Hallo!

Introducing Amanda Umberger:

For our first assignment in our New Media class we were asked to interview a fellow student from the 5th floor. Here is my brief biography of talented photographer:

Amanda Umberger names herself a “child of divorce,” and rightly so. Her first experience was when she was three years old: her parents split up and moved to the opposites sides of the country. Her mother, having already gone through two divorces by the time Amanda was born, stayed in Port Orchard, Washington (where Amanda spent most of her childhood), while her father moved to Methuen, Massachussets and remarried. Unfortunately, her experiences visiting her father were horrendous: a real life Cinderella story. Her evil, Greek stepmother had two evil daughters who would form a little trio against Amanda while her father was out. All of this is to say that while her mother was trying to figure out what love really meant, and her father becoming bankrupt because of his recent divorce and having to move back in with his parents in Pennsylvania, Amanda had to persevere and succeed for herself as well as her mother.

She kept herself busy, and at a very young age, found a passion for photography. Her first experiences with a camera were early on in middle school, which rapidly evolved and became an integral part of her experiences through high school, borrowing her mother’s SLR and experimenting with photography in any way she could. Her high school photography teacher, Janet Neuhauser, was and still is a major influence on Amanda as well as fueling her ever growing passion. What I find most exciting is that they still keep in touch through various social mediums. While her photography skills were developing, Amanda also took up German classes. The summer before sophomore year, she traveled to Germany and brought her very own point and shoot camera. She discovered her talent as well as gained her mother’s trust in order to freely use her mother’s SLR. From there, incorporating photography into her life was no longer a choice. Some of her photos were even featured in a darkroom gallery in Vermont as well as the Seattle erotic arts festival!

– Teach