Who is Justin Hackworth?

Who is Justin Hackworth?

Justin is the photographer that made my dreams come true last week! He contacted me, out of the blue, and offered to take some pictures of my kids for Halloween! This is a big deal for a lot of reasons. First, he is an AMAZING photographer – and I have followed his work for years and he has a laundry list of awards – but most of all, I love his style because it shows personality. Second, he is a very smart business man and always has ingenious ways to market and share his talents with the community (Have you seen the 30 Strangers project? AMAZING!). Third, and most importantly, he helped me stop the clock for a few minutes and appreciate the place I am in with my kids. You can find Justin HERE

So often, I’m pushing ahead to the next thing. The next birthday, holiday, getting over the latest sickness in the house, studying for tests, recitals… the list goes on and on. But last night when I received these Halloween pictures from Justin, all time stopped. The pictures were taken on Monday, and I have been in St. Paul Minnesota since Sunday. My babysitter was the one that took the kids to the photo shoot for me, and I had no idea what they looked like on the big day. I knew I’d be excited when I opened up his email, but I wasn’t ready for the extreme emotional response that came with the excitement.

I looked into my children’s eyes, and saw their soul. I had flashbacks of watching them laugh and cry since the time they were placed in my arms. I saw determination and vulnerabilities in their faces. I saw love. I saw years of sleepless nights as I’ve contemplated their little lives and the experiences that would shape the adults they’d become one day. I saw perfection.

Perfection doesn’t mean they’re perfect. Perfection means that they are perfectly, imperfect. They have their strengths and weaknesses, just like we all do. These are the things that make life worth living and teach us to rely on one another.

Thank you, Justin. Thanks for sharing your gifts with the world. We are all better because of it!