Interview with photographer Andrea Olivo

* Contains some mild nudity*

*NSFW*

How long have you been taking photographs? I’ve been at it about 12 years now but the real bulk of my work has been done in the last 3 or 4. Where do you source your models? Do you photograph people that you know? Model agencies mainly. I have a good relationship them and we both get what we need. As for people I know, I don’t get a chance to too often but every now and then somebody is crazy enough to have a jump. Ofcourse my long suffering girlfriend is also one of my favourite subjects but I doubt she’ll ever let me use those pics 😉 How would you describe your work to somebody who hasn’t seen it? Fun. I try not to take myself too seriously and I think that reflects in the images I make.

There appears to be a distinct crossover but how does your personal work differ from your commercial/fashion work? I can play more when I shoot my personal stuff. It’s usually just me and a model or if there is a team, it’s people I’ve worked with before in the past and they know what too expect whereas when I do the commercial work I’m much more serious on set and while I still try to propose the same quirkiness that I enjoy in my personal stuff I know it often (not always) needs to be toned down and cleaned up a bit. What do you most like to photograph? Girls and Interesting Places - Actualy make that naked girls in interesting places What person alive or dead would you most like to photograph if you had the chance? Jesus There is a real vibrance and energy in the Casting Couch project (blog). There is something about the repeated motif of the swirled art, couch and plant. Can you tell me about this project and your approach to it. Basically it started out as a fun little project about 2 years back. I live in a small loft and there isn’t really much space to shoot. I would do loads of go sees to see the girls I’d casted online and started taking Jurgen Teller / Terry Richardson type white wall casting pics…. but they were already doing that way better than me so I looked for a way to differentiate myself and the casting couch idea popped up sort of as a metaphor for fashion … the girls come and go but the industry is always there, just getting older, faded and stained..

What’s in the future for you? Upcoming projects etc Who knows…. each year is holds it’s own surprises and if the Maya are right we don’t really have to worry too much about the future 😉 www.andreaolivo.com www.andyolivescastingcouch.blogspot.com Interview by Daniel Smith more images below...