5 Questions with Oliver Crawford.

My name is Ollie Crawford (@olivercrawford.nz) and I'm a photographer/assistant based in Auckland.

I am obsessed with photography after coming into it later in my working life. Prior to this I was working in project management/accounts in the UK, but I come from a creative background in music production, where I had a studio in Dunedin, composing music for documentaries and also DJ'ing a lot.

I still really love making music, but being involved in photography seems to have taken over as my main obsession over the last couple of years!

I love experimenting with unusual techniques, 35mm film, projectors, old pieces of gear, and generally just the whole collaborative nature of photography with a great crew of people. All of these things, plus a whole lot more constantly inspire me to keep pushing forward to become a better photographer.

Q1. What made you first pick up a camera?

I had random point and shoot cameras as a kid (disposable/digital), but it wasn't until my last year of living in London that I got my first DSLR about 5 or so years ago that I became truly obsessed with photography. As any of my mates will tell you, I took it absolutely everywhere with me in that first year, much to their annoyance at times haha. 

I moved back to Auckland in 2016 after changing careers, and have been trying to grow, learn and absorb as much as I can since then.

Q2. What does success look like to you? 

Success to me is being fulfilled & excited in what you're doing day to day, getting outside of your comfort zone and growing, and striving towards your long term goals.

It's also the freedom to schedule your own time amongst other things, but it's an ever evolving answer to be honest. 

I'm eternally grateful that I love what I am doing for a job. Taking the plunge back in 2016 was a bit of a leap of faith, but I've put everything I have into this to make it a full time gig over the last few years. Recently I've been excited to be able to pay forward the knowledge I've been lucky enough to learn from others, and even though I still have so much to learn myself, this process has been really rewarding.

Q3. What is your desert island lens? 

I'd have to go with my 1960's Super Takumar 50mm 1.4. When I first got my DSLR in the UK I only had a nifty fifty Canon 50mm lens, so that's all I knew when I started out. I guess I just got super comfortable being stuck in that focal range, and trying to make it work wherever I was.

Q4. Which shoot for you stands out as most memorable? 

That's a tricky question as so many of them stand out in my memory, but recently it would have to be shooting a story for The Guardian which was a lot of fun, or shooting art department stills for an American feature film which is due to come out in 2022.

Q5. Which photographer influenced you and your style the most? 

I thought about this a lot, and am struggling to narrow it down to be honest!

I draw influences from all over the show, and more often than not it's from people here in Aotearoa. There is such an incredibly high calibre of image makers here. Being able to work alongside, and to get to know these people is a constant source of inspiration, as cheesy as that may sound haha. 

I also feel that absorbing and reviewing everything visual that I come across influences me a lot, as well as looking through photography books. It's a nice tactile format given that so much of our work is just processed and viewed via screens.