We have a winner! Thank you to all 22 lovely ladies who entered by commenting and facebooking 🙂 Drumroll……………. Congrats, Karen!! ….. now as a little thank-you to the rest of you…. you all also win a little prize! The other 21 of you will receive $25 off a portrait session or a $25 print credit!! Email me to collect your winnings 🙂 info@jjhortonphotography.com

It’s already February. Wow. January has been fantastic, but I am trilled to look ahead to the rest of 2011, I know it’s going to be great!Let’s review the January goals: 1. Shoot Mary Kathryns family & deliver CD DONE!2. Have new photos taken for our “about me” & “contact me” pages by The Beautiful MessDONE!3. Post some behind the scenes/how to blogs4. Book 2 weddings. 5. Get new letterpressed business cards (they’re already ordered!)6. Explore advertising options. DONE!7. Blog Kernersville Living ShootDONE!8. Blog our vacation photos DONE! (I should have put to do our 2010 4th quarter taxes on this list…. but they’re DONE too!) #3. Sorry, I’ve been busy! #4. I booked one! BUT… I’ve had nearly 15 inquires over the last couple of weeks (one for St. Maarten, that we’ve got our fingers crossed for!) several of them are very promising to book in February! I did book 3 second shooting gigs though! Yay!#5 ….still waiting on them to arrive. They are supposed to ship out today or tomorrow!Yearly Goals: 1. Shoot 12-15 weddings. Ideally, I’d love to do one a month, but that’s just not reality.  2. Advertise our name a bit better. (already doing with facebook & a magazine ad)3. Sell our 14-24 lens & 2 soft boxes 1/2 DONE!4. Purchase a 20mm or 24mm lens DONE!5. Purchase a tilt shift lens6. Be better organized with our business accounting stuff. (much better now, and making more improvements!)7. Pay off the rest of the gear we bought in 20108. Turn a profit every quarter 9. Actually pull a paycheck. (so far every dime earned has gone back into the business) In other news…. we’re going to VEGAS!!!! The largest wedding & portrait photographers convention is out there each year, and we made a last second decision to head out there in a couple of weeks! February Goals: 1. Book 3 weddings2. Blog about our Vegas trip3. Blog about the February issue of Kernersville Living4. Shoot the March issue of Kernersville Living5. Blog Celia Mae ….. our new 20mm! Thank you ebay!I would normally advise you to NOT buy camera gear on ebay, however if it’s something that isn’t high dollar, and the seller has good reviews… go for it. You can always file a dispute if you get something that isn’t functioning properly. We sold our 14-24mm this month, it was a great lens, but felt it just wasn’t suiting my style….. not to mention it was HUGE! It was heavy & took up a huge space in my bag. Our new 20mm is so tiny & petite…. it makes you wonder how you can get such a wide view out of it!

I’ve kinda had this silent little goal in my mind. You see, there’s this lovely little stat counter attached to my blog when I log in. I like to see how many hits I get when I post, when I don’t post, weekends vs. week days…. ect. We’ll  back in October I’d had the most hits in one month to date, just over 4,000. I made a little goal in the back of my head to have more hits than October….. then I upped the anti on this bet I had with myself…. I bet I can hit 5,000 if I really try. Well, I didn’t try very hard….. till yesterday. When I facebooked, tweeted & blogged (you all to death… sorry!)  that I had a goal to hit… I didn’t even tell you what the goal was, but you all didn’t care. You supported me anyway 🙂 I’m proud to say we surpassed my 5,000 hit goal!!!!! We normally get 100-150 views a day, yesterday we had well over 400 🙂 January has been a roller coaster of a month here at JJ Horton… new ideas, new projects, failures, and triumphs. I’ve had about 20 wedding inquires, 2 of which are for next year! I’ve also secured more portraits & boudoir shoots than ever before. This has just been an awesome month…. and I can only imagine how great this year will be! So, as a thank-you we’re doing a little give-away! Here’s the skinny: 1. One portrait session (engagement, bridal, couple, family or child)  in the Charlotte area. ($150 value)2. If you are a previous client and don’t need/want another session, you’ll get a $150 print credit.3. If you want to book your wedding with us, we’ll take $150 off your package. 3. If you choose the portrait session, it must be shot before April 1st.4. If you choose the print credit, you must place your order by March 15th. 5. This cannot be replaced with previously booked sessions. (ie: if you already have a shoot lined up, it cannot replace it, it’s only in addition to, so you may want the print credit instead, if you win) How to enter….. Comment on this post 🙂 For an extra entry: Link this post on Facebook…. just click the little “f” below this post, it’s easy! (let me know in your comment you posted it on FB!) That’s it! Pretty easy! You have until this Friday at Noon to enter…. Good Luck!!!

I have a fascination with sticking something pretty where it doesn’t belong.  When I was in college, my final project was all self portraits, taken in strange places….. mostly my dads hay barn, but some in other places too. I know you see lots of it now on photo blogs, but I really have had a passion for it for a long time. Give me a girl in a pretty dress, and I’ll find a nasty place to photograph her. Anyways…. getting to my point. Over the last couple of months I’ve run across 2 places I’d love to do shoots. One is in Durham, and one is in Huntersville. These would for sure be more editorial. If you have an interest in being photographed at one of these places, please email me, I’d love to work with you! #1 The Durham Mansion.  This home was apparently the home of a builder who swindled away lots of money, and got caught. His home was foreclosed, and the bank cannot sell because of all the liens against it. It looks haunted to me, and I’m completely fascinated with it. It does have quite a bit of profanity spray painted on it, but I love it. I’d absolutely love to do a trash the dress session out here. I’ll warn you though, both times I’ve been out to this house- the first time just to see it, and this time to take some photos (and I actually rode down to it, as opposed to staying at the street) I got scared. Like got a serious case of the heebie geebies. I have closer photos of the graffiti, but since it’s pretty vulgar, I won’t put it here (unless I do a shoot out there) #2 Bates Motel-ish Jennifer told me about this place, only a few miles from our house. I’d never even noticed it. It’s this mysterious looking single-story motel that’s been closed for years. It’s all over grown, some doors kicked in, some windows broken, tub in the yard, ect. I think this would be a great spot for a couples session, be it engagement or whatever. are you in? email me! info@jjhortonphotography.com