ABOUT ME

OLIVIA HATHAWAY, ARTIST, SCIENCE MAJOR, COMMUNITY ORGANIZER

I've been a visual artist my entire life (and an advanced science student since middle school), but I became a hobby photographer at age 12 when I received my first flip phone. Those early photos are a far cry from the quality produced by my current camera (a Sony Alpha 6000), but they started my habit of wandering around and taking photos of anything I found visually interesting. I moved from the flip phone through two smart phones before I received the Sony as a Christmas gift during my senior year of high school, which I now use with occasional help from a third smart phone (when I'm without the Sony, or the lighting favors the cell phone camera). I've used Snapseed for my editing since about 2015, and in December 2025, I taught myself to use Lightroom Classic, which is my primary editing software now. This site shows a mix (both cell phone and Sony) of my (relatively) recent best works, but if you'd like to see what I considered my best photos throughout the years, check out my Instagram (@oliviasphotographyhobby) and scroll back. I have all my favorite photos posted from 2012 to now. Read on below for my favorite photography stories. This link will also connect you with all my other projects, including the community projects listed on the Community tab of this site: https://linktr.ee/okhismakingart.

Me, holding a camera up to my eye in a red vinyl jacket

PHOTOGRAPHY + SCHOOL

I only got heavily into photography and editing in high school because my intense academic schedule left me very little time for the other visual arts I previously pursued. I encountered the same situation in college as I studied for a double major in Biology and Chemistry with a Specialization in Biochemistry. I frequently stopped to take photos on drives to and from school or on other necessary trips because I could fit a few quick stops in my schedule at times when I couldn't spend hours working on a drawing. During the summer, spring, and winter breaks from school, I planned more complex photography expeditions with specific locations, times, or weather conditions in mind. I love photography because it allowed me to continue creating art even while my life was completely filled with science.

TINY ALLEY TREE

I took a semester off from college due to paperwork issues, and in that time I learned to use my Sony camera. On the way to visiting the shop my mother works in, I noticed a tiny tree growing out of a rusty fire escape weight hanging above the alley that I had to go through to get to the street. I got my camera from the car and started photographing it, and while I was doing this, a businessman and two construction workers came through the alley. Each of them stopped to try and subtlely look where I was photographing, and each eventually ended up asking me what caught my eye. I pointed out the tree, and they all said some variation of "I walk through here every day, and I've never noticed that before." It was fun to watch them leave the alley still craning their necks up to look at the tree because my camera had called attention to something interesting for them that day.

NIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY

I had a late math class during one of my college semesters that had me leaving the building after dark. This particular campus building was oddly situated, and I always entered via a short cut that went behind one building and down a long metal staircase. Between these two buildings was a garden that was typically deserted save for me and an occasional music student eating lunch at the picnic table on the main landing of the staircase. The first time I left the building (via the same shortcut) after dark, I discovered that the underside of all the rails and benches in the garden are lit so that students can see to get out. I photographed it several times, twice just at night and once at night during a light rain that made all the surfaces even more reflective.

LOST IN THE PARKING GARAGE PART I, II & III

After an intern dinner for the yearly conclusion of my summer job, I got disoriented in the city parking garage and ended up walking up instead of down. In the process I discovered a view of the city I had never seen before, including a secret rooftop garden hidden from the street by the building facades. I came back and climbed the parking garage to the roof level (which was open to the sky) and took pictures of the city from up there. After posting these photos, several friends asked to accompany me up there for my last expedition, which was to get the city skyline right at sunset. It never ceases to make me happy that people see my photographs and want to go to the places where they were taken.