Meet Olivia Bradley | Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Olivia Bradley and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Olivia, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
To create a better definition of internal balance. We sometimes work jobs based on the reward system of being rewarded for our time spent on the job. I would believe the biggest benefit of pursuing your creative abilities while rewarded with appreciation for your artistic abilities provides inner balance and external value for others.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I was able to get inspiration on many levels from the clients that requested services to the programs offered through mentorship, to inspiring photographers and programs that were funded either by county or community programs and charity organizations.

To get to where I am now, it wasn’t easy. Because of all the paperwork involved, learning new systems and softwares, correspondences and weekly meetings all while working a full time job was a big challenge. I overcame the challenges by crying it out, talking with family and asking for help from the experts.

Some of the lessons I’ve learned along the way were the following: You can’t let people take advantage of you while running a business, set consistent time just for company hours to do photography and to do the editing, to maintain work-life balance. Learn from others’ mistakes as well as your own, and don’t overthink things. Because overthinking suppresses your creativity.  Also, home in on a specialty in your profession and studying the areas that you can grow into.

What I want the world to know about me. I’m focused on giving each client the best experience from start to finish. Photography is something that I love doing for a long time now. It seems easy to do from the outside looking in but, there’s rules to gaining success in this business and every day is a learning experience.

My focus is on photographing life’s unique moments, that’s what the PLUM means in the Snappy Plum Photos name. I’m sure that there’s a lot of photographers that have a big following and clientele.  But, for ome, as a small business owner, I am hoping to gain growth for the next 4 year period and my focus will be portrait photography.  More details can be found on my site https://snappyplumphotos.smugmug.com/

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If my best friend was coming to town, I’d definitely check the Armature Works area, Clearwater area for some beach vibes and maybe visit Hyde Park or Ybor City for some food and activities.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d like to give my house out to my mentor Donald Stokely Jr. He guided my starting out process in the professional side of photography.  Also, I’d like to give my close friends and family members a big thank you for the encouragement and support from the beginning.

Website: https://snappyplumphotos.smugmug.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/snappyplumphotos/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SnappyPlumPhotos

Image Credits
Olivia Bradley, Cece Mitchell, Janaina and Alan Brothers, Donald Stokely.