This year we decided to offer two workshops for fellow professional photographers. The first was earlier last week. Here's a few photos from the couples who volunteered to be our models. A big thanks for Chrissy, Jon, Lindsey and Matt for lending their beautiful faces to us for a few hours!

If you're a photographer that's interested in attending one of our workshops sometime, you can sign up to our email list to make sure you get updated if/when we hold future HoffShops. Here's what a few of the students had to say about their time at the HoffShop:

"It was intense. It was scary. It was exactly what I needed – dedicated time with other photographers that had no preconceived notions about me, as well as two that I greatly admire (Tony & Amy). We worked on posing, lighting, and almost every aspect of the business. Our minds were full and toes were numb. And then came the critiques… I can’t begin to articulate all that I learned from this. I will tell you though that several big changes are going to occur, from my branding to my shooting." - Holly Gardner

"The “Hoffshop” was eye-opening on so many levels, beyond informative and absolutely refreshing. I’ve returned to New Hampshire with new ideas, lots of psych for the coming wedding season and eleven new friends who I look forward to following in 2013." - Eric McCallister

We are both thrilled and honored to be featured in this month's edition of Professional Photographer magazine. The magazine interviewed Tony for an article on our business, our clients and the importance that we put on client experience. We're really excited to see so many of our clients in print. A big thanks is due to Professional Photographer for selecting some great people. You can see the article below or READ THE WHOLE THING HERE. Don't forget to pick up a physical copy if you can. We'd love to see some around.

More blogging tomorrow!

As winter is hopefully starting to wind down over the next few weeks, we're turning our attention to spring. In March we're hosting two versions of the HoffShop (our photography workshop) in Glen Mills, PA. We're looking for couples who can serve as real-world models for the workshop. We need couples to share their smiles for two dates: March 11 and March 25. You will be PAID for your time AND will be given any of the photos that we take while teaching. It should be a lot of fun all around!

Here's a few things to keep in mind:

• The event happens rain/shine/cold/hot. We need reliable couples who are happy to brave whatever we throw at them.

• We're looking for people who are naturally affectionate and loving.

• Sign up for whatever dates you're available for. We may hire 1 couple or 4 depending on how it works out.

• Anyone with a significant other can enter... including former clients.

We'll choose and notify the models at the end of next week. So don't delay! If you're interested, please fill out this form completely. Make sure to use a photo that we'll can tell what you look like. No duck faces please :)

UPDATE: Thanks to everyone for entering. We've contacted some folks and appreciate you all volunteering yourselves!

Well it's a New Year and next week we start getting back into the swing of things with weddings, shoots and lots of fun on this here blog. But before we do, we're so excited to announce the grand totals for our Give & Get Program.

If you haven't been a faithful blog-stalker for the last month or so, here's a quick recap. In early December we launched something we called the Give & Get program. We started it to raise money for eduKenya, an amazing organization that we had the honor of shooting for last year. Not only were we trying to get donations, but eduKenya had donors in place that were prepared to match them. Plus we (Hoffer Photography) gave out a gift to each donor depending on the donation amount.

First off, we need to offer a HUGE thanks to everyone who donated and helped spread the word. It was a definite learning experience for us to see what non-profits go through on a weekly basis. Even with an amazing dollar-for-dollar match in place and a gift in return, it's just straight up hard to ask people for money. And it's hard to get it. It really gives us a new appreciation for all the incredible causes out there that get underfunded despite their hard work. But, we were extremely lucky to have so many people that were so generous in giving their time, effort and money in making this a success.

All the t-shirts, books and canvases have now been shipped out... The total donations were over $12,000 and after the dollar-for-dollar match, you all were responsible for raising...

Wow, wow, wow! It's so amazing to know that so many people that we care about were so willing to invest in something we care so much about. I hope that everyone has a sense for just how much this support will do for these children, for their education, their future and the ability for eduKenya to make the school self-sustainable so that they can move on and find more lives to touch.

Before we go, I owe a special thank you to a group of people that has meant so much to us. While we were very lucky to have many clients, friends, family members and strangers donate, it became clear to us just how amazing one particular group has been... our fellow photographers. In particular the photographers and teachers that we had the pleasure of getting to know the past few years through our Genesis workshop. You guys were so amazing and supportive in this and collectively were by far the biggest donors we had. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who helped change lives!

We're interrupting our Christmas break to send out a final reminder that our Give & Get program ends TOMORROW (12/28)! If you haven't been following, the program raises funds for eduKenya, an amazing organization that we've had the honor of supporting and visiting.

If you donate through tomorrow your tax-deductible donation will be DOUBLED and you'll get a free gift from us. Check out all the details on our Give & Get page and donate now... before you miss your free gift. Thanks!

It's hard to believe that we've been doing this 'Best Of' post for 4 years now (1,2,3)... but I guess it's just hard to believe that time has gone by as quickly as it has since we started this business. The truth is that I always spend way too much time making our year end posts and just as much emotional energy thinking back on the past year. It's actually pretty difficult for me to not get sentimental when I think through all the people we've met, places we've gone and photos we've taken over the course of the year. Clients from January feel like they're from 2003. It's wild.

Before we dive in too much though, I need to try to express our thanks to each of you. This year we booked a wedding for people who have followed our blog for 6 years. That's when we first started shooting. It's amazing to me that people could be so interested in our work and (like I say every year), we fully appreciate that we owe our entire living to you guys who like our work, who share it with others and who hire us for things. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Please don't ever think that you're not loved for reading this blog. It means more to us than you know...

2012 was a great year. We learned so much about our business, about our clients, about photography and about people in general. The year started with an amazing trip to Kenya that really put into perspective the way that we can use our work and our business as a tool. It's been an awesome learning experience (by the way, don't forget to check out our Give&Get program... running now!). The year took us to Africa, Canada, Florida, Vegas, California, North Carolina, Georgia, New York (a bunch), Chicago, South Carolina, Washington, Washington DC (a bunch), Baltimore (a bunch), Arizona and a ton of other places in between. And next year seems to be even crazier. We have a few really cool things happening that we're hoping to share with you all soon.

In the coming days/weeks we'll be doing a few other posts to wrap up the year... as well as our regular blogging. You should look forward to our Behind the Scenes post this year. It's going to be pretty epic (check last year's here). For now, here are our favorite engagement and wedding images from 2012. We tried to include at least one from each session/wedding, so if you were in front of our lens you're probably in here somewhere. Enjoy!

(If you want to see the video in it's full HD glory, head over to Vimeo)

In February we took a trip to Nairobi, Kenya to document the amazing work being done by eduKenya for children in the Mathare slum. eduKenya is providing some incredible opportunities for both the students and the faculty/staff with their devotion to educating and empowering the students with a holistic and self-sustaining program. Simply put, we were absolutely blown away by the effectiveness and the efficiency of the organization. When we returned from Kenya we immediately started thinking of how we can help to further support this awesome organization...

Today we're starting the Give & Get Program, which we think is the coolest giving opportunity you'll have all year. We've been hard at work getting super-soft t-shirts, printing limited edition coffee table books and much more... and now we want to give them all away. Before you get too excited about that, there's an even more exciting part. Right now eduKenya has lined up several donors who are doing a dollar-for-dollar match on every donation they receive through the end of the year. That's right. When you give to eduKenya through the Give & Get Program, your donation will be doubled AND you'll receive some great gifts from us. It's incredibly easy to take part in the Give & Get program and help change the lives of the children of the Kwa Watoto school. Simply follow these three steps:

You may be wondering what your donation gets you. Here's a list of all the goodies that we'll be sending out to donors.

Every donation level also includes everything from the previous donation levels: Donate HERE

We sincerely believe that the Give & Get program has the potential to be an enormous and life-changing venture for the lives of many of the students and faculty who are being reached by eduKenya. We urge you to consider giving. Please share the Give & Get program to anyone you know that may be interested. You can share this page with the following link: http://hofferphotography.com/giveget/

If you have any questions, be sure to email us and we'll do our best to help you out. Thanks again, we can't wait to get these gifts into your hands.