Brand New Website!
This is sort of old news. I have a brand new website. And by new, I mean that it’s now been up for about a month or so. (My blog is still the same as you can see). I must have been so busy knitting sweaters for Christmas that I forgot to mention it. In any case, I thought you should know.
So if you haven’t visited my main site in a while, you have a fun treat waiting for you. It’s lovely as can be. New pictures, new design. All new!
www.justinhackworth.com
In case you’re curios, I’m using BigFolio. Love those guys.
Vegas, baby!
Amy and I are leaving for Vegas today. We’re going to be attending WPPI. It’s a big convention for wedding and portrait photographers.
See you in a while. Don’t wait up.
Come visit us!
Here’s where Justin Hackworth Photography will be tomorrow, Saturday, January 3rd:
If we’ve never met, now’s the perfect time to come say hello. Plus, we’re giving stuff away. Maybe you’ll be the winner.
Party Follow-up
First of all, thanks so much for everyone that came to the party on Friday. Throughout the night, we had about 100 people come see our space and say hello.
And I just can’t say enough good about the band that played: The Gatsbys. Thanks fella’s. You really spiced things up. I kept hoping they’d play this song and they did! Sweet.
And speaking of sweet, we had the most delicious cup cakes I’ve ever had, provided by Megan at the Sweet Tooth Fairy. I ate three. I’ll admit that now. Three cup cakes, snort snort. They were amazing.
We handed out raffle tickets and at a few times throughout the night we called out some winning numbers. (I actually used a megaphone, like I was a high school principal or something. You’ve got to get one). The winners were awarded gift certificates and products from the following places. Note: These are some of our favorite people in town and we love them and the businesses they run. They have our highest recommendations. We weren’t giving away stuff from just anyone.
Kaliedoscope Boutique
Shep Salon
Pizzeria 712
The Smokehouse
Metropolitan Salon
The Flower Basket
Mode Boutique
Applebees (just kidding about this one)
It’s so fun to have a party like that and see our good friends and make some new ones. I had a great time and really feel fortunate and blessed to know so many talented and interesting people. I love what I do for a living and it’s a good feeling to be able to share that with others. Thanks, friends, for coming to our little celebration. And now, some pictures.
Party This Friday!
This Friday, December 5th, we’re having an anniversary party at the studio. Although I’ve been in business for ten years or so, we’ve only been at this location for one year. We’d love to have you come say hi. If you’ve been reading the blog now and again and we’ve never met face to face, now’s the time.
The Gatsby’s will be playing and we’ll be giving away some gift certificates from some of our favorite locations in Utah County, including the Pizzeria 712–a place I wish I could dine every day.
Partygoers, do you believe in the power of sweets? Then you’ll be so glad to meet The Sweet Tooth Fairy and her cupcakes. Available in January at their retail location; available Friday at our party.
All the info can be found right here. We’d sure love to see you.
Advice for photographers
Advice for photographers:
Never think photography is easy. It’s like poetry in that it’s easy enough to make a few rhymes, but that’s not a good poem. –Chris Steele-Perkins
There’s so much more where that came from on Magnum’s blog.
Portrait of a social media and blogging expert
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.
Photo Expo 2008
To any photographers that may read my blog, I’m wondering if you are going to Photo Expo this year. If so, let me know and let’s meet up.
What is Photo Expo? Here it is from their website:
PDN PhotoPlus continues to be on the cutting edge of what’s happening in photography and imaging. Since 1983 we’ve put on the leading show in the industry – attracting all the exhibitors you want to see, and the industry names you want to network with!
LaCaille Bridal Show
Last Saturday, Amy and I exhibited at the LaCaille Bridal Show. It was the first of such things for us and we had a really great time. Big, big thanks to the Flower Basket for providing such gorgeous flower arrangements for us. And thanks to everyone that came by to say hello. We had such a pleasure meeting everyone and hearing all about your wedding plans and we’d love to be a part of making it a perfect day for you.
Instead of jamming our booth space with lots of different images, we picked one image and made it big to garner attention. We also ordered some fortune cookies (another one of Amy’s great ideas) with our own custom fortunes and handed those out to interested brides. What a great way to spend a Saturday.
I love my job
Tonight I ran into a friend I haven’t seen in a long while. He’s a photographer. He told me that he hasn’t photographed any weddings in a year or two and he recently realized how relieved he felt about that. I’m so happy for him that he is now photographing only the kinds of jobs he wants, and I wanted to tell him I feel so privileged to be able to be a wedding photographer.
Like earlier today, when I took Lindsay a 13×19 print that I made her of the bridal pictures we did a couple days ago. It was a gorgeous print on Velvet Fine Art paper. I really wish you could see it. She was so excited, told me how much she loved the print an the rest of the pictures we made the other day and said, “Can I give you a hug”? That’s the sort of reaction I love, and it’s the reason I do what I do. She said, “when my mom sees this, she is going to cry.”
I’ve said it before, but really want to say it again, I love my job.
Here’s something else great that happened today. I recently ordered two, very large canvas prints. They are square and sized 38 inches. These big prints are really quite stunning and if you’d like to see them, it’s easy. They are now hanging in The Flower Basket in Provo. Go check them out and let me know what you think. I think they’re fantastic.
Invited into ISPWP
I was recently invited into the International Society of Wedding Photographers. Check out their site to learn more about the organization. Excellent photographers only.
Look good for less
Nearly every time I give someone my business card I hear, “I really love your card.” At least 9 out of 10 times I hear that. That’s because Ben at the Mandate Press made them and they are letterpressed on Mowhawk Superfine paper. If you want to make a great first impression but have always felt that letterpressed business cards were not in your budget, then have I got some good news for you. The Mandate Press has a great deal going on right now. A set of 250 cards will cost less than 100 bucks. You can order them through this link. And now you can look good for a low price.
PDN’s Top Knots – Now online
PDN’s Top Knots contest winners are now online. I’m so excited! By the way, Jose Villa, who I’ve written about before, has the cover shot on the print edition of the magazine (available on news stands now). Also, as far as I can tell, there is only one other photographer from Utah other than myself that made it in the magazine. See if you can see who it is.
WPPI
WPPI was really, really great/exhausting. There was so much info packed into three days. For me, hearing Denis Reggie speak was the most valuable part of WPPI this year. He was, by a long shot, the most inspiring speaker and the one with the most valuable and well thought out content. He was bright, informative, clever and very gracious with his time. I’d go hear him speak again in a heart beat.
Amy came with me and our main purpose for attending was to check out album companies. We’ve been using GraphiStudio and we’ll continue to use their Italian-made albums. We spent some time at the Cypress booth and fell in love with their stuff. We are excited to begin offering Cypress albums. With a world class brand that is Justin Hackworth Photography, only the finest albums will do.
While we were there, I was able to introduce Amy to the fabulous photographer and all around fantastic fellow Jose Villa. He introduced us to his cinematographer friend, Joel Serrato, whose work I really enjoy. We ended up talking to Jose for about 30 minutes.
We also ran into a couple great photographers from Provo and I finally got to meet Justin Lyon. Justin and his wife Amelia are photographers in Southern California but Justin is from my home town of Rexburg, Idaho. He knew me, and I knew him, but we’d never met face to face. We finally met and I think he’s great. So listen, if you’re getting married in Southern California, of course the first thing you’ll want to do is to call me. If I’m booked, however, I think you’d be wise to call them.
The convention
Jose Villa
Dena, the owner of Cypress (in the white shirt).
…
It just so happens that Amy and I had our 8 year wedding anniversary while we were in Vegas. We had a great time there and are looking forward to WPPI next year.
WPPI
I’ve been in Vegas with 10,000 other wedding photographers for the past few days attending WPPI. It’s been really great and I’ve got some pictures to post soon, and a detailed list of why it’s been so good to be here. All that will come shortly. But right now, sleep.
Portrait – Dave W.
Dave works at one of the local companies providing software and networking to a world-wide market. A publication in Chicago is writing an article about him. They need an accompanying photo. I don’t know what image they’ll use, but these are some I think have potential. As it turns out, Dave and I are from the same area in Idaho. Not the same town, but the same area. In fact, we knew some of the same people. It’s always great to meet someone from back home.
We have a winner
Thanks for all the entries for our Free Portrait contest. Our lucky winner: Amy Brenneman
Great photography will always be in demand
Once I had dinner with a friend of mine. She made one of the best meals I’ve ever eaten. So satisfying. The next day she gave me a ride to the airport and while she drove, I snapped a few pictures of her. She saw the camera and said, “Wow. I bet that takes really good pictures.” I almost said yes, but thought about it for a few seconds, and told her that I was so grateful for the food she made last night. I told her it was so good, and said, “You must have some really good pans”. She laughed a little (thank goodness) and I think she got the point. Just because you’ve got a nice skillet doesn’t mean you’re a chef. Just because you have a piano, that doesn’t mean you’re a musician. And yet, for some reason, lots of people think that if you’ve got a good camera, you are a good photographer.
Earlier this week, I met with a wedding coordinator. He said he is seeing that more and more people are not hiring professional photographers to shoot their wedding because they have a friend or an uncle with a nice digital camera. Luckily, that trend is only seen at the bottom end of the market.
The truth is, great photography is not made in the camera, but rather, like any art form, in the heart and in the head.
The truth is, great photography will always be expensive.
The truth is, great photography will always always be in demand.
Free Portraits!
We are giving away either a free Bridal Portrait Session, or a free Engagement Portrait Session. The winner will get to select which one. How do you win? All you need to do is write a teeny 200 word essay telling us why we should shoot you for free. The kicker? It’s got to make us laugh. The funniest response will win. If you’re interested in entering, click on this link and fill out the info. And if you aren’t interested, forward the link to someone that you think might care.
We are doing an experiment. This link and announcement will be posted on a few other blogs from various different friends. We are trying to see how word travels via their blogs.
We can’t wait to see what we get.
http://jhphotography.wufoo.com/forms/win-a-free-portrait-from-justin-hackworth/
Well this sure is great news
Photo District News (PDN) is an award-winning monthly magazine for the professional, commercial and advertising photographer. Each year they devote one issue to wedding photography and hold a contest called Top Knots and publish the winning entries. I sent three images to them. They accepted one of them. The issue will be published in April. How cool is that? I’m going to be in Photo District News with this image!
Our brand new, re-designed site
The newly re-designed justinhackworth.com is up and running. Check it out. Thanks to Jeffrey Whitehead who did all the heavy lifting on this. Great job.
The only corners we cut around here are the corners
Because we are interested in building a world class brand, there was only one place we’d go when it came time to get new business cards: Seraph Stationery. Ben makes beautiful printed pieces the old fashion way. And by old fashion way, I mean, on machines that were built around the turn of the century. And by turn of the century, I mean the one that was in 1899.
Seraph Stationery is a letterpress shop in Salt Lake and if you need invitations, business cards, or any other printed piece with class and elegance, then Ben is your man. Our cards were printed on Mohawk Superfine (Ben’s suggestion) and they look fabulous, if I do say so myself.
Talking about photography
Here is a really great article about the challenge of talking about photography to people that don’t know all that much about it. This is written by a photo editor at a well known publication (although he doesn’t say which publication). His challenge is to convince the magazine editor which photo will best serve the accompanying article. One of the challenges for wedding photographers is to help their potential clients see the difference between a skilled photographer and an untrained weekend shooter. You might think people would be able to see the difference, but you’d be surprised.
Here’s a quote from the article. “The first place to look is the fine art world, because they have shattered any preconception that focus, exposure and subject matter have anything to do with what makes a photograph great.”
Office Space
This morning I signed a lease on an office space in downtown Provo. Once we get the place painted and arrange the couches just so, I’ll post a few snaps. It’s going to be great. We’ll have a reception area up front as well as a back office that I’ll be sharing with Gheen Hillman. I can’t believe how much fun it’s going to be to go to work every day with Gheen. I’m so lucky. Should I buy a tiny fridge for snacks? How else will we keep the Red Bull chilled without one? Amy’s a little worried that I’m going to be working right across the street from The Smokehouse. I had to promise her I wouldn’t eat there every single day. This is going to be great.