About Me, Celeste Oliver
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I was always an artistic kid; I think I got it from my mother, who went to Pratt Institute in New York. I graduated high school as a Senior Art Major, without having to be a Junior Art Major first, based on my portfolio. So in my senior year, I had 3 periods of Sr. Art Major class, printmaking, photography, pottery and occasionally, English.
Afterwards, I went to the Bucks County Technical School at night for Adult Education classes in Commercial Art and Industrial Photography. When I moved to Flemington, NJ, I was immediately hired to work in the photo department of a store in the Flemington Mall; neither of which are there any longer. But I knew darkroom, which the manager didn't, and after a year upper management transferred him and put me in charge. At the time, we were number 3 out of 60 stores in the Barkers chain, and after 2 more years, we made number one. Every Palm Sunday weekend we had a "Photo Fair", starting at noon on Friday and ending Sunday at 6:00, when the store closed. We took bets as to if we would break $250,000 in sales that year, 1980. We did an incredible $264,500, breaking industry records. Later that year at our annual managers convention in Connecticut, I unexpectedly received the Franklin Stores first Photo Manager of the Year award. Since I'd sold every farmer and his cow in Hunterdon County a camera and assorted equipment, I quit while I was on top and went to work for the newly opened Burroughs Corporation. After a year, there was an opening for the photo lab technician position, and I got it, on the strength of my slide album. Once back in Pennsylvania I took Computer Graphics and Photoshop at Bucks County Community College. I worked with my late boyfriend at his remodeling business, Wild Rice Cabinetry of Penndel. I helped to remodel kitchens, bathrooms; I cut tile with a wet saw, did formica work (remember formica?) and learned what to look for in quality home restoration. Later, working for Gamesa Eolica, a Spanish windmill manufacturer, I was the de facto plant photographer, since everyone saw I could take a better photo than the engineers. And now I'm combining my love of architecture, renovation, decorating and photography into my own real estate photography business: Bella Casa Photography. Let's work together and sell properties! |