“It’s not just a picture you see in a book or in a newspaper of anything like that,” said Hodder. “It is an art form that can be explored and that people can indulge their time in.”
The local photographer will take a step toward showing photography as an art on Friday when his exhibit, Black-Gray-White — The Contrast of Black and White Photographic Art, opens at JL Gallery.
Hodder has been taking pictures since 1981. He got started while attending school in Denmark where his family moved after his father, Benjamin Hodder of Pasadena, died when Shawn was 11.
He got hooked on the craft when he was in Grade 9 and picked up his first camera, a Pentax K1000.
“It’s the creativity you can do with it,” he said of what draws him to photography.
“You can capture something in a split of a second. It’s just that challenge of always being able to find different angles, points of views and capturing something that’s different.”
In 1994 Hodder moved back to Canada and worked in and managed various retail stores in Corner Brook.
But it was a battle with depression that made him see he should be doing something else.
Last May, after deciding it was time to get back to his roots, he launched S.A. Hodder Photography.
In January he joined JL Gallery as an artist in residence. His exhibit will be the first at the gallery’s new location, 79 Broadway.
It features a series of pictures taken around the local area that use the three tones — black, white and grey.
“Black and white to me is a totally different contrast and opens up people’s eyes to a different way of seeing things,” said Hodder.
People will recognize some of the local buildings and areas in some pictures, but not all because of the angle from which they were taken.
“That’s where it comes into photographic art,” said Hodder. “It’s the different point of view that you can get and as a photographer. I believe that you have to be able to look at different points of view and different angles.”
An opening reception for Black-Gray-White will take place at the gallery from 5 to 7 p.m. on Friday. Hodder’s photographs will remain on display until March 16.
dcrocker@thewesternstar.com
Twitter: WS_DianeCrocker
