I’m still swimming with excitement over how much fun I had at Alt Summit. A big thanks to Gabby and her sister Sara for asking me to photograph the event.  I got to work with Brooke Dennis, who is just about the cutest, most easy-going photographers I know. Links to her pictures and the rest of mine are at the bottom of this post.

Here it is, Alt Summit – A visual review.

Gabby Blair - designmom.com

Jaimee Rose and Blue Lilly

Kathryn Storke - Snippet and Ink

Natalie Holbrook - Nat the Fat Rat

Lisa Valentine Clark - almostfamouslisa.blogspot.com

Brooke White - Girls with Glasses

Grace Bonney - Designsponge

Gabby Blair

Jordan Ferney - Ohhappyday.com

Amy Butler

Dinner en blanc - The White Party

Tyler - Blue Lilly Photography

Maggie Mason - Mightygirl.com

Laura Smithwick and Gabby Glair - Kirtsy Girls

Roundtable discussions

Maggie Mason - Mightygirl.com

The very awesome Brooke Dennis

Ben Silbermann - Pinterest founder

I like you, too!

Ben Silbermann's keynote address

Jasmine Star

Ben Silbermann - Founder of Pinterest

Girls With Glasses

Cheers, yo. Until next year.....

Brooke and I have uploaded everything to Flickr that we shot. If you’d like to see more, look for your beautiful face, or use any of the images for your own blog posts, you can see them here. Enjoy! There’s also great pictures there from Moss and Isaac.

One last thing about Alt Design Summit. One of the best parts of the whole week was getting to be one of the workshop presenters with Alison from Petit Elefant and Susan from the Working Closet. It went so great and I’d love to have more experiences like that.

I’m already looking foward to Alt 2013.

It’s that grand time of year, again–time for the Alt Design Summit in Salt Lake City. I’ve been looking forward to this since….well, since about a year ago when I went last time. This year I’ll be photographing the event, along with Brooke Dennis. And on Saturday morning I’ll be part of a workshop called “Style and Fashion Yourself for a Photoshoot” along with Alison from Petit Elefant and Susan from The Working Closet. Then I’m scooting away quickly to photograph a wedding that same day. It’s going to be a busy and fantastic week. I can just feel it.

Alt is sold out this year and has been for a couple months. So if you’re interested in going next year, don’t wait around to sign up.

Are you like me? Do you often go to someone’s blog to see what that person looks like only to discover that the photograph is so terrible you have mistaken them for a horse? The moral of this story (not really a story) is to make the right impression with a great profile picture. You’ll look legit, professional, and it’s also a very good way to stand out from the crowd. The picture you use says so much about you. Make sure it’s saying what you want.

I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, but Justin, won’t that cost a lot of money? Well, hold on to your hat.

I’m offering headshots for bloggers and anyone, really, that uses an online profile picture for social media and online business. And I’m offering this service at an incredible price.

$100 will get you a headshot portrait session at my studio plus 3 images of your choice that you are free to use for online purposes, your blog, LinkedIn, online store, profile picture for your next convention speaking engagement, Twitter, Facebook.

Just like a delicious pie sitting on the counter, this sweet deal isn’t going to last forever. I’m only offering this special rate in February and March 2011. For available days, further details, and additional samples, see our headshot page.

It’s time to put your best foot forward. You only get one chance to make a first impression. Reach for the stars, Tiger. Call me.

Kathryn runs the very popular wedding blog Snippet and Ink. I met her last year at Alt Design Summit and I was happy to she was there again this year. Because she’s awesome.

Image from Marta

Last year when the 30 Strangers project was announced, we had far more requests to participate than we had spaces. Emails came, mostly from Utah, but from other places as well. One email was from Texas. The email said she wanted to be a part of the project. But in the end, it didn’t work out. That’s the first part of the story, but not the end.

Last week, I was on a panel at the Alt Design Summit. Let me just stop the story right here and tell you that the conference was so great. It was for folks that blog for a living, and it was specifically geared towards those that blog about design, but it was attended by all kinds of bloggers. For me, the best part was meeting the folks that write the blogs I love. I knew Kathryn Storke would be there from Snippet and Ink, because she was listed as one of the speakers. But I didn’t know Jen Campbell from Green Wedding Shoes would be there, so that was a great surprise. You can view the complete speaker list here, and as you can see, this was a real rockstar group of speakers. Heather Armstrong from Dooce, Stephanie Brubaker from Stephmodo, Sarah Wright from Sarah Jane Studios, Grace Bonney from Design Sponge and the list goes on.

So back to the story. I was speaking on a panel at the Alt Design Summit and the other person on the panel with me was Karen Walrond, a beautiful women, talented writer and photographer. And, as it turns out, she is the one that emailed me from Texas that wanted to be part of the 30 Strangers project last year. How about that! We had a great time getting to know each other the night before our panel. The next day, we photographed each other. Then we gave great advice to some people on the topic: Photography on the web. Thanks to the Alt folks for inviting me, and a huge thanks to Amber Roussel for moderating the panel and coming up with such astute questions. Amber, I wish I would have been able to photograph you, too. Next time, huh?

And now, I give you the effervescent and magnetic Karen Walrond:

Karen is sweet, sweet. When the panel discussion first began, when she was introducing herself, she said to everyone there, “…You know, I’ve been around celebrities and I never get nervous or anything, but when I found out I was going to be on the panel with Justin, I thought, Oh my God, JUSTIN HACKWORTH.” Ah, Karen. You are great. You know how to make a guy feel good about himself. At that moment, I was ten feet tall.

And here are some pictures she took of me and Amy.

I love those pictures. I’m uncomfortable getting my picture taken. Karen set me at ease, then knocked it out of the park.

One last picture from the Alt Design Summit. Here’s Grace Bonney in the lobby of the Grand America hotel just as I was leaving. I wanted to say hi, but she’s a busy girl and I didn’t get a chance.

…..

Justin Hackworth photographs photographers from Texas, bloggers from New York, and he wants to photograph you.

January 21 – 23 in Salt Lake City are the dates for the Altitude Design Summit. It’s a conference for design and lifestyle bloggers. Love great design? Then you should go. Get this: Keynote speakers include Panelists Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan, founder of Apartment Therapy; Grace Bonney, founder of Design*Sponge; Jean Aw, founder of NotCot, and Heather Armstrong, founder of Dooce.

And that’s just the beginning. There are so many more speakers including Stephanie Brubaker, founder of Stephmodo, Kathryn Storke, founder of Snippet and Ink, and um…me. I’m so excited that I was asked to be one of the panelists. You can see the full list here.

So far, 2010 is turning out great.

From their website here is who should attend

- People that love talking about design in all its iterations. What it is. How it’s changing. Why it’s important.
- People that read sites like Apartment Therapy/drive German cars/subscribe to magazines from Europe.
- Design or lifestyle bloggers who want to (finally!) meet their fellow design and lifestyle bloggers.
- People from across all the design disciplines: graphic, industrial, fashion, interior, product, textile. Plus illustrators and photographers too.

Wet Like Seals

I never wore a seat belt when I was a kid. Instead, we flopped around the back of the car like cutthroat trout on the bottom of a boat. And it was there, behind the back seat in my parents’ station wagon, back with the sleeping bags and suitcases, that my older sister told me she was from another planet. She was sent here, she said, to observe. She would not harm us, she said. She would, in her role as a sister, tease from time to time, but only to fill her role as sister.

I didn’t believe for one minute that my sister was an alien. When I laughed and said I didn’t believe her, well, that just made her mad. See. She was really my sister after all. Would an alien care one way or another what I thought?

We were driving West. California. I remember we sang “This Land Is Your Land” and listened to old radio programs like “Fibber McGee and Molly” that my mom had checked out from the library. I was eight years old.

The car didn’t have air conditioning unless you count rolling down the windows. It was the middle of the summer. Hot, hot.

In Nevada we stopped at a gas station. It had a cafe next door. That was back in the day when you’d roll up to the pumps and tell some kid “fill ‘er up.” So we rolled in to the station and my dad told the kid to fill ‘er up and we all went inside and I drank a Coca Cola for the first time in my life.

It was cold inside. You only had to be in there five minutes before you kind of wished you had a coat. Chilly for a few minutes, sure, but when we left, I mean the second we walked outside, the chill vanished in a soft wall of crushing heat.

My dad told us to follow him. We walked around to the side of the gas station and he took a water hose and sprayed us all down. Back in the car, dripping, happy, wet like seals, I heard my dad tell my mom, “Fellow inside said it’s 114 in the shade.”

Jump ahead. 2009. Now, I’m driving. Now, I’m looking back in the rear view mirror and seeing my two boys there in the back seat. They are strapped in. Car seats and buckles. They joke and tease. And sing. They’re singing a song I taught them.

There’s a girl downtown
With freckles on her nose
Pencils in her pockets
And ketchup on her clothes
She’s a real nice girl
Pretty as a plate
The boys call her Katie
When they ask her on a date
And who knows, Katie
Maybe you could be the one.

It’s a small moment. Simple and, for me, beautiful. So when my family celebrates Thanksgiving this week, I’m going to be thankful for driving in a car with my two boys. That, and air conditioning.

……
Song lyrics by Hayes Carll
……

A friend of mine asked me to write an essay for her new blog that you should check out. That’s why this was written. Each week she posts short little essays like this from people she knows. I thought I’d make my essay all Thanksgivingy. And I like how it turned out so figured I’d post it here, too.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Everyone loves her wildly popular blog, DesignMom, but the real fun is being around her. Gabrielle is funny, bright, lively, and spirited. No wonder moms find so much joy from her site.

Gabrielle: Thanks so much for your time. It was a real pleasure meeting you. I hope our paths cross again soon.

Photographed at Zermatt Resort, Midway, Utah.

This post is just for you. Thanks for reading.

Janet writes on internet marketing, affiliate marketing, business blogging, and social media. She came to my studio because she’s updating her blog and wanted a new portrait to go with it. Two things about Janet really impressed me. One – she knows so much about the convoluted world of SEO and business blogging. A true expert. At one point I found myself thinking it felt like I was at a seminar. She is so smart. The second thing that impressed me was how generous she was in answering all my questions. All 5,000 of them. She even gave me a tutorial on how to use Twitter. (I still don’t get it. Come back, Janet).

By the way, this isn’t my first time making pictures of her. I photographed her earlier this year when she got married.