Amanda Abel was raised in the West Texas town of Midland and left for Austin the day after she turned 18. She received two bachelor's degrees from the University of Texas in 2003 and attended the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in Maine as well. After graduating, she worked as a writer and editor for an online education company and then moved on to write a newsletter as the communications director of a non-profit. During that time, she continued to do freelance photography and work as a photo assistant. In the Summer of 2006, she participated in a Maine workshop with Antonin Kratochvil and realized she couldn't continue to work outside of the documentary world any longer. Which is how she ended up here.
