POULSBO — It’s difficult to say what has benefitted more — the Digital Age or Olivia Davis’ photography.

An avid photographer who now admits to having a suitcase full of photos and another 40 gigabyte disk of photos, Davis didn’t exactly hit it off with old-fashioned cameras, like the first one she ever had when she was in the fifth grade.

“It was really big and complicated,” she said, “(because of it) I kind of gave up on (photography) for a while.”

Later, in a North Kitsap High School photography class, Davis had a chance to develop film — but it simply wasn’t her forte.

“The whole dark room process was long and really difficult and I just couldn’t get it down,” she said. “I’ve always really liked just taking photographs.”

Nonetheless, it is just that — taking photographs — that suits her fancy. You’ll rarely find her without her Sony Cyber-Shot digital camera. And now, she’s turned that love of photography into an award-winning hobby.

Davis recently earned first place in the Rainier Photographic Supply Contest in the Digital Manipulation Category. While 3,300 artists entered the show, only 39 people, including Davis, won an award.

Even more recently, Davis was recognized in a similar category by the Seattle Art Museum for her picture which depicts a woman in a bath tub whose legs have been changed, by Davis’ computer software, to that of a mermaid tail.

“I’ve always been into surrealism — and mermaids,” she said.

Her love of surrealism comes mainly from her adoration of Stanley Kubrick films, she said, but also from other foreign films and her diet, the latter of which leads her to have “really crazy dreams,” she said.

Though she admitted her dream is in fashion design, photography has been a passion for her, and a job, currently working at a vacation rental company where she touches up photos.

Her former North Kitsap High School teacher, Theresa Aubin-Ahrens, said Davis’ work, combined with her talents, is well deserved.

“Olivia is a creative artsy type photographer, who uses photography as a means to express her inner thoughts,” Aubin-Ahrens said. “She was perfectly willing to do all the other types of photography assigned as well, however. She saw it all as a learning experience.”

This summer, Davis is off to Japan for much of July to teach English at the Global Kids Academy in Tokyo. Her Sony Cyber-Shot digital camera will be in tow the whole time, she said, adding she’s most excited to take pictures of the neon lights and signs of the Japanese capital.

After her trip, Davis is uncertain of the next step in her life, she said.

“When I come back, I’ve been thinking about staying in Seattle for a while,” she commented. “If I really like Tokyo, I’d love to go over there.”