Today we’d like to introduce you to Matthew and Carrie Wilson.
Hi Matthew and Carrie, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
We both have a deep passion for photography which has been a bond between us. We started with artistic and photographic backgrounds and both of us are from California.
Carrie grew up in the San Diego area and Matthew grew up in Long Beach. Carrie’s mother was interested in photography and gave Carrie her first camera. An old Olympus OM1 when she was very young sparked that passion she has. Matthew’s father was a professional photographer.
So he grew up helping his father with assignments and working in the little darkroom out in the garage making prints. Later, he began to assist other professional photographers in the Long Beach and Los Angeles areas. Doing everything from fashion to sporting events. Carrie went to art school at Cal State Long Beach. She majored in the Arts and loved photography, painting, printmaking, and ceramics. Receiving a BFA in Photography. She also worked in the photographic industry in Los Angeles shooting for magazines. We both met in a photo class that was being taught by a friend of hers.
We hit it off by talking about the arts late into the night and were married in less than a year. That was twenty years ago. We have always supported each other and worked together on photography. Working in the worlds of fine art photography and commercial photography, we have created works for galleries and photographed many events. So a few years back we changed our company’s name to The Photographic Artists. Combining our artistic eye and skills to tell the stories of others through joyous occasions like weddings, events, and portraiture.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
At the beginning of our marriage, it was difficult. We had about eight hundred dollars to our name on the night of our wedding and we needed to make rent for our little apartment. So photography and other artistic pursuits had to take a temporary back seat for a couple of years while we worked other jobs.
Also, being married to another artist has its own set of challenges. There can be a lot of creative disagreements on how things should be done. But we work it out the best we can. With years of working things out, you learn that the obstacles enrich your true character in the relationship.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
We love what we do whether we are creating art or creating a document of someone’s occasion. We are creating. We love working with people on their special day and being able to tell their stories with an artistic viewpoint. We are full-service photographers for any occasion.
What sets us apart is you get two perspectives in one package. Like a two-for-one. Plus Carrie is about a foot shorter than Matthew, so the camera angle will naturally be different. We have fun creating lasting memories for your clients for generations to come.
We are proud when we get to see the joy that our photographic work can bring. Photography allows us to hold on to the precious moments that mean so much. The photographic work we create is like possessing a piece of the fleeting past to share with the generations of the future.
What do you think about happiness?
We have lived in Utah for seventeen years and we love it! We cannot imagine being anywhere else. It has been a great place to raise our children and there is a very good supportive artistic community. We love getting together with other artists and visiting the local galleries and museums. We have been able to achieve things out here that we could never have in California.
We like to go out to downtown Provo as a family with our cameras and just walk around photographing the city and the people. The kids even get their little cameras. It’s fun to look at kids’ photos afterward and see what they think is interesting from their perspective. It makes us all very happy because it’s like a little afternoon adventure.
Contact Info:
- Website: thephotographicartists.com
- Instagram: @thephotographicartists
