We had the good fortune of connecting with Austin Sowinski Anna Harvey and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Austin Sowinski, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
From a young age, we each had different creative interests. Individually, we each would’ve pursued something creative to express that part of ourselves, so it made sense to do it together when we realized that. We get to push each other and bounce our creative energies off of one another, and really share that passion for making something artistic. Being in a creative career makes every day a little different. It can come with its own challenges, but it’s still so fulfilling to be able to look at your work at the end of the day and see what you created.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
We have the great privilege of capturing one of the most important days of people’s lives on film. We do our best to help them look back on those moments in an authentic, emotional, and story-driven way. All of the little moments that go into a making a wedding special can be seen as art.: a parent wiping tears away, grandparents smiling as you come down the aisle, laughing with your friends, and the genuine joy on a couple’s face when they say “I do”.

We don’t come in to a wedding day to make a cookie-cutter film we can make from a template. We use our skills as editors with over a decade of experience to approach each film as an individual moment, unique to each couple. No two films are the same, because no two weddings are the same. Our job as videographers is to genuinely reflect the story of the couple that day. We’re proud of how our style has evolved to be more emotional and include so much more of the story. We love using audio and trying new things in editing to really capture the feeling of a day.

It was a slow start for sure, we only did three weddings our first year. We kept pushing ourselves to work at getting our name out there, meet other wedding vendors, and had to learn to let our work speak for itself. Now we’re taking on 30 a year. One of the biggest compliments we hear from inquiring couples is how much they like our style of filmmaking, which has taken almost five years to refine into what it is now, and we’re still evolving with each film we do.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Anna actually lives in the St. Louis MO area. A unique part of our personal and business relationship is that we’re long distance. We’re able to film weddings in both Arizona, Missouri, and everywhere in between. When we are both in AZ, we love finding new places to eat or grab a drink all over the valley. Some of our favorite spots are in old town Scottsdale and Tempe. On a day off, we’re big fans of wandering around to discover new coffee shops, bookstores, restaurants, or any place that has good tacos. We also take any chance we can when it cools down to hike or explore nature.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
We’d really like to thank Helen Stephenson, head of the film and media arts program at Yavapai College. She put a wonderful program together where we met and learned so much. It was a fantastic hands-on experience and we use the skills we refined there every day.

Website: physicalmemories.com

Instagram: @physicalmemoriesllc

Facebook: @physicalmemoriesllc

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuN-UOugiqEXBZOrHY45vYw

Other: https://www.weddingwire.com/biz/physical-memories-llc/30eba77026011f07.html https://www.theknot.com/marketplace/physical-memories-llc-festus-mo-2044584

Image Credits
Chelsey Logan Photography – @chelseyloganphotography Kailey Beth Photo – @kaileybethphoto

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutArizona is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.