featured interview

Chatting With Ollie Ritchie

8/11/2016Jake Ryan

If you've spent any time on Instagram, you might have heard the name Ollie Ritchie before, Ollie is young guy from Sydney Australia who I have followed for some time and always found to be an extremely talented young man. 

Ollie has grown a large online following through the use of his photography and filmmaking that has now enabled him to make new friends around the world and work with brands. 

Learn more about Ollie and his plans for the future by checking out the full interview with him below. 




Hey Ollie, tell us a little about yourself. 
Hey there! I’m Ollie Ritchie, an 18 year old filmmaker and photographer from Sydney, Australia.

I love your Instagram account and photography style. I’ve noticed recently you started uploading a lot of short videos, where did the idea for those come from?
Thank you so much mate! I became inspired to do these one minute short films after Instagram increased the time limit from 15 seconds to 60. I saw it as a challenge, to be able to tell a relatively cohesive story in a pretty small amount of time.

What equipment do you normally use to shoot with?
I use a Canon 6D with three lenses. They are the Canon 24-105mm f/4, Sigma 35mm f/1.4 and an Olympus 50mm f/1.4. This little combo always allow me to get the job I need done. I am thinking of upgrading sometime in the future though, we’ll see!

A video posted by Ollie (@ritchieollie) on

How did you learn your craft? Did you study photography or teach yourself?
Technically I did both, but for the most part I taught myself through countless hours of playing around and looking up youtube tutorials when I wanted to learn something specific.

You’ve amassed a pretty impressive following on Instagram, has this brought any opportunities your way? 
It has! When I started Instagram I never even thought of it as being a pathway to what I want to do with my life. It’s allowed me to make friends overseas, most whom I’ve never met in person. It’s allowed me to collaborate with other people and brands and it has opened up this whole new world to me that functions as an incredible creative outlet. It’s absolutely insane and I’m so, so thankful to the thousands of strangers who decided to follow me and my life.

In your bio you state “Waiting to travel the world”. Where would you love to travel to?
The world, quite literally. Name a location and theres a 99.9995% chance that I’ll want to go there. Specifically though, I’d love to visit all the World Cities like London, Paris, Tokyo and I’d love to go to NYC again. I’d love to travel Europe to countries like Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Netherlands. Also Norway, Sweden, South Africa, India, Thailand, and eventually the Middle East too.. maybe even the North and South Poles.The list goes on and on and on!

Where do you find your inspiration?
Usually, especially now with the videos, I find it through spontaneity. Just deciding, “Okay, today I’m going to make a film,” will always inspire me. In terms of people that inspire me, I used to, and still do, get inspiration from YouTubers like Ben Brown, Casey Neistat and Jack & Finn Harries, as well as photographers such as the one and only Henri Cartier-Bresson. A lot of my video style is influenced by photographic work from the early street photographers.

Would you say Instagram has influenced your style in any way?
Yes most definitely, in more ways that one! 
There’s the creative style which, during the earlier years went through major transitions. I was trying to fit into the teenage, photographic community on Instagram. As I changed, as I got older and more mature, my style also changed and I was less influenced by what people seemed to want and began to create more of what I wanted to make.

Then there’s my lifestyle.. which Instagram has become well and truly apart of in the best possible way. I use it daily and, as I mentioned before, it’s given me so many brilliant opportunities in terms of networking, content creation and international friendships.

A video posted by Ollie (@ritchieollie) on



Do you have a favourite photo you’ve taken and why?
Honestly, it’s impossible for me to chose one photo, some have more meaning than others, and some are just nice to look at. One cliché favourite that will always be meaningful is the very first photo that I ever posted on Instagram. It’s not actually on my current feed. There are about 100 photos that were posted prior to the photo that appears last on my feed. The first one I ever posted was an iPod photo I took of my legs crossed on a trampoline.

What would your ideal project be as a photographer/film maker?
At the moment I have an interest in documenting travel. Obviously many people share this interest but I would love to make a web series based around that concept and I’d love to be able to put my own unique spin on something that’s almost been overdone. That’ll be a challenge in itself but I’m willing to give it a go.


What other passions do you have? What makes you happy? 
I love music very much. I play drums and guitar and sometimes make sounds with my vocal chords. I also love watching films, eating nice food and drinking coffee. I also have an interest in graphic design and branding. I do all of my own branding myself, it’s a lot of fun!

And finally, what are your plans for the future?
I’ve got some awesome plans up my sleeve. My friend and I have been working on the concepts and organisation of one project in particular but I can’t say too much about it yet. I’m keeping it a surprise. What I can tell you is that it’ll be posted to my youtube channel and the project itself consists of more than one video. I’ve got an series on my youtube channel called Little Adventures. This project will be the new instalment and honestly, we’re taking it the next level up. It’ll be happening at the end of this year. I’m so bloody excited about it and I absolutely can't wait for you to see it.



If you don't follow Ollie, be sure to go do that NOW. 

Follow Ollie's Instagram 
Follow Ollie's YouTube 

Thanks Ollie for taking the time to speak to TravelFoodFilm

All Images and Videos in this post are copyright of Ollie Ritchie.

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