Grad Portraits

Scouting encompasses many things: teamwork, values, survival skills, camping, hiking, and all the other careers represented by merit badges. In this image, William Hodge pictures one part of the Scouting experience with another art portrait.

Young Jesus & The Guardian Angels
This image is inspired by the sculptors and stonemasons of Colma, California, and brings together much of the artwork being created during the late 1800s when Colma was the burying ground for San Francisco. It was illegal to bury anybody within the city, so they went south to Colma. It's often said that there are more dead people in Colma than alive.

These sculptures are spread throughout a two mile area of the oldest of cemeteries in Colma, named Cypress Gardens. Many of the state's early business families are buried here. In the early 1900s it cost $10 to move the coffin from San Francisco to Colma. Copyright 2011 by William Hodge

Many people speculate on the direction of Generation Y, those young people born after 1985 and some demographers estimate this group to eventually peak at 100 million people. The leading edge of their generation is just now entering the full-time workforce. Our portrait program is aimed at these individuals, whether they be Eagle Scouts, Girl Scout Gold awardees, college, university or law school graduates. We continue the series by peering into their lives and their activities.

The activities we participate in mold us as human beings. Participating in a community..... provides us with with a framework for life.

In this portrait view you'll see portraits of a young man who has practiced several forms of martial arts and has been doing so for better than 15 years. It is an ingrained part of his life.

Martial Artist
"Virtus tentamine gaudet"......"Strength rejoices in the challenge"

You can now have portraits of Orange County Council Eagle Scouts in your SmartPhone, both Android and iPhone!

View Orange County Council's 'Future Leaders of America' in either of these applications. Included in the App are the art canvas images '12 Points of the Scout Law' Eagle portraits currently displayed in Orange County Councils Service Center as well as video slideshows of our recent Eagle Scout portraits created by GradPortraits.com of your scouts for the Eagle Honor Wall.

Follow this link for the iPhone App

Install our Eagle Scout Android App in your Smart phone, scan this logo for the direct link
For the iPhone version scan and download this QR code.

Is the consumer's love affair with dedicated digital cameras coming to an end? Will consumers reacquaint themselves with professional photographers as they jettison their bulky DSLRs and unconnected point-and-shoot cameras? Has the consumer realized that little 'P' on the Mode dial doesn't think for them?

Will the pinpoint camera in their cell phone become the new standard for consumer imagery?

Some nice words from a recent customer…….

“I just received my son’s Eagle Scout & Senior pictures and they are just wonderful, the are really great. I’m just really pleased with them. Thank you so much. again these pictures are wonderful. Thank you, thank you, thank you! This wall portrait is really just beautiful”
-Judy N.

Thanks Judy! You warm our hearts and confirm why it is important to create these family heirlooms…..they’re an important part of your family, an important part of your son’s future family, spouse, children, grandchildren.

Pictures On Exibition

One of the highlights of creating portraits is making these: Eagle Scout portraits for Orange County, Inland Empire, and Los Angeles County. Here you see our recent Orange County Council Session. Our next date is June 11 for the OC. Follow this link to our online appointment center to reserve your time.

More portraits in our series on Future Leaders of America: Juris Doctorate candidate's portraits from Loyola Law School. Pictures of seniors.

This is the season as all of our future leaders prepare to graduate from college. We were recently at University of La Verne for senior pictures (or as we say, portraits.) You may visit our studio for your portrait or go to campus. Our next date in La Verne is May 9 & 13 on main campus. Follow this link to our online appointment center to reserve your time.

How do you archive your images, your pictures?

Do you have them all stored in digital files on hard drives? Do you leave them on your memory sticks and cards? Are they all tucked away in your phone?

One of our favorite customers has set up fund raising tools to assist those hurt in Japan by the recent quake and tsunami. If you wish to support the fundraising by the Japan America Society (JAS) Southern California, please follow the link to their web site to offer any monetary assistance you can.

As well, you can support relief efforts for the Japan Earthqauke & tsunsmi: Fundraisers at Angel Stadium, The Rose Bowl & Dodger Stadium.

Monday, March 14 5:00am - 6:30pm
The American Red Cross and ABC Channel 7 will host two "drive-through" disaster relief fundraisers at ANGEL STADIUM in Anaheim and the ROSE BOWL in Pasadena

Cash and checks will be accepted. Checks should be made out to the "American Red Cross," with "Japan Earthquake" written in the memo line.

Tuesday, March 15 5:00am - 7:00pm
The American Red Cross and NBC Channel 4 will host a "drive-through" disaster relief fundraiser at DODGER STADIUM. Dodger Stadium Parking Lot 1 -- accessible through Sunset Gate A, located at 1000 Elysian Park Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012 MAP

Cash and checks will be accepted. Checks should be made out to the "American Red Cross," with "Japan Tsunami Fund" written in the memo line.

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 to earth from space? William was there recording it. The film strip numbering indicates #37, but there were only 36 exposure rolls of film back then. Except for Ilford film, they were 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 bought a brick (20 rolls back then) of Ilford's product, tested it, He loved it, using it on the Shuttle landing project.

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?

In fact, if your parents found out you sold those prints they would be livid and you'd lose the car for months.

Our Eagle Scout portrait program is something for which we are proud.

That's why we've pushed the limits in creating these studio images of Eagle Scouts that are on display at Orange County Council's Service Center (1211 E. Dyer Road, Santa Ana - just west of the 55 Fwy.)

'After a day of creating portraits of Eagle Scouts, we have this particular feeling of having met some of America's future leaders.'

They take us beyond the standard rite-of-passage portrait into the realm of character study. They're a deeper look into the soul of these future leaders and a tribute to all the men and women working as volunteers in Scouting.

Foliage Of Spring Is Still Blooming In Fall

The color and shape of spring are still with us in California. So I spent an hour creating portraits in my backyard.

Elk Horn Kelp

Elk Horn Kelp is a shy ocean fauna that rarely comes to the surface intact.

An Ongoing Look At the Clouds Over California

California is know as a place where the sun always shines, it's always warm and never rains. Yet this year springtime blended into summer bringing us many weather fronts.

It gave this photographer a show of color, shape & light - simple parts of nature that came together to give us a show of beauty and visual delight. We only needed to remember to stop from our daily tasks, responsibilities and work, and look up to enjoy the beauty.

In this two minute MP4 video you'll see some of these images. More are certain to come. Check in occasionally for more visual treats.

If you're interested in looking at these fine art 11x14 prints, give me a call and we'll schedule a studio visit for you to preview the images.

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.)

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.

Take a look at our newest addition to our product line.....

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 at 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.

The newest addition from the team here at GradPortraits.com is our flash gallery site at CamerasEye.com, where you can see expanded collections of our work, including art from our upcoming show, 'Soaring Eagles: Portraits of Orange County Leadership in 2025'. Please let us know how we can best serve you or your organization.