behind the camera with christopher wilson
Christopher Wilson never decided to become a photographer. It just kind of happened to him. He spent the first 15 years of his career as an advertising writer, designer, and creative director at Martin/Williams and later McKinney. While freelancing for Team One in Los Angeles on a project for the Ritz-Carlton, he shot a handful of photos for the concepts he was mocking up. The client didn’t approve the concepts, but they loved the photography and asked him to shoot the campaign in Vietnam.
“It was my first gig. I had no idea what I was doing! I brought one camera and just had to figure it out. I've always been very technically savvy. The key for me was shooting digital. The instant feedback allowed me to dial in the work very quickly. That’s how I learned,” recalled Christopher.
Although it sounds like happenstance—and a lot of luck—as an art director, Christopher had the retouching skills required (and preferred Photoshop to InDesign for building layouts) and even as a writer, images had been important.
“I was always influenced by imagery. I looked at images and wrote against them. Looking back over the trajectory of my career, the track has been very visually oriented. It makes a lot of sense that I found my way behind the camera,” he said.
Since that first assignment for the Ritz-Carlton in Vietnam nearly two decades ago, Christopher has built a diverse portfolio of commercial, editorial, and fine art photography. He shoots classic cars and motorcycles, rugged landscapes, supernatural portraits, action sports, and aviation for clients like Porsche, Nissan, Honda, Smithsonian, Road & Track, Southwest Airlines, Apple, Hilton/Amex, Xfinity, Icebreaker, and so many more.
“The one thing they have in common is—me,” laughed Christopher. “I’m led by curiosity. I’ll try anything. I love shooting cars, I love shooting portraiture, I love shooting landscapes. I’ve got a laundry list of projects that I’d like to do. Working with clients, I’m there to realize a vision, but I’m always trying to come up with a creative solution that challenges the boundaries of what’s possible in the medium.”
Christopher’s background as a creative director and storytelling skills are valuable assets he brings to his photography projects.
“Depending on the client we have, I do some of the writing and concepting. Sometimes the client has only a loose vision of what they're looking for, and I work with them to flesh out the idea. In other cases, I execute their ideas. Though I would say, more often than not, I’m hired to bring all my sensibilities to the project.”
Retouching is a big part of his process, a technical skill he brought to photography from art direction. Christopher says he often doesn’t know what the end photograph is going to look like when he’s shooting. Rather, he knows what it should feel like.
“People ask me, ‘how did you develop your style?” But I don’t ever think about that. I’m just trying to make a compelling series of photographs. Every time I start a project, I feel like I'm starting from the bottom of a mountain, and there's a serendipity in how you get to the top that I love. I want to be surprised by my own work," he said.
And the work is as surprising as it is stunning. Portraits of showgirls that evoke geishas, Maasai warriors and a 1995 Land Rover Defender 110 under a baobab tree in Tanzania, sand boarding in Abu Dhabi (a photograph that was featured in National Geographic), the otherworldly landscape of the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia, Speed Week at Bonneville Salt Flats. Christopher brings enthusiasm, inquisitiveness, and competency in equal measure to every project.
“My favorite project will be the next one. There’s some famous photographer who said that. But it’s really true. I learn from all of them. They’re all challenging in different ways. As a photographer, or anything in life, there's no hovering. You either getting worse at something or you push yourself to get better. I’m always looking to push it.”
Welcome to the MCA family Christopher, we’re thrilled to have you.