Amanda Thuell’s job as a photographer requires her to spend a surprising amount of time lurking in bushes.

People often hire her to shoot their wedding proposals, but she cannot make herself known until there is a “yes”.

“Sometimes passers-by see me and question my antics, but it is fine,” the owner of Amanda Thuell Photography said.

She describes herself as a “wildly romantic, adventurous photographer”. She does proposals, engagements, portrait sessions, babymoons and weddings.

“I do it all,” she said.

Ms Thuell has an “intense flame within her heart” for her craft.

“When I shoot I feel like everyone sees that,” she said. “I can’t really hide it. It is really noticeable. I am a hopeless romantic.”

She loves getting raw emotion out of her clients.

“Give me all the public displays of affection,” she said. “If you come to me and say you are really shy, I take that as a challenge, and break you out of your shell. In ten minutes you are a whole different person.”

She was born in Bermuda but spent most of her childhood overseas. Her father, Tim Thuell, worked in the tourism industry and the family travelled a lot as part of his job. Her mother, Tina Thuell, is also a photographer, particularly well known for shooting horses.

“I came back to Bermuda ten years ago,” Ms Thuell said. “My parents came back three years ago.”

Her mother is now more focused on real estate photography, but the two of them sometimes team up when Ms Thuell cannot do a shoot or she needs help doing a large wedding.

Previously, Ms Thuell worked with horses in California.

“I discovered photography when we moved back to Bermuda,” Ms Thuell said.

“I was hanging out with my friends one day. I had a camera, and I took a portrait of one of my friends on some cliffs against the sunset. It was just a random, candid picture, but that’s what really sparked it for me. It just snowballed from there.”

She learnt a lot from her mother, but is otherwise self-taught.

“She is a really supportive,” Ms Thuell said.

Her mother gave her the first real camera, a Nikon D5200.

“I still have that, but I rarely use it,” she said. “Now I use a Nikon D780, and I love it.”

So far, the biggest challenge to running Amanda Thuell Photography has been just getting her name out there and building up a client base.

It was particularly hard when she was working a full-time job in a doctor’s office. She enjoyed the job, but it was not meeting her creative needs.

“Last September, I decided it was time to go out on my own,” she said. “Now it is becoming much easier.”

She does as many as four shoots a day.

“I went from working 9 to 5 for someone else to working 24/7 for myself,” she said.

When she first started doing portrait photography, she did a lot of free work.

“To build up a portfolio, you have to,” she said. “But I now very much know my worth and respect my time. I am done with that. The most supportive friends and family pay full price, too.”

She has learnt to say no. “Sometimes people ask for a 15-minute session for a handful of photos,” she said. “I say you could find someone on the street who can do that with their camera phone.

“If you want a professional who knows what they are doing, call me. Camera phones can take great photos but nothing compares to a real camera.”

Ms Thuell has found the photography community in Bermuda to be largely supportive.

She is part of a local group of women photographers who get together regularly to chat, vent and give one another encouragement.

Her goal now is to start travelling and working.

“I would like to see the world,” she said. “I have nothing tying me down here. I might as well travel where I can.”