Name: Olivia Crawford
Year: 2014
The media of today has taken on a whole new form; the present sharply diverts from a past where developments of any kind required the partaking individuals to congregate in one locale. Cultural revolutions have taken on a whole new dynamic as the artists who are currently taking the lead in innovation can now communicate via a whole new avenue. Communities of photographers and other artists have arisen on places like Flickr and Deviant Art in a way previously inhibited by geographic differences. The potential for this new way of sharing artistic discovery has only just begun to be realized, and the boundaries of how far-reaching young artists’s works can now be has not tested.
  Olivia Crawford, second year, brings this change in interconnectivity between artists and their artwork to light through her recent successes. Her romance with cameras began sophomore year in high school. In her words, “I took my camera everywhere.” Her passion became more directed with several classes in high school, and even when she first started posting on Flickr she notes she was “very conscious” of how her work was organized and “digitally curated;” how it would be perceived by and draw in a viewer.
   Her passion was apparently contagious and by 17 she began seeing her work spread to different creative blogs based out of different locations in the US and even further abroad such as Fourteen-nineteen a UK blog supporting like-minded, young artists “in the earliest stages of their photographic life.”
   The culmination of her steady commitment came in the fall of last year when her Flickr account drew some attention from the big leagues, and she was asked her to take part in a major 2011 summer ad campaign. During last winter break she worked on Nike Sportswear’s Look of Sport: Los Angeles campaign, where she utilized her individual style to capture fashion and athleticism on the streets of LA.
   Olivia’s use of technology as a tool to advance art in a new way perpetuates the celebrated individuality of UC Berkeley’s campus life. And this will only further continue as she continues to explore and grow with an intended interdisciplinary major involving her love of film and the advocacy power of documentary photography.
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Her Campus: What is your advice to those who want to delve further into photography?
Olivia Crawford: Always keep a camera on you, one that you can carry around at the bottom of your backpack–disposable cameras are awesome for that. You never know when a moment you want to last will come around.
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HC: Current individuals who creatively inspire you?
OC: Nan goldin, james nachtwey, ryan mcginley
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HC: What’s a shot you are particularly proud of capturing?
OC:Â “Truly American fourth of July police”:
Other Photos by Olivia Crawford:
Nike Photoshoot:
Representative of Crawford’s style: