Ideally, I’d have my camera with me at all times. But that’s not always the case. Like, at church, for example. Who takes a camera to church? So that’s why I’m so darn glad I have a camera on my phone, because I take that sucker with me everywhere I go (including church). Oh, sure, it can’t solve all my artistic problems (or hardly any of them) but when I’m in a pinch, it will do the trick.

Sometimes I use it just to take a picture of something I want to remember later, like the giant banner at the fabric store stating “Not going out of business” (hilarious) and sometimes I use it to see things differently than I would if I was looking through my regular camera’s viewfinder.

So here you go. All of these were taken with my camera phone and this slide show is just a bit longer than 2 minutes. Enjoy!

Good pictures are made in the head and the heart, not in the camera. If you are interested in improving your camera skills but just aren’t sure how to go about that, or if you’re already making pictures you like, but know there’s room for improvement, or if you just want to shake up what you’re currently doing, then you may be interested in taking an online class I’m teaching on March 27, 2012 called “10 photo workouts to make you a better photographer” as part of the Alt Design Summit’s online channel. You can read more and sign up here. Space is limited.

Today is Amy’s birthday. A Valentine’s Day birthday. It seems like everything I want to say about her seems like a cliche – “Where would I be without you”, “I’m so lucky to be married to you”, “Nice bum”….

Let me keep it simple and say: this is who I love.

Happy Valentines Day, y’all.

Here are forty-four self portraits, all taken January 9, 2012, on the occasion of my 44th birthday.

Hash browns

Days Market

At Five Guys Burgers

We went to the movie

In front of my office building

My studio

My office

Family dinner

Timpview drive

Writing this blog post

Amy writes

Amy charms

I love the great writer, Amy Hackworth.

David and Lisa Jones, artists, photographed last week while I was in Rexburg.

How to be a second grader

2nd grader - first day of school

Burgers on the grill, sun, sunsets, sons, fireworks, an award winning nap, baked beans, games, 4-wheelers, baby bunnies, and a purple bicycle. It was a short trip to Idaho for the 4th of July family party (Amy’s side), but well worth it.

Happy (late) 4th of July!

…..

In other news, the 30 Strangers exhibit is now up. There was an article in the BYU Daily Universe today about it. Don’t forget, our reception is on July 15th from 6-9pm and we’d love to see you there. Also, this week I’ll be in Park City for the Evo Convention. I’m giving a workshop on Thursday and I’m also photographing the whole convention with Trevor.

Sometimes, that second set of footprints in the sand isn’t Jesus’s. They are your brothers. And he isn’t wearing any pants.

…..

We just spent the week in Idaho. In Rexburg. Oh, sure the weather was a bit chilly and the wind blew some times, but that didn’t stop us from having a grand time.

Rexburg, that place is a change’n. It’s not the same as when I grew up there. But there are a few things that are still the same. It still only takes twelve minutes to get to the sand dunes. Once there, you might be the only one around for miles. Standing on the big ole dunes, you can watch a sunset on one horizon and see the mighty Grand Tetons on the opposite horizon. You can still see the hand of God in such a beautiful place. Those things haven’t changed one bit.

Family portrait, Rexburg

City of Rocks, Idaho

On the way to the City of Rocks

On Friday, May 6, we kicked off the first Rooftop Concert of the summer. One down, five more to go. (Check out the line-up on the website: www.rooftopconcertseries.com)

April’s been a pretty chilly month around these parts but on Friday, nothing but sunshine and warm weather. Honestly, this concert couldn’t have come on a better day. And for me, things lined up even more perfectly because my whole family was in town. That never happens. I’ve got two brothers and two sisters. Jordan and Kristi live in Virginia (they work in the same hospital!) Jeremy lives in San Diego, Jenni lives in St. George and my parents have been in China for the last year. And everyone’s busy and it’s hard to get together. I just don’t even know the last time it happened. I probably had hair, last time it happened. But it happened this week. Jenni got her Ph.D. in nursing so everyone was in Salt Lake on Thursday to celebrate the happy and significant occasion.

Now, at this point, you might be wondering, now what does this have to do with the Rooftop Concert Series and Fictionist? Well, since the whole family was in town, we all got to go to the rooftop concert together. You know what they say–the family that rocks together….I don’t know how to finish that.

Photo by Trevor Christensen

The Rooftop Concert: Emily Brown warmed things up and she’s a girl you ought to know. Check out her website and buy her CD.

Then Paul Jacobsen and the Madison Arm (Pat Campbell, Ryan Tanner, Scott Wiley, Paul Jacobsen) wowed everyone. At our house, we’ve been listening to Paul’s CD for the past couple of weeks non-stop so we could sing along. So that’s what we did.

Then Fictionist. And if you haven’t already heard (because you’ve been in a cryogenic freeze or some such thing) Fictionist are in a contest to be on the cover of Rolling Stone and you could help put them there. Just go here and rate them five stars. We’re lucky to have them at the Rooftop Concert before things really start to heat up for them.

Paul Jacobsen and the Madison Arm

Mayor John Curtis gives away a Fictionist CD, CJane charms the crowd.

The young kids love the rock and roll

1,500 people came to see Fictionist and Paul Jacobsen

Additional Fictionist pictures from Friday night in a two minute slideshow can be seen here.

Friday night really was magic. I loved the concert and I loved hanging out with the family. Oh, sure it was late after the concert, but that didn’t stop us from going back to my house, busting out the guitars, and having a concert of our own until 2 am. Even my mom stayed up for that.

Happy Anniversary, Amy. I love you.

Justin + Amy

On March 18, 2000, Amy and I were married. I took this picture in McCall, Idaho, two days after our wedding.

Here’s my Grandfather, Hubert Hackworth, photographed at his house in St. Anthony, Idaho, in June 2010, shortly after his 95th birthday.

Grandpa used to have a grocery store just a couple blocks from his house. There was a wood floor that creaked and a little bell whenever anyone opened the front door. The place smelled like pop tarts and had more penny candy than any place in town. Kids in St. Anthony gave grandpa their school pictures and he’d hang them in the store above the cash register.

I miss Hack’s Grocery, but I will miss you even more, Grandpa.

Happy Thanksgiving

I love how close I live to this place. On Sunday, the temperature at my house was 4,000 degrees. We drove 15 minutes up the road, just above Sundance in Provo Canyon, and it was 20 degrees cooler that it was in Provo. Not that it mattered to my son. He has little use for shirts in nearly any kind of weather.