London based photographer and regular i-D contributor Olivia Rose likes to get up close and personal. Through her intimate, strictly analog portraits, Rose documents the oh-so-important quirks and imperfections that accompany the range of personalities she chooses to shoot. From the very beginning, she’s had fascination with boyhood and scouted out every beautiful boy she could get her hands on — from the lads on the streets of her granny’s hometown to grime’s hottest talent. Most recently, she’s worked on This Is Grime with i-D features director Hattie Collins. From a chance meeting with Drake to her strange obsession with dying roses, here are 10 things you need to know about Olivia Rose.
1. She was a rebel at school, but also loved learning.
“I was trouble! Maybe a bit disruptive? I was the one smoking in the hollow bush at lunchtime — but I love learning, so I got good grades in the end.”
2. Making her passion a career involved roaming around with a camera.
“I basically roamed around with my Mamiya shooting any beautiful boy I could get my hands on before it became a career. I think at first it’s hard to make the transition from something you do naturally because it’s your passion, to something that becomes a career with expectations and responsibilities. Going to LCF and studying Fashion Photography didn’t hurt either, but in this game, it’s who you know, not what you know, that counts.”
3. She has many strange obsessions.
“SO. MANY. Highlights include: buying roses and not watering them and watching them die. Rusty metal objects, particularly large nuts and bolts and saws.”
4. The best shoot experience she had involved a chance meeting with Drake.
“That time when I was alone backstage at a Section Boyz gig, casually finding the good light for a selfie while bent over an armchair, and I hear someone shuffle into the room, look up briefly, it’s Drake, continue selfie-ing for a sec until it hits me. OMFG that’s Drake. I stood up dead straight and the only words I could find were (a v. high pitched) ‘Oh. Hello Drake!’ Luckily he found me funny, or endearing, or maybe he was just afraid of the crazy lady, but he posed for some (and I shit you not I actually said this) ‘piccies’. CRINGE.”
5. Her dream i-D cover sounds something like this…
“Unrepresented faces, people of color, celebrities chosen for their consciousness and talent and not their looks. And of course, shot by me. In black and white.”
6. Her passions and hobbies include two (very important) things.
“Music and men. Men and music.”
7. Her advice for aspiring female photographers is…
“Grow the biggest pair of cojones you can muster and go forth into the world knowing that nothing can stop you, young shooter!”
8. Her female role models are the amazing women around her, including i-D’s very own features editor Hattie Collins.
“My gyal friends, the women I work with… and a big shout out to Hattie Collins, my partner in crime on This Is Grime (omg I spat a lyric).”
9. Richard Avedon’s work opened her eyes to the power of portraiture.
“Richard Avedon’s In The American West is such a raw exploration of the human character and definitely inspired me to believe in the power of portraits as a body of work.”
10. Her ambitions for the future sound pretty mega…
“To shoot the Pirelli calendar with an all male, all POC cast.”
Credits
Text Lula Ososki
Images Olivia Rose