I’m Amanda Chantee…
…and I am so glad you’re here.
I’m a photographer, educator, and content studio owner located on the beautiful USA West Coast.
My work is never about transforming someone or creating a version of you that is hyper focused on perfection. My work is about showcasing people as the works of art that we are, while making you more relaxed and at home behind a camera than you’ve ever felt before.
At the center of everything I do is something very simple:
I don’t just take portraits, I take care of people.
That means guiding you when you have no idea what to do with your hands. It means paying attention when you need a minute. It means creating an environment where you can settle in, trust the process, and actually enjoy being photographed.
Because most people walking into my studio are not professional models.
You do not need to know how to pose. I kinda don't want you to. I am your guide, and I promise you, I got you.
You do not need to arrive feeling wildly confident, but when you exit my studio, don't be alarmed to walk with a little more sass in your step.
You just need to show up and I’ll take care of the rest.
Who you’re working with …
I’m an introverted, eclectic old soul… until I have a camera in my hand and then I’m the most passionately upbeat hype-girl you could ever have in your corner.
I am deeply sentimental, slightly chaotic, forever collecting beautiful things, and very much someone who feels life through art and music.
I attach phases of life and important memories to music that ranges anywhere from Saint-Saens pieces that make me tear up to WuTang and then my brain stops registering after the year 2000. I firmly believe there is a song to soothe every hurt and celebrate every achievement.
And when I think about where all of this is eventually headed?
When I picture my past and my future self, I am a white haired, weather wisened grandma channeling Stevie Nicks as I tend to my herb garden in a coastal town. Family treating my house like a revolving door to their base for love and laughter. THIS is the goal.
Until then, I am here in the Pacific Northwest building businesses, raising humans, creating art, and forever wondering where I set down my coffee.
I live in the Pacific Northwest, a perpetually dazed single momma in awe of my tribe of humans. My businesses are built on my vision and love of art, but most importantly on wanting to show my children the power of dedication and dream chasing.
Why I photograph women the way I do
I created my business and my offerings around my own journey as a woman.
For a long time, I understood what it felt like to make myself smaller.
I spent years making myself smaller, more gentle, more palatable … I had a radical awakening of ME and realized I had spent much of my life diminishing myself and taking up no space for the comfort of others. That realization changed far more than the way I lived. It changed the message I want to leave in this world. It changed the way I photographed people.
I do not want to create portraits where you disappear into someone else’s idea of what is beautiful. I will not drown you in elaborate sets or crowded spaces. My sessions are designed to give you a safe space to be bold, to fuck it up, and to feel whatever comes forward.
I want you to take up the damn frame.
To be soft if you feel soft.
Bold if you feel bold. Toss out your mask of being well behaved.
Sensual. Powerful. Quiet. Loud. Vulnerable. Unapologetic.
Whatever version of you walks through my door belongs there.
My sessions are designed to celebrate YOU.
Why maternity is personal to me
Maternity photography has an entirely different place in my heart because I know what it feels like to not have those photographs.
I love maternity because I never had them taken of myself.
At the time, wanting photographs of myself felt almost embarrassing.
My partner at the time hated having family photos taken and dismissed art and the artists behind the pieces. I felt ashamed of wanting photos of myself, like it was on the 7 deadly sins.
So I didn’t do it.
And that is something I cannot go back and change.
I will forever regret not having photos of the miracle my body was while carrying each of my children.
That experience is one of the reasons I feel so strongly about photographing pregnancy the way I do. Not merely as something sweet. Not only as a milestone.
But as one of the most extraordinary physical transformations a person can experience.
I photograph sensual maternity because it IS a fucking glorious BEAUTIFUL metamorphosis our bodies go through.
Your body is building life. Changing daily. Stretching, shifting, growing, becoming something it has never been before.
You are allowed to want photographs of that. You are allowed to feel beautiful in that body. You are allowed to create art around yourself without apologizing for wanting to be seen.
And someday, when this season feels impossibly far away, I want you to have proof that you were here.
As your photographer …
Visually, my work is unmistakably mine.
I specialize in bold, deeply vibrant lighting that creates mystery and drama in your portraits.
I love intentional light, rich color, deep shadow and images that feel more like finished artwork than something simply documented with a camera.
But none of that matters if you do not feel comfortable enough to let me photograph you.
When you step into my studio, you are in the best hands. I guide you through every step with expert posing, direction, and care, documenting you as the work of art you are.
You will never be standing in front of me wondering what the hell you are supposed to do.
I demonstrate. I direct. I adjust. I pay attention. And yes, I will absolutely hype you up when you are fucking killing it.
When you step into my studio, your only job is to be taken care of. You’re never too little. You’re never too much. That philosophy applies whether you are documenting pregnancy, celebrating yourself through intimate portraits, or standing in front of a camera for the first time in years.
My job is not to manufacture a different version of you.
My job is to see you and see you well.
Portraits meant to live beyond your screen
I believe photographs this personal deserve to exist somewhere other than a camera roll.
Your finished portraits can become wall art, albums and privately treasured pieces created to last for generations.
Whether you are dreaming of a large-scale art piece for your wall or a discreet art book to be treasured privately, your final portraits are created with museum-quality products through some of the best private printing companies in the world.
Because this is not disposable content. This is your body.
Vancouver, Portland & select Las Vegas dates
My private luxury studio is located just minutes outside Portland, OR and Vancouver, WA.
It is a space designed around privacy, creativity and giving you room to settle into the experience without feeling rushed or watched.
I also offer a limited number of Las Vegas portrait sessions throughout the year for clients who want the same guided, luxury experience in a private hotel suite setting or a professional studio.
Over the years, I have photographed hundreds of women and couples, and I still approach every person as exactly that, an individual. No cookie-cutter experience.
No expectation that you arrive knowing what to do. No requirement that you become someone else for the camera.
Just you, in exceptionally good hands.
Come as you are.
My goal is simple, to make you feel as amazing as I see you.
Not more perfect. Not smaller. Not younger. Not transformed into someone else.
Seen, guided, celebrated and photographed in a way that feels unmistakably like you.
If that sounds like the experience you have been looking for, I would love to meet you.
Your transformation starts with a conversation.