Team 22 Studios husband-wife owners went the extra mile to make Mountain Hope Good Shepherd Clinic’s fundraiser at the Titanic Museum truly memorable for the participants.
Not only did Ken and Angie Carriere donate a superhero photo shoot for a youngster as an auction item, they also took stunning 8-by-10-inch black-and-white portraits of everyone in attendance at the Roaring Twenties-themed event on July 15. Sensible Concrete sponsored the photos. Angie Carriere also took a beautiful photo of the guests gathered on the Grand Staircase of the Titanic Museum.
“Angie is really the talent,” Ken said. “I’m just the bragger.” She’s a wiz at photo editing and other technical work the couple produce, but she has a strong artistic streak too. “Angie is one of the most talented people on the planet,” her husband said. Apart from her work with the studio, she performs at the Hatfield and McCoy dinner show. She sings, writes, arranges and produces music and plays nine instruments.
It was her theater work that drew them to Sevier County three years ago. However, it was Ken’s past history that got them involved in the Titanic fundraiser. As a seven-year-old boy, he had Hodgkins Disease, a very serious form of cancer, especially in 1962. His family could not afford treatment for him, so a local organization paid the bills and provided him with the health care that allowed him to survive without dire financial consequences to the family.
Many years later, when the couple heard about the Titanic fundraiser, the Carrieres decided to help as a way of paying back. “Mountain Hope provides services that would not be available otherwise to people with no health insurance,” Ken said.
Team 22 provides all kinds of photographic services, from the traditional to the innovative. As you might expect, the Carrieres shoot weddings, senior portraits and family reunions, etc. and also produce videos. In more offbeat work, they also create superhero or princess packages for children. Using creative technology, they transform the photos they take of boys and girls into large pictures starring the children as superheroes or princesses against an appropriate background. The resulting pictures are available on 16- by 20-inch framed canvases or as large movie-style posters.
Another innovation is the Carrieres’ use of “gray-screen technology,” with which “you can make things look three-dimensional,” Ken said. “It’s pretty amazing what can be done using this technology.” Angie can also take a photo and, using a digital painting technique, make it look like a real painting.
Team 22 Studio is at 837 Newport Highway in Sevierville. You can see examples of the Carrieres’ work at team22studios.com or on their team 22 studios Facebook. Their phone number is 865-366-1213.