Miguel Olave

I was born and raised in Kansas, Spanish being my first language. My first career choice was to be an Astronaut. After having to transition from a bilingual school to an all English class schedule in the third grade, I discovered my passion for writing and changed career paths. Also the time when I became the kid watching the news rather than cartoons, it was a good way to learn ‘big words’. Throughout the years it has opened many doors for me, most important being staffed for The Panther’s Tale high school newspaper of Derby Kansas. A Nikon D60 was the first camera to help reel me into the world of photography. Intertwined with my love for news writing I decided that photojournalism would be my chosen path. That summer I applied for a trip to Ecuador and the Galapagos with National Geographic to study photography. Later that year I was awarded a full scholarship to join them for a summer, and what an experience that was. Through that summer study I discovered my keen eye for raw, natural emotion and documentary shooting. Since moving to Austin a year ago I’ve done work on homeless people, the Veterans Day Parade, Missionaries in Mexico and most recently the tornado devastation in Joplin, Missouri. I am a people person, I enjoy individuality and the billions of extraordinary stories there are in this world. My motivation is just that, to bring light to all the unique stories surrounding me in emotion packed photographs to create a better understanding of the world we live in.