Earlier this week I went to Park City to photograph the British Film Commission’s Sundance party. I was hoping the Queen would be there. Or, I was hoping I’d get a swag-bag with a leather jacket in it. Neither happened.
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Events
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.
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More on this later, but for now, I’ll just say that going to Wedsmith this year was truly amazing. I was honored to be involved, as Hilary asked me to be the event photographer for for the second year in a row. Once I edit the pictures I’ll put more up on the blog. In the mean time, here are the very inspiring 2011 speakers, as well as the creators of Wedsmith, Hilary Anderson and her husband Justin.
Back row: Harmony Walton, Simon Bailey, Katy Carrier
Front row: Saundra Hadley, Val Rasmussen, Susan Southerland, Hilary Anderson, Justin Goodson
Thanks, Hilary. What a fantastic event.
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Here’s how it starts. You buy a camera, take some pictures, and really start to like the process. It’s addicting and plus, your friends start to tell you they like what they see. You post some on your new blog and the next thing you know, a friend asks you to shoot her wedding. You’re reluctant, but you think, well how hard can it be. It’s hard. You discover that. But, you make it through and end up with some great images and your friend is happy and she tells her friends. A few more calls come in for wedding photography and you think, well, now, this just might be a good way to make some money. You shoot a few more weddings, and quickly realize that learning to run a business is an entirely separate skill from taking great photographs. Pricing, networking, vendor relations, blogging, providing clients excellent service and the list goes on and on.
So where do you learn that separate skill of being a wedding professional? Thank goodness for Wedsmith. Now, in its second year, the owner of Alta Moda (so you know this will be high class up the ying-yang) have gathered a group of speakers to help wedding professionals ramp up and fine tune their business acumen.
I don’t know what it’s like where you live, but where I live, there are so many people that are in this industry, and while I love to look at the glass half full and say there’s plenty of work to go around, it’s clear that the kind of people that take their jobs seriously, are looking to improve their ability, and want to outsmart the competition, are the people that will attend Wedsmith this year, but they are also the same people that will still be in business next year and beyond.
So at this point you might be asking, what is it? It’s an “inspiring day of seminars, from the wedding industry’s brightest minds, designed to help you find and magnify your success.”
And now another question you might have is, is it just for photographers. Nope. This will benefit anyone in the wedding industry. Last year I met wedding planners, florists, videographers, and invitation designers, but you should also consider going if you are a cake designers, calligrapher, wedding venue coordinator, media site owner, wedding and event blogger, DJ, photobooth company owner.
Still want more info? Ready to sign up? It’s all here on the Wedsmith site. www.wedsmith.com
Hope to see you there.
Lara Casey from Southern Weddings Magazine at Wedsmith 2010
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Rachael Herrscher and Jyl Pattee are my idols.
Seriously. I would bow down and worship them, but I don’t because the truth is, I’m just not around them that often, and now that I’m 43, my back is not as flexible as it once was.
But these two are so sharp they should come with a warning. And they are so smart that I would do whatever they said. And so I was honored when they asked if I’d photograph this year’s Evo Conference.
There’s lots of blogging conferences with varying degrees of value, and the thing you should know about Evo is that it’s as good as it gets. Rachael and Jyl aren’t messing around. They bring in the big guns for both speakers and sponsors and pack those three days with great content and good times.
Speaking of good content, I not only photographed the conference, I also presented a workshop on beginning photography. You know, f-stops, shutter speeds, and all that junk.
And I didn’t photograph the convention alone. I brought along my friend and colleague, Trevor Christensen. He, in turn, brought along his fabulous hair. We had a good time and got great pictures and we even had a few laughs. I like to laugh. And I like to take great pictures. And I like to include my friends in jobs I do. So I was happy to have Trevor come along. I also got to include my friend Ashley Thalman. She didn’t shoot the convention, but rather, one of the Evo sponsors, Kudos, wanted a photographer in their suite to give attendees free headshots. I hired Ashley to do the job, and all three days, word kept getting back to me about how fun she was and how excited everyone was with the headshots she provided. Thanks, Ashley, for making me look good.
Here are some photographs I took over the three days of the conference
The Evo team
Attendees of my beginning photography workshop.
Bloggers love computers
Oh, it's so great to see you again. Oh, hi, I love your shoes.
Super-star Jenny Lawson - aka, the Blogess
Sponsor Southwest's suite
Registration for Evo
99% of Evo attendees are female. This is a picture of two dudes. Rare.
Evo attendees sometimes wear orange sweaters. Or whatever the crap they want.
I hear the ladies really dug this guy. What do you think?
Jyl and Rachael
I love Alison - petitelefant.com
Cheers, yo
Lots of people follow Celia on Twitter. You can too. @Cecilyk
Wordpress was one of the sponsors
Food photographer, Helene (she's French!)
Going to Evo makes you happy
I rode down the Alpine Slide wearing dress shoes
There is some levity that goes on at these things.
A lecture on how to make and sell handmade crafts. Just kidding. About internal cross linking.
As if you didn't already know, The Canyons in Park City is gorgeous. I want to live there.
Well honestly, who wouldn't want to kiss www.jennyonthespot.com
The keynote speaker - www.merakoh.com
Yep. She's just as pleasant as everyone says.
whiteonricecouple.com
We talked about underwear
Pam Baumeister and some sweet lady she just barely met. See how friendly everyone is at this thing?
Trevor wanted to talk to this girl. He finally did on day three.
Goodnight everybody!
A little bit extra and some behind the scenes info can be found here.
And if you went to Evo and are interested in using any of my pictures or Trevor’s pictures, they can all be downloaded here.
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Girls that came to our Blushing Event left with a gift bag stuffed with great offers, good deals, and lots of free stuff. Justin Hackworth Photography gave away mini portrait sessions to everyone. You’re reading that right. It wasn’t a give-away to a couple people. We offered it to every person that came to Blushing. So, that’s what Sara was doing at my studio.
When I asked her what we could do to make Blushing a better event next time, she thought for a long time and said she couldn’t think of anything to change. She LOVED it. In these pictures she’s wearing the pearl earrings that were in every girl’s gift bag from John Beesley Goldsmith. Again, not a giveaway to just a couple people. Every girl who came to our party got pearl earrings. We capped our guest list at 50 brides, and now I’m starting to feel bad for the girls that didn’t get to come. I guess we better do it again.
By the way, I love getting nice emails from nice people. Here’s what Sara had to say about her pictures. “I love them!!! Thank you so much, you are an incredible photographer, I absolutely love your work and I am so lucky to have known the right people to go to Blushing, to be photographed by you and to have you photograph bridals for me. I can’t wait! Thank you again!!!!”
No, no, no. Thank you, Sara.
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We love Molly and Vic.
Molly and Vic, photographed at their home in Park City
Lee Benson wrote an article in the Deseret News about Molly and Vic’s story and titled it “Out of Tragedy arises a will to live and to pass that hope on to others”.
Here’s the story. Molly and Vic had a beautiful daughter. A real looker. A shining star. Lucy was two years old when she choked on an apple and passed away in the hospital three days later.
So Molly and Vic turned their grief toward helping others and started a blog called A Good Grief. It’s a place where others who have lost children can be supported. And now, A Good Grief Foundation is hosting its first annual benefit concert. All proceeds go directly to headstones for children who have passed on. Join them for an evening of incredible entertainment with some of Utah’s top performers, featuring singer/songwriter Cherie Call. Tickets are selling fast.
Concert: Days of Plenty Benefit Concert
When: March 17, 2011
Time: 7:30PM
Where: Historic Murray Theatre (4969 S. State Salt Lake City)
Admission: $10
Get tickets here.
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How to plan a wedding
Last week we gathered the finest wedding professionals this side of the Mississippi and put on a fancy party for recently engaged girls. We called it Blushing and it turned out to be a smashing success.
The idea (all Amy’s) was sort of an anti-bridal fair. We wanted to create something that was, above all, swanky and fun, where girls that are planning a wedding could come relax, have a good time, eat good food, hear good music, and talk to the best wedding vendors around.
So that’s just what we did and everyone had a great time and we were so pleased with how things played out. The next morning one girl sent an email that said, “I just wanted to thank you again for the event last night, I was basically on cloud nine to say the least, it was a great event that got all my creative juices pumping!!! I look forward to getting to know you in the future!”
Another girl wrote and said, “I wanted to say thank you for putting on such a WONDERFUL event. The evening was beautiful. Honestly, it is the best bridal event I have attended thus far. Blushing was very classy and you catered to what a bride really needs. The bridal events I have attended in the past have been very loud and overwhelming, but Blushing was perfect. It was calm, great music, personable vendors that you could tell really wanted to get to know you. I just wanted to let you know that you did a fantastic job of creating such a lovely event. It was a real treat to attend.” That’s just the sort of response we were hoping for.
Of course Amy and I can’t take all the credit. This was a team effort that just would not have happened without Mood Events who took our idea and made it 100 times better. Not only did Matt, Garrett and Alfreda think of every detail to make certain this was a night we’d all remember, but they are so easy and pleasant to work with. I want to do another party like this, just so I can hang out with them some more. I give them my highest recommendation.
We had live music from the very smooth, very talented Nik Day and the food (oh my, deep breath) the food was provided by The Catering Company. It was so fancy, I didn’t even know what any of it was. (When it comes to food, I’m a bit of a dilettante). There was something with goat cheese, though. I know that. And I ginger-mint drink that made me want someone to hook me up to an IV with that stuff.
Honestly, the party wouldn’t have been as fun or worthwhile without the rest of the vendors. Here’s the list of those that were involved:
Featuring:
Alta Moda Bridal – Wowed everyone with a sample gown
The Catering Company – Still dreaming about their food
Dippidee – Served wedding cake at he end of the night
The Flower Basket Botique – Provided all the flowers and they were gorgeous
Velour Live Music Gallery – A perfect location for our party
Seraph Stationery – Made the letterpress invitations the girls received.
Mood Events and Production – Genius.
Nik Day Music – The secret ingredient to any party
Versa Artistry – Provided girls with a lip bar, kissy, kissy
John Beesley Goldsmith – Gave every bride pearl earings
Justin Hackworth Photography – That’s me!
Details by Mood Events
Versa Artistry provided a lip bar
Flower from the Flower Basket Botique
Corey, owner of Velour Live Music Gallery
The gift bags had over $150 worth of cool stuff
The red carpet at the entrance
Cake from Dippidee
Ben Webster's beard, and Ben Webster
One of Alta Moda's beautiful gowns
The Jewler, Andrew Beesley
From the Catering Company
The catering Company at work
Versa Artistry
Nik Day
Beautiful Lucy
Amy gives a toast to all the brides at end the night
The gang's all here - Blushing Vendors
Garrett, Alfreda, Matt from Mood Events with Amy and I.
Not only did the girls walk away with a gift bag their roomates were sure to covet, but we had give-aways throughout the night with very cool prizes from each vendor.
Amy and I had such a great time that night and we went home that night feeling so good about it.
Thanks to all the girls that came. It was wonderful to meet you.
Thanks to Utah Bride and Groom, Utah Bride Blog, Southern Weddings Magazine, Kristian Regal.
Thanks to all the vendors for contributing your talents, your craft and your positive vibes.
Thanks to Amy for such a fantastic idea. Let’s do this again some time.
And if you are planning a wedding of your own, there are a lot of great choices in Utah and the vendors that contributed to this party would be a good place to start.
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I can’t wait to tell you about Blushing, but first let me tell you this. I just got back from Las Vegas. Did you know Rita Rudner is still alive? She’s got her own show in Vegas. I, on the other hand, was there for WPPI, which is an enormous trade show and convention. 15,000 wedding and portrait photographers gather each year to listen to other photographers give business advice and talk about how to make better photographs. Then, all 15,000 of us gather together in a circle, hold hands, and sing Kumbaya. I love going because I get to see lots of photographer friends that I only see once a year, meet some new ones, and I even learn a thing or two.
So that’s where I was this last week. Now I’m back and we’re hard at work putting together a very cool party for the recently engaged. It’s called Blushing. If you are getting hitched, well then, hang on to your hat. Blushing, March 9, 2011, is going to be a swanky party where recently engaged girls can come and have great food and listen to very cool music. There will be some fantastic giveaways and a swag-bag loaded with goodies. We’ll have a number of wedding professionals on hand so you’ll have a chance to talk to them and ask questions in a no-pressure, friendly environment. Basically, it’s a night of fun and low-key wedding planning.
We are so excited for the vendors that will be there, making this a night you’re not going to want to miss (if you’re engaged).
Featuring:
Alta Moda Bridal
The Catering Company
Dippidee
The Flower Basket Botique
Velour Live Music Gallery
Seraph Stationery
Mood Events and Production
Nik Day Music
Versa Artistry
John Beesley Goldsmith
Justin Hackworth Photography
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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.
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