Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Olivia Trahan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Olivia thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Innovation comes in all shapes, sizes and across all industries, so we’d love to hear about something you’ve done that you feel was particularly innovative.
Over the course of my career, something innovative that I’ve done as I’ve been building my portfolio is offering very discounted prices for my services. By offering this, it was a great trade-off between me and the client where they got awesome photos at a good price, and supported a full-time college student; and I got awesome photos to add to my portfolio and use on my social media! It has allowed me to befriend so many amazing people through this, that are still clients with me now- and constantly refer me to others for their photography needs.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Absolutely! My name is Olivia Trahan, and I’m a full-time college student, part-time photographer and early-career scientist. I started doing photography when I was 15, and I’ve been shooting ever since! I started out doing photography a lot during the pandemic- at the time I really enjoyed birding, so I would go on bird walks around the neighborhood to see what birds I could get photos of. This love for photographing nature continued to grow, and I eventually upgraded my camera rig and wanted to pursue photography more seriously. My family and friends had always said that I had a great natural eye for good shots, and they weren’t lying!
What I pride myself on the most in my work is encouraging conservation through sharing my nature/wildlife focused work, and on the human side, allowing my clients to be authentically represented in their photos. Personally, that is always something I have struggled with is not liking how I’ve looked in photos- and being able to transform that perspective for my clients has been truly magical.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
Yes! I started out with a little photography account back in high school when I was a Senior Editor on our yearbook staff. On that account, I garnered lots of attention from the community and my classmates who loved my work. Eventually after I graduated and was well into college, I started an account specifically for my own professional goals- in hopes of starting a photography business, sharing my work, and having more reach through social media to bring in potential clients.
A lot of my following started out as family and friends, and has eventually expanded as I’ve worked with my clients throughout the years. What has helped me the most is always using 5-7 hashtags to describe the photo. Additionally, I also ask my clients to tag me on social media in whatever photos they choose to post from their gallery, that way I get some new exposure if someone is interested in my work!
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of doing what I do is most definitely seeing and hearing a client’s reaction to their gallery. It just makes my heart so full to know that they truly do love their photos- especially seeing them use one as their profile photo!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://otrahanphotography.wixsite.com/trahanphotography
- Instagram: @otphotog
Image Credits
Summer Isabella Media