JAMES HODGINS PHOTOGRAPHY » sudbury photographer

Portraits In The Park

jameshodgins — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 12:25:25 +0000

Here are a few natural light B&W images we captured during our Event last month. A shootthru and white reflector were used to isolate shadows and and spotted sun. We really wanted to “highlight” the kids eyes.

The Mining Maniac – Hodgy Humor

jameshodgins — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 21:02:19 +0000

While I was on my commercial shoot today a bunch of us where going through my phone looking at the various images I have uploaded to it. We had a good laugh over my “Mining Maniac” image that I believe I took somewhere in Utah (It was somewhere in the States) years ago. I remember finishing the actual image we needed for the project and while taking a break I asked “Miner Moe” to make a crazy face like he was playing an Xbox, because the controls he was using was controlling some heavy equipment, it reminded me of a video game. Anyways, I think that was the birth of my first Hodgy Humor image.

Fathers Day Favorites was a HIT!

jameshodgins — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 21:28:51 +0000

Well the feedback so far is unanimous. Those that took part in our Fathers Day Event “Fathers Favorites” are telling us that Dad’s LOVED their fathers day presents, and why wouldn’t they? We must tell you that it was a lot of fun photographing your kids again, it’s amazing how big some of the have gotten. We are THRILLED that the dads enjoyed their images. We also had to laugh at some of the excuses you had to tell dad to get your kids away without being overly noticeable hahaha, covert ops and Hodgins photography LOL

I thought I would show off your kids to everyone else since they are all beautiful and handsome. Thanks again everyone.

Mom told dad that she was helping in the kids classroom that day, so if he needed her to call the school. Of course the teacher would tell him that she was busy and would call him back later. Nice!

Mom was taking yearly pictures in the backyard (in case the kids said something)

These 2 boys had a dentist appointment.

Dad saw the charge on the Credit Card, but mom quickly said that we were having a great deal on family portraits and she couldn’t pass it up. Hmmmm maybe we will.

These girls were off to an impromptu dance lesson.

This dad is just clueless all the time hahaha, just kidding Jamie.

It’s Amazing What Coffee Can Do.

jameshodgins — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 17:49:57 +0000

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)

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”

Don’t Dissapoint The Dad

jameshodgins — Tue, 11 May 2010 15:59:57 +0000

Why am I holding this “Delux High Back Boat Seat”? Well, it will be a choice that some of you make in the near future. Some will choose right, some will choose wrong. You will soon find out. Stay tuned.

Father’s Favorites Coming Next Month

jameshodgins — Fri, 07 May 2010 14:54:33 +0000

We are cooking up an AMAZING event for Fathers Day, but it’s the moms that are gonna be the one to take action.

STAY TUNED

Making Of A Merit Print

jameshodgins — Mon, 03 May 2010 15:14:43 +0000

Part of my presentation in Chicago was on the Elements Of A Competition Print where I discussed different aspects of planning, capturing and creating a Competition Print. It went over very well with many many emails asking me to provide MORE information. I thought every once in awhile I would post some of my images and describe what I was looking for when creating it. As most of you know I do enter a lot of competitions as this is not only a personal goal but it is also for my photographic growth. The more I look at my images a competition worthy the better product I can give to our clients so I strive to make every one of my images a “competition image”.

“Sarah By The Sea” was just awarded “Merit” at this past Professional Photographers Of Canada Image Competition. I captured this last April in Jamaica off resort on location. The sun was high in the sky and strong with a reading of F22. I knew I needed to get some addition lighting as the sun was behind Sarah throwing her in shadow. Using 2 off camera flash’s and setting my output on stop stronger than the sun would give me the dramatic lighting I desired. Of course, I had to expose for the flashes and not the sun.

I wanted to use the leading lines of the clouds and the horizon to bring your attention to Sarah. Using the dress to shield the flash I had behind her also added to those leading lines bringing your attention into the bride. Obtaining a correct exposure and white balance is crucial in ANY image (put some thought into this and just don’t go ahead snapping image and “fixing” them in Photoshop later)

Image out of camera

I then darkened down the sky in various places as I did not want the sun to compete with my brides attention. Using more of a “panoramic” format with a dark matting to accentuate the leading lines finished off the image.

Here is my crude lighting diagram

Sudbury Fire Fighters In Sioux Lookout

jameshodgins — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 19:33:43 +0000

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.

Skylighting In Sioux

jameshodgins — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 02:20:40 +0000

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.

Received WPPI & PPOC Awards

jameshodgins — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 17:26:28 +0000

Finally had a chance to open some goodies that arrived for me last week. The award on the left is from my 3rd place win at WPPI. The award in the middle is for “Best Group Portrait” from the Professional Photographers Of Canada – Ontario for the image “This is what happens to crappy print judges” and the one on the right is a “Judges Choice” Award for “The Big Catch”. Both these images have been sent off for the National Print Competition next month in Mont Tremblant. Entering Print competitions is very beneficial to any photographer and I will be speaking about this during my presentation in Chicago next week. It helps us strive to create the best image possible EVERY TIME which is beneficial to ourselves and our clients. The judges look for such thins as Storytelling, Composition, Presentation and what I like to call the WOW Factor. Having your images critiqued by your peers can give you an eye opener to your photography (good or bad) but either way it’s a learning experience.

Heading to Chicago tomorrow afternoon for the Inferno Convention so see you next week.

Back from our Road Show!

jameshodgins — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 16:05:20 +0000

Well I am back in the office today after completing our www.photographymarketingbootcamp.com tour. What a blast we had meeting photographers from all over Canada that share the same passion as us. As you can see from my previous posts that I did not return unharmed (my nose still hurts) but I did make it home non-the less. I want to thank EVERYONE who took the time to come out to our events. Sorry all you Saskatooners who didn’t get a chance to attend due to mother nature, but there will be more opportunities in the future. We finished off the tour with a packed house in Toronto which was a great venue. Thanks again everyone.

Here we are at our T.O Event

Some photographers can’t handle travel stress.

jameshodgins — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 13:41:24 +0000

Especially when you have been traveling for over 20 hrs straight, sort of like a trains, planes, and automobiles type scenario. I am home safe and sound now, arriving at 3:37 am, tired, sore (my nose is now sore from the window) and dissapointed that we had to miss Saskatoon. I think the highlight of my trip though was the flight home last night with Rob sitting beside me crying. He was really tired and cranky, and I think his lack of sleep was getting to him. He cried the whole flight…… and not just a simple scream, but the ear peircing, needles in the eyeballs scream. Don’t beleive me? Well I videotaped a small snippet for you all, this was at about 2:30 am, and even with my earbuds on with the volume on the highest setting, Rob the screaming banshee still got through. He did this the WHOLE FLIGHT!

Heading to Chicago Friday for our NoBs Photo Success Convention

Focus Reinactment (Hodgy Humour)

jameshodgins — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 16:53:29 +0000

Sitting in the Calgary airport waiting to catch our flight to Saskatoon for our workshop. It was an eventfull day (usually is when Abbas is driving…………FOCUS!). Learned that Starbucks employees don’t speak English, only the Starbucks language and that to order a coffee flavoured coffee is…………………….rude. Oh well. Here are some group shots for you and another video of the window escapade.

I focus on the future (Hodgy Humour)

jameshodgins — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 23:51:47 +0000

MAYBE, I should focus 4 feet in front of me. I am in Edmonton on our NoBs Tour and Rob is speaking at the moment. I am sitting here………my face hurts………..and my knee hurts even more (painfull to walk), but I am a tough cookie, and I will present in 2hrs like nothing happened. I WISH I had video of this as it is freakin funny, but this one will have to do and if you use your imagination you can picture it actually happening.

Here is some more Hodgy Humour for ya. Monday morning when Rob and I were driving to T.O we stopped at the Petro/Starbucks in Parry Sound. As Rob was pumping gas and I was reading he opens the door and says “Hey, there’s Bill!”. I like up and sure enough Bill the Dj was just getting into his car. I JUMPED out of the car and sprinted towards the car (sneakily). Just as Bill was about to close the car door, I push it open yelling “GET THE $%&(@#%* OUT OF THE CAR!” with my imaginary “hand” gun. Well Bill FLIPPED OUT………………because it wasn’t Bill. I turn to see Rob peeing himself laughing.

Then, at about 3:30 am today I get up to use the bathroom. Just as I was about to walk in Abbas was walking out (in his underroos). I scream like a girl and say “Crap Abbas, you scared the bejesus out of me” and I look away (cuz he’s in his underroos) waiting for him to go by. But he doesnt. And I am getting uncomfortable. Until I realize that it is my reflection in the bathroom door mirror. DUHHHHH!

That’s it for the moment. Now I need to get heavily medicated.

P.S Did you notice the big red goose-egg on the top part of my for-head? Watch the video again.