“You’ll never hear me say, ‘me.’ It’s always ‘we,’” explains photographer Harry Mah, of his team approach to running Mathieson & Hewitt Photographers, a storied downtown Calgary photography studio established in 1948. That’s the year Jimmie Mathieson and with his wife Elsie opened his eponymous studio with the investment of a mere $200.
"As the business developed, Jimmie became the photographer of choice in Calgary,” Harry explains, adding that Jimmie’s popularity eventually resulted in a move out of the Hillhurst basement the studio first occupied into the city’s downtown. "Mathieson's was a landmark. It was where the who's who of Calgary had their professional photographs taken and where they brought their families in for personal portraits. It was the studio that young photographers envied,” Harry adds.
Once the business was firmly established on the Calgary scene, Jimmie decided to retire, but not before handing the photographic reigns over to Bob Hewitt, who continued Mathieson’s legacy under the studio’s new name: Mathieson &Hewitt Photographers.
Finally, in 2007, as Bob was looking to give up the lens and shutter, Harry became the third-generation owner of Mathieson & Hewitt Photographers.
