Behold

A Young Photography Phenom Captures a Dreamy Vision of Teenage Life

Pre-Kiss, 2010.

Copyright Olivia Bolles

Unlike other art forms, photography isn’t known for producing many wunderkinds. But Olivia Bee is a prominent example of how quickly one can ascend.

At age 11, Bee accidentally ended up in a photography course at her Portland, Oregon, middle school. Although she didn’t initially take to it, she eventually started developing a distinctive style. Posting those photos, often of herself and friends, on Flickr drew the attention of Converse, which led to shooting an ad for the company when she was 15. Commissions with other major brands followed, along with exhibits, editorial assignments, and lots of media attention.

Now 22, Bee is looking back on the images that defined the first meteoric years of her career in the book, Olivia Bee: Kids in Love, which Aperture recently published. 

“Part of making work is making it really close to me but then giving it away. I’m totally detached from it. It doesn’t feel like mine anymore. It feels like I’m kind of mourning my work, but mourning means there’s space for something new,” she said.

Untitled (Ponytail), 2010.

Copyright Olivia Bolles

Baller, 2011.

Copyright Olivia Bolles

Backyard (Eyelids), 2009.

Copyright Olivia Bolles

Bad Day, 2013.

Copyright Olivia Bolles

Running Water, 2013.

Copyright Olivia Bolles

The photos, which were taken between 2008 and 2013, are divided into two sections. “Enveloped in a Dream” comprises earlier works, which Bee said are meant to be seen as fictional but still represent her memories of adolescent friendship. The latter section, “Kids in Love,” Bee said, is “documentary with a romantic eye” and serves as a window into the photographer’s real experiences. In both, the subjects are young and usually outdoors, bathed in hazy and often colorful light, reflecting the stylistic influence of photographer Ryan McGinley and filmmaker Sofia Coppola.

“All the photos that I make are love letters. When you put them all in this book, it’s about the feeling they give off together. It’s not necessarily about those people, though I love them all. I think that’s part of being a photographer; you’re taking the world around you and saying, ‘I appreciate this! I’m going to make it into a postcard from my personal world! This is my universe,’ ” she said in an interview with longtime friend and collaborator Tavi Gevinson, which is included in the book.

Bee is now based in Brooklyn, though she spends most of her time traveling on assignment these days. While the settings and subjects of her photos may have changed, as she photographs less of her own everyday life, she said aspects of her approach to image-making and the world remain essentially the same.

“I still see the world through a very romantic set of eyes for sure even as my aesthetic has developed,” she said.

Max Jumped Off a Train, 2012.

Copyright Olivia Bolles

Away, 2008.

Copyright Olivia Bolles

Closer, 2010.

Copyright Olivia Bolles

Kloud, 2011.

 

Copyright Olivia Bolles