Painting with a Camera: Amanda Palmer
By Larry Stevens

Visual arts major Amanda Palmer says she paints with a camera. Not literally, of course. Rather, she brings the eye of a painter to the photographs she takes.

Apparently she does it very well. This College of the Arts senior won best in show at the sixth annual Atlanta Celebrates Photography exhibition. She also is represented by the new Castleberry Gallery in Atlanta and recently was reviewed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Not bad, considering she only became interested in using a camera about a year ago.

"My grandfather owned a gallery on Hilton Head Island, and my father was always putting brushes in my hands when I was a little girl; so painting is what I was immersed in most of my life," says Palmer, originally of Jasper, Ga. "The way I approach the subject of a photograph and how it looks is definitely influenced by my training as a painter."           

Palmer started at Kennesaw State University as an economics major. However, her interest in the visual arts drew her to COTA classes where "amazing and inspiring professors" led her to change career direction.         

"The professors taught me techniques and provided in-class critiques that have helped me grow. And they have kept me aware of exhibition opportunities, and taught me ways to get my work shown," she says.

"My work is all heart-felt, romantic and emotional and involves important people in my life. In fact, the subject of the photo that won the Atlanta Celebrates Photography show is the friend who got me interested in using a camera," she says.

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