Halloween Portraits

A little out of season? Ah, come on. It's always time for some cute costumes.

For the last two years, a few days before Halloween, I send out an email to those on our newsletter list, and invite them to bring their Halloween costumed kids of any age to the studio for a quick and complimentary portrait. (How do you get on the newsletter list? Easy--go here). 

It's such great fun (and maybe kind of noisy) and the costumes these kids show up in are so stinking cute.

I'll probably do it again this year, but you never know. Here are a handful from last year. Click on any image to view it larger. 

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Bridal Portraits in Provo Canyon

I kept calling him Andrew even though his name is Tyler but I had a good reason. He has a brother named Andrew that looks and sounds just like him, who I also photographed. But that was four years ago, so basically you could say I have a great memory.

Meet Tyler and Sydney, soon to be wed. 

Photographed in Provo Canyon, and my photography studio in downtown Provo.

High school senior portrait photography

Here's Andrew, about to graduate from high school and head out into the world to do great things, no doubt. Andrew does a lot of things well, and one of those things is photography. Over the past year, I've enjoyed seeing his work, and talking through some photography conversations with him.

Meet Andrew.

Photographed at my studio in Provo, Utah, and downtown. 

Women In Film - Cast of Extinct

In February, I visited the set of the upcoming BYU TV sci-fi drama, Extinct, to photograph the female cast and crew (actors, wardrobe, script--you get the idea). The images were part of a promotion for the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. 

Click on any image to view it larger.

Fuji XPro 2 - My new favorite camera

Fuji XPro 2

I’ve been hearing a lot about photographers (particularly wedding photographers) switching from their DSLR cameras to mirrorless cameras, (in fact, in 2016, more mirrorless cameras were sold than DSLRs) but couldn’t understand the appeal. A couple years ago I bought a Fuji X100T and I like it quite a bit, but for me, there was no way it could replace my current DSLR, a Canon 5D Mark III.

Ah, but then I just got the Fuji XPro2, and it’s my new favorite camera. This is the camera I’ve been waiting for. When I’m not shooting with it, I’m dreaming about shooting with it. It's fun to use, the files are sharp and lush, and look at the thing--it's gorgeous! 

Justin Hackworth

Three cheers for the Fuji XPro 2. 

Provo Family Portrait Photography - Perez Family

I asked Luz and Jorge what's the secret for staying married for 20 years. Jorge said, "Just don't get divorced." Seems easy enough.

Salt Lake family portraits

Here's Nora and her family, photographed at their home in Salt Lake City.

(Click any image to view it larger)

Utah family portrait photography - The Auernig Family

Kevin and Anne are great. They also own Sodalicious. They are fun. They have a beautiful family. I photographed them at their home in Provo, Utah. 

Favorite photographs of 2016

This is a list of my favorite photographs I took in 2016. They are compiled from the client work I got, in addition to the things I shot on my own.

It's an incomplete list, really. I initially selected more images than shown, here, but narrowed it down to a more blog manageable size. And for any one event, I tried to only include a single image. So calling this post my "favorite images" isn't entirely accurate. It is some of my favorite images. 

So, out of the thousands and thousands of pictures I took in 2016, here are 165 in random order, that for me, rose to the top. 

(Click any image to view it larger, then click through individually)

There is a lot of variety, here, but I hope you can see some stylistic consistency. I hope a unique point of view and perspective comes through. Thanks for looking through these.

And maybe you'll be in the mix for 2017? 

That time I was in a commercial

The city of Provo made some commercials with a handful of local business owners as a way to promote the business opportunities in this town. They've been showing on BYUTV, so if you've watched a BYU football game, maybe you've seen one or two.

It's hard to watch myself, but I'm always happy to herald the great things about Provo.

Thanks Cjane, for suggesting they include me. 

Utah family portraits - The Slighting Family

Here's the very fun Slighting Family, photographed in Provo Canyon.

High school senior portrait photography

Here's Connor. He's pretty cool. 

(Click on any image to view it larger)

Chatbooks

Founders of Chatbooks, Vanessa and Nate Quigley

I'm so impressed with Vanessa and Nate. They're started a remarkable company and continue to grow it, and I like that, but it's also so nice to just be around them. They are very good at making people around them feel important. And I like that, too.

Oh, and have you seen their hilarious commercial? 

49 Self Portraits on the Occasion of My 49th Birthday

For six years I have done these birthday self portraits, inspired by my friend Brett Howell. The idea is that throughout the day I take the same number of self portraits as I am in age. This year: 49. This year, I was visiting my parents in St. George, Utah, so I got some fresh scenery from the previous years' birthday self portraits.

Come with me on a journey of romance and adventure through these 49 self portraits and see how I spent my 49th birthday.

You can also see how things played out when I turned 48.

Some notes about the project -
This is hard. First of all, I have to try and take 49 unique pictures. Obviously, not all of them are home runs. In fact, most are not. I hope at the end of the day I get a couple of really fantastic stand-outs. I think this year there are a couple of those. Also, it takes all day to do this. And then of course, I don't want to repeat what I've done in previous years, and the truth is, that's impossible. And there are some repeats. In fact, I want to do one particular repeat every year. That is, the first picture is me, in bed, at the beginning of the day. I like that as a starting point.

It was nice being in a different town this year, as I had some new environmental elements I could include. 

How long will I do this? Beats me. But for now, I'm having a great time doing it. And if nothing else, it's a really pleasant record of my birthday.

Why do this -
Well first of all, why not? It's fun! But beyond that, I'm a big believer that working photographers, professionals, people that make their living creating images for other people, should always be doing work for themselves. (In fact, in a few weeks, Trevor Christenson and I will be speaking at a very cool photography conference, Photo Native, about this very topic.) There is value in doing something just for pleasure. So that's one reason. Another reason, is because trying to make an interesting self portrait 49 times means I have to push myself beyond the obvious, past the cliches, past the pictures I've done before. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I do not. But that act of trying will always translate into making better pictures when I'm hired by a client.  So this is fun, but I also see it as a necessary step in trying to be a better photographer than I was last year.

Upward and onward! 2017!