Laura Wilson's photographs have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, London's Sunday Times Magazine, and The Washington Post Magazine. She has published six books of photographs: Watt Matthews of Lambshead (Texas State Historical Society, 1989), Hutterites of Montana (Yale University Press, 2000), Avedon at Work (University of Texas Press, 2003), Grit and Glory (Bright Sky Press, 2003), That Day: Picture in the American West (Yale University Press, 2015), and From Rodin to Plensa (Meadows Museum, SMU, Dallas, Texas, 2018).

Wilson is currently working on two projects. Writers will become a book and exhibition for the Ransom Center at the University of Texas. This project documents 35 of the most distinguished writers of our time. Making Movies documents directors, cinematographers, and actors behind the scenes.

Wilson was elected to the Philosophical Society of Texas and is a member of the Texas Institute of Letters where she won the Carr P. Collins award. She was also awarded the Royal Photographic Society of England's Book of the Year for Avedon at Work. She currently serves on the board of the Ransom Center, University of Texas, Austin, Texas and the Clements Center for Southwest Studies, SMU, Dallas.