Sasha Fazulyanov needed updated actor headshots and portraits and came to the studio in Provo to get that done. Smashing and likable, meet Sasha. Click any image to view it larger.
Engagement pictures on film
Brock and Sage, photographed early in 2022. I photographed their wedding, too, so I’ll post some of those at some point. Brock’s is also a photographer and loves shooting film so that seemed like as good as any to use a camera I love using, my Rollei twin lens camera.
Back in the 90’s, there was in Salt Lake an organization called The Salt Lake Print Society. I don’t know if it still exists. A quick Google search turned up a website with that name, but I can’t tell how current.
Every year they would have a garage sale, and people would set up tables and sell their used and unwanted gear. I went a couple times and on one occasion, bought an interesting camera called a Rollei 35. It’s a 35mm film camera that’s very tiny, smaller than a fist. Many years later I ended up trading it for another camera that I’d use more often from my friend Jeff Archibald. He’s given me a few real gems.
The other camera I bought at the Print Society garage sale was a twin lens Rolleiflex. The one I have was manufactured in Germany in 1958. (That’s before the internet!) I can’t remember how much I paid for it, but I remember it was a stretch at the time and I wasn’t sure if I was making a good choice. But very early on after getting it and putting it to work, I realized that it was a real smart buy. So I patted myself on the back for being real wise. I remember Kent Miles was walking around the garage sale that day and I asked him if I should get it. He encouraged me to do so. So maybe I should have patted Kent on the back.
One time I sent it in for a camera’s version of an oil change. It cost me $500 for repairs and cleaning and getting the thing in tip-top condish. And I’m still using it.
It’s not the camera for everything, but for me, I love using it when photographing individuals and couples. There’s something about the square format that is well suited for that kind of subject matter. Some of my favorite pictures that I’ve ever taken were taken on that camera.
So here are three pictures from the engagement session of Brock and Sage with the Rollei. I took lots of other pictures with my digital camera that day, too, and I love of lot of those. But as much as I love digital photography, it’s just really hard to duplicate the look of a square film image combined with Tri-X 400 film.
Did I ever tell you about the time I met Ira Glass?
One night I was walking around New York City a few years ago, and walked by a theater around midnight that was screening, for the first time ever, Mike Burbiglia’s movie Sleepwalk With Me. The marquee said “sold out” but as I was milling around, just watching people in line waiting to go inside, a woman called out that she had an extra ticket and would anyone like it. No one said a thing, so I said, sure, I’ll take it. How much? She said, “forget that, just take it”. And then I noticed I was standing right next to Ira Glass, who was the producer of the film and was there at the premiere, chatting with people outside waiting to see the show. As we entered the theater when it was time to go in, Mike Burbiglia was the one taking tickets. So, cool night. But that’s not the end of the story. The next day I was photographing a couple somewhere around Bleeker Street, and I could see Ira Glass walking up the sidewalk towards us. I said, holy cow, Ira Glass, I just met you last night at the movie. I asked if I could take a picture and I had no idea what else to say.
I don’t really care too much about meeting famous people, but of all people I’d really want to meet, Ira Glass is on that list. But then when I did run into him, I had no idea what to say.
Well, that’s the story of the time I met Ira Glass.
Trevor Christensen is a real good guy
When I have a picture that I think is funny but I’m not sure, if I have a picture I’m proud of and want to show it off, if I have a picture from an experiment that failed but I still want to tell someone, I text all those kinds of pictures and many more to my friend Trevor Christensen. We met years ago. He was young, and even back then, I was old. He’d ask if I needed him to chew my food and I would put my teeth back in and yell, I’m not that old, now get me a sweater.
Some of that might not be true. The thing to know is that I’m grateful to have a friend in Trevor. He used to call me and ask me photography questions, now I call and ask him questions, too.
Here’s a portrait I made of him some time last year.
A family portrait during Covid.
A family portrait from 2020. Do you guys remember Covid?
Portraits of Arvin Mitchell
It’s always so great photographing my comedian friend Arvin Mitchel because he’s the nicest guy in town, and equally as funny.
Birthday self portraits - 54 of 'em
In my early 40’s I started taking self portraits on my birthday, as many portraits as I am in age. This year, I’m 54, so here we go, 54 self portraits on the occasion of my birthday. (Click on any image to view it larger.)
For part of the day, my son and I drove to an old mining town about 40 miles from where I live, called Eureka.
And if 54 portraits of me just doesn’t satiate you, here’s the self portrait birthday posts from 2021 and 2020.
This is fun for me to do. I look forward to it all year. But it is challenging. For one thing, it takes all day. Also, it’s hard to make 54 unique portraits, let alone, something that’s not a repeat of previous years. But some repeats I favor, and lean into, like starting each time in my bed. So some are repeats and some I’m trying to make new each time, and then overall, I just know not every picture is going to be a home run, and I can live with that. But I do feel like if I can get 5-10 that are interesting or surprising or compelling or amusing, then by golly, I’d call that a success.
Meet Justin Hackworth Photography's office manager
I’m sure I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know, but when you run your own business, you do a lot different jobs, from marketing to janitorial. This summer we hired Brenna Christen-Server as an office manager and she made an immediate positive impact. Meet Brenna!
Ilford Sprite: Using a $39 film camera on my family vacation
Every summer in July we load up the minivan for our family vacation (and that’s when we say, maybe we should get one of those luggage racks) and we head to Island Park, Idaho. As a kid, that’s the place we’d camp on weekends, it’s the place I learned how to fish, it’s the place I learned to drive a pickup truck before I had a license. It’s heaven on earth, that place, and I love that I’m able to take my boys there, too, and give them similar experiences.
I took a lot of pictures with my digital cameras, but for this post, I want to show some of the film images. Most of these were taken with a $39 point and shoot film camera called Ilford Sprite II and I love the old timey look it gives these images. They feel like how a memory might feel. A little bit blurry, not 100% sharp, and some of the information your imagination has to supply on its own. I know this look won’t suit everybody. And this tool wouldn’t suit me for most of the things I photograph. But for a family vacation I think it really hits the spot. The last three images, those that are square, were taken with a twin lens Rolleiflex. Those cost a liiiiittle bit more than $39.
Hank Smith and Tammy Hill
This is the second time Hank Smith been to the studio, but this time he brought along Tammy Hill. They’re working on a podcast together and wanted pictures to promote it.
Portrait of Melissa Tshikamba
High School Senior Portraits
This spring I went to California just to take a day to sit on the beach and breath in some ocean air. It’s handy that my brother’s house is right on the beach in San Diego, so I stayed with him, and just walked out the back door and sat down for the whole day. (As I’m typing this up right now, I’m realizing it’s probably time I do that again.)
While I was there, I was able to shoot a couple jobs—this senior portrait session and my former wedding photography assistant’s engagement portraits.
Here’s high school senior cool cat, Aly.
My assistant for weddings went ahead and had herself a wedding
In 2013 Tia Horito started accompanying me to weddings as my assistant. She made things better, easier, funner. The out of state weddings I’d do on my own, and on those occassions, I sure missed her assistance. It just wasn’t the same without her. The day I hoped would never come, finally came. Tia got engaged herself, got married, and moved to San Diego and her days at Justin Hackworth Photography came to a close. I’m so happy for her and she and Holden are the perfect match. Nothing stays the same, I guess.
Here are a handful of engagement pictures I took of her and Holden out in San Diego this spring.
Brad Herbert Portrait
I’d been contracted with Utah Business Magazine to photograph their 40 Under 40 award winners. Brad Herbert was part of that group, but wasn’t able to make it on the days we shot that feature. His wife knew it meant a lot to him, so lined up a portrait session for him on his own. What a cool move. Here’s the very bright Brad Herbert.
Portrait of a redhead
At one point during the summer of 2020, I was going through a few things in our basement and came across a few rolls of film that had long since expired. Yep, film, just like fruit or a passport, has an expiration date. And just like fruit, if you eat film past it’s expiration date, it probably won’t end well.
So I found some film that had expired and thought I’d give it a whirl, anyway, just to see what it turned out like. Even though I’m pretty adept at knowing what the results will be for film that I’m shooting, there’s always an element of uncertainty, which is part of what’s great about shooting film. That mystery. And the uncertainty is compounded with really old film. The film I found in the basement had expired 20 years ago, which means it was probably manufactured 25 years ago. In fact, that particular film stock has been discontinued for many years.
I called up Olivia and asked her to come in for a portrait. I love her red hair and freckles and wanted to make a portrait of her that highlighted those things. I took quite a few with a digital camera, then got out my twin lens Rollei, and shot one of the rolls of expired film. I love how it turned out.
Lauren Daigle for BYU TV
It was 95 degrees outside on the day Lauren Daigle came to town to film Christmas Under the Stars, for BYU TV. This was back in August.
Lauren is an impressive singer (Grammy Awards, Billboard Music Awards…) and an equally impressive person to be around. I photographed the show, and in between the rehearsal and the Christmas concert I was given a few minutes for a more formal portrait to be used for BYU TV’s promo material. Thanks to BYU TV for hiring me to photograph this.
Birthday self portraits
A few years ago, I started taking self portraits on my birthday—as many self portraits as my age that day. (It was my friend Brett Howell’s idea.) I think I started this tradition when I turned 44.
Yesterday I took 53 self portraits on the occasion of my 53rd birthday and I think this is my favorite one yet. It takes all day to do this, but as soon as I started, I told Amy, “I’d forgotten how fun this is!”
In an effort to mix it up a bit, this year I decided to hit the road, so my son and I drove up in the mountains to a tiny town called Duchesne. (It was about 20 degrees while we were there, walking around.) Not much to see in Duchesne, but I really dig small towns.
Enjoy!
(Click on any image to view it larger)
My favorite pictures from 2019
If I photographed you this year, there’s a good chance you’re in this video. And if I didn’t photograph you in 2019, maybe 2020 is the year to do so.
The pictures in that slideshow are my favorite of the year. But here are the ones that didn’t quite make it. Here are the outtakes of 2019.
Birthday self portraits
A few years ago, I started taking self portraits on my birthday—as many self portraits as my age that day. This Thursday I took 52 self portraits on the occasion of my birthday.
A couple notes : That morning I was scheduled to be in Salt Lake for a shoot with Utah Business Magazine. So the first pictures are me packing up, making my way to the shoot, and some of the people I photographed for that shoot show up in these pictures. Later in the afternoon my family met me in Salt Lake and we spent the night in a hotel. You’ll also see I am holding my cell phone in a lot of them because I’m addicted to my phone. Just kidding, it’s because I’m using an app on the phone to trip the shutter on my camera. Just kidding about the just kidding. I am addicted to my phone, but that’s not why it’s in these pictures.
As always, who knows what next year brings and if I’ll do it again, but I’m glad I had the chance to do it this time around.
Click any image to view it larger.
Enjoy!
Actor portraits - Scout Smith
It’s hard to find a person easier or more pleasant to photograph that Scout Smith, and I’m always happy when I get the chance to do so.
