Amalya Shandelman
“Life is not static. It is about dynamics. Life is about change. As a portrait photographer, those are the dynamics I endeavor always to capture in my subjects. To help them see themselves as I see them: Constantly emerging and stepping out of themselves, but then to come back in – truer and better.”
Amalya was born in Moscow to an artistic family in the broadest sense. Her mother is a professional piano teacher, and her father is an artist and sculptor. Amalya was attracted to photography from a very early age; as a young girl, she walked the streets of Moscow (not alone, of course) capturing images of that impressive city with an old but very solid Leica that she had inherited from her grandfather. Following high school, Amalya attended university and graduated with a diploma in journalism.
In her early twenties, Amalya traveled to Boston, camera in hand, and made that city her home for over five years. Making the transition from Russia to the United States felt natural because for Amalya, Boston seemed to have a European flavor.
From there, Amalya moved on to Houston where she has worked for both cultural institutions such as the British Museum, as well as educational organizations and corporations, including Rice University and the British Broadcasting Corporation.
Never standing still, always moving forward – these, Amalya says, are the best guarantees of success.
