JAMES HODGINS PHOTOGRAPHY

Whenever I am shooting in a new City, Town, Village orTrailer Park, the first thing I do is scope out a place to get my morning coffee (when I was in my twenties, it was the Beer Store).  While I was in  Sioux Lookout on a commercial shoot, the pickings were rather slim as there are really on 2 places you could go to.  One was a Robin’s Donuts and the other was a Small Coffee Shop called “Roy Lane”.  First impressions are big in my books and I will admit Roy Lane looked sooooooooooo inviting.  Tables and chairs outside with people enjoying their beverages, clean store front complete with flowers, and an overall feeling of “come in, you know you want to.”  Robins Donuts? Not so much.

So the first day of shooting I heading over to Roy Lane for my first cup of RL coffee.  The staff was friendly, quick and polite  with smiles and let me not forget that the coffee was gooood.  I know I started out my day with the first right decision.  The second day I was greeted with the same staff and smiles but this time was also offered a conversation.  Sylvie asked “Ok, you can come in here once and get your coffee, but the second time you have talk.  Are you new here?  Working?  Just passing through?”   

We quickly discussed my reasons, background, length of stay and oh yes, the Fire Fighters Calendar  (which I photographed) that they had behind the counter that was obviously opened and closed many many many times.  That pretty well struck up the conversation with everyone in the shop, including owner/operator Nancy Roy.  What a delight it was meeting her.  I haven’t met too many people that will invite you out for supper (wings and beer) to hang out with them and their staff after only meeting them for 5 minutes, but that is what Roy Lane is all about.  Friendly Service & Friendly Staff.  We all hung out that night swapping stories about Sioux and Sudbury, photography, coffeee, the history of Roy Lane, family and friends.  Honestly, it was the highlight of my whole trip and spruced up an otherwise mundane commercial shoot.  I would like personally thank Nancy and the staff at Roy Lane coffee for creating the establishment you have worked so hard to obtain.  You are defiantly one for the books.

If you are ever in the area of Sioux Lookout, be sure to stop by www.roylane.com

To go the extra mile, I received this in the mail from Nancy.    A women after my own heart.
(This is the coolest coffee mug I have ever owned)

Well I flew back yesterday afternoon instead of today as we were not too sure about the weather.  It’s back to the grind for me, returning emails, getting equipment ready for this weekends wedding (Woohoo!!! ), and putting the finishing touches on our Fathers Day Event FATHERS FAVORITES next week.  There are only a couple spots left (just shy of being sold out) so don’t delay.

My fly in fishing trip was amazing with the best weather you could ask for.  We worked hard for the Pickeral each day but I did land some in the boat.  I also flew into another small lake for some beautiful Lake Trout and also a few bass managed to taste my hook (had to throw those back though).  The water in these lakes were amazingly clear with visibility of at least 20 ft.  You could practically see the fish swimming below the boat and in the shore.

Now what would one of my  fishing trips be without video right?  So, I present to you a quick clip from yesterday mornings outing a few hours before I was about to fly out.  Let it play out, it’s a bit long, and if you notice at one point when my back is turned to the camera, I give a bit of a jolt.  That’s because I got another hook in the finger……but you didn’t need to see that.

Here is one of the Lake Trout I caught. This one went back to camp and in my belly.

Heading home from Sioux Lookout in about an hr and I am sitting here at the Second Location of Roy Lane Coffee.  Seems that Nancy has been a busy body expanding her business into the airport giving the visitors to Sioux Lookout first crack at the Coffee.  Since I am here with all my equipment, I figured hey, why not capture a few frames for her to use on her website and “maybe” use on for a sign (as there is no signage tsk tsk Nancy).

This would make a great sign.

And of course the beautiful staff that work the coffee shop

Thanks again everyone making me feel right at home in Sioux.  It was the highlight of this adventure and hopefully our paths cross again. If you are ever in our neck of the woods make sure you contact me on Crackbook.

Grabbing my morning coffee tihs morning and talking to the staff at www.roylane.com in Sioux Lookout.  We somehow got on the topic of the Sudbury Firefighters and low and behold they produced last years calendar. Check out the vid below.

Sioux Lookout has received a brand spanking new courthouse and I have been here for the past 36 hours photographing the inside and a bit of the outside.  It is almost near completion and once they get it furnished it will be back in business.  Time was a factor with this shoot and I wish they could have scheduled it later this summer when the lighting was softer and the outdoors was much more greener but I made do.  This is the first time I have visited Sioux Lookout and so far it’s my kind of town.  Why?  because it is one of North Western Ontario’s Fishing Mecca with hundreds of outfitters and Fly-In Camps.  Unfortunately I did not bring any equipment with me and I don’t intend to  use a pocket wizard as a lure but maybe next time.  I am here for another 36 hrs finishing the inside of the Court House.  The images below and more are being used in a a book to showcase the creation of the is building merging the original building with the new facility.  I have seen the before images and what the crew had to do to get this building where it is now.  WOW!    Hat’s off to Finn Way Contractor Inc on a job well done.

Well we just got back last night from our Anniversary trip to Mexico with our good friends Vince & Beth. You know, we never go wrong when we go to Mexico and this trip included.  We stayed just in between Cancun and Playa Del Carmen in a small town called Puerto Merelos.  This was convenient for us as we had quick access to both, including shopping and diving.  We didn’t stray much from the resort except when Vince and I went diving which included some reefs, a wreck, a crazy ass drift dive and some fresh water caves (which was the best).  Sorry I didn’t post at all during the trip like I usually do, but to be honest, I had no impulse to get on a computer while I was there, I just wanted to relax, and relax we did.

We stayed at the Excellence Riviera Cancun resort which really made a difference when the weather wasn’t sunny and I think we packed in as much activities as we possibly could including full contact Ping Pong.  We were so tired by the end of the day that our usual bedtime was around 9:30, sometimes earlier and one time later, much later.  Now my close friends should know that I do have my Canon G11 everywhere I go, and this great camera does take some good video, so my friends, beware….. you never know, just like Vince didn’t know he was caught on video during the Michael Jackson Thriller Dance – A – Thon.   Here is my surveillance video

I did manage to get some underwater video and images during our diving excursions except for the drift dive that took us waaaaaaaaaaaaay off course do to the strength of the current.  A few divers got sucked away and we spent all of the dive just swimming against the current to get back to  the  reef.  Fortunately we all made it back, but unfortunately some divers couldn’t make the second dive because they exhausted themselves and had no energy left.  Too bad to, because the dive after that was amazing with rays, sea turtles, lion fish, puffer fish and some great coral mounds.  The last full day of our trip Vince and I headed just outside of  Tulum for a fresh water cave dive.  This was an amazing dive and it is very similar to Night Diving. Below is some video of our dives.

Here are some trip pics.

Eagle Rays

Before Drinks

After Drinks

There is actually another Angel Fish Behind this one.

There is always a Barracuda following you.

Puffer Fish

Another Barracuda

Vince Checking out some coral

The entrance to the Cenoites

It was awesome when the sun came out and the rays shone down.

Most of you know I have a few sites on the go and the majority of them deal with photography, and another for my second passion motorcycles.   Well, why stop there.  We have just launched are much delayed Caribbean Travel Forum at www.thecaribbeantravelforums.com. This is was something Rob and I put into motion awhile ago but due to time restraints it sort of got put on the back-burner. Right now we are looking for people to share with us any tidbits of information, photos, knowledge and tips and tricks on their past and future Caribbean Vacations.  Our goal for this site is to have it jam packed with information on each of the Caribbean Islands that will be easily accessible by everyone.  Upload your photos in the photo gallery for everyone else to see, or post in the forum in the corresponding topics.  We are still ironing out some bugs (and getting a blog setup) so if you notice anything out of wack, please let us know.

Ok, playtime is over and I am back in Sudbury to finish off the week with shoots and a wedding photography presentation on Sunday.  It was great to catch up with my two buddies while they were flying through during their cross Canada Tour.  I only get to hang out with them during workshops and conventions, but since we do so many it seems that I see more of them than I do some of my closest friends .  If you ever get a chance to attend either one of their seminars, do it.  Andy Armstrong is the creator of www.getdesignhouse.com (which our studio uses) and also a moderator on our NoBs Forum.  Mike Long (also a moderator)  is the c0-creator of Pindora Software and also the owner of www.portlandpinups.com (I will show you our collaboration from our Inferno when I get the vids together.  Let’s just say a friend helps a friend when a friend is in need………of a model.).  Anyways, it was great to see you two again and I will catch up with you both in Vegas.

The Three Stooges

Andy, Me & Mike

That is pretty well what it feels like today.  COLD!!  Who would have thought that we would be wearing long pants, shirts and a jacket in the caribbean?  It was too cold to sit on the beach, and to boring to sit inside, so we headed into town to taste some local cuisine.  Not the high falooten fancy smanch restaurants, but the good o’l ma and pa shops.  Of course on the way there we broke out our Canon G11′s and continued on with our crapshoots.

Looking for crabs.

Found one.

Our new dream shack.

What's left of the previous owner.....sharks.

Hangin around on the beach.

Caught this little guy on the pier.

took this image 4 minutes ago.

you gotta love those Canon G11 Point and Shoot camera’s. This is the only camera I need when I travel.

All images were taken with this camera.