When you listen to Mindy’s music, you get this impression that she’s probably one of the most creative, hilarious, fun, and sincere people that you’d ever meet. Well, if you get that impression, you’re right on.

Meet, Mindy Gledhill.

On his way home from his LDS mission in England, Jordan said to himself, “Well, it looks like I won’t marry a girl from England” on account of the fact that he hadn’t met anyone for whom he’d go back and get to know. Well, never say never. Natasha is from England and just last month the two of them were married in Draper and had a beautiful wedding reception at Sleepy Ridge in Orem.

We had our first Rooftop Concert last week and it was, as they have come to be, just magic.

Thanks to Faith Johnson, Ryan Innes, and Peter Breinholt.

Rooftop concert co-founder CJane Kendrick

Our concert poster designer, Matt Mildenstein with his beautiful wife Heather

Rooftop concert co-founder Mindy Gledhill

Making on-stage announcements with Mindy and Courtney

Ryan Innes

With Peter Breinholt

Amy, in the crowd, dancing like a polite maniac

Next month, June 1: Desert Noises and Moth & the Flame. See the full summer lineup on the Rooftop Concert website.

Today I scanned some negatives.

This picture was taken in the summer of 1999. It’s of my friend Heather Roberts at her house in Salt Lake City. We had just spend that Sunday afternoon at her friend Kim McKay’s cabin at Sundance. A girl named Amy Ferguson was there and she was the real reason I was there, too, as we had just started hanging out and I wanted to see her again. So Amy and I sat on that deck, on a lovely Sunday afternoon at Sundance, and kissed for the first time. There’s a picture somewhere, of our feet on that deck chair, but I couldn’t find it when I was scanning these negatives.

Heather and I drove back to Salt Lake and I sang happy songs the whole way home. Probably something from the band Cake.

At Heather’s house I asked if I could take some pictures of her–you know, like I do, as I will, and I shot a couple rolls. There’s a few pictures that are all right from those rolls but as I was about to leave, she stepped inside the house and I saw that this was the picture I had to take.

Ten months later I married Amy.

Two years later this picture was selected to be in the Utah Art Council’s permanent collection and appeared on the cover of American Photo Magazine.

One of the things I love about photography are the memories and stories that are inextricably attached.

Well here’s one of those beautiful couples (drop-dead gorgeous, as they say) that just couldn’t stop smiling and laughing on their wedding day. I love it when the bride and groom act happy on their big day. It’s the reason I love being a wedding photographer.

Meet, Kaytie and Gavin.

Wedding: Salt Lake LDS temple
Reception: Millenial Falls

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Justin Hackworth photographs happy brides and grooms and he wants to photograph you.

Today is our first Rooftop Concert of the year and I’m so excited. I’m so happy to be one of the founders and organizers and love being involved (and I love being the official photographer for all the concerts). My kids are excited to go, too. I think they just like it because we take treats.

I had a wedding giveaway on Nie Nie’s blog a couple weeks ago and I’m happy to say we selected a winner and I can’t wait to photograph the wedding in September. It’s going to be amazing. As a way to say thanks, we also sent out special offers to everyone that entered but didn’t win the main give-away.

The 30 Strangers project begins in June. Amy and I read every entry and I have to say, it’s nearly impossible to pick only thirty from such a fantastic list of options. So many people had beautiful stories or compelling reasons for us to choose them. But, there’s only 30 spots so we have to say no to so many people. That’s probably the only downside to doing this project. In any case, we selected our thirty and yesterday I sent out email invitations to those that we selected. Now, I just wait to hear back from them to confirm their assigned day and time will work for them. I just sent the emails yesterday and have heard back from over half of them. I can’t wait to start the project again, and reading through those emails got me all excited for all the strangers that will soon become friends.

Have you heard about Alt Design Summit? It’s a blogging conference each year in January held in Salt Lake City. Well, the smart people that cooked up that idea came up with the idea to have some of those Alt presenters teach classes online. So you can enjoy all that bloggy goodness year-round. I’ve been teaching some photography classes and it’s been so much fun. I’m teaching one again this month. You can read about that and all the other classes here. And they’re only 15 bucks!

Are you getting married and looking for authentic wedding photographs that just might move you to happy tears? Let’s talk. I still have some days available this summer and fall. 801.916.6993.

I hope you all have a great weekend. And now, enjoy this picture of twins from a recent family photo session I did in Big Cottonwood Canyon.

Here’s Cassidy, photographed at my studio and also in American Fork on the occasion of her high school graduation.

It was a great honor to welcome Peter Breinholt and Ryan Innes to my studio yesterday.

I’d never met Peter before, but have wanted to for such a long time. He’s been making great music and entertaining thousands of happy music goers around Utah for 15 years. That’s remarkable. His music is cheerful and thoughtful and I hardly know anyone around here that doesn’t have a Peter Breinholt story, something that has to do with going to one of his concerts or making out to his music (that’s the story Mindy Gledhill tells). Please meet the authentic, good, genuine and kind Peter Breinholt:

Website: www.PeterBreinholt.com

And then there’s Ryan Innes. When he sings, all the knees of standing girls will buckle and those same girls will start to see stars. If I could sing like anyone, it would be like Ryan Innes.

Website: www.reverbnation.com/ryaninnes

You can hear Peter and Ryan this Friday, May 4, at the Rooftop Concert for our first show in this year’s fantastic season.

Year FIVE of the 30 Strangers Portrait Project and fundraiser is about to begin. Once again, we’ll be doing portraits of mothers and daughters (2, 3, or 4 generations–crossing my fingers for 5) and raising money for the Center for Women and Children in Crisis.

What is 30 Strangers??
A Justin Hackworth Photography project. It works like this. For the entire month of June 2012, I will make a portrait of a mother and daughter every day. 30 portraits – 30 days. The $250 session fee is waived. Instead, well ask participants to donate $50 to the Center for Women and Children in Crisis, in Provo. Then, in September, we’ll have an exhibit and you’re all invited.

Update – Thanks so much for all the great stories. We’ll be reading through them as fast as we can and making the selections very soon.

Pick me! Pick me! Pick me! How do I get picked??
Hold on, tiger. I’d love to pick you, so please leave a comment on this blog post. Keep in mind, there are some guidelines. Please read carefully.

• Tell us why you’re a great fit for the project. It might include the following: 1) the interesting, compelling story of your mother/daughter relationship, triumphs, happy times…
  2) how many generations you can bring
• If possible (but not a deal breaker) we’d love to include some ethnic diversity for this year’s project, so if that describes you, please mention it.
• It’s not called 30 Strangers for nothing. To participate, you and I must have never met. Although we’ll be strangers when I photograph you, I certainly hope we don’t remain that way. Part of what makes this project great is the new friends I get to meet.
• Also, we’re looking for people that are age 6 to 108. Why not under the age of 6? Too fidgety. Why not over 108? There are some stairs to my office. (Well, there’s also an elevator).
• When you leave a comment on the blog, be sure to include your email address. Don’t worry. Your email won’t show up for all to see, but I’ll be able to see it and get a hold of you if (when!) you are selected.
• Very important – Please mention 3 days that will work best for you, that will really help me out when coming up with a schedule. Remember, this is for June 2012.
• Most portrait sessions will take place at 4:00pm each day at my studio in Provo.
• We welcome out-of-towners! In the last couple of years, about half of the participants came from outside Utah. Howdy, stranger.

Then what happens?
From the comments, we’ll pick 2012’s 30 Strangers. You have until April 30 at midnight to comment. If you are selected, we’ll email you and you must respond to my email within two days to confirm your day and time.

Final details?
Please don’t say your mom can come until after you’ve checked with her (speaking from experience, here). We want to make sure you understand the guidelines and that you have all the info you’ll need. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me.

What do I get out of it?
I’m glad you asked. You’ll be part of this historic project and donating to a good cause. You’ll experience an artistic, professional portrait session with the most important people in your life. I’ll create something personal and unique that will become more important to you over time. Your portrait will be part of an exhibit that will take place in September 2012 at Brigham Young University. Each session will receive one signed 8×10 fine art print and further prints will be available for purchase.

If you have additional questions, some of them may be answered here. If you don’t see the answer there, don’t hesitate to contact me.

Erin, photographed with her mother, Courtney.

When Parade Magazine called to say they wanted me to photograph the Nielson’s for the cover, I was excited, of course, but I figured things change quickly in the magazine world, and perhaps by the time this issue was scheduled to come out, some world event or celebrity scandal would take its place instead. I imagined it would be discovered that Whitney Houston faked her death and she was alive and now living happily in Des Moines, and Parade would put that story on the cover instead of Nie Nie.

So, I was pleased as punch when, on April 8, 2012, my neighbor called me at 8am Sunday morning to ask me if I wanted to come get his Parade Magazine because a picture I took was on the cover.

The cover shot shot turned out great. I like the one that Parade selected from all the options I sent them. This was taken at Stephanie’s home. Earlier in the day, I went to Pictureline to get a seamless background and I took a picture of that sofa with me so I could coordinate the colors a bit. Before photographing just the two of them, I photographed the whole family together. They are a delight.

The article contains excerpts from Stephanie’s new book Heaven is Here, which I recommend to anyone that knows how to read. It’s so good.

Interested in seeing what things looked like behind the scenes? Thanks to Mango Films for putting this video together. I’ve probably watched it about 40 times now.

Stylists: Lindsay Clark and Amy Hackworth

At the beginning of April I had a great opportunity to be in Birmingham for Bryan Johnson’s workshop. Bryan is a photographer whose work I admire and I love the way he runs his business, the brand he has built, and his philosophy about photography. I took the workshop hoping to fine-tune some of my own ideas about photography and see first hand what goes on in his studio. It was everything I hoped it would be.

I shot a few rolls of film while I was there and once I get the film back, I’ll post a few of those images and write a little bit more about the specific things that made an impact while I was in Alabama.

In the mean time, enjoy these two images that were made during our afternoon shooting sessions.

Here’s the website for A Bryan Photo.

Karen and Rachel came to my studio in Provo, Utah, a couple months ago to have their picture taken to accompany an article in Ladies Home Journal about mothers and daughters. It’s on news stands now in the May 2012 issue.

I hired Alison Czarnecki to do the styling and after that, I started to think about ways I could include her on every single shoot because she’s so funny and pleasant to be around in addition to being fantastic at being a stylist.

Thanks, Alison. Let’s do that again soon.

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Interested in meaningful, authentic photographs with you and the people you love the most? Let’s talk.

We’re gearing up for another great year of music in Provo and kicking it off Peter Breinholt with Ryan Innes. See the whole season’s lineup on the Rooftop Concert website.

The April issue of Professional Photographer magazine has an article about the 30 Strangers project. (And by the way, if you’re wondering about the project for this year–yes–I’m still doing it. Instead of shooting in April, I’m going to shoot in June this year, so very soon, I’ll put a call for participants on this blog.)

The article is in a section of the magazine called “Good Works” which they describe this way. “Images wield the power to effect change. In this monthly feature, Professional Photographer spotlights professional photographers using their talents to make a difference through charitable work.”

I’m honored to be featured this month.

The article on the 30 Strangers project in the April 2012 issue of Professional Photographer

Here's the cover of the April issue.

Here is the article, which talks about how it all started and why I keep doing it:

30 Strangers
Justin Hackworth shoots 30 portraits in 30 days to benefit mothers and daughters – By Jeff Kent

The project originally began as a creative exercise. In June 2008, Justin Hackworth decided to photograph 30 people in 30 days as a way fuel his creative fire. The sessions would be free, and he’d give away a print to each subject. The only criteria were the people all had to be strangers–not existing clients, not family or friends, complete strangers.

Hackworth thought up the project in May, advertised it on Craig’s List, and shot all the portraits in June. It went well. It was fun and inspiring. But it had potential to be so much more.

“My wife and I came up with idea of focusing the portraits on mothers and daughters to attach some special meaning to the images,’” says Hackworth. “Then my wife thought of adding a fundraising component. The Center for Women and Children in Crisis is a local women’s shelter, and they were in need of funds. It was the perfect charity to pair with a portrait project about mothers and daughters.”

For the second year of the program, titled 30 Strangers, Hackworth again offered to shoot 30 free portraits of strangers. This time, all his subjects were mothers and daughters, and he asked each pair to make a donation to the women’s shelter in exchange for their complimentary fine art print. Most of the subjects donated more than the suggested amount, and he managed to raise a few thousand dollars for the shelter.

Each year that Hackworth has conducted 30 Strangers, it has grown larger and he’s raised more money for The Center for Women and Children in Crisis. Last year Hackworth held an exhibition of the work, as well as an essay presentation by several writers discussing motherhood. Many of the women he’s photographed have personal connections to the charity or to other women’s shelters, bringing a poignant emotional context to the project. This year will be the project’s fifth year, and he’s expecting several hundred applicants for the 30 portrait spots.

“The response has been fascinating,” says Hackworth. “Every year, hundreds apply, but I can only take 30 pairs. For those who don’t get picked, I still offer a free portrait session with a print, but I do it outside of the 30 Strangers project. Very few people take me up on it. There is something about being part of the select group, part of the charitable cause, that inspires people. The appeal of aligning yourself with a fundraising effort for a charity cannot be underestimated.”

To others interested in conducting a similar project, Hackworth suggests tapping into your personal networks to make the project bigger than yourself. “I could not do this on my own,” he says. “I have been able to access resources from friends who have a far greater reach than I do to get word out and to help with certain elements of the project. When you are doing something for the greater good, something that’s beyond your own business, it’s amazing how eager people are to participate.”

Learn more about 30 Strangers at justinhackworth.com/blog/what-is-30-strangers. Visit Justin Hackworth at justinhackworth.com.

Yesterday I went to Qualtrics to photograph the executive team.

Now, on most days I’m so glad I don’t go to work everyday for someone else because I love being able to work at home, or at my studio, or drive up Provo canyon and get some work done up there. And I love my loosey goosey schedule. But spending some time at the Qualtrics offices started to sway me just a little because that place seemed so darn cool. Everyone looked like they were having a great time. People were laughing, having fun, and there were two dogs in the office (one really bushy, one teeny). There were bikes all around the office. Their snack bar was a hollowed out VW bus. And I’ll bet their internet there is really fast. (That’s one thing about my office that really makes me mad).

This company Qualtrics is going places, and it’s all because of these guys.

Scott Smith, Founder.

I asked him if anyone ever told him he looked like Jeff Goldblum. He said no.

Qualtrics CEO, Ryan Smith

Stuart Orgill, CFO

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Does your company need updated photographs? Let’s talk. 801.916.6993

I’m honored that I was asked to photograph Stephanie and Christian Nielson for the cover of their soon to be released book, Heaven is Here. It’s an amazing story. I’ve read it, and I’ll admit, I cried. A lot.

The cover for Stephanie Nielson's book Heaven Is Here

The original photograph

The title page of Heaven is Here by Stephanie Nielson with Amy Hackworth

I just don’t know what to say about this book, about Stephanie and Christian, about the writing, other than, you must read this book.

And it was an extra honor to have my photograph on the cover since my wife Amy collaborated with Stephanie to write this amazing story.

Heaven Is Here is available April 3, 2012 from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and anywhere good books are sold.

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.

Amy and I spent the weekend in San Diego. The trip was just too short and I hope to write more about it later. In the mean time, here’s a photograph I made while I was there.

The Salt Flats, at the edge of the Utah/Nevada border.