HM&P Corporate Event Photography

William Hodge Recognized Certified Professional Photographer Designation Award

Wed, 09 May 2012 11:53:21 -0800

William Hodge, owner of GradPortraits has been recognized as a Certified Professional Photographer (CPP.) Every profession has a certification process identifing the pros from amateurs. There are Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) Certified Management Accountant (CMA), Certified Public Finance Officer (CPFO), etc. Professional photography also has similar professional designation, Certified Professional Photographer (CPP). It's a tough certification and the numbers tell the story. There are only 27 CPP designated photographers in Southern California . There are only 84 CPP designated photographers in California. The most recent Certified Professional Photographer to receive this designation operates his studio creating portraits of "America's Future Leaders." He creates portraits of Eagle Scouts from Orange County and the California Inland Empire Council, Girl Scout Gold Awardees from Orange County, along with college and university graduates, and is well Jurist Doctorate graduates in Southern California. He also creates portraits of the families that nurture those individuals at his studio in West Garden Grove (where the 22 & 405 freeways collide!) Achieving The CPP The Certified Professional Photographer designation requires a photographer to take both a written test and present a portfolio reviewed by five other Certified Professional Photographers.

The Certified Professional Photographer must complete a written examination, complete an image evaluation and adhere to stringent code of conduct.

The written test is 100 questions, based on a database of 6,000 questions. No individual taking the test knows which of the 6,000 questions will be on the exam. Questions cover a wide spectrum of imaging subjects, including the history of photography, film photography, digital photography, printing, the quality and direction of light, the color of light, and the variations in color, etc. The portfolio review includes 15 images created in the last year, and are compulsory images, meaning that they must exhibit a specific technique. The techniques a CPP candidate must show are: short lighting with an open or closed loop, 3 to 1 ratio, broad lighting with an open or closed loop, 3 to 1 ratio, selective focus, color harmony, rule of thirds, high key, low-key, balance (symmetrical or asymmetrical), assertive, leading lines, angular or masculine lines, etc. Bio Hodge, as a past board member, past president and life member of National Press Photographers Association (NPPA), founded the online Job Information Bank (JIB) in 1984 (pre-World Wide Web) and was also the cofounder of the Electronic Photojournalism Workshop and Digital Times in 1986 (The first digitally produced newspaper in the world - the original files and page negatives along with the newspaper reside in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington.) He was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1982 for a story about Vietnam Veterans. He currently volunteers his time for the Boy Scouts of America, Orange County Council while operating his studio.

Scouting Family Portrait - Baloo's Pride

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 09:22:27 -0800

A mother of three Scouts challenged us to create a portrait of her sons with her husband, in a Scouting theme. This creation, from a studio portrait session, is the end result. Look for other Scouting and family themed art works in the coming months.

sub ball picture

Mon, 30 May 2011 06:21:19 -0800

SubCom 11 Birthday Ball Portraits - 111 Years of Submarine Service

Mon, 30 May 2011 06:15:37 -0800

Several times every year we go south to San Diego where we'll create portraits of the couples attending military birthday balls. This weekend SubCom11 celebrated the 111th birthday of the Navy’s submarine service and we were there. These portraits are all about the love of a couple, whether they serve in a sub or at home. Our team created over 200 portraits during the evening...some of which you see here.

'Some Boats Are Designed To Sink, Others Needed Our Help'

Bill image vb profile

Wed, 09 Mar 2011 08:28:55 -0800

Profile William (Bill) Hodge by Virtual Backgrounds

Wed, 09 Mar 2011 08:25:47 -0800

You may view a profile of William Hodge in Virtual Background’s monthly newsletter, The Backgrounder. Remember when STS-1 (the first Space Shuttle Columbia) returned from space? William was there covering it. The film strip numbering indicates #37, but there were only 36 exposure rolls of film back then. Except for Ilford, which was test marketing a thin emulsion roll of 72 exposure film. William wanted it for coverage of the Shuttle landing because he needed images of the Shuttle far away, and close up, and down the landing strip. 36 images just wouldn't suffice. So he found a bunch of Ilford's product, tested it and loved it, using it on the Shuttle landing project.

Pictures - Why Make Prints?

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 08:26:02 -0800

Will you sell me the original portrait prints you have of your grandparents? Would you sell them for $50? 100? I'll give you $300 for the original prints, okay? Probably not! In fact, if your parents found out you sold those prints they would be livid and you'd lose the car for months.

Born Anew as a Photography Artist: A week with Arthur Rainville

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 10:03:00 -0800

Get Off the Garden Path! As a professional photographer it's important to grow professionally and artistically everyday, every month, every year. That's why in the past two years I've spent five solid weeks in weeklong seminars learning from some of the more creative portrait photographers in our business. I've spent a week each with Arthur Rainville & Jennifer Hudson, Tony Korbel, Joseph & Louise Simone, Trevon Baker and Carl Caylor, all disciples of Don Blair (you'll notice, I'm vicariously learning his styles through others, since he's no longer with us.)

Your house is in the path of a fire: what do you take with you?

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:53:57 -0800

In the final analysis, things are just things. Lamps, cooking utinsels, bedding, etc are things that can be replaced with or without insurance money. To see what things in our houses that are really important to us, take this short test to see what we really want from our home if we're about to loose it quickly.

A Big Gala Ball For Little Girls & Their Fathers

Sun, 19 Apr 2009 17:09:29 -0800

One of the cutest and enjoyable balls for which we create portraits is the Armed Services YMCA-San Diego Father Daughter Dance.See Our Work With An MP4 Video Of This Event!

Portrait Incentive Program In Southern California

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 07:41:59 -0800

Day and Night: Creating Picture Memories With Hollywood's 'Stars' When incentive groups come to Hollywood they want to see the stars (and of course take home a photograph with them.) That's just one of the services we provided SunLife's inbound incentive group when they checked into their hotel in Los Angeles. The Meeting Manager, our customer, asked if we could photograph 200 guests and their families arriving at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel with celebrity look-alikes (you know Jack, Whoppie, Brad, Angeline, and that guy who played Jack Sparrow) as guests arrived in town. Check out our 120 second overview of our work creating great memories for inbound incentive visitors (requires MP4 player capability):

Visual Mentor - Andrew Wyeth

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 08:04:43 -0800

One of my visual mentors has died. Andrew Wyeth passed away last week. I mention this because early in my newspaper career as a photojournalist, I enjoyed and emulated the view two people had on the world. One of them was Wyeth. The other is John Malman, a staff photographer for the Los Angeles Times. Both saw the world through a 28mm lens. This became my primary view of the world, and how I often documented history for the various newspapers for which I worked. It's interesting to read obituaries in both the Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street Journal and see how Wyeth was treated by the mainstream media. And I was astounded to find out that many critics thought his art was too mainstream, too simple, not good enough, in comparison to the surrealists that were popular during the time (Warhol, Dali, Pollock, etc.) His realistic watercolors were criticized by some people because he was simply painting a photograph. One critic said his work was, "photographically meticulous." That's the beauty of his work. They were gorgeous, raw, documentary images of life in New England. He always showed us something most of us would walk past and miss, and never see. The images he showed us would never even get on our personal radar. As a photographer, the nicest thing someone can say about your image is, "I never saw that!" And every time I looked his images, I thought the same thing. I saw the world just a little bit differently. But that's the beauty of any type of art. That's why I like Robert Werling's scenic black-and-white images, Salvador Dali's surrealistic images (and his realistic period too) and Andrew Wyeth's wide angle paintings. They're all beautiful. They are all wonderful views of the world and you really have to enjoy how they see things. I'm grateful I had the chance to see his work, to appreciate it and learn from it. As a photographic portrait artist, my goal is to do the same. So, what's my favorite painting? 'Christinas World.' Drop me a note to tell me which of his work is your favorite.

Affinity Marketing With Photographs: Toyota Off Road Expo

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:18:56 -0800

The brand-new book 'Age Curve' by Ken Gronbach describes all of the generations of consumers in the United States. All of these these generations were at the recent Off Road Expo at the Pomona Fairgrounds for Toyota Motor Corp. where we had the chance to photograph them.

toyota vertical mage 290 wide x 1036

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:17:06 -0800

Purchase Images From Your Recent Event

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 06:33:43 -0800

Follow this link to purchase portraits from your recent event.