: How To Make Magic and Memories with Polaroids

Posted on Friday, January 6, 2012 by Amanda

What do you do when you have a post all lined up for the first one of the year and then your first book arrives on your doorstep? You ditch that post, snap a Polaroid with the only colour film you have (expired beyond expired) and do a happy dance.

Friends, yesterday, Susannah, Jen and I got the most lovely surprise in the mail- for our baby of the last year and half arrived in actual book form. Our lovely editor Bridget sent us the first copies of our Polaroid book and I can’t even express how many emotions ran through my body as I flipped through its pages. We have been dreaming of this day for a long time now and to finally have it here is rather surreal.

From the moment you start hatching ideas to the day you get to hold it in your hands is such a journey of; emotions, hard work, long nights, excitement, freak outs, re writes, fun, editing (and editing again and again), bonding and looking to the future. It’s hard to even put into words the feelings I’m now having to see my writing and photography in published form. Up until this moment, it never really seemed real.

I want to thank our editor Bridget and Chronicle Books for believing in us, our designer Brooke for making it all look so beautiful, but mostly I want to thank my co-authors Jenifer and Susannah, my pola sisters who I love so dearly.

Instant Love will be bursting from the shelves in bookstores from May/June or you can pre order it now on Amazon.

Here’s a sneak peek!

2011 Exploring With My Camera

Posted on Saturday, December 31, 2011 by Amanda

2010 was a tough, tough year. 2011 brought needed stability and strength and I’m hoping that 2012 will be the year we build ourselves back up again. I can feel it coming.

In January we started a year long journey snapping photographs once a month with the Twelve Photo project and I had some Polaroids published in the book, Polaroid Day.

February brought the delivery of our manuscript for Instant Love to Chronicle Books. That was a happy day indeed. It also brought the snow…

March was the month we talked about what we really want.

April was the month of getting published in magazines and wandering on Pacific Northwest beaches…

May was the month of farmer’s markets and venturing outdoors again.

June was about weddings and birthdays and the launch of our Pretty Polaroid Notes around the world.

July saw the announcement of our Instant Love Retreat in Morocco, day trips down to Seattle, and long afternoons in cafes with gorgeous light…

August was more weddings, guests from France and Boston, and the launch of Shoot By Design- my first online photography course. It was also the month that Instant Love appeared on Amazon and other book sellers.

September and October brought me home. I took a trip back to Australia to spend time with my beloved family and friends and it got me all the good stuff that going home always does.

In November we talked about why we take pictures, I shared more of my Sydney images and was published in Somerset Life mag thanks to the lovely Alex.

And December always brings my favourite time of year, bittersweet as it may be when I’m far from my family, but always joyful and full of hope. I love nothing more than gathering with my boy, family and friends to share good food, wine and stories. It also brought a feature in 16 Hours mag along with so many amazing artists. An absolute honour to close out the year.

In 2011, I didn’t travel like I normally like to, but it gave me the chance to really live in Vancouver and experience every season. I shot weddings, couples and portraits in 2011 – something I hope to do more of in 2012. I have a few goals that I’m storing in my mind but I shall keep those to myself for now as I already know that travel is going to be back in full swing in 2012. Hello Morocco! – and maybe a little stop somewhere I’ve been dreaming of… forever! If you are a long time Mocking Bird reader, you may be able to guess where.

Please share your end of year posts in the comments if you have them. I’d love to read them. And happy new year!!!

A Polaroid 2011

Posted on Wednesday, December 28, 2011 by Amanda

pola 2011

As is now becoming a Mocking Bird tradition, I am signing off for the year with a look back at some of my favourite Polaroids from 2011. These Polaroids were all shot with either my Polaroid SLR680 or my SX70 using a mix of Polaroid 600, Polaroid 779, Impossible Project PX100 and Impossible Project PX680 films.

I am looking forward to a big Polaroid year in 2012 with our Instant Love Moroccan retreat in February and the release of our book, Instant Love in the Spring! Here’s to another year of Polaroids in 2012!

And you can start off the year with me and my cameras by signing up for Shoot By Design: Refining Your Photography Style. There are places available now.

Of Imagined Trees and Twinkle Lights

Posted on Friday, December 23, 2011 by Amanda

I’m Dreaming of a Christmas Moments List

Attend the German Christmas markets in Germany and Vienna.

Ice skate in Central Park.

Drink eggnog out of Griswold style reindeer cups.

Spend the week before Christmas in New York.

See Silent Night performed in Austria.

Ride in a sleigh. The horses must have bells.

Have a very Merry Christmas, everyone.

I hope your weekend is filled with lots of joy, laughter, presents, hugs, cookies, love, wine, family, carols, shared meals, snuggly socks, bon bons and kisses under the mistletoe.

And to all my Australian friends, I’ve got my fingers crossed for sunshine and warmth. It’s been a rather unusual rainy December this year.

Merry Christmas!

Amanda xx