So, you want to know who Justin Korn is? Here is a quick run down: I am a 30+ year old male living in San Francisco, California. I was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but grew up in sunny San Diego, California. During the day I do techie stuff for a travel company (i.e. develop and maintain the website, manage the tech admin, manage several ongoing internal projects, etc.). When I’m not there, I am usually thinking about photography – where to shoot next, how to improve my photographic creations, what equipment I need to buy, etc. I also enjoy planning where to travel to next, playing soccer, and fiddling around with projects on the “interwebs.”
Photography
I can’t get enough of it. I’m obsessed with it. I am constantly looking for ways to improve and get the most out of it.
History
I was that kid that hated nature and never cared about my surroundings and only wanted to finish the game of Super Mario Bros I was playing on the Game Boy. My father was always into photography, more to take pictures of the family and keep those memories alive, but none-the-less, knew what he was doing.
During high school, my father taught me how to use his fully manual Pentax. When I left for college, I didn’t have a camera at the time and my father allowed me to take his Pentax along with me. During my years at college, I experimented with different types of film and learned to love photography and the world around me.
Philosophy
When hired for an event, whether it be a corporate event, wedding, or even a family portrait session, I tend to stay out of the way and attempt to be as unobtrusive as possible, taking on more of a documentary photography technique. In short, what this means is, I do not stage the picture, but rather capture the moments as I see them happen. I do not manipulate flowers, food, dresses, shoes, etc. to get the ‘perfect’ shot; the ‘perfect’ shot is the one that has naturally been made available to me and present. Since I am not a man of many words, though purely concentrated on wedding photography, I believe sharing Roger Overall’s write up best sums up my philosophy and way of thinking about photography in general.
If you are interested in talking further about how my photography services might benefit you, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Technology and the World Wide Web
I can’t get enough of it. I’m obsessed with it. I am constantly looking for ways to making it better and get the most out of it.
I started tinkering with HTML and built myself a homepage when I started college at the University of Arizona in 1996. Back then, I had a rough time figuring out what I wanted to be when I grew up. After changing my major from Electrical Engineering to Business Information Systems to Computer Science to Physiological Sciences, all within the course of 3.5 years, I decided to take a short break from school.
In April of 2000, I connected with a friend of mine in San Francisco whose startup had been recently acquired. They were looking for HTML developers and within a month, I moved to San Francisco and re-enrolled at SFSU in Business Administration with an emphasis on Computer Information Systems. In 2001, the dot-com bubble burst and so did my job. Throughout the remaining 2 years of school, I held tech support internships at SFSU Hillel, Berkeley Hillel and Rapt (acquired by Microsoft) doing mostly tech support and web development.
When I finally graduated with a shiny B.S. degree, I took a 6 month break from technology and took a job as a preschool teacher for the JCC. In January 2004, I landed a job as Business System Consultant at Wells Fargo Securities (WFS). I was eventually promoted to Director of Information Technology.
In August 2007, I decided to make a career move to Web Development. As if I am meant to stay on the administrative side of technology, a shocking and quick promotion made me Technology Manager in January 2009. Since then, I’ve stabilized the company’s infrastructure, sling shot the company into Social Media, and, all the while, continued to maintain and enhance the back and front end of the website. In March 2010, I was promoted, once again, to Director of Technology.
I continue to work on development projects on the side when I have time. I am always open to new ideas, suggestions and adventures. If you have any for me, don’t hesitate to contact me.