Alex Olsen, CAS class of 2013, started his own visual design company a mere month after graduating from NYU. Alex Olsen Design Solutions is the product of Olsen’s fascination with the convergence of natural and manmade environments. With a major in urban design and architecture and double-minor in studio art and Italian studies, Olsen has found an outlet to combine these areas of interest with his passion for photography. In the past three months of running AODS, he has had the opportunity to shoot and edit fashion videos and photos for Emilio Pucci, Givenchy, Zimmermann and Celine, to name a few. He has also worked on web videos for the Department of Health and The New York State Bar Association. Olsen’s ultimate aim is to provide businesses with a full range of visual marketing solutions.

Q: How did your chosen areas of study influence, and continue to influence, your work?

A: After studying urban design and architecture for four years and interning in the marketing department at a Manhattan architecture firm, I realized that it was not only the aesthetics of the built environment that interested me, but also how art, people and culture all intertwine. My business tries to make sense of that intertwining by creating media (photos, video, graphic art, et cetera) that touches on the city’s most beautiful elements — fashion, music, architecture, education and public discourse. I cannot speak highly enough about the urban design department, whose interdisciplinary program and great faculty have fostered my growth both within and outside the field.

Q: What are your favorite kinds of things to photograph and film? 

A: When working on a film or photography project, I find myself most drawn to the small details that too often go unnoticed — the beautiful patterns that form for a split second and then vanish, the way light reflects and refracts at certain moments, the way eyes can appear in candid photographs. Whether it’s capturing the way a guitarist’s hand rests while fretting a chord in a music video or emphasizing the movement of a model’s dress on the runway, I try to find a unique perspective in every project I’m involved with, which is something I most certainly developed from my urban design classes.

Q: What in particular draws you to fashion photography?

A: It’s funny, I never would have thought in a million years I would be working in fashion. I’m not particularly fashionable, and I’ve always found myself, since a young age, creating things rather than buying or following trends. That being said, when I look at a fashion catalog or walk past showrooms on Fifth Avenue, I do get the beauty and appeal and find myself intrigued. With fashion, much like music, you get to work with aesthetic elements that are already considered art, and it is through your lens that you get to work with clothing and striking figures to create a completely new form of artwork and a completely new feeling. And since most of my work in fashion is behind the scenes, I still get that candid quality even in one of the most posed and self-aware industries. I’m more interested in the relationship between person and clothing when a model is between shows or backstage — times when the body is more natural and in my opinion, more beautiful.

Haley Steinberg is a contributing writer. Email her at [email protected].