not everyday you see a rinbow in manhattan

Out on Monday evening walking Iggy and Big, I stumbled up this vision.
A rainbow in NYC? How crazy. I think this is a first..
the small things in life make you smile

in Florida and made a stop at the Kenedy Space Center.

geek stop as I like to call it.. I was passing through and had to stop. Kennedy Space Center is an amazing place to visit once in your life or you can buy the year subscription and go anytime you want.. the total geek package I wanted to call it.
Be prepared for 5000 people from all walks of life at any given moment. Las Vegas minus the cigarette smoke and slot machines.
I was able to see where they launch the space shuttle and the various other rockets they have blasted off. The huge hydrogen and oxygen fuel tanks they use fuel up the booster rockets. The 'crawler' that carries the shuttle to it's launch pad, what a work of engineering. Everything at the Space Center is really a marvel. At only 50 years old they have accomplished many feats of extraordinary brilliance. I am a huge fan of the space program and wish the rest of the Republicans were as well. Vote Obama and vote Democrat!
Enough Politics enjoy the pics...



TWO SHUTTLE LAUNCH PADS AND THE ROAD THE CRAWLER TAKES


VEHICLE ASSEMBLY BUILDING


BACKSIDE OF A SATURN V ROCKET


MASSIVE ENGINES


GIANT SUITCASE CARRYING EQUIPMENT TO THE SPACE STATION

busting into my archive

a little pic from a story I shot with Kemal Harris in upstate NY. We had an idea of an bdsm shoot in the woods. Our subject were two female models whom accepted their roll and acted it out perfectly. For me it was a chance to shoot with a sexual strength that I tended to shy away from.. Now I embrace it and love to have that energy in some of my work.

again with some new

Well it's been a moment and tons of things have happened since my last entry. I have made a promise to myself to update my blog more often. Perhaps I can find it within myself to update daily on my adventures over the next few weeks.. We will see. Until than let's just drop something new down.. Just shot

just back from the "bu"

what Jamie Kennedy called the "Bu" is where I just returned... Spending a couple days in the nice weather in Cali was just what the Dr. ordered. Ahh, not for pleasure unfortunately. I was hired to re-image a couple brands that my great friend is now the VP. I will be hush hush on the names and labels since most (photographers) are out to steal anything job possible these days.
We shot at Harry Gesner's house in Malibu. Harry is an amazing man who is a retired famed architect living the good life of surf and beach. His house or rather compound is a piece of art that he designed and built. Next door he designed a home for Carey Grant. Kinda a cool til he started talking about Tahiti and Marlon Brando and than I realized he is no joke. It made me want to do his documentary and coffee table book. I must return to Malibu soon to find out more about this famed architect.
Now I am back in NYC for a day before my next adventure... I leave you with a couple pics.

Monday April 14th noon NYC

In the studio on Monday which is sometimes the greatest way to start the week and sometimes it's a drain, what can I say. This particular Monday I found myself in a new studio, Studio 385. Owned by my friend Ross of KM Camera in Tribeca. Nicely remodeled from what it looked like before. A must shoot if you want a Tribeca loft esthetic and the ability to have studio capabilities.

The day started off with my entrance into the studio, a half hour late, only to see the most beautiful model ever! Shelby from DNA. This Texas beauty was more than one could possibly want to see on a blurry Monday morning. While sipping my coffee and chatting with Carlos Davis the stylist catching up, in walked Marcelino and Claire Bayley the hair and makeup team from the top agency L'atelier. Claire is truly gifted with makeup and Marcelino whom I had not seen in some time was talented beyond imagination.

After some of my "welcome to my creative ideas and feelings" chat we all started our day which would revolve around shooting a 14-16 page story of Shelby. Shelby was.. was.. I am at a loss of words. This girl is really really special. I give mad thanks to Butterfly at DNA to pushing Shelby for the shoot. From the moment I saw her portfolio knew she was the girl for my shoot.

The day went on without a problem. The shots were flawless and in the end 4:30pm we finished our day and said our see ya soons and got the hell outside where the it was still warm and sunny.

One Monday that was an extreme pleasure>

my first solo major gallery show april 17th-may 31st 2008

Not many days left and counting till my first major opening at Peter Hay Halpert's Gallery in NYC. It has been a few month of anticipation, waiting for the opening. April 17th at 6pm.. crazy. I still have yet to have the prints made and framed. Everything til the last minute. Actually I have been on the road and unable to deal with the show. I have been shooting pretty much non-stop, both fine art/personal and commercially. It's nice to see something you love so much come to fruition. If you are in the NY area come and see the show it will be up for 7 weeks.

latest SOMA cover

MARCH FASHION ISSUE ON STANDS NOW

iggy sleeps while i am away in california

Soma sneak preview out next month

streets of San Salvador

It's the latest fad in San Salvador. Double barrel shotgun private guards. They all look badass, but what a job. While I was there I noticed that everywhere you go, these guys were on the job looking menacing with there big guns. Tire changing shops, video stores, McD's, banks, flower shops, taco stands. I am beginning to think that robbery is a national pastime in El Salvador. Why so much crime?

on location in swamps of ???

It's been awhile since I uploaded anything on my blog.. Hmm seems to be a recurring problem with me. Actually I am gone so often and I tend not to update when I am on the road because of many various reasons. Please don't hate! I will try to correct the problem. In the meantime I will overload you with pieces of my travels and new stories and photographs.

NEED YOUR WORLDWIDE HELP FOR CASTING

hey all.. My friend Jay Bulger needs your help. Jay is an ex-model friend of mine who is a man with a creative energy that never sleeps. He writes, directs music videos, and is now directing a worldwide Pepsi commercial. He asked me for my help in casting.
Jay will be traveling the world looking for young (late teens -early 20's) artists who are creating interesting and off the beaten track things.

He gave me an example of a artists who builds dog houses in the middle of Siberia.

Please send your casting ideas to me and I will forward them to Jay
olsonfoto@gmail.com

He will be in the middle east, russia, china, russia, Spain and many other countries.

This will start shooting in a week. So send me your info asap

recently asked

to be inspired by my own photographs.. gotta love that

Press is priceless

I recently was asked to hand over my contributors photo and bio to Vogue for my upcoming story. My agent popped this out.

New York Fashion Photographer Jeff Olson has always been inspired by imagery of the 60's. After crisscrossing the United States working on his fine art documentary body of work for his highly anticipated upcoming show in New York. He narrowed down the location for his collaborative shoot with Sarah Gore Reeves and creative man Billy Cole to the streets of New York City on legendary 5th avenue. " There is no other place on earth with the energy that 5th Avenue offers. You can be in Tokyo, London, Cairo, Paris or any other city, nothing
compares to the streets of NYC" When not sleeping on a jet traveling the globe shooting. Jeff's can be found with his two Brussels Griffon puppies, Iggy and Big.

press is priceless

flew virgin america

yea, I flew Virgin America. It was like taking the L train to willyb. You had to be uber fashionable lounging in the special waiting to board area. You walk on in and forget how cool you as the tunes play away. This is no ordinary airline.. the music, the mood lighting all making your entrance peacful and for lack of a better word ZEN.
You sit down and touch the huge tv screen that holds their inflight entertainment center "RED"
Wow.. movies, premier TV and all the music that Virgin publishes all for your eyes and ears to enjoy. Hungry, you order all your food and drinks with "RED" and one you get your drink, kick back and play some classic and new video games. The flight was enjoyable and the mood lighting very pleasing! 2 thumbs up!!!

picture of a lifetime

get this limited edition print before it sells out!!

you won't believe my day...

it's 10:23pm on Monday as I sit in LAX at the United terminal waiting for my redeye (overnight flight) to San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador which is a beautiful country in central America.

Working and packing on Sunday I noticed my Passport expired a few days previous.. Sunday in NYC and no passport leaving at 6am the following morning. F**ked is what I am at this moment. Many phone calls later I have a ticket to Philadelphia to renew my passport at the only place on the east coast I can walk in and take care of business. I bought that last ticket out to El Salvador in hopes I arrive before the shoot.

I stayed up late watching America's Most Smartest Model or Top something or other. I was so amused. It amazes me what people will do to get on TV. Ben Stein and the beautiful Mary Alice Stephenson, formerly the fashion Editor of Maire Claire and now Harpers Bazaar host this brainless show.Exhausted I fall asleep at 12:30am.

Crashed.. out.. sleeping soundly. I wake at 1:30am.. My little dog Iggy has become restless, I get out of bed and check on her. I go back to bed and she continues to paw at the bed on all sides. I pick her up and she starts scratching and I am like I can't take this.. I grab a pillow and go to the couch. I have a killer day starting in a few hours. I fall asleep and I am woken a half hour later by Soph telling me that there is something really wrong with Iggy. Iggy can't walk and is very listless and lays there not moving. Normally she would be the first one wanting to run around and have fun. I freak.. I think I have to leave for a job and Iggy looks like she is going to DIE. We rush to the Hospital on the west side. An amazing place. They take her right out of our hands. We wait, sign paper work and wait more. The Dr. comes and talks to us.. asks questions and such. We sign more paperwork. They suspect that she has eaten some pot of other drug. The way she acts is the way a dog wold act under the influence. Where is a DARE officer when you need them. HA.
The Dr. says run to a 24 hour pharmacy and buy a drug test. I can't believe my ears but I do as he says. I bring it back so they can test my dog for marijuana.. Somewhat humorous. They tell us to go home and sleep.
I take Sophia home and I rest for 10 minutes. I have canceled my previous train and made new a reservation at this point.

I play it close. I want to get to Philly early, but can I?? I arrive at the passport office at 8am thinking they open at 9am. To my surprise there are already 30 people ahead of me. ARGH.. Line moves and the lady says after taking $200 from me that at 10:30am, my passport will be ready.
2 hours to kill.

I go walk around and get a free ticket to see Independence Hall. It was within its walls that the Declaration of Independence was adopted and the Constitution of the United States was debated, drafted and signed.

Pretty cool to get the tour, see GW's chair and I mean the original GW, George Washington. Took in the cracked bell called the Liberty Bell. Starving I see Mom's which is proclaimed as the best Philly Steak Sandwich around. 10am and along with the rest of the tourists I dive into one of these fine sandwiches. Get the passport, get the train, visit my Iggy, shower and hop on the 4pm flight to LAX to catch the redeye to San Salvador. To be picked up and taken straight to the shoot. Out of the van into a creative meeting with the Creative Director who does not speak any English, the owner of the agency and the client. No coffee no nothing yet. I am dying at the amusement of the situation. Got a coffee and cookies at what time? 8am .. yummm cookies for breakfast. We shoot all day in the sun,clouds and the rain. Finish run to the hotel and check in for a quick shower before the traditional El Salvadorian dinner which was AMAZING!


From there off to the party for the advertising world of El Salvador. Drinks with the client and off to bed. I have been up for 36 hours straight by this point. Exhausted I pass out only to wake up in the morning to the sunlight shining in my hotel room. I look out into green jungle and blue sky with a huge volcano covered by the white puffy clouds.
What a sight after the previous day. A little breakfast, a bribe to take us shopping before our flight. In the plane off to the city. 1am roll into the house. Greeted at the door by the family. Iggy was finally home..

another day in paradise...coryK on canal st.

CORY KENNEDY IN NYC
another day spent with coryK running around NYC. Hit canal street to capture some off the cuff images and trying to piss of the merchants with the cameras and video crew. Yes there were many of us and we managed to make it out unscathed walking and shopping on canal st. You can not even image how much attention you can receive on canal street with a camera. They hate you.. They (the merchants) chase you, yell at you, stare at you with hatred, chase after you, shove there hands in your camera, and want to fight. My god they are fu*king CRAZY!!

Cory Kennedy flew in from Paris and I was hanging for an odd moment in NYC chillin with my poochies. We decided to document an off the cuff shopping spree on the streets to see if was possible to buy an entire stylish ensemble on the street of the illegal knock off.. No wonder the attention from the merchants.
CoryK rocked it ..I convinced her to change up with her new gear in the street avoiding the paparazzi for a moment.. Running into shoe stores to do some last minute adjusting before we finished up.
All in all is was great to see my friend again. With all of our world travels it's hard to hang and catch up..
another day in paradise..

so much.. so much

did I speak of my adventure crossing the country doing pre pro on a documentary I am working on and my fine art work.. can you call it Fine Art. I guess you can, though I consider it more of a body of documentary shot my way. Anyway, it was a journey that started at 2 am and continued for 6 days with a layover to see my grandmother in the town where I was born.That was really touching. It had been awhile and it was great to see her again. So 2am, I am off on an empty stomach and a bottle of water and one speaker that sits right behind my ear. Luckily I have my iPhone and my headphones, which means problem solved! Heading off into the black night I started to get mesmerized by the divider lines on the road.. Music pumping and my eyes feeling heavy.. Window down and 70 miles an hour on the winding roads of Massachusetts Hit the highway and see a sign for Cracker Barrel. No way will I visit some place that all of America seems to have visited. Instead, concentrate on the reason of my travels. Truck stops. Always something that intrigued me growing up out west.
4 am and starving and in need of coffee I stop at the first of many and find myself in awe. It's late I am tired and I feel like I have found the best thing I have ever set my eyes upon. It was a scene from a movie. Nothing could have been more perfect. The place mats wit the bits of history and odd animals to the typical when you thing of a female trucker walking by with 2 huge tattoo's of anchors on her forearms. To the kids eating eggs and hamburgers after a long night of partying.. I ask where were they. I am in the middle of nowhere. I eat and even with coffee, I crash in the across the front seat. Brush my teeth, turn the heat on and surrender to night. I awake a few hours later to a beautiful scene of the sun rising over a truck stop... where? I have no idea..... the start of another day