About the Artist

Photographs by Michael Wilson

wilsons

Michael with his wife, Marilyn, and their children, Henry, Polly and Sunny
(Photgraph by David Strasser)

Michael Wilson had been saving for a French horn when he realized he didn’t have the faculties to play the instrument. So he bought a camera. This was in 1976, when he was about to graduate from Norwood High School in Cincinnati. His black-and-white photographs seem to find what’s extraordinary in everyday situations. He hopes his photographs are honest, but he worries about never really getting there. His subjects would disagree, and his portraits have graced the recordings of numerous artists among them: B.B. King, Lyle Lovett, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Bill Frisell, Waylon Jennings, David Byrne, Emmylou Harris, The Bears, Rob Fetters and Leo Kottke. Michael and his wife, Marilyn, have three children whose names are Henry, Polly and Sunny.