JAMES HODGINS PHOTOGRAPHY

When all else fails, yell “PILE UP ON DADDY!!!!!”  It always works,  you get some great images and and even though dad  takes the brunt of it,  he always seems to enjoy it.

I’m always looking at photography, when I read the newspaper I’m looking at the photographs, when driving I’m looking at the billboards and when I’m in the mall I  look at all the posters in the clothing stores. There is some great photography out there, and there is also alot of crap.  Most of it is with the business portraits you see day in  and day out around town.  Realtors are the worse (in my opinion).  Ever flip through those little real estate magazines you find in the restaurants and malls?  WOW, half of those business portraits are snapshots, probably taken by a co-worker with nothing but a disposable camera and they look HORRIBLE!!!  Why would you represent yourself like this?  It really does not say “professional”.  Luckily some professionals seek professional portraits taken by myself or by my fellow professional photographers, and it’s good to see, because you really can see the difference.  Take the below portrait, I shot both of them myself, at the same time, in the same studio.  One was shot with a point & shoot camera against a white backdrop, very quick, VERY FAST AND CHEAP! (you see alot of business portraits like this), the second one was taken with a little more thought involved, some good lighting, nice posing, and moderate retouching.  Now, which portrait makes the individual look “Professional”?

I’m always looking for new faces to photograph.  Recently I received some new backgrounds from my good friend Travis at http://www.silverlakephoto.com and we wish todo some “testing” with them.  So we are looking for some cute faces to photograph with our new backgrounds.  Please let us know, we can do a Time For Images session.

Above images with Tim West Backgrounds

You gotta love em right?  When those catchlights are shinning bright in your subjects eyes, you know have the image.  Eyes are the key from creating a good portriat to creating a great portrait.  I always look at my subject’s eyes and try to make sure that I can see the catchlights from my lightsource.   If you can’t see it, then you need to change something up (bring in a reflector, or move your light).  Alot of our clients wonder what the big shining thing is that we place underneath them, well, it’s our reflector, and we place it there so that we can get MORE shine in your eyes.

Will I still be photographing weddings when I’m…….. well in 20 or so years?  I wonder.  I wonder if my photography will come around full circle.  I photographed Lindsay and Rob’s wedding in 2006, now I just photographed their first Hodgins Photography Family Portrait, and in 20 or so years maybe, just maybe I will have the opportunity to photography their daughters wedding.  I have been at this for over 11 years now and it still amazes me how we can document life in such a unique cycle.

Here is a recent family portrait we created.  I love shooting low-key (darker tones) in the studio as it tends to bring the viewers attention to the subjects faces.  Black tops with a dark background is a good example of this, it’s very simple, but very elegant as well.  If your not sure what to wear for your portraits, here is some simple guidlines to follow  Portrait Clothing Tips

We had the privilege of photographing our good friends Brent and Amanda’s family this past week. (images soon to come) and I also captured a single portrait of Amanda’s daughter Emma.  Emma’s 14th birthday is coming up soon “happy early birthday Emma” so I wanted to create a quick portrait for her so she can see how beautiful she has grown up to be.  Boy, I remember it wasn’t so long ago that Emma would visit Amanda while working at the photolab, quiet, shy. Now normally after a sentence like that I would say something like “she could barely see over the counter while standing on her tippy-toes”, but not in Emma’s case, she got her moms height too.

Checking out my buddies blog Moving Images and seing the image of the mother and baby, prompted me to post my latest image of mine.  I love the soft lighting, the B&W tone, and the lowkey setting we created for this image.

Well, we have had a busy few days with the kickoff of our High Key Studio Special.  We have had sooooo many great families take advantage of this promotion, and it has been a pleasure photographing them all.  keep checking back with this blog as we will posting more.

Proud parents Natalie & Neil brought their new daughter “Tiia” into the studio yesterday.  You might remember them from such shoots as “Our wedding”, “Our Maternity Session”, “Our Baby Session”, “Our Family Session” and “Our 2nd Maternity Session”.  We look forward to the next family session with the most recent addition.

Congratulations again to the two of you.