Today we’d like to introduce you to Olivia Bokesch
Hi Olivia, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Absolutely Olivia, my photography business, originally started as a fashion blog where I would share my outfits. I eventually got tired of having to wait for other people to take my photos and began messing around with self-portraiture. Taking my own photos on my own time and with no one else around allowed me to experiment more with posing, style, lighting, and creating interesting images that went beyond just showing an outfit. Through this I learned that I preferred to be behind the camera – creative directing and photographing. I spent one summer shooting two to three times a week for free in order to build a portfolio to post, send to brands, model agencies, and clients. This summer allowed me to build connections in my hometown, Atlanta, and NYC which in turn, helped me with my first few paid jobs.
Now, two years later, I have worked with clothing brands such as Madewell, shot for various musicians, partnered with a model agency internationally in Italy, and continue to ideate and execute fashion shoots with my own concepts. Absolutely Olivia started with a love for fashion and I am still bringing that creative vision to fruition, just in a slightly different way – through photography.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Creatively, my greatest struggle has been honing in on a style that I feel is unique and represents me. I want people to come across my photos out-of-context and immediately recognize them as my work, even with no name attached. Some of my favorite photographers – Kirt Barnett, Zamar Velez, Melissa Schriek, Carla Guler – all have personal styles that make images immediately recognizable as created by them. It is easy to get frustrated when the vision I have in my head of my work doesn’t translate in the exact way I want it too, but each new shoot allows me to move closer to the style I want to have.
Business-wise, the creative world is all about connections. The struggle there is establishing yourself in each new city you create in so that you begin to be a name that people bring up when searching for a photographer. Coming to LA as an outsider, I knew that it would take time and work to build connections as strong as the ones I have on the east coast. I had to build up a portfolio within the city, in different locations, studios, with different brands, to show I know my way around and have found my place amidst the LA scene. I know what I bring to the table and in photography, it’s all about showing, not telling.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I specialize in fashion photography, both commercial and editorial. My style has a dark vibrancy to it that highlights my love for femininity with edge. I love flash, especially in direct sunlight, the contrast it is able to capture makes images jump off the page or screen. A lot of people don’t realize it, but I also style the majority of my photoshoots. As someone who started from a scrappy place, I know the ins-and-outs of everything that goes into a photoshoot from moodboarding to styling to location scouting to lighting to model direction to post-production and video. I am most proud of this knowledge that helps me lead in my creative direction and helps those I’m shooting and shooting for see their vision, mingled with a bit of my vision, come to life.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
I have recently fallen in love with horizontal images. There is a cinematic quality to the way the orientation can capture motion, interactive scenes between multiple models, and fashion against a stunning location. However, when sharing my images on socials I like to start with a vertical shot so that it fills the screen. The apps PicCollage and SwipeMix have great options for posting horizontal images in vertical form so I have been reaching for those a lot lately.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.absolutelyolivia.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/absolutelyolivia/
