We recently connected with Olivia Zakes Green and have shared our conversation below.
Olivia, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.
I’m a queer woman who has the incredibly good fortune to be in community with many queer & transgender people in the Seattle area. So much of my love for photography comes from a yearning to keep my eyes always open to the beauty that surrounds me, and to watch for the eye catching moments that are so special that I must capture them and make sure they are remembered. I posses a similar impulse when it comes to the queer community. Queer people often live and thrive outside of the confines of societal beauty norms and familial structures, and our life expectancies are statistically shorter than that of our straight friends. We tend to develop our own personal styles which often weave the feminine and the masculine into a complicated web until the necessary balance is found that allows us to walk outside, and our walking outside is often tinged with the possibility of danger at the hands of someone who does not approve of our self expression. As a queer photographer working primarily within my community, I come in with an inherent understanding of these elements of our existence. While there is vulnerability involved in anyone stepping in front of a camera lens, there is an extra layer when there is the possibility of getting misgendered as a trans person having your photo taken. What I’m able to bring is a concrete understanding of queer lived experience, care, patience, and the ability to put people at ease in front of my camera.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I’ve loved photography since I was very young in a way that feels like it’s a part of who I am. However, I took the long road to arrive at photography as my profession of choice. For a decade, I worked in the film industry, building a career as a producer and production manager, putting together video and photo shoots for commercial and corporate clients. This career connected me to the larger film community in the Seattle area, and gave me an excellent understanding of what hiring managers are looking for from vendors and freelancers. Once I was ready to make the transition into freelance photography, I was starting out with a strong foundation and a network of people who wanted to support me in my creative venture. My current services include both film and digital for portraits, intimate gatherings, events, and performance art. I also have a dream of photographing queer weddings and am hoping to enter into that space.
We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice
Personally, I have a love of vintage items and aesthetics. I am drawn to the tangible, what I am able to hold in my hands. I believe this is a huge reason I’m drawn to film photography. I love the quality of the photograph that it produces, but I also love that it is created through physical alchemy and chemical reactions. All this to say that NFT’s don’t have a draw for me. It’s hard for me to see something special there. I suppose it’s a question of what owning something digital means to you. I don’t know if I see much value in this type of ownership because I am still trying to remain mostly present in the non-virtual world. It’s possible that this is one of the areas where I will start to show my age, but I’m perfectly okay with that.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
In July of 2023, I was picking my 70 pound dog up to put him in the shower when he bucked his body and snapped his head back into my face. What resulted was a concussion that was quite serious, from which my life and ability is still changed to this day. In the wake of the concussion, I couldn’t look at any screens (phone, computer, tv) at all for about 5 months. This made working my fast-paced job as a Sr. Production Manager on 3 giant monitors daily completely impossible, and I began medical leave effective immediately. What followed were many slow months of quiet, darkness with no lights on in the house and no distractions. I was alone with my thoughts and I had to learn how to heal my own brain. It was a lesson I’m grateful to have learned, and not one I would wish on anyone. The greatest silver lining of the entire experience was what came out of it, and that was the centering of photography in my life. Left alone with my thoughts, I was able to hear them. We couldn’t turn lights on in the house because of my light sensitivity, but I was still awed by the beauty of the light shafts entering cracks in the the drawn curtains. I would pick up my phone, snap a photo and slam it back down without looking because I just had to capture the light, even though it was hurting me.
I was able to listen to podcasts, so I began listening to photography podcasts and playing with my camera again whenever I was up for it. As I recovered, I would practice photography whenever I could, and I fell back in love with this art form. It became clear to me that this brought me the kind of joy that let’s you feel your inner child there with you, all lit up. From this clarity, I was able to make the decision to throw myself into photography head first and give it my all because life is short, and you might as well do what you love.
Contact Info:
- Website: oliviazakesgreen
- Instagram: instagram.com/oliviazgphotography
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olivia-zakes-green-bb770690/
Image Credits
Olivia Zakes Green