Matt Carlson Photography

NEW BLOG

2011-07-12T05:04:00.004-04:00

The time has come to say goodbye to my dear old Blogger Blog, you will be missed.Click the link to visit my

Wonderful New Blog

Courtney + Chris: Alamance CC

2010-11-02T16:40:00.001-04:00

Courtney Bridal

2010-11-02T16:37:00.001-04:00

Kate + Jordan: Holden Beach

2010-10-12T14:03:00.002-04:00

Michael: Class of '11

2010-08-23T21:54:00.002-04:00

Tony + Vanesa: Chicago

2010-08-23T21:47:00.002-04:00

Class of '10: Erica

2010-07-01T20:06:00.001-04:00

Setzlers

2010-07-01T19:16:00.001-04:00

e-session: Courtney + Chris

2010-07-01T19:06:00.002-04:00

Jeanna + Chris

2010-06-09T22:16:00.001-04:00

Shelley's Bridal

2010-04-27T17:59:00.001-04:00

Senior Promo

2010-03-25T23:52:00.005-04:00

Spam

2010-03-23T15:58:00.002-04:00

So, for several months I have found myself deleting a lot of comments that have had nothing to to with this blog or photography or basically anything worthwhile. So unfortunately I am going to start moderating the comments. So when you comment on a post and get a message saying that it will be posted after I approve it, keep in mind that I am only doing it to make sure you are a real person and not a robot trying to sell ridiculous nonsense to the visitors of this blog. Sorry for the inconvenience and I hope you will continue to post.

e-session: Shelley and R.W.

2010-02-22T19:10:00.001-05:00

San Fran

2010-01-05T20:40:00.003-05:00

While visiting my family in California I took my brother and his wife out for an anniversary session. It was cold(by California standards) and rainy so the session did not last long but this was one of my favorites.

Cheyenne + Frank - Greensboro, NC

2009-12-08T10:53:00.003-05:00

Angela and Charlveston

2009-12-07T21:39:00.004-05:00

email problems

2009-11-19T22:32:00.002-05:00

So, apparently my email has been having trouble for the last few days. If you have tried to contact me either via direct email or the contact page on my website and have not heard back, I probably never got it. I think it is fixed now so please try again, sorry for any inconvenience.

Robby + Sara - Greensboro, NC

2009-09-27T18:08:00.001-04:00

Vickie + Jason - Greensboro NC

2009-08-16T18:26:00.002-04:00

Rebekah + John - Greensboro NC

2009-08-11T18:48:00.007-04:00

Rebekah and John were married on a beautiful(albeit hot)afternoon in Greensboro. The day started at the gorgeous Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church for the ceremony and finished with a great reception at the O'Henry Hotel. The team at the O'Henry(and their sister hotel The Proximity for that matter) are always incredible and a pleasure to work with. John from friendly neighborhood DJ did a fantastic job and the reception could not have gone better.

www.friendlyneighborhooddj.com

www.ohenryhotel.com

Chris

2009-08-02T20:26:00.001-04:00

Vickie's Bridal

2009-07-27T21:59:00.001-04:00

Nicole

2009-07-19T18:27:00.001-04:00

Sara and Robby

2009-07-15T21:55:00.001-04:00

Tara + Mike - Durham NC

2009-06-13T15:45:00.001-04:00

Jason and Vickie

2009-06-03T17:08:00.001-04:00

I photographed Jason and Vickie's e-session a couple of weeks ago but forgot to blog it, so here ya' go.

Melissa

2009-05-12T17:59:00.003-04:00

Melissa was married on Saturday so I can finally show some images from her bridal. This was the rare early morning bridal session since it called for rain all afternoon and it had to be done that day. So bright and early we were at Pilot Mountain for the session. The shoot went great and Melissa looked beautiful despite being sick with what turned out to be pneumonia.

Last Call

2009-05-11T09:55:00.002-04:00

Last week to become a class of 2010 senior model at Matt Carlson Photography. What is a Senior Model? It is the Matt Carlson Photography ambassador program. If chosen to be a Model you receive a ton of free stuff. You also get the chance earn cash and prizes(iPod touch, computer, even a college scholarship) when you refer people to MCP. We only select a few per school so act fast. Follow the link below for the introduction package and application. Contact the studio by Friday to apply.

APPLICATION

Holly

2009-04-08T19:53:00.001-04:00

Melanesia

2009-04-06T15:22:00.003-04:00

Melanesia is a rising senior at Atkins HS in Winston-Salem. Rain kept forcing us to reschedule her session, but this weekend was beautiful and we were finally able to get out there. We were in downtown Winston mostly in the Arts district(man I love that place). She is a lot of fun and loves having her photo taken and it certainly shows in the images.

Tim

2009-04-05T22:13:00.001-04:00

Cassady

2009-03-31T16:58:00.001-04:00

Heather

2009-03-24T22:39:00.001-04:00

Keria

2009-03-22T20:42:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I photographed my first Class of 2010 senior model. Keria is a rising senior at Nothern Guilford HS, so if any seniors, or soon to be seniors, are interested in senior portraits, go talk to her about it and she can save you some money off your session.

Website E-Mail Problems

2009-03-21T22:33:00.002-04:00

My new website launched on Thursday and there was one little hiccup. The contact form was not working properly, so if you e-mailed me using the contact form in the last few days, I probably have not received it. It is all working well now so please try and contact me again. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Doug

2009-03-18T18:46:00.001-04:00

A couple of weeks ago my friend Doug called me up and asked if I would take some photos of him. It had been a while since he had some photos taken of himself and wanted some for future websites and such. He gave me total control over the concepts for the photos(which could not have been easy seeing as how he is also a photographer), then he actually did what I said no matter how uncomfortable it may have made him. I like them all but the first one is my favorite.

New Website

2009-03-17T13:15:00.002-04:00

My new website is coming, finally. I have been planning on a new website for months and it is finally ready to go live. It should be up by the end of the week so keep your eyes open and let me know what you think.

Class of 2010

2009-03-06T17:46:00.006-05:00

It's senior portrait time for the class of 2010. We are still looking for our Senior Models for the class of 2010. What is a Senior Model? It is the Matt Carlson Photography ambassador program. If chosen to be a Model you receive a ton of free stuff. You also get the chance earn cash and prizes(iPod touch, computer, even a college scholarship) when you refer people to MCP. We only select a few per school so act fast. Follow the link below for the introduction package and application.

APPLICATION

Samantha

2009-02-04T19:30:00.002-05:00

This is Jessie's sister Samantha. Most of these were also shot at the Proximity Hotel in Greensboro. The first one was shot in downtown Greensboro using a new lighting technique I am practicing. Both Jessie and Samantha were a lot of fun to shoot and I hope we can do it again soon.

Carolina Weddings Show

2009-02-03T19:18:00.004-05:00

This past weekend I was at the The Carolina Weddings Show at The Coliseum in Greensboro. Our booth was packed the entire day. We met some amazing brides(and a few grooms)that I hope to get a chance to work with in the near future. A big thanks to all of the people(you know who you are) that helped me out and allowed the show to go so well.

For all of the couples that scheduled meetings, I look forward to seeing all of you again soon. And for those that were interested in the open house, check your e-mail or visit the blog for all the details sometime towards the end of this week.

P.S. I wish I had more photos to show but I forgot my camera, again, but my friend Doug was smart enough to bring his and let me take a quick snapshot of my booth.

Jessie

2009-02-01T22:23:00.004-05:00

Today I went out and photographed a couple of my friend's nieces, Jessie and Samantha. This set of photos are some of my favorites of Jessie(I will post some of Samantha soon). The first two were shot in the building that houses my studio and, for the last three, our friends at the Proximity (www.proximityhotel.com)in Greensboro were nice enough to allow us to use their hotel for some shots.

Holiday Cards

2008-12-31T14:17:00.005-05:00

I hope everybody had a good holiday and a happy, safe New Year. Here are some examples of holiday cards from this season. The first I made for my family to send out and the second is a clients. This was the first year I offered cards so I did not do too many but they were a lot of fun and I hope to do a bunch next year.

Thanksgiving with Ben

2008-11-28T21:34:00.002-05:00

Well it had been a while since I took some photos of Ben, and since it was 60 degrees yesterday and we had nothing else to do because everything is closed on thanksgiving, we decided to take some pictures. We went to to the Art District area of downtown Winston-Salem. That is a really cool area for portraits because they have a ton of wall murals and stuff in the area. It was also great because the town was completely deserted(seriously, we saw like 3 other people the whole day)and we were able to go places that may not have been possible on a normal day. Here are a few of my favorites.

Me

2008-11-27T21:16:00.004-05:00

Like many photographers I know, I would much rather be taking the photos than having my photo taken, but, alas, it has been almost two years since I had my portrait taken and I really needed something new for my blog and such. I had never tried a self portrait before and although I thought it would be a piece of cake it was surprisingly difficult. The post processing was definitely the hardest, retouching my own face was a little weird.

Twins

2008-10-29T21:23:00.004-04:00

This is the first session from the portrait exhibition promotion I am running to celebrate moving into my new studio. We were in downtown Greensboro to photograph these adorable 3 1/2 year old twins. It was a little windy and little chilly but after a bit of a slow start the kids loosened up and were a lot of fun. Here are a few of my favorites.

Train Museum

2008-10-04T19:20:00.003-04:00

Last week my in-laws were visiting and since my son and my father in law share a mutual love for trains we went to the NC transportation museum. I brought my camera along and took a few snapshots.

As a bonus, both Thomas the Train and Bob the Builder were there. I didn't take a photo of Thomas, but here is Ben meeting Bob the Builder.

Introducing the Cypress Album

2008-09-19T19:58:00.001-04:00

Jay+Katie

2008-06-23T14:38:00.006-04:00

This weekend we shot the Katie and Jay's wedding in Winston-Salem. It was a little humid but other than that is was an absolutely wonderful day for a wedding. The reception was at right on the golf course at Bermuda Run CC. It was a great venue and we were able to get a lot of great shots. We were short on time between the ceremony and reception so we went out to shoot after dinner when the sun was starting to go down and I took some of my favorite shots of the day. Katie and Jay are a great couple and so easy to work with, I just hope they had as much fun as I did.

Ben

2008-06-20T18:41:00.002-04:00

So, I was getting my stuff ready for this weekends wedding and came across an old CF card, so I take a look and find some pictures of Ben from October. Ben was being a pain that day, so there were not very many good shots but some were still pretty funny.

Second Shooting for Christi

2008-06-09T17:42:00.005-04:00

A few weekends ago I got to second shoot for my friend Christi. Christi has second shot for me in the past (and future) and always does a wonderful job so it was a lot
of fun to return the favor. Check out Christi's blog at ncrphotography.blogspot.com to see some more of her work. These are some of my favorites from the day.

Kris+Kristy

2008-02-24T21:48:00.007-05:00

Kristy and Kris were married in October and I forgot to post their photos, so here they are, finally. This is also the wedding where I shot the photobooth images that I posted a while back. Kristy is a friend of mine from college so it was special treat to get to shoot her wedding.

Charleston...again

2008-02-14T10:59:00.004-05:00

Ben....telling the sun to "say cheese"

On my way to Tampa last month I got the chance to stop in my new favorite city...Actually, I'm not sure it is my favorite, but it is definitely moving up the list, it will probably become my favorite when I get a chance to spend more than just a couple hours there. Anyway, here are some pictures.

Lindsay and Hunter

2008-02-06T00:31:00.001-05:00

Finally a nice day!!! We had been trying to get this session scheduled for what felt like an eternity, but every time we scheduled it, we would have rain, or cold, or both. But this past weekend was absolutely wonderful. Lindsay and Hunter were great, they both were a lot of fun and were not the least bit afraid of the camera. I really love shooting downtown, every time I go down there I find a couple of new spots to shoot.

DWF in Tampa

2008-01-20T21:12:00.001-05:00

At the beginning of January I went to the DWF convention in Tampa. For those of you who do not know what the DWF is, it is an international online community for professiomal wedding photographers where, photographers can seek and share advice with one another. This year they had their annual convention in Tampa Florida. This was an incredible experience. I got the chance to meet and learn from a lot of different photographers.

I really enjoyed the socializing and meeting some new people, but my favorite part and the biggest reason I went was for the educational seminars. The seminars were awesome, DWF brought in some of the best photographers from all over the world to teach at the convention. I was able to see presentations by Laura Novak, Lena Hyde, Marcus Bell, Jerry Ghionis, Denis Reggie, Yervant, Jeff and Julia Woods, Greg Gibson, Jessica Claire, and Matt and Krystal Radlinski. There were also two incredible presentations from North Carolinas own James Walters and Tamara Lackey. James did a presentation on enhaced reality lighting and Tamara spoke about contemporary childrens photography.

It was a wonderful experience, I meet some great people and learned a lot. Hope I can make it to next years convention.

Note: The picture is the view of the bay from my hotel room taken by my 3 year old son.

I'm Back

2008-01-13T20:19:00.000-05:00

It has been awhile since I posted, between work and the holidays I became a lazy blogger. However, that is going to change. One of my goals for 2008 is to post to my blog at least once a week(hopefully more often, but no promises). So check back regularly as I will be updating much more often.

Photo Booth

2007-11-28T00:55:00.001-05:00

I got this idea from a friend that had done something similar at weddings. So I set up a light, rounded up some guests, and had my assistant shoot whomever was willing. Basically the idea is a photo booth like they have at the mall. People can do whatever they want to in front of the camera. These were some of my favorites.

RCC Mock Wedding

2007-11-06T21:41:00.001-05:00

Last week RCC had their annual Mock Wedding for the wedding class, and I was invited to come down and help instruct the class. The roles of the bridal party and guests were filled by students in their first year of the photography program. They did a great job and were very cooperative and helpful. I thought the students shooting did a very good job and hopefully they were able to learn something. Here are a few shots that I took.

Kristy Bridal

2007-10-23T22:45:00.000-04:00

This past weekend I shot Kristy's wedding so I can show some of my favorite shots from her bridal session. We shot all over Asheboro, from downtown to the Church of the Good Shepard. This was at the end of July so it was super hot, but we had a great time and came away with a lot of great shots.

Davis

2007-10-18T00:43:00.000-04:00

Last night I shot 11 month old Davis at the Arboretum in Greensboro. Her Grandmother handmade the gown for her baptism.

Katie and Jay

2007-10-10T07:17:00.001-04:00

Last night I got shoot this great engagement session in Old Salem. Katie and Jay were one of those really good couples to work with, they were really into one another and would pretty much do anything I would ask.

Charleston and Sheldon Ruins

2007-10-04T00:41:00.000-04:00

I had never been to Charleston, so since we were less than two hours away for the wedding on Saturday, Christi and I decided to head down there on Sunday to shoot a little. Like I said it was my first time there but it will certainly not be my last, I hope to get back really soon. On our way out of Charleston we stopped by the Sheldon Ruins to shoot some more.

Kim & Josh

2007-09-27T01:01:00.000-04:00

Last weekend I shot the wedding of Kim and Josh in Pawley's Island South Carolina. Kim and Josh were a great couple to work with and the weather was nearly perfect(a little humid, it is the south in September after all. I had never been to the South Carolina coast before, and I cannot wait to go back, it was beautiful, the absolute perfect location for this wedding. We started at the home of a friend where the ceremony took place and ended up at the reception right on the beach.

Addicted

2007-09-21T23:33:00.000-04:00

64%

Found this little test today, turns out I am 64% addicted to Blogging. Not too bad, I was hoping it would be lower, but worried it would be higher.

Kim's Bridal

2007-09-16T23:28:00.001-04:00

I shot Kim's wedding yesterday so I can share some from her Bridal session. It took awhile to get this session shot, but it was a great day and Kim was great to work with. We shot at the Arboretum in Greensboro.

Michael

2007-08-26T09:55:00.001-04:00

Here is another one that I shot a few weeks ago and never got around to posting.

Logan and Spencer

2007-08-25T23:42:00.000-04:00

I shot this session a few weeks ago, it was a short session so I don't have a lot to show, but I really liked these two.

Ben

2007-08-19T10:32:00.001-04:00

My wife has been after me for a while to take some portraits of our son, he turned three last month, and yesterday I finally went out and did it. So we went to downtown Greensboro and these were some of my favorites. It has been a while since the last time I shot Ben and he was way more cooperative than he used to be, guess that came with getting older.

Close Call

2007-08-18T11:03:00.000-04:00

This is all that was left of my 3 year old son's shoe after it got stuck in the escalator at Macy's the other day. Fortunately he got his foot out and was not hurt, although he was pretty upset about having to be barefoot the rest of the evening.

Gatlinburg

2007-08-14T08:10:00.000-04:00

Last week I visited Gatlinburg, TN with my family. Here are some shots from that trip.

Castle

2007-08-13T20:16:00.000-04:00

Last week while cleaning out my locker I found this 4x5 polaroid negative of castle McCulloch in Greensboro that I shot last year. So I decided to scan it as my last act as a student.

Riley

2007-07-19T01:12:00.001-04:00

Grandma Miller

2007-07-13T20:33:00.001-04:00

Today I shot these photos of a classmates 96 year old Great Grandmother. She is an artist in Greensboro and some of the paintings behind her were painted over 50 years ago. Not sure where the cat came from.

GSO Family Session

2007-07-01T22:36:00.000-04:00

Shot this family session in downtown Greensboro today. Things went pretty well, got to use a 5D for the first time so that was kinda cool.

Ian and Aaron

2007-06-28T01:01:00.001-04:00

Another Kid session. I had to shoot this one on two different days. For a little change of scenery we shot this one at a park in Greensboro.

Cora

2007-06-25T23:50:00.001-04:00

Shot another kid today in downtown Greensboro, things went great and we got some nice photos.

Ben and Paige

2007-06-21T23:46:00.000-04:00

Today I shot another kid session downtown. The kids were great and we got some pretty good shots. We shot at the Children's Museum in downtown Greensboro in front of this cool blue wall.

Isabelle and Drew

2007-06-10T23:16:00.000-04:00

Its been a while since I last posted because I have not been able to shoot much lately but that is all about to change. I decided that I wanted to shoot a bunch of kids this summer, so my wife helped me line a few up (more than a few actually). This was the first of that endeavor. We had laughs, we had tears, and in the end I think we got some cool photos.

Kristy and Kris Engagement Session

2007-05-26T01:20:00.000-04:00

Kristy and Kris just got engaged and booked me to shoot their wedding in october, so we went to downtown Greensboro to have an engagement session. It was a really great day and we all had a lot of fun, we went all over downtown and shot for almost 2 hours. I came away with a bunch of cool shots, these were some of my favorite.

Tammy and Ken

2007-05-20T21:32:00.000-04:00

I shot a wedding today in Asheboro and things went really well. This is the first one I have shot on my own since the end of my internship. I just finished my first edit and these were some of my favorites.

Flower

2007-05-19T20:31:00.001-04:00

Shot this a few weeks ago, but today I decided to mess around with the processing and use some photoshop brushes. I think it came out kinda cool.

Guinness

2007-05-08T12:31:00.000-04:00

I shot these last week in the studio, I am not entirely happy with them so I will probably reshoot at some point.

Final Internship Wedding

2007-05-06T23:07:00.000-04:00

This past weekend was my final wedding on my internship with Walters and Walters. The wedding was at Duke Gardens and it rained for most of the day. We had a few breaks in the rain and we used that to shoot as much as we could. This week James wanted me to shoot the wedding as if it were my own and document the entire day(as much as I could as a second shooter anyway), I even got to direct a few shots of my own. I had a great time and am generally happy with how my shots came out. If you would like to see more visit www.blog.waltersandwalters.com.

Sapporo

2007-04-18T00:02:00.000-04:00

More fun in the studio.

Internship Wedding #2

2007-04-17T22:19:00.000-04:00

This past weekend I shot my second wedding with Walters and Walters. This week He had me working on details again. He also had me take pictures of some of the objects at the reception using a second light with a soft box. He also challanged me to get a couple of good band shots. To see more visit www.blog.waltersandwalters.com

Disney World

2007-04-16T21:51:00.000-04:00

This week I decided to start trying to get organized by going through all of my CD's and DVD's of photos. During this mind-numbingly dull process I came across some these from our trip to Florida last year, I got my 30D 2 days before we left and these were some of the first images I took with it.

Easter

2007-04-16T00:27:00.000-04:00

Last week for easter my son participated in his first easter egg hunt at the farmers market in Greensboro, here are some shots from that day.

Z00

2007-04-10T15:45:00.000-04:00

Last week I took my son to the zoo, this is some of what I shot that day.

Computer

2007-04-10T01:02:00.000-04:00

Last week we were a little slow so I decided to go down to RCC and have a little fun shooting in the studio.

Internship Wedding

2007-03-31T15:43:00.000-04:00

Last Sunday I shot my first wedding on my internship with Walters and Walters. My assignment for the day was to photograph details. It was an incredible day, we had great weather and a wonderful location. It was at Fearington Village in Pittsboro. Visit www.blog.waltersandwalters.com to see more images from this wedding or some of the other projects we have worked on during th last couple weeks.

Family on Location #2

2007-03-01T11:08:00.000-05:00

This is from our second family on location assignment. They were shot woth my 30D, 400 ISO, 24-85mm at 50mm, 550 flash for fill.

Large Format

2007-03-01T11:01:00.000-05:00

This is some stuff that I shot last year in large format. Two were shot on T-max and the other was shot on chrome amd scanned with the imacon.

Speech Therapy Slideshow

2007-02-22T08:19:00.000-05:00

These are some images that I shot for my sound portrait in our multimedia class. They were all shot with a 30D, 17-40mm lens, ISO 400, and 1 flash

Pet Portrait

2007-02-20T13:55:00.000-05:00

This is the pet portrait that we had to shoot for this week. I used a 30D, ISO 100, F/7.1, 1/200, 70-200 mm lens set at 110. I used the 3 light setup in the picture.

Old Salem

2007-02-14T21:39:00.000-05:00

These are some shots I took of old Salem for a slideshow we had to make in our multimedia class. I desaturated then pumped up the contrast. The were all shot with my 30D, ISO 200

Kara

2007-02-14T14:16:00.000-05:00

This was our last assignment, it was shot with a 30D, 17-40mm at 40mm, 1/125s, f/6.3, ISO100, I used the 3 light setup seen below.

Chandler Concrete

2007-02-07T22:45:00.000-05:00

These are some shots of former NFL coach and player Sam Wyche speaking at the Chandler Concrete safety awards banquet. It was shot with a 10D, 70-200mm lens, ISO 800.

Chicago

2007-02-07T22:39:00.000-05:00

These are some images that I took on my trip to chicago over christmas break. They were both shot with my 30D and with the bean I used a lens baby.

Family in Home

2007-02-01T00:20:00.000-05:00

This was for an assignment where we had to go on location to shoot a family in the home. It was a tight fit so I was unable to take a picture of my setup so I drew a picture in photoshop. Shot with a 30D, alien bees, 17-40 lens at 28mm, f/8 at 1/15s, iso 200

Jess and Mando

2007-01-31T20:46:00.000-05:00

I shot this for a layout project in the spring last year. I shot it with Plus-x, Mamiya 645, 2 hot lights. I just scanned it and printed it for my portfolio.