About Jake Garn

The Photographer

“Specializing in whimsical fashion.  I love color, I love crazy, I love beauty, I love a dash of humor in my images and I love my wife, dog and cat… not necessarily in that order,” -Jake Garn

Salt FlatsJake Garn is an internationally published, award winning photographer.  That being said photography is only a part-time profession, more like a paid hobby of sorts.

Jake has been filled with an insatiable need to create for as long as he can remember, whether it was a drawing, building a fort, or even writing stand-up comedy. The photography bug was planted in the mid-nineties during a simple Introduction to Photography course.  The dark room, the camera, the chemicals all screamed out with possibilities and the next year when Layton High School added a computer lab, complete with the extraordinarily advanced Adobe Photoshop (version 2.5) a long term love-affair was set.  As photography meandered it’s way into the digital age the format became increasingly custom-tailored to Jake’s love of instant gratification and attention-deficit tendencies.

In other words, purchasing his first digital SLR camera in 2002 transformed photography from a part-time passion into a part-time obsession!

Inspiration includes Stéfan Bourson, Richard Avedon, Matthew Cooke, Van Gogh, Mario Testino, Herb Ritts, Mark Seliger, Patrick Demarchelier, Gerald Bybee and of course my most favorite models Sarah Whitmer, Katherine Franco, Carly Stark, and Mara LaFontaine among many, many others!  Of course, above all of them my beautiful wife Jennifer – my sounding board and chief advice-giver!

A Few Accolades and Credits

Some of these are cooler than others and some of these didn’t seem that cool until I looked at just how much traffic they generated for my website (i.e. abuzeedo and notcot)!

About Jake Garn

The Person

I love great restaurants, adrenaline rushes, old cities, roller blading, laughing out loud, sunny beaches, teasing my wife, full moons, and Coca-Cola.

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Jake and Jenny Garn

While photography is a passionate hobby and part-time profession, I am also co-owner of  Corbin’s Grille, an award winning steak and seafood restaurant I helped open in March of 2006.  I do marketing and design for a couple clients (York Yates, MD., Sego Lily Mind Body Spa), I’m an above average video game player, epic complainer, dog and cat owner, husband, and father.

Born (1977) and raised in Utah I continue to live here because I love the people, the weather and the general happy way of life nestled next to the biggest mountain range in America.  I love traveling the world and seeing new cultures, new places, and creating new memories but no matter where it is I’m always anxious to come back home where all my family is.

I’ve been on the winning end of a high-speed car chase, I survived the Worst Photo Shoot Ever, I’ve reeled in a halibut that weighed more than me, am a certified scuba diver, been skydiving / bungee jumping / paragliding / surfing / snowboarding / paintballing / door-bell-ditching. I play in a roller-hockey league (games once a week), love  Xbox Live, am a History Channel Junkie, performed stand-up comedy a couple of times and I love how lucky I am in all aspects of life.

I am an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (aka Mormon) which I find to be deeply satisfying.  Ultimately I find the incredible, loving nature of a forgiving God particularly beautiful and very real. A common question I get is about the apparent conflict between the fashion & beauty photography I create and my generally conservative religion; after much thought and personal reflection over the years, I have come to believe that the general artistic nature of my work can co-exist nicely with my personal faith. By the way, if you are interested in learning more about the Mormon religion please feel free to contact me or visit http://www.mormon.org/

I am  distantly related to the former Senator and United States Astronaut of the same name.

About

The Creative Team

Paula Dahlberg and Steven Robertson are the ubiquitous creative geniuses involved in most of the over-the-top concepts featured on my page. Frequent contributions also come from Keith Bryce, McKell Maddox, Janae Mechling, Michelle Boucher and several others.

Ryan Muirhead my always helpful and forever bubbly photo assistant.

And of course all the lovely models, of which a surprising number are not professional models at all, simply ordinary girls with extraordinary beauty.

Sterling Okura of bizlift, the technical guru behind my website and also responsible for search engine optimization.  Hire him, he’s amazing!

And last but not least my mother and father, without whom none of this would be possible. Not only did they buy me my first camera for my 17th birthday but they also raised me to believe that anything is possible.


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