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Artist Message
With a knack for wrangling natural light and manipulating color, Venice, California-based photographer Craig Cameron Olsen has been capturing subjects both intense and sublime for over twelve years. He’s a people person, a go-getter, an adventurer, and above all else - an exquisite storyteller. Whether using his lens to document the rugged versatility of the toughest vehicles on the planet, man’s never-ending drive to push the extreme sporting envelope, or eclectic spirits like musician Devendra Banhart and Slumdog Millionaire composer A.R. Rahman, Olsen is a master of drawing out the details and humanity that make any shot transform into a visual narrative. Famous for his exuberant personality, it might surprise some that Olsen’s passion for photography was sparked by something that bordered on bone-chilling solitude. He explains, “After two seasons at McMurdo Station as a member of the ANS Team in the US Antarctic Program, I knew I wanted to take my passion for photography forward. That isolation was like a chrysalis.” Since that life-changing Polar experience, Olsen has traveled to far-flung reaches of the world, documenting its people, their habitats, and their stories with a colorful, artistic flair that often pays tribute to one of his admitted influences, Henri Matisse. Olsen has won IPA, APA, and Clio awards, and his work has been featured twice on the cover of Communications Arts. Olsen’s commercial work includes campaigns for Nikon, Toyota, IBM, Nike, Kodak, Playstation, Nissan, Harley Davidson, Marlboro, Citibank and Mountain Dew. His editorial work includes shoots for Esquire, British GQ, Vanity Fair Italia, Outside, Men’s Journal, Time, ESPN, LA Times West, Newsweek and Mother Jones. Tying his editorial and commercial work together is the constant thread that makes Craig Cameron Olsen who he is - the ability to break down barriers and find the inner light and personality behind anything and anyone he shoots. |
