Brought up in the Cotswolds, Oliver began his photographic education studying photography at the renowned course at Filton Technical College in Bristol. He went on to study film and television at the London College of Printing. The first few years post-college were spent learning his craft in documentaries, music videos and short films for the Arts Council of Great Britain and the BFI. It was for the latter that he lensed his first feature MADAGASCAR SKIN, directed by Chris Newby and starring John Hannah and Bernard Hill. Other features soon followed along with high profile television work, including the acclaimed BBC TV series VANITY FAIR directed by Marc Munden, for which he was nominated for a BAFTA award. He also directed numerous documentaries for Channel Four and BBC TV, including TROSTKY'S HOME MOVIES and a portrait of the great Italian director GILLO PONTECORVO: THE DICTATORSHIP OF TRUTH, and has had programme related articles published in The Observer and The Listener magazines.

In 1998, Oliver became one of the youngest cinematographers to be invited to join the British Society of Cinematographers (BSC). He continues to plough a distinctly idiosyncratic path as Director of Photography on feature films as diverse as Richard Kwietniowski’s LOVE AND DEATH ON LONG ISLAND, Clare Kilner’s THE WEDDING DATE, Frank Oz’s DEATH AT A FUNERAL and Joanna Hogg’s UNRELATED, as well as experimental gallery-based installations such as Gideon Koppel’s BORTH. Most recently Oliver has been working with director Edgar Wright on additional photography for his much-anticipated Working Title film LAST NIGHT IN SOHO.

He remains in great demand worldwide for hair and beauty commercials, working for high profile clients such as PANTENE, L’OREAL, WELLA, PALMOLIVE and RIMMEL.  He has also shot many commercials for clients such as COCA COLA, SONY, GUINNESS, CANON, CADBURY'S and EON.

In conjunction with his work as a cinematographer, Oliver continues to produce stills photographic work for major broadcasters as well as generating his own projects for exhibition and publication. His first solo exhibition VOLTE-FACE premiered at London's Royal Geographical Society in Sept 2016.  A book of the project is published by Dewi Lewis Publishing.