About

I'm Erick Johnson. I live in Dallas. I run five businesses out of one shop in Oak Cliff. I make things every single day.

I never planned this. Nobody sits down at 20 and says "I'm going to be a wedding photographer, a corporate headshot specialist, a furniture restorer, a lamp maker, and a t-shirt brand owner — all at the same time." That would be insane.

But here I am.

How it started

Photography came first. Over twenty years ago, I picked up a camera and started shooting weddings in Dallas. That became Love Pic Love — hundreds of weddings, couples across DFW and beyond, a documentary style that threw out the posing playbook and focused on what's real. The belly laughs. The quiet tears. The moments nobody was performing for.

Then corporate headshots pulled me in a different direction. Companies needed headshots. Conferences needed headshot stations. I saw something nobody else was doing — treating the headshot booth not as a photography gig, but as a lead generation machine for sponsors. That became Erick Johnson Photography. I built my own app to run it. Flat rate, instant delivery, full data capture. The only swag that emails you back.

Somewhere in between, I was always working with my hands. Fixing things around the house. Then fixing things around other people's houses. Then restoring furniture — stripping, sanding, staining, rebuilding joints, matching 60-year-old finishes with custom toner recipes I developed through trial and error. That became Johnson Home & Restore.

The lamps came from the woodworking. I had scrap wood, Edison bulbs, brass hardware, and an obsession with mid-century design. I started building lamps for our house. Then for friends. Then for anyone who wanted one. That became Love Wood Co.

And Hot Mom Studio? That's me and my wife Alyssa. Tees, hoodies, mugs, beanies — all for moms who own it. She approves the creative. I run the shop. It started as a fun side project on Etsy and now it's a real brand with 24 products and counting.

Why this site

Each of those businesses has its own website. Its own brand. Its own audience. That's by design — a bride looking for a wedding photographer doesn't need to see my furniture restoration work, and a conference sponsor doesn't need to know about my lamp collection.

But I do.

I needed one place where all of it lives together. Not a portfolio. Not a link directory. A journal. A place to share the process — the craft decisions, the mistakes, the wins, the daily reality of building things with your hands and your eye and your family.

If you're here, you probably found me through one of the five brands. Or maybe you're a creative juggling your own projects and wondering how someone does this. Or maybe you just like watching things get made.

Whatever brought you here — welcome. Stick around. Leave a comment. Tell me what you're making.

The brands

Find me

I make things every single day. This site is the proof.