Michael Hudson Photography

18/11/2023

I've been in downtown Chicago since Wednesday afternoon for a four day photo shoot, photographing a large conference. Lots of seminars and meetings to shoot, etc, etc.

But at night, I've been out flying my drone over the city. I'm a beginner at flying in an urban environment– it's out of my comfort zone, but I've always wished I had the ability to shoot the architecture from a higher vantage point, and the drone gives me that. The plan is to revive this long dormant project I started ten years ago, to artistically photograph the Chicago architecture of glass and steel.

https://www.hudsonfineart.com/chicago-gallery

08/06/2023

June Road Trip 1/3- Central Texas

Just completed one of my busiest two day video/ photo shoots ever for a healthcare client- eight locations spread over two days and almost 300 miles of commuting between them, shooting in suburban Austin and all the way down to Bulverde near San Antonio, and out to Hallettsville in the Texas backcountry, as well as Round Rock, Bee Cave, Cedar Park and Bastrop. Nice getting to see parts of Texas I've never visited before. Heading back home now; should be back Friday night… about 2500 miles round trip, give or take.

22/05/2023

Photographing the Coronation

"It’s not all about the Royal Family or seeing the king and his family. But it’s about witnessing a historical moment in time– an event that will be remembered hundreds of years from now. It’s about being there in person and not watching it on TV from the comfort of your couch. It’s about being a part of a huge crowd all gathered together to witness a joyful occasion. And it’s about the eccentric characters you meet... "

I spent about 30 hours on the streets of London to be at the front of the crowd and see the King's procession go by on May 6th. It was my first Coronation after two royal weddings, and over 100 royal engagements photographed since the 1980's.

12/01/2023

What goes around, comes around...

Back in the 1990's and early 2000's, when I still did weddings, there was no better lab in the country to send my film to than Burrell Color in northern Indiana. For years, there was a regular flow of film and prints back and forth between my office and their lab. So it was pretty cool yesterday to shoot a video interview of the lab's founder and owner, Don Burrell, in his home for another long-time client of mine. For years his smiling face was ever present at the front of every catalog the lab sent me and it was nice to see that he was just as friendly a guy as he always appeared to be. He even showed us his beautiful home and indoor pool. I told him he'd done pretty well, and he thanked me for giving him my business all those years. Then he even told me to look around– and that I had helped him build that big, beautiful home. You're welcome, Don.

25/08/2022

It's been a while since I posted here, but this was hands down my favorite shoot of a very busy and enjoyable summer:

https://mikehudsonphoto.com/blog/2022/6/27/great-duck-island

I arrived at the college’s dock ready to go, with cameras, lenses and a drone. An hour later, we disembarked on Great Duck. The island is about 200 acres all together. There is also buried treasure on the island, though that’s another story for another day…

02/02/2022

14/01/2022

I thought it'd be interesting to see where my photography took me in 2021. I geotag every photo I take, so it was an easy task to do. The numbers refer to how many pictures I shot at each location. There're about 30,000 pictures represented here, not including about 50,000 I deleted along the way.

The only flight I took was to Maine in October (though I also drove out there in June); I drove to all the other locations.

The second picture is of all the locations in Chicagoland where I had assignments last year.

Next up... Tennessee, Virginia, Minnesota and Florida in the next few weeks.

29/04/2021

Prince William and Kate Middleton, 29 April, 2011.

I've shot a lot of interesting things in 31 years of professional photography, but ten years ago today was one of my favorites– 24 hours on the streets of London, no sleep, very little to eat, a bag of camera gear, a cold night, and taking part in one of the biggest street parties of all time. It was an epic event to witness and photograph.

Watch the video about my experience:
https://vimeo.com/mikehudson/royalwedding2011

09/04/2021

Some of you know I photographed the Royal Family 'once or twice' in the 1980's. Actually, I honed my photography skills photographing them from 1985-88. The Duke of Edinburgh was at many of the events I attended, almost always at the Queen's side. The only time I photographed him on his own was when he competed at the World Carriage Driving Championships in August 1986. The last picture under the umbrellas was taken in 1987 during Royal Ascot week. These unpublished photos have never been seen anywhere until now.

RIP Prince Philip.

22/09/2020

I went downtown with a friend a couple days ago to photograph "Chicago-Henge," a phenomenon I don't think anyone thought about until recently. Anyway, it happens twice a year, during the Spring and Autumn solstice, when the sun sets due west, right down the end of the road– in this case Lake Street. I shot with my medium format camera and was limited to just a 120mm (96mm D-SLR equivalent) lens. I should've brought a super telephoto and really gotten up close and personal with the scene.

12/09/2020

I'm honored to have my fine art photography featured in this month's issue of Medium Format Magazine, the " #1 publication dedicated to medium and large format photography."

Olaf Sztaba, the editor, writes, "With the autumn season upon us, Michael Hudson’s article, Intimate Beauty– Photographing Autumn Colour in Maine” couldn’t be timelier. Michael’s work focuses on colour and the richness of the Fall landscape but captures more subtle, intimate landscapes which are more difficult to photograph. He writes, “As an artist/ photographer, I don’t typically find a lot of satisfaction in wide vistas of the landscape, but I look for details and splashes of color in a more intimate landscape.” What a great read!"

https://mediumformat.com

10/09/2020

Since I got my commercial drone pilot's license a couple months ago, I've been working on a portfolio reel of clips. Not the most interesting lighting, but this was shot in rural Ohio at the end of August.

Watch the video on the link below and make it full screen.



https://mikehudsonphoto.com/blog/commercial-drone-pilot

This summer, I passed my commercial drone pilot's test and am now a fully licensed pilot by the FAA. This is just some practice footage from a recent drive through rural Ohio.

24/07/2020

Had a fun day yesterday... got up at 1:30am and left the house at 2 to drive up to the northern suburbs of Milwaukee and do some photography for an old elementary school friend who does award winning landscaping work. Got the drone out too for some nice aerial perspectives. I'd hoped the sun would light up the yard but after a brief appearance, it clouded up for most of the shoot. Started at 4am and done by 8.

02/07/2020

I'm relieved to say I passed my commercial drone pilot's test this morning. I'm now an FAA certified pilot- woohoo. This is something I've been planning on doing for a couple years now, but until the pandemic, I could never find the time to study for it. I'm hard pressed to think of another test I've ever studied harder for (though Baby Bio freshman year of college comes close). Now I can regale you with all kinds of useless facts about airport runways, METARs and TAFs, Chart Supplements, Victor airways, cloud ceilings, Class B airspace and more.

Now– hire me for all your drone related photo/ video shoots...

11/05/2020

It's good to be busy. Last week's video shoot for a new client, with my wife along as first assistant.

08/05/2020

Today marks the 75th anniversary of VE Day. I can't imagine what a relief it must have been to experience the end of the war with the N***s back in 1945. The photos are from May 8, 1985, the day I decided to skip college and caught the train into London to see the events marking the 40th anniversary of the end of the War. Most of the politicians attending and some of the royals I saw that day are now dead. The pictures show the Queen at Westminster Abbey, along with the Queen Mother, Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Edward (who I would spend an hour photographing in Chicago 25 years later), Princess Alice and others. Margaret Thatcher (prime minster at the time) and Harold MacMillan (PM in the '50s/60's) were also there, along with other former PM's. After it was all over, I walked next to leader of the opposition Neil Kinnock from the abbey to the Houses of Parliament. It was a thrill to be in the thick of such a big event at the time, amongst many who had lived through the war.

As the 18 year old who was supposed to be in class working on his A-levels, I think I made the better choice of where to be that day.

22/04/2020

Just had my first shoot in 5-1/2 weeks. I have to think back to when I was in college back in England (1985) to when I've shot fewer pictures. Glad I remembered how to work the camera.