Today's Guest: Rebecca Olsen of Rebecca Olsen Photography in Sydney, Australia
Today's Host: John Bentley
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Rebecca Olsen Expert PageANNOUNCER: Welcome to No BS Photo Success Digital Photography Shop Talk brought to you by NO BS Photo Success Photography Forum. Dedicated to the portrait and wedding photographer who has the passion and desire to grow. Now here's your host, John Bentley.
JOHN: Today on the No BS Photo Success Digital Photography Shop Talk, we are speaking with Sidney, Australia, photographer, Rebecca Olsen, of Rebecca Olsen Photography. Welcome to Digital Photography Shop Talk, Rebeca.
REBECCA: Thank you.
JOHN: Now you're a long way away from us down in Australia. Tell us what you've got going on there as a photographer in the wonderful south corner of the world.
REBECCA: Yeah, I'm a portrait and wedding photographer. I have a studio here in my area that I'll travel for the client, but I also do a lot of contract work for other photographers. So I work for Amy Magnasalis who is another No BS member. She is a wedding photographer so I second shoot and prime shoot for her, and I also do a fair bit of retouching for other photographers, both working from home and working at their studios. So a bit of everything. A bit of working for others, a bit of working for myself.
JOHN: Now, you do more than just weddings. It looks like at your website, I've been able to take a peak at what you're up to. You've got some very nice photographs, portraits of families, children. Let's talk about all the types of photography that you do.
REBECCA: Ok. I do pretty much any sort of portraiture. I do enjoy working with young families the best. Although, toddlers can be a little bit hard to handle sometimes.
JOHN: Sure.
REBECCA: But yeah, I enjoy the interaction of families as they interact with each other, and I really enjoy capturing that. Probably the hardest genre I find is teenagers. I don't have any teenagers of my own, my little one is a toddler so I guess I don't relate well to that age group, and they just think I'm a bit of an idiot. So I try...that's one thing I need to improve on. I really enjoy shooting adults like trash the dress shoots and things like that as well and model shoots. So yeah just whatever lands in my lap, I'll do.
JOHN: I see that you also do pregnancy photography. Do you enjoy that?
REBECCA: Yes, I've done a few of them. I haven't done too many, but that's a great photo shoot because that time of a woman's life is very special. But often they don't feel very attractive so it's a difficult time to get them to feel attractive and get it to look the way that you see them. Whereas when you are the pregnant mother, you just feel like a beached whale. So yeah.
JOHN: What do you find to be what you end up doing the most of as a photographer?
REBECCA: As a photographer...family portraiture would be the number one thing that I do. Particularly young families, because I think parents realize that their children are growing up so quickly, and they want to capture those moments. I also get a lot of models contacting me for model photography, but unfortunately most of the models don't want to pay so I can only do a limited number of free sessions with those.
JOHN: Certainly. Now is the wedding business something that you do a lot of?
REBECCA: We do do a fair bit of weddings, but I doing them under my own studio. I work for Amy who runs Simply Photography which is another local photography studio, and I work for her. We'll do, oh I don't know how many weddings we'll do, but we're pretty busy.
JOHN: And you say that you're primarily an on-site photographer at this time of your life. Is that true?
REBECCA: That's right. I would like to have my own studio in a commercial space and that type of thing, but with us moving so often it's not really viable to get a commercial lease and we're up to the military as far as what sort of house we happen to live in at the time. I'm mostly on-site going to the client's location. Going to their house or a local park or whatever sort of fits their family.
JOHN: Sure. So the military moves you around a little bit then, huh?
REBECCA: It does. Yeah, we've only been in this house since the start of the year. Before that we had 12 months in a different house, and before that we had 2 years in a different house.
JOHN: That can be a bit trying, huh?
REBECCA: Yeah. Yeah. Just slightly.
JOHN: Well let's talk a little bit about your website. What is your website address?
REBECCA: My website is www.rebecca-olsen.com.
JOHN: And is there a contact number that people can reach you by, or do they just get ahold of you through the website?
REBECCA: Most people just get ahold of me through the website. I do have...I think I've got my mobile number...I think in the U.S. you call it a cell phone...number there on the website as well, but most people will contact me in the first instance by either email or with the feedback form that on my website.
JOHN: Alright, Rebecca, we're going to take a quick break here for important messages, and when we get back, let's talk a little bit about No BS Photo Success.
REBECCA: Ok.
JOHN: We'll be right back with Rebecca Olsen, Australian photographer on The Digital Photography Shop Talk.
ANNOUNCER: This program is sponsored by NO BS Photo Success Photography Forum. Visit them on the web at www.nobsphotosuccess.com. NO BS Photo Success dedicated to the portrait and wedding photographer who has the passion and desire to grow.
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ANNOUNCER: www.morephotos.com helps professional photographers manage their digital images online in over 20 countries. They can help you with domain names, websites, shopping carts, and online proofing solutions. Please visit them at www.morephotos.com. Www.morephotos.com the online sales solution for professional photographers worldwide. We now return you to the NO BS Photo Success Digital Photography Shop Talk show with your host, John Bentley.
JOHN: We are back in the studio via long distance telephone with Sidney, Australia, photographer, Rebecca Olsen, of Rebecca Olsen Photography. Welcome back to No BS Photo Success Digital Photography Shop Talk, Rebecca.
REBECCA: Thank you.
JOHN: It's always fun to talk to photographers and all that they're involved in. It's such a creative art form, but you know, it's also one that takes a lot of time and takes a lot of skill in other areas, and you've been able to get some help with your photography through the No BS Photo Success program. First of all, how did you run into the program, Rebecca?
REBECCA: I've been with No BS for a long time now. I think I stumbled on it from a different forum. It was way back in the years that No BS was free site, and met up with the guys and at that time I wasn't interested in pursuing photography as a career. It was a hobby, and I just wanted to learn a better way of taking photos, and they taught me sort of the basics of shutter speeds and apertures and how to actually take a photo and then maybe a year after I discovered No BS, I also discovered that I was pregnant, and being an Air Force officer at the time, I decided that it's not such a good thing to stay in the Air Force given my husband was also in there was a likelihood that both of us would deploy so with a little one on the way I decided to get out of that and photography just sort of happened to be the thing that I stumbled across. So yeah, No BS has taken me from being a hobbiest to being a professional.
JOHN: Now when you first started shooting pictures, what kind of a camera did you start with?
REBECCA: I started way back when I had a Canon A1 which some of the people might remember as a beautiful old film camera from the 1970s. It was my father's camera, and that's what I learned on. That was a really nice old camera, I think my father still has it. When I got into digital, we went with the B30 which at the time was the latest and greatest. I wish I still had it actually, because it has a bit of history I think. And at the moment I'm shooting with a 5D.
JOHN: Now what have you learned through the No BS Photo Success site that has helped you make that transition from film to digital?
REBECCA: Everything. No BS has pretty much taught me everything that I know about photography. I did three years at Pace College which I think is called junior college over there in the U.S. And it didn't teach me a thing. So I have No BS to credit for everything that I know.
JOHN: These guys have kind of a practical approach to photography don't they?
REBECCA: They do. They do, and everybody is very willing to give you critiques and help you along and nobody will jump down your throat for making a silly question or something like that. There's a lot of internet forums out there for photography, but No BS is really the only one that I've stayed with.
JOHN: What do you think has been the most valuable piece of information that you've learned from the No BS Photo Success site?
REBECCA: I think portrait lighting would probably be one of the most important things. Learning how to light a space and how to make it look really good. I think there's a lot of photographers out there who just sort of shoot and don't really look at where the light is going or what it's doing, and lighting for me is very important. I think it's what sets a professional apart from an amateur, so having that skill is really important and No BS has taught me that.
JOHN: Now do they instruct you on types of equipment that you might want to get in your studio?
REBECCA: Yes. Yes, they do that. I've had a lot of equipment...I guess most of the stuff that I bought was on the recommendation of people from No BS. I bought L&B lights. I hadn't heard of them before No BS had told me about them, because they're not sold here in Australia. Equipment like Canon equipment is pretty standard.
JOHN: Now your getting this information not just from the owners of No BS, you're getting this from other people that are signed up also, aren't you?
REBECCA: That's right. The owners of No BS, they do have a big influence in the site, but I think the big thing that I like about No BS is the community atmosphere. Everybody is willing to help out everybody else. It doesn't matter what level of your photography career you're at, whether you're just starting out or whether you're well established, but everybody helps each other out and that's really important.
JOHN: So needless to say, you would recommend No BS Photo Success to any photographer out there, wouldn't you?
REBECCA: Oh definitely. And they've got a money back guaranty so if you don't like it, you just write them and you get your money back.
JOHN: You can't beat that, can you?
REBECCA: No.
JOHN: Well Rebecca Olsen, we certainly appreciate you joining us today on No BS Photo Success Digital Photography Shoptalk.
REBECCA: It was good to be here.
JOHN: Now before we let you go, why don't you give your website address real quick.
REBECCA: Ok, the website is www.rebecca-olsen.com.
JOHN: Now I've taken a look at some of the photographs on Rebecca's site, and I highly recommend anybody to go down there and take a look at what she's got to offer. I'm sure you can pick up a few things from her website, as well as, the No BS Photo Success website. Thanks for tuning in everyone to the No BS Photo Success Digital Photography Shop Talk. This is John Bentley. Have a good afternoon.
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