At home with Randi Obenauer

Sometime during the winter of 2015, I was taking photos at the Eastside Flea in Vancouver, BC and came across a vendor booth filled with the most beautiful handmade leather bags, and sitting behind an old sewing machine was a radiant woman with wild red hair and the sweetest smile with a gleaming gold tooth. My friend Linda had told me about this magical woman and her incredible leather work, but it was a nice surprise to finally cross paths with her. I snapped a quick a photo of her and immediately started day dreaming about doing a shoot for her bags Ora Leather Goods. She also makes motorcycle seats as Aro Upholstery, plus works as a doula, can read your moon chart and bake the most wicked pie. Later in the summer of 2016 we worked together on a lookbook for both her brands, and I went up the coast to Powell River, BC to escape the city and visit her beautiful home and workshop. Randi was about 8 months pregnant at the time, and it was truly special to be able to document her, her partner Sean, their animal family, and their home. So grateful for the love, magic, wisdom and kindness Randi brought into my life. You're a real gem, lady. XOXO

Make It Count - Ellis Building Photo Exhibit

“Make It Count” 

A collection of 35mm photographs by Amanda Leigh Smith 
At the Ellis Building in Vancouver, BC Canada

August 19, 2016
Hosted by the Eastside Flea

I feel like I’m constantly walking the line between not giving a shit and giving a damn. Following my heart, marching to my own beat, and not giving a shit about the status quo or what others think has been both a blessing and a curse my entire life. Passionately giving a damn about making the world a better place and about being a positive force in my community, with a fiery heart full of both love and anger, has also equally been a blessing and a curse. Finding the balance between these two juxtapositions has been a constant life struggle. Focusing on and sharing the beauty and optimism in a world that so often frustrates the hell out of me is a perpetual challenge to myself and to others to not let “it” get you down. Give a damn: about the world, about people, about love, about the environment, about music, about politics. But don’t bother trying to fit yourself into whatever box others try to put you in. Make your box infinite in shape and open to change. Do what you feel, feel what you do. Do what you want, but make it count! 

Amanda Leigh Smith, born 1986 in Houston, Texas, has been shooting 35mm film for over 15 years. Her work has been published in Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair (France), ELLE (Japan), Complex, The Huffington Post, Rookie Magazine, Purple, NYLON, Monster Children, and Communication Arts.

"Look at any of Amanda Leigh Smith's editorial portraits and it's likely that a strong sense of freedom will come over you. Whether it's from the wide-open vistas she chooses on location, her playful compositions or the pensive, expansive expressions of her subjects, Smith's liberated take of life shines through" - Amy Touchette, Emerging Photographer Magazine Vol. 7 No. 1

 “Photographer Amanda Leigh Smith is a guru of the spontaneous look. Her travelogues and fashion portraits seem to have been magically pooled together at shutter speed. Whips of light coincide with carefree moves. Women lounge around the outdoors, playful and worthy of a rock n’ roll soundtrack.” - Kwyn Aquino, Lomography Magazine 

“When I think about Amanda Smith's work the first word that comes to mind is "retro." Runners up would be: "nostalgic," "'70s," "evocative." Only shooting in film definitely adds to that feel, but moreover her aesthetic conjures up a young (pretty) rebel who probably cuts school or smokes cigs under the bleachers or both. No matter who or what she's shooting for she makes it her own, and in a town full of photographers she stands out. She's an original, moving to Portland in the summer of 2006 at the ripe age of 19 before Portland was weird PORTLAND. She's obviously never followed, marching to her own beat before she could even order a beer.” - Marissa Sullivan, The Portland Mercury

Event photos by Lindsay's Diet