You may or may not have heard of Jake Olson. If you haven’t he’s a blooming photographer who has made himself famous within the last couple of years. He has spreads in National Geographic and Vogue Italia, just to name a few. He also has multiple book covers across the world. You would think he’s absolutely untouchable, too famous to give anyone the time of day. Well, you’re close. He actually comes from the humble town of Blair, Nebraska, a.k.a. my hometown.
Most of his work comes from senior and family shoots. My mom has known Jake well before his new found fame and, therefore, he found the time to do a few sessions with me. He has a little catch to all of his photo shoots; he does almost all of them in the small town of Blair. The final project shows off spectacular Nebraskan sunsets and scenery that is absolutely breath taking.
For my shoot, we went to a wildlife refuge area in Iowa (right outside of Blair) and took photos in the forest and plain areas. The images are stunning and I couldn’t believe that was actually me in them. We took my other shoot on a county road in Blair that he uses for most of his shoots. We used my dad’s 1967 Chevy Impala as a prop and my outfit was 50’s era inspired. It was pure excitement. Jake makes such a lively and comfortable environment that it’s hard not to give him your all.
A month goes by and we get my photos back, but also something unexpected… a book cover, in Australia. What. My mind was blown, but it was real, it was happening. Then a couple of weeks later, another one came, in Germany. Then, the third and last one came a couple of months later in Italy, but this one was big. This is the cover of Lee Child’s novel, Jack Reacher. I’m on the cover of Jack Reacher.
I’m unbelievably blessed. This was definitely an amazing way to leave high school, with my mark, with something so amazing to bring into college. This story is also a constant reminder to me that connections are so important. It’s so important to meet people in college, because you never know where we’ll all end up in the future.