Amanda Gore

Introducing our “Suite Life Guild of Artisans” partner Amanda Gore

Image Credit: Amanda Gore © 2022

Amanda Gore “Through her eyes”

Amanda Gore is a native of Kingston Jamaica. She loves to travel, listen to old time reggae and hang out in the cool rolling hills overlooking Kingston. She loves Jamaican food and drink, especially a great cup of blue mountain coffee with her breakfast of salt fish and callaloo.

Amanda is creative, and adventurous. She considers her homeland a visual feast. The landscape of Jamaica is her muse. Photography is more than a hobby, it is Amanda’s joy. Her very first camera was a Polaroid. It was after she took her first photo, that a passion for the camera was ignited. Amanda’s current new best friend is a 35mm Digital Olympus. She loves to capture her surroundings in both black & white and colour. While looking through the lense of her camera. The visuals speak to her, and through the lense she captures unique subjects that evolve into her final creations.

On her adventures around the Island Amanda has captured many images. She loves unique terrains, quirky signs, old and odd architecture, sunsets & other visual treasures unique to the Jamaican landscape.
Each shot tells a story. Below is a great example of her work entitled, “Late for Church”.

Photo Credit: Amanda Gore © 2022 (This photograph will soon be available on SuitelifeJamaica.com as a print on canvas signed by the artist.

In this Amanda Gore original photo, you can see a view of downtown Kingston on any given Sunday. It is surprisingly quiet for a busy city. However, it is not unusual for the downtown core of the city to be empty on a Sunday morning. Sunday’s are special in Jamaica, as most people make an effort to be home with family, or at their place of worship. The focus of the piece is a woman dressed in her Sunday finest for church. She is late, why else would she be running in 90 degree heat?

Each of Amanda’s pictures tell a tale. There is a story behind every shot. The story, real or imagined may be different for each viewer. Perhaps she is late for a wedding or a function, who really knows? Where she is going is not important to the photo itself.

The importance of this piece is that it is a moment caught in time. What makes this photo truly special is the sense of quiet in an ordinarily busy, noisey and sometimes dangerous place. The only movement is that of the subject running in her best Sunday best. Wherever she is going is important to her, and this sense of urgency is transferred to the viewer. The juxtapositioning of her movement against the quiet is what makes this such a special photograph.

Each of Amanda’s photos convey a quiet commentary on Jamaican society and life in general. She see’s the world in a unique and positive way through the lense of her Camera. Where there is ugliness there is also positivity, joy and hope. We the viewers get to experience what she is feeling through her photographs.

Image credit: Amanda Gore © 2022

“The Country Schoolhouse” is another great example of Amanda’s visual understanding of the pleasantness versus the less savory elements of life caught by the camera. Here, the visual translates to the metaphorical. The schoolhouse itself is a bit rundown but conveys a sense of joy and hope as someone has taken the time to make the schoolhouse look joyful and engaging for the children who will study there. The colours of the house are cheery and enticing with happy childhood images and numbers painted on the front. We can imagine the joy of the children learning inside.

Contrast this with the old television discarded in front of the schoolhouse. It sits in front of a dark band of blue. It is up to the viewer to decide, do you see the light and hope generated from the schoolhouse, or the negative of the discarded garbage in the dark area of the photograph? The focus of the shot itself is on the schoolhouse and not the small, discarded item which looks minute in comparison. This is a picture of promise and hope a message to ignore the negative and focus on the positive. Let the negative aspect of the picture stay in its dark, little, tiny corner where it belongs.

Amanda Gore has captured the beauty that is Jamaica in a series of photographs which she is now turning into a variety of artistic products. Included in her offerings will be a variety of limited edition signed prints on canvas and a line of posters.

Suite Life has been lucky to have Amanda compile some of her work for us; which she has turned into a calendar for 2023. The calendar is entitled “Through my eyes” and it can be purchased on our Guild of Artisans page please see exerpts below.

Calendar front

Photo Credit: Amanda Gore © 2022

Calendar back

Photo Credit: Amanda Gore © 2022

If you like Amanda’s Calendar and the examples of her work shown and are interested in seeing more of her work, please follow her Instagram page @through_my_eyes_75 or email Amanda at
amanda.goreshim@gmail.com.