About Lil

My name is Olivia, but everyone knows me as Lil. I'm a Sydney-based female freelance film and digital photographer whose passion began with helping people bring their fairytale-like dreams to life in creative, styled portrait photoshoots on 35mm film. Since then, I’ve expanded into shooting boudoir, model portfolios, live music, and branding photography, in both 35mm film and digital formats.

My journey to finally becoming a photographer says a lot about why I do what I do now. It's a long-winded story, but in a nutshell, I was super insecure and incredibly unsure of myself. I had a closed-minded view of life and what I was capable of achieving in it, and I was used to those letting negative thoughts control my life.

I had these dreams of becoming a photographer that I knew I would never pursue because I gave far too much space and time to my negative and limiting beliefs. Instead, I jumped from job to job trying to figure out what the right fit was. Then in 2019, not only did I meet a friend who changed my life by non-stop encouraging me to follow my heart and pick up a camera, but I also started to see the work of female photographers Carianne Older/@PeggyShootsFilm and Brooke Olimpieri/@FilthyMouthCreative’s on Instagram. They’re female photographers who have successfully carved spaces for themselves in this industry and have become everyone's go-to choices. I was so inspired by them and their work and sure that if they could do it, surely it was just me holding me back (spoiler alert: I was right, it was me).

Through my past few years as a photographer something I realised quite quickly through conversations with my clients is that i’m definitely not alone in these feelings that had held me back for so long. We all have these built-in, self-restraining thoughts holding us back

from doing things that makes us feel like us, that make us feel unstoppable, stopping us from following our heart and soul’s truest desires. It might sound silly, and even vain to some people, but to me, I absolutely believe that seeing photos that show you yourself in a light and perspective you’ve never seen yourself in before absolutely changes your entire outlook on yourself, and once your experience that kind of self-love and self-belief, what you are capable of (or if you already feel it, you know a photoshoot only confirms those feelings, giving you visual reminders forever that you are that bitch). Whether it’s a portrait session by the beach at golden hour, a beautiful, over-the-top, styled set, or an intimate boudoir photoshoot, you know when you’re ready to see yourself in your most beautiful photos yet, and you’ll never underestimate your beauty again, no matter how dressed up or down you are.

Being able to make people feel confident and help them to express their creative visions through my photography is something that is so so special to me, because before I found photography I did have that nasty little voice that would constantly tell me all the worst things about myself, and if you let that voice go unchecked it will rule your life. Taking a hold over your insecurities and self-doubts will turn your life around, so if you’ve been on a path to self-healing and transforming your love for yourself, or maybe you’ve been shutting down a voice in your head telling you that you need to hire someone to take some insane photos of you, let me show you how easy it is to reclaim your beauty and unlock your inner confidence by guiding you through a fun, beautiful and comfortable photoshoot, tailored to you.

Refreshing Your Brand & Empowering Your Image

While each of my clients has a unique path that led them to my services, I’ve begun to realise there some common trends among the reasons they choose to work with me. The main ones i’ve noticed are:

REASON 01

They’re going through a transformative time in their lives.

REASON 02

They’re going through a self-healing journey with their image and body.

Film vs Digital Photography

Do you love them both just as much as I do and can’t decide? Or maybe you just have no clue what the difference is? I’ve broken down some of the reasons why I offer both below:

Why Film?

Film deepened my understanding of the concept of intentionality in a lot of different ways, but mainly due to the limited number of exposures. Because of this, film shoots require a bit more pre-planning and time during the shoot to ensure that we are getting exactly what’s desired.
On film, you really don’t get any kind of instant feedback. There’s no coming up to the camera to see it on a screen to make sure you love it before moving onto the next pose. You’ve just got to trust me when I squeal out of excitement and tell you how fabulous you look.
For me this trust really fed back into the intentionality behind film. It helped me as a photographer become super intentional about the way I interact with my models, ensuring I understand exactly what it is about themselves they want to see shine through in their photos, while also encouraging them and helping them to know that I’m making sure that I’m capturing their essence and beauty in their photos.
Ah, grain. The delicious, beautiful result of imperfection.
A lesson from photography on the idea of what it means to be flawlessly flawed. Wtf am I on about? Well, with film, grain is simply the result of small chemical particles that haven’t received enough light (a “flaw” in the process). When working with digital image sensors, noise (digitals version of grain), is the result of the camera picking up some unwanted signals (stuff it’s not supposed to) which is created by the camera’s digital circuitry. This means you’ll get not a lot of natural grain/noise when you hire a professional photographer for digital photography (which is awesome if you’re after something a lot crisper!!)
So many film photographers will tell you they hate to see those cheesy editing tutorial TikToks claiming to show you “how to edit your photos for the film effect”, and while I personally don’t hate it (I love that there are so many ways we can stylise our images when editing!), I do have to say you’ll never quite accomplish a true “film-effect” pre-set/edit without taking the initial photo on film, there’s just something about it.
I’ve even found this occurring in my own digital work editing though! I’ll forever be inspired by my film roots, so always find myself preferring a “film-look” edit over a more crispy-clear, traditional digital edit. But of course it’s never the same as when I take the photos on film :’)

Why Digital?

REASON 03

They want an online presence refresh for their brand.

Truly dependant on the type of photos you want! I discovered very quickly that live music photography on film is very difficult, especially in colour (this because of how hard it is to find the right film stock for low-lighting).
Sometimes low-light on film is exactly the vibe you’re going for, but in most low-lighting instances I would make digital my first suggestion to you!
More options of each pose! Thanks to starting on film I’ve perfected the skill of getting the shot perfect on the first try, but some of us like options, getting variations of each pose, or prefer to pose in a flow rather than remain stiff in one position!
For some it feels so much easier to perfect the shot when you can see what the shot looks like! Being able to have a quick look and give a bit of feedback around what you are and aren’t loving about the photos is crucial for some people, “perfecting the shot”. This is especially great for product and branding photography where you want to know that the photos are going to look a specific way.