JAMES HODGINS PHOTOGRAPHY » photography

Hodgy Humor – Pool Party With My G11

jameshodgins — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 14:25:59 +0000

Hanging out at my sisters pool yesterday for my niece’s birthday party watching my nephew jumping in and out of the pool when a simple image appeared in my head. Wearing his goggles he reminded me of one of those bratty annoying kids that never shuts up or stops running around waving his arms all over the place. Fortunately for our sake (and his) he is not like that, but he does take a pretty cool looking picture when he allows me to photograph him. I only had my canon G11 but I did have a sunpack flash and pocket wizard in my trunk, so using one light source and overpowering the sun I came up with this quick shot. For some reason, nobody else wanted to go swimming.

“SWIM AT YOUR OWN RISK”

Pin-Up Perfection Day Coming March 27

jameshodgins — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 22:53:42 +0000

That’s right, you heard it here first. We are officially announcing our Sudbury Pin-Up Perfection Day Saturday March 27th at our studio. I will post all the juicy details about this spectacular event when I get back from WPPI Vegas next week. Until then, start thinking of your Pin-Up Perfection scenario and dig deep into your wardrobe for those forgotten outfits.

Just a heads up. There will only be 15 sessions available and it will be first come first serve. We have already had numerous emails and calls to book our sessions, but to be fair we asked them to wait until our Pin-up Day. So, with that said I would call and book your appointment as soon as I announce the Sudbury Pin-Up Perfection Day Details.

The Beds In This Hotel Go TRIPLE BOING!

jameshodgins — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 19:37:25 +0000

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

We shoot so many, sometimes we forget.

jameshodgins — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 19:20:23 +0000

So I am here with my friends sitting beside Jillian and on her desktop is the below image. I was like, “that is really nice, who took that?” (and I was serious). She looked at me like I was a total idiot (and sometimes I am). I guess I photographed this last June and I completely forgot (see, she thinks we are good friends, but really we are not), just joking Jillian. Anyways, I thought I would hop on her computer and post this image of her 3 (soon to be 4) children.

These hotel room beds go “Double Boing!”

jameshodgins — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:37:05 +0000

I am here with Mike Long and Andy Armstrong in Elmira as they are hosting their Design House and Pindora workshop and it is anything but boring. They are wrapping up today and then the three of us are off to T.O for a few days to cause some havock (Be back Wednesday Joce, I promise)

Mike and I testing the beds.

Cat Day At The Studio

jameshodgins — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 20:05:31 +0000

Actually it wasn’t a “day” at all, more like Cat 2 minutes and 7 seconds. Joce and I decided to brave the odds and get our two furballs into the studio and update their portrait. The last time I did this was about 8 years ago and we figured since the one cat “Bogen” is getting up there in age, we might as well do it now before it’s too late. What a pure joy it was to get these two to sit still for the camera. Purring & talking, scratching and hissing. Oh the wonderful joys of photographing felines. I so look forward to when we officially launch “Cat Day” at the studio. FYI – Cat Day will be held at James Hodgins Photography when hell freezes over and turns into one giant litter box.

Out of the dozen or so images I snapped we did manage to get two that pretty well portrays our kitties. They will now be memorialized with 30 inch vertical canvas prints in our home. We are really glad we managed to get this done, as it will make us appreciate the time we still have with them both, as their lives almost came to a sudden end earlier today.

“Bogen - the old guy”

“Balou – the talker”

Dog Day – The Results Are In.

jameshodgins — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 15:24:31 +0000

We we are all tallied up, the results are in, and the studio is cleaned. Dog Day (In our opinion) was a HUGE success. First we would like to thank all the people who signed up for dog day to support the local SPCA. We would also like to thank our “Dog Whisperer” Darla Laframboise for taking the time to spend the day with us at our studio to help out. We had 26 dogs and not one accident woohooo. In total we raised $1000 and 22 bags of dogfood (and 1 bag of cat food) for the Sudbury SPCA. We would also like to thank those who took advantage of the Canvas Wall Portrait, we can’t wait to show you your finished art piece.

Joce and I had a total blast with this promotion and we look forward to photographing more furry friends in the future. You will notice a common “theme” to our dog portraits and this is one that we wanted to instill in our clients perception right from the beginning. We focused on the dog’s personality and characteristics that are unique to the dog. All images were black and white on a highkey background with a bit of an artistic processing to the finished image. This is how we want to portray our Pet Portraits at Hodgins Photography…….this will be our “signature style” if you can call it that.

Over the next few weeks I will posting each dog from the Dog Day sessions so that you can all get a glimps of the Dog Day attendees. Again, Joce and I would like thank EVERYONE who participated and for those that didn’t but still donated.

P.S Joce and I have decided that we will offer anyone who adopts a Cat, Dog, Puppy, Kitten or any other animal from the Sudbury SPCA a FREE portrait session with print from our studio. This will be an ongoing thing for as long as we can.

Here we are today dropping off the $ and the dogfood
(Me, Peggy-SPCA Manager, & Joce)

Made In Canada – Food & Drink

jameshodgins — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 22:58:42 +0000

Today was another successful shoot for MIC (Made In Canada) Restaurant soon to open in the Don Cherries location in New Sudbury. We previously photographed the main menu items and dishes, and today we finished off with some deserts and drinks. Unfortunately and fortunately the restaurant is in construction so we couldn’t shoot in the main sitting area like we did the previous session, so off to Pete’s house we went to use HIS kitchen and dining room. This worked out great as I had loads of options (from his cupboards and fridge) to use for background and complimentary additions to the delicious deserts and custom mouth watering drinks. These are all one of kind custom created items that will be featured at MIC and is only a small sampling of their complete menu. I now need to hit the gym after today and yesterday.

Bread Pudding the size of a brick!!! Sooo good.

Of course, the Caesars will not change.

This one tasted great!

Sour Grape in this one….had to taste it a few times.

The best homemade Naomi Bar I have ever had.

A great way to finish off the not with a decadent coffee

WE ALL SCREAM ICE CREAM!

jameshodgins — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 02:20:14 +0000

You know, I think are wives have finally realized that Rob and I are not normal when it comes to our photography (in general, they have realized that a long long time ago). We are still giddy like kids in an ice cream store with our new G11 Point and shoot Cameras. It’s amazing what you can do with your camera and 2 small flashes. Here in Ambergris Caye, opportunity knocks everywhere for us to pull out the small guns.

“I SCREAM YOU SCREAM WE ALL SCREAM ICE CREAM!”

“Excuz me sirs? sirs? SIRS! Can you pleas come off kiddy toys? Dey for no adults, only little kiddies.”

“yes mam….sorry”

Below the surface in Belize

jameshodgins — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 11:20:54 +0000

Be back when the snow is gone.

Daddy’s Little Girl

jameshodgins — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 21:02:10 +0000

We just finished photographing the beautiful Lipscomb family in our studio. The way Evie was looking at the camera I just couldn’t pass up grabbing some extra images of this little beauty. She was soooooo responsive to my camera (maybe it was my funny looking face). It’s great to reconnect with old high school friends, and it’s even more of an honor that you chose us to document your family.Thanks again Rebecca, Phil, Chloe and Evie for choosing us to document this family event.

Suckered In To Goofing Around

jameshodgins — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:52:52 +0000

Here is another image from the “Matt Pack” Session. This was nearing the end, after they found the bag of wigs and accessories. There are more and I will post them when we get back to work (still kinda on holidays). Unlike other “HodgyPoP” sessions, this image was shot with this background and lighting. She was not cutout in PS and pasted into the frame. Lighting is my usual 5 light setup.

More dogs, and it isn’t even Dog Day.

jameshodgins — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 21:51:49 +0000

Here are two images from our family session today (I will post some more of the family over the holidays) as I have already finished these two images for my latest Smarticle at www.shootsmarter.com. Lambo can do it all, from shake a paw to play dead. We basically wore the poor pooch out and by the end of the session he was like “yaaaa, fetch it yourself.”

It’s Another World Down There

jameshodgins — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:35:24 +0000

We are getting really excited for our diving trip to Belize next month. Ever since I became a certified diver with SSI (www.divessi.com) I relish in the chance to dive in the Caribbean Ocean. Once you submerge below the surface you are faced with another world and you forget about the world above. It’s so peaceful and calm. Every chance I get I try to capture something new with my underwater camera (Now it is my Canon G11 with underwater housing) and I know I will have loads of opportunity in Belize as it has the second largest reef in the world (the first is Australia’s Great Barrier Reef).

Sometime in Cozumel

Ass end of a Sea Turtle Heading up for air.

This has been my screen saver on my laptop for the past few years.

You can view more of my Point & Shoot Underwater images in my
UNDERWATER GALLERY

To look or not to look…

jameshodgins — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:41:42 +0000

at the camera that is. When photographing couples I find myself liking the images where the couple are not looking at the camera, mid laugh, caught in the moment. Don’t get me wrong, looking at the camera is part of the process, but we like make sure we give our couples a good variety of both. It also helps the couple relax in front of the camera, especially at the beginning of our session.

Sometimes, while they are looking at the camera, you can capture that image where you know…as a couple… they “clicked”