Senior project helps local boutique

Amanda Domingues, an art and design senior, is using fashion and photography as the focus of her senior project.

Set to graduate from Cal Poly in June 2006, her project features 16 pictures showing off the spring fashion line of Adonis, an indie-chic apparel store, formerly known as Yellow Kiss, in downtown San Luis Obispo.

“I love seeing things in a different way, through a lens,” Domingues said. “It just captures a moment in time.”

Domingues started taking photos in 1998 as a junior in high school in Davis. She continued to cultivate her skills through a fashion photography class at Cosumnes River Junior College in Sacramento.

“I continued shooting fashion portraits because Kurt Brown (a photography technician at Cal Poly) said he saw me doing work in fashion,” Domingues said.

While at Cal Poly, Domingues became friends with Brooke Chase, who eventually connected her with Yellow Kiss owner Alissa Disalvo.

“She asked me if she could do some photos, and I said sure,” Disalvo said. “I think (her work) will bring awareness to the store.”

According to a press release, after just over two years, Disalvo realized a need for a store “devoted exclusively to apparel for men, and adopted the Adonis name to reflect the change in merchandise.”

She is also working with Disalvo to make a Web site for Adonis, using Domingues’ photography.

“It’s interesting how I can use photography and lighting to help promote the store,” Domingues said.

Now 25, she hopes to focus more on wedding photography beginning this summer.

Domingues’ exhibit opens today from 5 to 9 p.m. at the store Adonis at 952 Chorro St.