Empowering Women in Photography with Amanda Bjorn of Women Photo Tours

In this episode of the Big Photo Hunt Podcast, I’m joined by Amanda Bjorn, founder of Women Photo Tours—a sustainable travel company that organizes photography trips for women artists to destinations like Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, Italy, and Spain. Amanda’s mission is all about creating safe, inclusive experiences that uplift and empower women through the art of photography.

We explore Amanda’s journey, her life in Ibiza, and the growing impact of women photographers in today’s photography scene. Plus, I reveal some gelato pro-tips for all you travel enthusiasts. Whether you’re a female photographer looking for inspiration, a globetrotter intrigued by photography tours, or simply curious about how art can drive empowerment, this episode offers insights and stories you won’t want to miss.

Transcript

00:00:00:02 - 00:00:32:18

And then, you know, I tried to find that job again. And I reached out to a lot of photographers, mostly male photographers, and they were always looking for male assistants. And I realized that I was just going to make this tour myself and do it myself. I wasn't going to wait for someone to hire me. And I think that that energy kind of sparked this idea of like, yeah, I'm going to just make it for women, and I'm going to kind of create a safe space for women to to travel together. And I mean, so much happens when you just put women artists together in a room. 

00:00:35:08 - 00:00:56:24

Welcome to the Big Photo Hunt Podcast, a show where we talk with aspiring and professional photographers to help us all grow and improve our photography together. I'm your host, Ken Deckinger. If you're one of our community members and you'd like to be a guest on the show, please visit BigPhotohunt.com for more information. 

00:01:06:01 - 00:01:38:29

My guest today is Amanda Bjorn, and we're going to talk about women in photography. And I can't think of a better person to do so. Amanda, who is based in Ibiza, Spain, is the founder of Women Photo Tours, where she leads photography and art trips for women artists in Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, Italy and Spain. The mission of her trips is to create safe, inclusive travel experiences that empower and uplift women through photography and art making. 

00:01:40:15 - 00:01:42:22

All right, so, Amanda, how's Spain? 

00:01:43:09 - 00:01:48:21

Spain. Today? It's a beautiful day. Where are you? Because I don't want to, like. 

00:01:48:28 - 00:01:49:22

Make me cry. 

00:01:50:24 - 00:02:06:29

I know that my one of my best friends sent a photo of New York, and, uh. Yeah, it definitely does not look like Spain. Today's Spain is beautiful. There's not a cloud in the sky, and we're gonna be safe. So, um. Yeah, it's extra beautiful today. Yeah. 

00:02:07:01 - 00:02:07:28

Hold on. Let me get a tissue. 

00:02:09:16 - 00:02:30:10

I'm in Boston. It is none of what you just explained. That's why I ask how Spain is, because I get to visualize it. So before we get into our main subject today, which is women in photography, and I want to talk about your travel and your photography tours. Tell me about Amanda, who is Amanda and what's your journey? 

00:02:31:05 - 00:03:31:09

So I mean, in terms there's just so many different pathways to go down with who I am. I'm definitely a multi-dimensional artist. I would say background is in theater, art history, photography, music. I was in a band for about five years. Always have done photography. I think I the first time I picked up a camera I was 19 and I was doing a gap year in, in Paris and just fell in love with film, film, photography and then kind of completely switched directions from theater and started doing photography and was freelance for about ten years in LA, where I lived and went to school, and then 2017, I first went on to Cuba and everything kind of shifted, and I started focusing more on my business and created women photo tours, then moved myself to Miami, was there for a little bit, met my partner in Miami. 

00:03:31:11 - 00:03:42:19

He grew up in a Bisa. Um, made my way over to Ibiza and now, um, just had just had my my baby last year, who's almost one now in this March. 

00:03:43:00 - 00:03:44:21

I was wondering what brought you over there. 

00:03:44:27 - 00:04:07:19

Yeah. So so my partner Brandon, who's, um, he was working for an art gallery called Loomis Gallery, and so he was in Art Basel Miami, uh, in 2019. So we met there and then kind of did back and forth long distance during the pandemic and then finally hopped over here actually in the middle of the pandemic. So that's a whole other wild story, I'll say that one. 

00:04:08:21 - 00:04:41:24

One of my best friends was living in Puerto Santamaria, which is in the south, a very small town. I went over there. He was in the military. He was a pilot in the Navy and married the Navy base's fire chiefs daughter, who was a civilian, a Spanish civilian. And so we all went over there for the wedding. And it was to this day, one of the best weddings I've ever been to. It was like 15 hours, and there was so much the harmony and like the port and oh, it was so good. 

00:04:41:26 - 00:04:46:06

I love Spain, I've been to Spain two times after that and just it's wonderful. 

00:04:46:08 - 00:04:59:04

It's so amazing, the culture, the people, the food. And I mean, we both love Cuba. And I think of course, obviously there's there's so much here that reminds me of Cuba and yeah, cortado and jamon and all the good stuff. 

00:04:59:21 - 00:05:05:06

What is it that led you to focus on women based photography tours and experiences? 

00:05:06:01 - 00:05:36:15

That's a great question. I think that, you know, I always associated myself as a feminist, and I got very interested in feminist art. My senior year of college, I was running the art gallery and we put on like this big feminist art exhibition. And so I've always enjoyed creating spaces with other women artists. And just what that what that allows for creative work. 

00:05:36:17 - 00:06:06:27

And so just to give you a background, I first went down to Cuba in 2017 as an assistant to a Nat Geo photographer who was doing a photo tour, and I assisted him for two weeks. It was amazing. I fell in love with Cuba. And then, you know, I tried to find that job again, and I reached out to a lot of photographers, mostly male photographers, and they were always looking for male assistance. And I realized that I was just going to make this tour myself and do it myself. 

00:06:06:29 - 00:06:27:21

I wasn't going to wait for someone to hire me. And I think that that energy kind of sparked this idea of like, yeah, I'm going to just make it for women, and I'm going to kind of create a safe space for women to to travel together. And I mean, so much happens when you just put women artists together in a room. And I think there's a type of therapy that happens even on the trip. 

00:06:28:09 - 00:06:42:19

What is it that leads to that creative experience? I'm a man, so I obviously don't have that bond with women in that way. I've not experienced that. What is that? That leads to a different creative experience than when you are men and women together? 

00:06:43:12 - 00:07:20:22

Yeah, I think that, you know, it's just kind of creating that safe space again. You know, they they I mean, it's stereotypical, but that often if you even have like a whole table of women and even just one man, women will automatically like, make sure he feels welcome at the table or nurtured or like, heard or, um, it's just kind of this tendency. And of course that's generalizing, but that can happen. And so when it is just a group of women, I think there's this sense of freedom, there's this sense of, you know, letting your guard down. 

00:07:20:24 - 00:07:50:29

There's a sense of vulnerability that just comes out and a sense of understanding each other. And, you know, we can be also competitive with each other. So I think just like me, allowing everyone to kind of just come in and be equals and really work together and collaborate and share about, you know, issues we're having with work or, um, it just allows for things to grow, I think, in a, in a really beautiful way when you do have that space. 

00:07:51:23 - 00:07:58:01

When you went down to Cuba and you were looking to be an assistant and they're like, no, we're looking for a man, right? What is that? I. 

00:07:58:12 - 00:08:24:00

I think my I think that the, the rationale perhaps is that like, you know, an assistant is often carrying maybe like lights and like bags and like, so they're thinking, oh, like we need more like, physical strength to like, carry things, I guess, um, that's my only. Which is, like, silly. Um, that would be my only understanding of why. 

00:08:24:23 - 00:08:56:10

You know, I'm aware that there are issues, gender issues in, in photography. And when we were first in touch and we were emailing about this interview, you expressed a little shock that there was still this conversation that had to be happening. So I was doing some research just to understand, like what the landscape looks like, and I was like blown away by how lopsided it is. 80% of photography studies college graduates are women, but only 25%. 

00:08:56:15 - 00:08:59:20

Right? But then you the percentage of them actually exhibiting. Right. 

00:08:59:22 - 00:09:30:02

Yeah, exactly. Only 25% of professional photographers are women. Women professional photographers are earning 40% less than their male counterparts. It's even worse for women who aren't white. 83% of working photographers in the US are white. Um, and then when we get into camera brand ambassadorships, it's even more nuts. I read that Canon Europe had only 14 women of its 109 ambassadors. 

00:09:31:06 - 00:09:38:21

Is this just a sample of society at large of like the 8.1 billion people grazing our planet? Or is this more about photography? 

00:09:39:06 - 00:10:09:21

No, I think it's all I think you see it across all the arts, that's for sure. But yeah, it's so mind blowing. I remember seeing how many, you know, women were studying photography versus women that were actually getting to do it. And, um, I mean, even I'm thinking back now on all my photography courses. Yeah, we were mostly women and just a handful probably are, you know, still doing it. I mean, of course it is hard to financially sustain yourself in photography. It is really, really hard. 

00:10:09:23 - 00:10:59:03

And I think you have to get creative and you have to do a lot of work that you don't like. Um, you have to do a lot of headshots in the beginning. So when I was doing events or get into like wedding photography and then I mean, some someone is loving wedding photographers, but it's really hard, and I think it just makes it even harder as a woman. I mean, I'm also learning it not to go too much in this direction, but I mean, just learning in the last year, once you have a baby, just even talking to other women artists, as soon as you put that out there into the universe and publicly share that you have a baby, there's so much, um, I personally haven't experienced, but I do know several artists that have been, you know, refused jobs or just not given the same opportunities because they know that they have a baby. 

00:10:59:06 - 00:11:34:05

And as soon as you have a baby, you're almost kind of just like now, okay, you're going to go and do that. That's your full time job. Even you're now no longer, you know, part of this art community, which is just crazy. You know, it's absolutely crazy. I think a lot of young moms actually have more, um, creative energy in that first year, I definitely do. I feel more inspired than I have in a really long time since I've had a baby. So I'm like, ready to go, like, let's make things, let's create. I'm making music again. So I don't know. I don't know what happens in those years with graduation and then exhibition. 

00:11:34:27 - 00:12:06:08

You know, I just think it's already so impossible and especially for women of color, even more so to, um, to get jobs. They're just not being picked for jobs. I mean, I think there was definitely a shift that happened, you know, in the last few years and there were great resources that were coming out that were really, um, I remember there was this big Excel spreadsheet being passed around with, you know, women of color, photographers and, and editors, and it was being just passed around. 

00:12:06:10 - 00:12:17:09

So it was just like really cool DIY, um, you know, breaking down the system, but, um, I don't know if that's stayed. That momentum has stayed since then. 

00:12:18:08 - 00:12:44:03

One of the things that really brought this to my attention and made me want to reach out to you, was when I launched the Big Photo Hunt. I started seeing such a lopsided gender balance. I started seeing more and more men signing up, and through marketing, I've been able to balance that out now, thankfully. But if you just put it out there, I just started seeing more and more men and I was like, what is going on here? Because I was just not in tune to this. 

00:12:44:05 - 00:12:56:15

Yeah, I don't know what it is. Um, yeah. That that confidence that I don't know where that why that doesn't, uh, why women don't feel that same confidence to reach out or and the same way. 

00:12:56:28 - 00:13:32:08

I don't so I don't know if you know, but I used to be in the dating industry. I don't know if you know that. No. Oh, yeah. I started an online dating company years ago, and, uh, it was without going into the details, I was in online dating for years, and, um, I eventually sold that company to a public company and then went with it and worked for that company for a while. In that experience, I always found we did events, a lot of events, and we always had a lopsided gender balance at the events. Like women would sign up in droves and a lot of times men would not sign up and we couldn't get men to these events. 

00:13:32:10 - 00:14:00:28

And it was the opposite online, because we also had an online component where men were just putting themselves out there online and the women were not as available. And my theory at the time, and I never proved this, was that. And I speak as a man Like, I think it was harder for men to put themselves out there at an event where they could possibly face rejection, but online the men were just flooding it because they could be behind a screen and protect themselves. 

00:14:01:07 - 00:14:19:13

Interesting. I wonder, do you think it's because men feel pressure, like they're the ones that have to make the first, I don't know, not move, but like kind of initiate. So they're kind of the ones that are always like oh we're going to be rejected. And behind the screen they can kind of hide. Maybe I would. 

00:14:19:15 - 00:14:32:25

Say you're right, but I have no idea. And I never really you know, back then I was just single and I was like in my early 20s and I'm like, oh my God, women will talk to me. So it was like, right? 

00:14:32:27 - 00:14:41:09

I mean, now it's so interesting with like, you know, the young, young. I don't even know what generation they are after Gen Z. Yeah. 

00:14:41:13 - 00:14:43:21

It's so they're not Zoomers. 

00:14:44:13 - 00:14:45:06

Wait, now. 

00:14:45:08 - 00:14:53:25

Yeah. Gen Z is getting older. It's like, oh, I forget what they call. Are they silicon or. It's something computer based? I forget what it's called. I think it's what my daughter is. 

00:14:54:17 - 00:14:57:24

It's okay. Exactly. Um, I mean, I. 

00:14:57:26 - 00:15:00:25

Think it's gen maybe Gen I maybe, I don't know, Jen. 

00:15:01:06 - 00:15:17:19

Okay, okay. There we go. Jen I apparently doesn't I mean, they, they all like I mean, they're just like all on their phones. I think the idea of, like, speed dating would be, like the most terrifying thing the world and, like, wouldn't know how to like. Oh, it communicate. 

00:15:17:21 - 00:15:19:08

It would never work. No. 

00:15:20:12 - 00:15:22:07

And scary and and. 

00:15:22:09 - 00:15:22:26

Yeah. 

00:15:22:28 - 00:15:27:02

I'm like, yeah. What is, what is Rufus my son going to be like one day. 

00:15:27:04 - 00:15:38:25

When historians or when anthropologists look back at evolution and through this time period, they're going to see where human beings all developed humps in their neck. 

00:15:38:27 - 00:15:39:12

Right. 

00:15:39:15 - 00:15:44:03

Right. Because they have their heads down, their heads are down the whole time terrified. 

00:15:44:05 - 00:15:52:05

Yes, I know, I'm always just like now. I actively lift my phone up, though, when I'm out. So I look crazy, but I really try to actively lift it up. Yeah. 

00:15:52:07 - 00:15:53:07

And yeah. 

00:15:53:09 - 00:15:56:06

It's good, it's good because we're all gonna look like hunch backs. 

00:15:56:08 - 00:15:56:23

Right? 

00:15:56:25 - 00:16:06:12

All right, let's get back to photography. Tell me about what you're doing now. You're like, are you focused on prints and selling your art in galleries? And what does that look like? 

00:16:11:02 - 00:16:41:19

Hey, big photo hunter. I hope you're enjoying this episode with Amanda Bjorn, while I've got you here, I wanted to tell you about my next episode featuring photographer Faye Van Hest Faye, who is from the Netherlands, currently living in Melbourne, Australia, is a portrait and automotive photographer and her work is exceptional. We're going to talk details about portrait photography with her offering tips and a glimpse into how she looks at making her photos. 

00:16:41:21 - 00:17:04:29

And what's really cool is that before becoming a photographer, she was in front of the camera as a model. This particular experience gives her a full circle perspective on capturing and editing stylish portrait photos that pop, and she's going to give us a look into all of that. That's coming up next on the Big Photo Hunt podcast. Now back to the show. 

00:17:10:17 - 00:17:46:08

Yeah, I mean, it's definitely shifted. I've definitely been focused very much on women photo tours, I would say the last six years. And so before that, I mean, I was just going from like paycheck to paycheck, kind of just like making my month's rent and and that's kind of like living in LA. It was, you know, living with like five other people and a house. And when LA was definitely more affordable, now it's just like crazy. And I was doing. Yeah, just like anything at the time. Like I was saying, head shots, events, photographing bands, kind of just like cobbling different shoots together. 

00:17:46:19 - 00:18:17:08

Then really just the last six years I've been focusing on on the business. And what's cool is that, like, I finally started making money, um, which I didn't start this company thinking that way. I was just like, this was just purely art. And me, you know, being a freelancer can be super isolating and you miss, like, those art crits from university where you were, like, all sitting around, like talking about each other's photograph and you know, the juxtaposition of this and that and, you know, is so fun. 

00:18:17:10 - 00:18:52:05

And so I really started the company, like, because I missed that and I, I wanted to be around other artists again and like, talk about art and, um, yeah. So I've been mostly focusing on that. And then in the last few years I kind of shifted. I mean, I moved to ABC, I did join an agency, so I got asked to be a part of a amazing agency here on the island. It's kind of actually based between Ibiza and Europe, also started by women, which is really cool, really great team of women. And I'm starting to kind of go back into, you know, more commercial work. 

00:18:52:13 - 00:19:29:11

I used to do a bunch of look books which are just like, um, you know, fashion editorials for more independent brands, designers in, in when I was in LA. So I'm hoping to kind of move back into that a little bit while I'm here in Ibiza and maybe just, you know, do some shoots here and also in Europe. And then I'm always working on my personal stuff. So, I mean, I was doing a long term project when I lived in Cuba, I was photographing called La Juventud, which is focusing on, um, the youth and, and young artists that we're creating in mostly in Havana. 

00:19:29:19 - 00:19:40:11

That that for me, blew my mind. I think when I first went to Cuba, was just seeing the resilience of these artists that are creating under such impossible circumstances. 

00:19:40:17 - 00:19:41:02

With. 

00:19:41:04 - 00:20:16:17

Whatever they have to like. I interviewed Elaine Gutierrez. He's a photographer from Cuba, from Havana. He now lives in Washington, D.C., and he was telling me a story about like, you know, he would just well, eventually, actually, he went to the University of Vienna. It was a funny story. And he became the University of Havana photographer. And I was like, oh, that's cool. And how'd you get that job? He goes, no one wanted to do it, and they just needed a photographer. And so but he was telling me about getting his first camera down there, you know, and he just found a camera and he would borrow it, and it was literally like a I think it might have been a Russian camera or something. 

00:20:16:19 - 00:20:30:08

Yeah. Somewhere on the black market or something or a Taurus to, you know, donated it or I remember the first trip I went on, some of them brought actually cameras to donate, which is pretty awesome. But what was I where was I going? 

00:20:30:12 - 00:20:30:27

I just I. 

00:20:30:29 - 00:20:41:03

Actually have a question now that threw us off topic. Does Ibiza inspire you and do you feel lucky to be there or has the novelty worn off? 

00:20:41:05 - 00:21:13:27

No, the novelty has not worn off. For sure, there's moments because of course it's just life. And it becomes every every place you are. There you are. You know, it's that the line everywhere, everywhere you go, there you are. So you know you're still dealing with life. But Ibiza, it bizarre is it wasn't love at first sight. It took some time, actually, to really get into the groove of it. It's kind of bipolar. It has this crazy summer, which is when we all leave. 

00:21:13:29 - 00:21:31:18

And everyone I know here now in the winter also leaves and everybody rents their house, which is kind of great because it's a great way to make money. So you rent your house, you get off the island, all the crazies, tourists come in, you know, are going crazy at the clubs for like three months straight. And then the rest of the year, it's just. 

00:21:31:25 - 00:21:33:19

It's like the whole island is. 

00:21:33:21 - 00:21:34:19

Yeah, but. 

00:21:34:21 - 00:21:56:21

But the thing is, is that I first came to visa in 2020. So in the middle of the pandemic and I really got to see a different side of the island. So all the clubs were shut down. And I've actually never still haven't been to an Ibiza club, which is kind of I need to go to one just to, to experience it. I mean, my partner like first went to his first one when he was like 12. You know, it's like if you grow up here. 

00:21:57:05 - 00:21:58:01

It's like. 

00:21:58:05 - 00:21:59:06

Drinking coffee in. 

00:21:59:08 - 00:21:59:24

Cuba. 

00:21:59:26 - 00:22:01:28

Like he started like four. 

00:22:02:02 - 00:22:03:27

Yeah, yeah. So. 

00:22:04:10 - 00:22:34:23

Um. But yeah. So I got to really see. I mean, it's just beautiful nature. There's tons of hiking and biking and, um, amazing swimming and snorkeling and tons of, like, hidden beaches. And so there's this really beautiful side to the island that I think people know, but it doesn't have the same reputation as like the clubs and the party scene. And then what's really kept me here, though, is the community that I've met. Um, it's actually a very artistic island. 

00:22:34:25 - 00:23:07:10

There's a lot of artists and artists have been coming here since the 70s, and I mean, like Joni Mitchell and I think James Taylor and Bob Marley and the stones, like, I mean, there's this freedom, I think, on this island that that kind of reminds me of Los Angeles a little bit in the, um, in that West Coast energy of just like expansiveness and experimentation and. Yeah, and just like being on the land and and not being in a city. And so I do I find it really, really creatively inspiring. 

00:23:07:18 - 00:23:36:21

Um, at the same time, like, it's so easy to hop over to Barcelona, it's like it's kind of like Miami to to Havana. And we're gonna go to Barcelona next week. And it's so fun because it's like $30 flights and you get a little bit of the city for like a couple of nights, and you get to go to the coffee shops and go to the art art shows and then just like come back to the island. So I think if you can kind of do both in it, then it's nice. You don't get too much of that island fever, which I definitely do after after a couple months, I'm ready to like be around some people. 

00:23:37:00 - 00:23:38:07

Have you ever been in Nantucket? 

00:23:38:28 - 00:23:43:05

I've been to Nantucket. I think I have, I think I have, yes. 

00:23:43:07 - 00:23:44:19

Yes, it's it's cool. 

00:23:44:21 - 00:23:45:06

Nantucket. 

00:23:45:18 - 00:23:47:26

It's like, yeah, you bike everywhere. 

00:23:47:28 - 00:24:04:20

Yeah, you bike, you can bike everywhere. Um, I mean, there's cars, but there's a really great artist community there of all types, almost like Bohemian living on the island before it got so wealthy. And like, we're here and we're staying and. And then others came. It's pretty cool. Okay. 

00:24:04:22 - 00:24:05:22

I want every. 

00:24:05:24 - 00:24:09:06

Place has its own, its own hidden, you know. 

00:24:09:13 - 00:24:11:26

Every place. Yeah. You just have to go and find it. 

00:24:11:28 - 00:24:13:26

Even Nantucket has its quirkiness. 

00:24:13:28 - 00:24:14:13

Yeah. 

00:24:14:15 - 00:24:22:03

Just as you're talking about a visa. It kind of makes me think of that. So tell me what one of your itineraries is like for one of your trips. 

00:24:22:12 - 00:24:58:00

So each one kind of follows a similar structure. Of course, it very much depends where we are for and what the mallards, you know, very different um, the other activities that we do, but we always do photo walks. We always do a photo shoot with a local designer and a local model. And then we always do a studio visit with a local photographer so that we can get to see and kind of connect with, with an artist there. So all the trips kind of have those three main points, and then we also go salsa dancing. 

00:24:58:02 - 00:25:16:04

We go to the beach, um, we do a day trip to Vinales where we visit a tobacco farm and go horseback riding. In Guatemala. We go to the Lake Atitlan, which is an incredible lake surrounded by three volcanoes. Have you been to Guatemala? 

00:25:16:08 - 00:25:30:23

No, it's on my list. And there's a photographer in the big photo hunt community that I've connected with. And she. She lives in Guatemala City, and she's just like, come down, I'll take you around. And I was like, all right. Daniela or Otto? No. Daniela or Otto. 

00:25:31:16 - 00:25:33:29

Yeah, yeah. Okay. 

00:25:34:01 - 00:25:37:07

I'm always looking for more photographers down there to connect with. 

00:25:37:12 - 00:25:48:01

I'll introduce you if you want. She's terrific. She. She shoots mostly film and she's my jam. She started doing some photo walks and I told her I want to. 

00:25:48:03 - 00:25:49:08

You should definitely. Yeah. 

00:25:49:10 - 00:25:50:27

Okay, cool. I'll connect you guys. 

00:25:51:19 - 00:25:52:05

Okay. 

00:25:52:20 - 00:26:29:01

And then we also do. Let's see in Puglia we learn how to make pasta. We eat a lot of gelato. We go to a vineyard. We go on a huge sailboat. Do a sailing day in the Mediterranean. And then Ibiza. We visited a local sustainable farm. We did some hikes and then we're talking art for a week together. It's really cool because after the trips, a lot of the women and even I've had different wedding photographers and some of them have even gone on to like, work on weddings together afterwards. 

00:26:29:03 - 00:26:41:28

So there's this really cool network that once you come on a trip, like you're kind of tapped into and one woman is looking for an assistant or has a job offer like, um, it's great. It's great to have that community. 

00:26:42:09 - 00:26:50:15

I would join one of your tours in a second, because I love your photography and would love to learn from you and everyone that you have in your orbit. 

00:26:50:19 - 00:26:53:08

If I ever do a coed trip, then, Ken, I'll write you. 

00:26:53:12 - 00:27:28:20

Please do, please do. I'll be there without a doubt. Absolutely. And I'll go for gelato with you. Do you know what kind of gelato not to get, by the way. This is really important, believe it or not. If you go to a gelato store. Yeah, this is really important, I'm telling you. I was in Italy for about a month last summer and I learned this. So when you go to a gelato store, you don't want to go into the gelato shops that their gelato is puffy like, it's like overflowing on the top, or that has all these, like, bright colors. 

00:27:28:22 - 00:27:55:21

That's not real gelato. The real gelato is flat and has a cover on it and its natural colors. And the reasons are one. The ones that are puffy, they have like all these like chemicals and preservatives in them to keep them puffy. And the ones that have all the colors are not natural, because when you get banana gelato, it's not bright yellow. It's like white, right. And so like, yeah. So just so you know, next time you're in Italy, okay. 

00:27:55:28 - 00:27:57:04

Don't you want to stay away. 

00:27:57:06 - 00:27:59:08

From those neon colored gelatos. 

00:27:59:10 - 00:28:07:23

I was there last summer and I was with someone and we were walking by a gelato and she was like, let's go in gelato. And I'm like, not that one. Are you nuts? 

00:28:08:15 - 00:28:09:00

Yeah. 

00:28:09:06 - 00:28:12:13

She just looked at me like, are you a jerk? Just let me have my gelato. 

00:28:13:03 - 00:28:14:26

I was like, don't ruin it for me. 

00:28:15:27 - 00:28:21:22

You mentioned a few, but are there any resources that you would recommend for women in photography? 

00:28:22:11 - 00:28:22:26

Um. 

00:28:23:08 - 00:28:56:01

Girl gays although there. Yeah, I would check out girl Gaze. Um, black women photographers photo feminist is another great one. Um, women's street photographers like uh is also doing now a women's grant art Our Girl Rising is another great network. They send out weekly calls that are happening all around for women artists, so that's a great one to get on their mailing list. 

00:28:56:06 - 00:29:01:17

And where can people find you and find out more information about your tours? 

00:29:01:21 - 00:29:24:08

So the best way to find out information is website women photo tours.com and you can connect with me on Instagram at Amanda Bjorn or at Women Photo Tours and send me a message and we can chat more about trips, photography, anything, art. 

00:29:24:16 - 00:29:31:26

Visa and I have three questions that I ask all our guests. The first question is what camera system do you use? 

00:29:32:07 - 00:29:56:12

I have used lots of different cameras for jobs. It's my canon five D, Mark two and then personal. It's my grandfather's Rollie Flex that is my biggest prized possession. And I've just added a contacts G1 that is more for travel Street every day that I love. So film I love film. 

00:29:57:01 - 00:30:00:27

Number two is what is your favorite genre to shoot? 

00:30:01:12 - 00:30:09:24

Favorite genre? Uh, yeah. People. Everything surrounding people portraits. I'm a people person faces. 

00:30:10:12 - 00:30:17:13

And finally, number three is on a scale of 1 to 10, how often do you get that burning itch to go out and shoot photography? 

00:30:17:27 - 00:30:33:17

Uh, ten. Still ten. I mean, now with Rufus, my son, I have my contacts, just like always in the house. And that's. He is my. I want to photograph him every day and take at least one, 1 or 2 photos. I can't help myself. 

00:30:33:22 - 00:30:42:14

Amanda Bjorn, women photo tours. Thank you so much for being here today. Awesome to talk to you and if you'll ever have me, I'll be on one of your tours in a heartbeat. 

00:30:42:16 - 00:30:43:28

Thank you so much, Ken. 

00:30:45:00 - 00:30:59:22

Thank you so much for joining me for today's episode. Our next show will feature more valuable stories from our community members. If you'd like to audition to be a guest, please visit Big Photo hunt.com for more information. Thanks again for listening today.