A photo is a moment in time; frozen and held in place by precise angles and settings, a flow of colors displaying emotion and memory that otherwise may fade into the past. This is the work of someone who doesn’t simply click and snap but creates and makes you feel and wonder as you gaze on the story they have captured. This is the work and life dream of Olivia Wilson, the creative force behind Olivia Dawn Photography. Olivia brings a unique perspective to portrait, performance, and event photography which has been shaped by her own personal journey of self-acceptance over her lifelong battle between her two sides: logic and creativity.
A Florida native who returned to her roots after spending two decades in Ohio, Olivia now captures moments of beauty all over Tampa Bay. Olivia Dawn Photography also has experience with fantasy, sports, fashion, family, engagement, maternity, and musical imaging. Give her a shot and she WILL capture THE shot you are looking for! And probably many more!
Olivia makes a point of always becoming a better photographer, seizing every opportunity to find people or events that she is not accustomed to shooting and just go do it!
“I went to the park and I was photographing these dudes playing basketball. That was so funny because I was just sitting there by myself on the sidelines with my camera, laughing because they were so funny. They were totally showing out for me, jumping, doing all the things, faces ad tongues out,” she continues laughing. “Then I did the same thing with skaters. The skate park was a blast too. They would do the same things, they knew I was taking photos of them, and they would you know, try even harder, do different things and after a little while, they would come over and be like ‘are you getting some good shots?’ and I was like yeaaaa- give me your handle and I will send them to you”.
Olivia can be found shooting at FM Photo Meets, with Nakedlyunderconstruction at events around the city, has covered sports promotion for boxer Jasmine “The Animal” Artiga, and fashion promotion for designer Sheri Amor Couture. Will YOU be next?
Olivia’s Creative Side Ebbs and Flows with the Tides of Her Life
Creativity has been central to Olivia’s identity since childhood. Her artistic talent emerged early—her first drawing was featured in a newspaper when she was in kindergarten. Throughout her life she would continue to explore various creative outlets including drawing, painting, poetry, and photography.
“So when I was in high school I wanted to be a doctor, I wanted to be….I wanted to be EVERYTHING ! I was painting. And I was drawing. And I was journaling. And I was writing poetry. And I was taking photos. I was doing all of the things, and then I was like I’m going to be a doctor. You know cause you’re not there yet where you learn you can’t be ALLL of the things…but than again, you Can be all of the things.” Olivia reminisces.
After a unsettling move to Ohio in her teen years, Olivia was angry and rebellious. When she finally re-emerged around 16, she had decided she was going to get a job that might actually cause her to have some interest in this new state. She began one of her first jobs in Kmart’s photo department selling cameras for $4.25 a hour. She purchased her first “expensive” camera in 1990,—an Olympus that cost $300, followed by a Sony more than 10 years later for $800.
Olivia remembers her distress on how to use all the different settings of the Sony ,“It was my first like, oh it’s a detachable lense, this is a big deal, and back then I got super frustrated with manual mode. I just couldn’t wrap my mind around the aperture, and I was like why the shutter speed? And you know…why… and like I couldn’t get the triangle down”. This caused her to end up deciding to focus on just taking photos and working on the composition.
While photography has been a longtime passion, and she was known to have all kinds of fun with homey arts and crafts and scrapbooks over the years raising children, Olivia only began professionally photographing clients outside her immediate family about a year and a half ago. This was initiated by her final camera purchase Sonya7iv which led to many different equipment add on’s to enhance her photography as she learned from her daughter in law Tessa, who had inspired her to get serious about her photography when she saw how Tessa’s photos made her feel and sparked excitement in her belly.
Olivia decided that since she was going to update her equipment and really learn the craft that she WOULD learn how to use the camera like a professional and not touching auto mode. She learned a lot from her daughter in law Tessa, watching youtube videos and practicing a lot through trial and error, evaluating each photo taken and figuring out what she liked about each photo and what she didn’t like about each photo and finding ways to make it better accordingly.
Olivia laughs as she recalls one of her favorite and most quirky learning experiences,“ “When I was learning motion blur, I laid on my floor and was taking photos of the ceiling fan, and my poor husband was like ‘what in the hell are you doing? Why are you taking pictures of the ceiling fan?’” Olivia is caught up in the memory with giggles before she explains, “….because I was trying to figure out how to freeze the different parts of the image and to make it blur where I wanted it to blur. Cause I LIKE motion blur, because there are certain things that I LIKE to do and that I do on purpose. And you can see that, like everybody, its part of your style…but I probably took over 150 photos of the fan because I Just would snap a photo change one setting, snap another photo change one setting, so I finally I learned if I focus on the center of the fan than I can blur the blades.”
Olivia’s Logical Side Provides and Shines
By day, Olivia serves as a pediatric nurse practitioner, bringing the same care and attention to her medical practice that she does to her photography. It may be important to note that she did not immediately go to college right out of high school, taking more than a year to decide her next step. In a boring turn of events, Olivia then spent over 10 years in the banking industry before finding that doing what society tells you is success is so often not fulfilling and took it into her own hands to pursue the passions she had loved and dreamed of as a youth. After starting nursing school in Fall of 2009, her path brought her back to Florida in 2014. First settling in Sarasota for an ER nurse internship before finding her current home in Apollo Beach to be closer to the Tampa Bay area.
Olivia shares some of the challenges of a career shift with a young family, raising a 4 year old son, “I was already married and life was already happening, so I was like if we are going to do it, we are gonna just do it. So we were in Columbus, moved to a small town, Zanesville. My in-laws had another house and they didn’t charge us rent or anything so that was a blessing, so we paid the utilities and paid the property taxes and lived there while I was in school. And my husband drove back and forth a hour and a half to work every day just so that I could be right there by school”.
A Message of Self-Acceptance
What truly sets Olivia’s work apart is the personal philosophy behind her lens. Her own journey with body image has deeply influenced her approach to photography. After struggling with weight throughout her life, including undergoing a gastric bypass surgery in 2008 and experiencing the emotional rollercoasters and mental health struggles that came with dramatic weight changes, Olivia arrived at a place of self-acceptance. Today, you will find her to be a bubbly, almost care-free woman who brings happiness to all around her from snipping photos of memories, framing moments that amplify others talents, promoting events through visual eye popping scenes, and finally caring for our youth and their most basic health needs with love and compassion.
“I want people to learn to be happy in their own skin,” she shares. “If I can take beautiful photos and let people look at those photos and see themselves and be happy, then my goal is accomplished. I want people to feel beautiful and empowered.”
The Power of a Photo
Olivia believes art reaches people in uniquely personal ways. “I think that art reaches people in a different way because it’s so subjective,” she explains. “What one person gets out of it is not what someone else will get from it. Each person takes a piece of the art and relates it to themselves in a way only they can understand.”
Looking Forward
While Olivia considers herself both established and emerging in her photography career, she’s excited about expanding into event and wedding photography. Currently her gallery thoroughly reflects portrait, family, sports and creative talent highlighting photography. “I really enjoy taking photos that make people feel beautiful and special, and a wedding day is both of those things,” she says. “I remember feeling like a princess in my wedding gown, so that’s probably what’s next on my horizon.”
Through her lens, Olivia Dawn doesn’t just capture images—she reflects back the beauty she sees in everyone, helping her subjects discover the same self-acceptance she fought so hard to find herself. When you hire Olivia Dawn Photography you will receive countless photos that make you feel like magic; that capture you in such a way that you will end up looking at yourself in a totally different light. Everyone has a vibe they bring, a style, and hers is bringing your life and inside light to life and freezing in breath of a snap for ALL to see.
Written By: Writerreyes
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Check Out Olivia Dawn’s Photography website: https://www.oliviadawnphotography.com/
Follow on Instagram : @olivia_dawn_photography
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