deviantART: by:hoogathy

CDH Photography

Journal

Hey everyone. Yeah, it's been a while. I'm getting bad at this, huh? But yeah, life is busy these days.

I'm putting together a portfolio of images, both for a printed, hard-copy folder and for a possible CDH Photography website. (I'm considering either putting together my own hand-made site or using FolioSnap - right now the latter seems better because, let's be honest, coding a site takes a lot of work and I'm really rusty on my programming.)

So, my question to all of you is this: Which of my shots do you think should be in my portfolio? I already have ideas - I already have some ideas in mind, including some stuff I haven't posted here on DA, but your input (as always!) is very much appreciated.

- hoog out

when reactions turn into hurricanes
and the middle ground seems a little tame
whether full or empty it's all the same
it's so easy to see, anyone would agree
you're not to blame

Self-Promotion

Clubs

http://hoogathy.deviantart.com/journal/23596363/ Sun, 08 Mar 2009 17:03:34 PDT

=hoogathy

CDH Photography

Journal

Been a while, huh? I haven't been out on a shoot for a while - Friday would've been a perfect day for it, but I was stuck at work all day. The weather's getting better, so maybe I'll buck this trend soon. I was also down for a little while because my laptop kinda quit, but I've upgraded to some new hardware and acclimatized to it, so I'll be back on more (I keep saying that, huh?).

Not much else to report, I guess.

- hoog out

"do you still believe in god?"
said the preacher to the astronaut
"i heard it's kinda lonesome there
nothing to talk to but a cold, cold air
tell me, tell me what was it like?
did meaning fall from that celestial light?
did it wrap you up in conversation?
did it leave you like some ineffable nothing?
are you feeling alright?"

Features

Self-Promotion

http://hoogathy.deviantart.com/journal/22381391/ Sat, 03 Jan 2009 19:50:36 PST

=hoogathy
CDH Photography

Journal

So, 2009's here. I don't really do the whole "New Year's Resolution" thing, I just try to set my own goals throughout the year as I feel I need to. One thing I want to work on is being a little more active with photography again - once I got back into school this year I kinda dropped right off with it, especially with posting stuff on here. As well, I'd like to try some more interesting subjects - namely, concerts, skateboarding, and snowboarding. They're areas I'm interested in, but don't get the opportunity to participate in, so shooting them would be a good way to stay involved in them.

Hopefully *Irish-Baby and I will be able to get out on some shoots soon (so she can test the camera I bought her in the field). Now all I need to do is get over this persistent cold that's been nagging me for the past week.

Oh, and be sure to check out ~Nature-Club - I also dropped the ball on the group recently after taking it over from ~Whitewings05, but I'm getting it rolling again. The group's members have some really great deviations.

That's all for now.

- hoog out

the things we laid do not amount to much
made up of thought balloons and cotton swabs
when present tense gets strangled in the woes
made of our future foe scenarios

Features

Self-Promotion

http://hoogathy.deviantart.com/journal/21670767/ Tue, 25 Nov 2008 19:53:52 PST
Deviant *hoogathy
Â
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*hoogathy
CDH Photography

Journal

I've now been on deviantART for a year, and it's been a year of big change for me artistically. A year ago I just had a little point-and-shoot camera and was hoping to go out and take pictures a little more often; now I've upgraded to a DSLR with two lenses and a flash, my pictures periodically appear in my school's newspaper, and I'm attempting to take pictures for clients by request. I didn't foresee taking this path towards photography a year ago, and deviantART's been a big help in making this shift. Putting my work out there to be seen, and seeing the creativity of others, has really helped sparked that part of my head.

A while back, when I reached 1000 pageviews, I pasted my current Gallery Stats in a journal as a means of preserving them, so at this next "milestone" (if you want to call it that), I'm going to do the same thing again. Here goes:

hoogathy has 3,969 pageviews total and his 184 deviations were viewed 10,038 times. He watches 64 people, while 38 people watch him.

Overall, his deviations received 813 comments and were added to deviants' favourites 441 times, while he commented 2,021 times, making about 5.64 comments per day since he joined DA. This means that he gave 25 comments for every 10 that he received.

His deviation with the most comments is Purple Flowers, Blue Sky with 26 comments, and it is also his most favourited, with 63 favourites. His most viewed deviation is Purple Flowers, Blue Sky with 1,156 views.

5 favourites were given for every 10 comments.

Every 1.9 days he uploads a new deviation, and it's usually on a Tuesday, with 32 (17%) of his deviations.

His busiest month was February 2008 with 31 (17%) of his deviations.

The majority of his deviations are uploaded to the photography gallery (173), while his favourite category was nature>flora with 40 deviations.

Comments per deviation: 4.41
Favourites per deviation: 2.39
Views per deviation: 54.55
Comments per day: 2.27
Favourites per day: 1.23
Views per day: 28.04
Pageviews per day: 11.08

Thanks to everyone who's supported me thus far; I hope you've enjoyed viewing my photos, and will continue to do so in the future.

I've prepared a large features section this time around. I'm trying to showcase some artists who get less exposure, like I do, but I've also included some popular works that I really just like. Check them out, they're worth a look!

- hoog out

and i'd say what you'd say, champions of nothing
but there's a car waiting to take me to something
at the end of my rope there's a new world, it's glowing
the globe, it starts shaking; was it you not worth knowing?
the whitecoats are melting to snow down the mountains
to process the rivers for hallways and fountains
and i'd say what you'd say, but it makes me feel nothing
so there's a man waiting to take me to something
that i'm for, that i'm for

Features

[Photography]
... ]]> =hoogathy Calendar Now Available http://hoogathy.deviantart.com/journal/21564264/ http://hoogathy.deviantart.com/journal/21564264/ Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:45:24 PST
Deviant *hoogathy
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*hoogathy
CDH Photography

Journal

Hey everyone, just a quick note - the CDH Photography 2009 Calendar is now up on the deviantART store. Thanks to everyone who provided feedback, your input was muchly appreciated and helped me refine the final product.

(No features this time around, but check back next week for a larger feature.)

CanÂt help but feel betrayed
Punch the clock every single day
ThereÂs no loyalty and no remorse
You spoke for present check
That makes me fucking sick
He's sick of, he canÂt say no
Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh

Features
Special Features section next week

Self-Promotion

Clubs
http://hoogathy.deviantart.com/journal/20965821/ Mon, 13 Oct 2008 08:24:29 PDT
Deviant *hoogathy
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*hoogathy
CDH Photography

Journal

Hey everyone. I've been working on a little project lately, and now I'd like to get your feedback on it.

I've been designing a calendar featuring my photography, which I intend to put up for sale on the deviantART Shop. Before I finalize and submit it, however, I want to hear what you think about it. You can be as brutally honest as you like; I won't be offended, and I'd rather hear the truth so I can fix the layout and release a better-looking product.

There's a preview available in my Scrapbook, which you can view here:

Feel free to post any impressions, critique, and suggestions either on the preview's comments or in the comments for this journal, or send me a note, or whatever method you'd like to use. I welcome any comments, whether you want to tell me simply that you like it, or you want to curse me for creating such an atrocity.

The calendar will hopefully be submitted to the Store within a week or two (by the end of the month at the latest, but I hope it'll be earlier), depending on a couple different factors - so it will be able to arrive by the end of the year if you order it.

Thank you in advance for your help and support.

- hoog out

off in the night, while you live it up, I'm off to sleep
waging wars to shape the poet and the beat

Features

Self-Promotion

=hoogathy University, Round III http://hoogathy.deviantart.com/journal/20305914/ http://hoogathy.deviantart.com/journal/20305914/ Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:11:33 PDT
Deviant *hoogathy
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*hoogathy
Chris
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September is here, and thus I enter my third year of university. It should be a hard one, too - I've got four essay courses in English (the subject for which I hope to get an Honours degree), so 80% of my course load is pretty heavy. I'll find out just how heavy within the next week, since my classes don't start until tomorrow, and I have Fridays off. Nonetheless, I'm gonna keep up the photography. I wasn't very productive over the summer, but I tend to get out on shoots more often during the school year. I'm also trying to get involved with the school paper, so we'll see how that pans out.

The vacation was great; I got some well-needed rest (I slept way more than usual), some some new places, tried some good food, and took about 600 pictures. So, all around, an awesome time. I've already posted some of those pics, and there's more to come (but not all 600!), so I'll hope you'll enjoy them.

That's all for now.

- hoog out

i had a feeling that i belonged
i had a feeling that i could be someone, be someone

Features

Self-Promotion

http://hoogathy.deviantart.com/journal/19832856/ Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:27:05 PDT
Deviant *hoogathy
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*hoogathy
Chris (CDH Photography)
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I'll be away for a week or so as of tomorrow - I'm going away on vacation to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, with *Irish-Baby and her family. This will be the first time I've ever left Canada or even my province, so it's kinda exciting. It's even more exciting because I'll have my camera in my hand and lots of new scenery to take pictures of, new experience to gain. I hope to get a chance or two to check DA briefly, just to trim down my deviantWATCH, reply to a few messages, and maybe post something new. Either way, we'll be gone from Friday evening to the following Sunday.

Those of you who watch me may have noticed I haven't been on too often - the busy summer continues. All in all, despite working more than I care to and not accomplishing everything I've wanted to, it's been good. *Irish-Baby and I had a great weekend up at her cottage with our friends recently, drinking, relaxing, taking photos, and, oh yeah, getting engaged. Yup, I finally popped the question!

On the photography front, I've been working on setting up my "business." I'm in the process of setting up an account on iStockphoto.com to sell some of my work as stock images, and hopefully that'll help get my name out there.

Well, I've got things to take care of before the trip, so that's it for now.

- hoog out

Features
http://hoogathy.deviantart.com/journal/18933060/ Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:31:14 PDT
Deviant *hoogathy
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*hoogathy
Chris de Hoog
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=33xiT
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I've created a new group on Facebook to promote my "business." I've become quite interested in photography over the past six months (as those of you who've watched me for a long time will know) and would like to branch out into more serious forms of the craft. As such, I'm offering my services as a freelance photographer - for portraits, events, portfolios, or mostly anything you can think of - and putting my nature and/or creative shots up for sale as prints. This group's purpose is to help me spread the word, so I can...you know...actually get some work. I really hope to learn more about this hobby of mine, become a much better photographer, and graduate from being just a self-taught amateur. So, if you use Facebook, please join and tell your friends, and help me along this road I'd like to embark down.

The page can be found at [link]

I've been a little inactive on deviantART lately, I must admit. Between moving at the start of the month, settling into the new place, changing my routines, driving a whole lot more, and working full-time for the summer to make money to get by, I barely have the time (or sometimes the energy) to do more than check my deviantWATCH and look through my new messages. Worse, I've been neglecting my duty as temporary manager of ~Nature-Club. Things are starting to settle down (at least for a little while), so hopefully I can be on more often. Keep on commenting and whatnot, and I'll keep on replying!

So, that's about it for now. Please check out the features, and thanks again for your support!

- hoog out

Features
http://hoogathy.deviantart.com/journal/18113814/ Thu, 01 May 2008 07:51:05 PDT
Deviant *hoogathy
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*hoogathy
Chris de Hoog
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As of Tuesday, I have completed my second year of university! Only 2 or 3 more years of racking up student loan debt to go! (I am NOT looking forward to how big that number is going to be when I'm done...) So, I'm officially into summer now, which is always a good feeling. The good feeling is diminished by the knowledge that I now have to start working full-time, but whaddaya gonna do. For years now I've gone from school to work in the summer, so I'm kinda used to this feeling of semi-freedom.

Also, I applied for an apartment yesterday. My house was sold a month ago, so I needed a place to stay at the start of June. This new place isn't perfect but I'll be living close to my school - a 2 minute drive, 10 minute bus ride, or 25-30 minute walk. The view is also pretty sweet, as I can see two towers on my school's campus (both of which I have posted images of on here, Middlesex College and University College), so I'll be trying out some panoramas. Before then, however, comes the ordeal of packing, getting new stuff, and moving in. I'll have lived alone in this house for a year by the time I move - a house that my whole family once lived in, all to myself - so moving into an apartment is going to feel highly claustrophobic. I'll also miss the gardens here, which have provided me so many opportunities to play with my camera this spring.

Summer also means an opportunity to catch up my reading and my gaming. During the school year I can't bring myself to read any novels or anything for my own pleasure; since I have so many reading assignments for school, I feel like if I should be reading it should be for school. As a result, I end up only reading magazines or manga for my own enjoyment. Now, ever since I was a wee lad I've read for fun, so when I lose that opportunity, it's pretty sad. I plan to catch up on my leisurely reading with Charles Dickens' Great Expectations (sounds so leisurely, right?), and I'll probably read Homer's The Iliad at some point too. As for gaming? Well, there's Rock Band, Grand Theft Auto IV, and Mario Kart Wii to fill my free time.

So! Onto the tagging feature.

=Whitewings05 has tagged me for this in his journal. Since I've never been tagged before, I figured I'd give it a shot (also, Whitewings is apparently a "maple Ninja", which fills my heart with dread). So here goes.

The "Rules"
1. Post these rules AGAIN
2. Each person tagged must post 10 random (hopefully interesting) facts about themselves
3. Tags should write a blogpost of these facts
4. At the end of the post 8 more bloggers are tagged and named
5. Go to their blog and leave a comment telling them they're tagged

I. The first picture I ever took was one... ]]> =hoogathy MS Awareness Month Update http://hoogathy.deviantart.com/journal/17649697/ http://hoogathy.deviantart.com/journal/17649697/ Wed, 02 Apr 2008 11:05:07 PDT
Deviant *hoogathy
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*hoogathy
Chris de Hoog
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=33xiT
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So, it's April now, and that means it's Multiple Sclerosis awareness month, as I mentioned/announced in my last journal ([link]). Since I came by this idea at a sort of short notice, right when crunch time with university was approaching, I don't have as much planned as I would have liked, but I will be posting a news article shortly and starting the stamp contest (with a subscription for the winner!). Stay tuned for more of that.

Myself, I'm doing the local Supercities Walk for MS next Sunday, April 13th. If you'd like to pledge me, I would be eternally thankful, and would be glad to feature you as well. You can pledge me online here:
https:// msofs.mssociety. ca/2008Walk/Sponsor.aspx?& PID=992928&L=2
[You'll have to enter this address into your web browser and remove the spaces; DA keeps turning it into an emoticon. Sorry.]

As I mentioned, school is insane - essays out the ying yang until next Wednesday, then my first exam is the day after the MS Walk. After the first week things calm down, but until then I'll be feeling pretty stressed...and probably procrastinating far too much.

Speaking of procrastinating, I've been playing Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core a lot this past week. Awesome game. It's nice to see the story from FFVII falling into place, tying the whole story of the "Compliation of FFVII" together. The gameplay's solid, although repetitive, and really feels like an action-RPG version of the original.

Aaand on the Bleach front - how crazy have the past three chapters been!? I'll refrain from mentioning what happens to avoid the massive spoilers, but it's pretty freakin' intense.

That should be enough random rambling for now.
- hoog out
Features

Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Month - [link]
Please read the Artist's Comments on these deviations
http://hoogathy.deviantart.com/journal/17471078/ Sun, 23 Mar 2008 08:41:08 PDT
Deviant *hoogathy
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*hoogathy
Chris de Hoog
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=33xiT
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Looking around deviantART (or even around the internet in general), I see a lot of people pledging their support in awareness campaigns for cancer and various other diseases, and I think it's simply amazing that so many people are out there raising awareness, support, and funds for these things. Foundations for diseases provide a lot of support to the poor victims and their families - vital support that might not otherwise be obtained.

For me, though, the sad part of it is that there isn't nearly as much support for a disease that can be as crippling and painful to its victims as the other "major" diseases. The illness I'm referring to is Multiple Sclerosis or MS.

I'm not good with science and medicine stuff, so I'll quote the MS Society of Canada's webpage here: "Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system Â the brain and spinal cord. The disease attacks the protective myelin covering of the central nervous system, causing inflammation and often destroying the myelin in patches. In its most common form, MS has well defined attacks followed by complete or partial recovery. The severity of MS, progression and specific symptoms cannot be predicted at the time of diagnosis.
"Multiple sclerosis can occur at any age. It is usually diagnosed between the ages of 15 to 40, during the career and family building years. It can make its first appearance in young children and in older adults. MS is more than three times as likely to occur in women than in men and is seen most commonly in people of northern European background.
"MS symptoms are unpredictable and vary greatly from person to person. Symptoms may include: vision disturbances such as double or blurred vision; extreme fatigue; loss of balance; problems with coordination; stiffness of muscles; speech problems; bladder and bowel problems; short-term memory problems, and even partial or complete paralysis. Please keep in mind, not all people with MS will experience all symptoms and often the symptoms will improve during periods of remission.[...]
"An estimated 55,000-75,000 Canadians have multiple sclerosis. Prevalence rates range from one MS case per 500 people to one in 1,000 across the country. Canada is a high risk area for the disease, which occurs more often in countries, like Canada that are further away from the equator. The MS Society estimates, based on current prevalence rates, that approximately 1,000 new cases of MS are diagnosed each year, which means three more people are diagnosed with MS everyday in Canada."

According to the National MS Society, in America there are "approximately 400,000 people with multiple sclerosis (MS)Âwith 200 more people diagnosed every week. Worldwide, MS is thought to affect more than 2.5 million people."

MS isn't fatal, but the complications it causes can be. Fatal or not, it is a terrible, terrible afflict... ]]> =hoogathy Storm's A-Brewin' http://hoogathy.deviantart.com/journal/17377981/ http://hoogathy.deviantart.com/journal/17377981/ Mon, 17 Mar 2008 11:34:34 PDT
Deviant *hoogathy
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*hoogathy
Chris de Hoog
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Well, it's now past the Ides of March, meaning the end-of-the-school-year storm is a-brewin'. I'm shifting into essay gear, and after all the frantic researching and writing is over, it's onto studying for exams. Joy! Ain't the university life fantastic? It's nice that summer is in view, but unfortunately there's a lot of stressful work between now and then, and lurking behind exams is the behemoth of working in the summer. I just can't catch a break; I tell ya, I get no regahd.

The art show has come and gone. It was a very positive experience, though attendance fell a little short of expectations. Nonetheless, it was a learning experience for me (for participating in such an event) and for the organizers, so hopefully next year it'll be even better. Thanks to all who came out!

It seems I'm running low on material again, or at least, I feel like I am. I wish I had the time to go on shoots more often, but school and work can be pretty draining to my mental energy and time, so I just don't get around to it very often. If only I could quit work, or cut sleep out from my daily routine. Think about it! I could have 5-8 extra hours a day to do stuff! I don't even enjoy sleep that often, so it'd be a double bonus for me. I could get more school work done, take more pictures, and game without guilt! Sure beats lying around comatose for a good chunk of a day.

Speaking of gaming, Super Smash Bros. Brawl is friggin' awesome. I spent most of my day on the 9th, the first day it was out, plugging through the Story Mode ("The Subspace Emissary") and unlocked all the characters - which was much easier than expected. Despite that disappointment, it should keep me occupied for quite some time. Then Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core comes out towards the end of the month, so I've got something else to drool over and eventually be distracted by.

~Whitewings05 has asked me to help moderate a club he's reviving: ~Nature-Club. So check us out for some excellent nature shots! Some of the stuff people have been submitting is simply amazing.

That's enough pointless rambling for now.

- hoog out

Features

=hoogathy Surprise! My First Art Show! http://hoogathy.deviantart.com/journal/17152145/ http://hoogathy.deviantart.com/journal/17152145/ Sun, 02 Mar 2008 16:00:52 PST
Deviant *hoogathy
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*hoogathy
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So, I got a rather interesting email out of the blue yesterday. An organizer for a local art show contacted me, asking if I would be interested in participating in the event! It's the first annual Easter show hosted by members of Huron College, "an opportunity for local artists to display their work in a unique venue and for the community to support local artists and art students." There's a theme for the event: "death and rebirth," which is fitting for an Easter show (though it's not neccesarily a Christian event, even though it's being held in a church). I was so excited to be given this opportunity - I'm just another face in the crowd on deviantART still, so it was a total surprise to be considered for such a thing - so much so, that I'm probably rambling by now.

Anyway, I was discovered for this event because of my gallery on DA - primarily through the club for deviants from my city: ~london-ontario. So my message to you all is that DA can help spread your art in more ways than one - you don't need uber-popular deviations that rocket to the front page in no time, or a Daily Deviation, or a zillion sales to get noticed (although, don't get me wrong, I would still love recognition like that!). Get involved in the community, because you never know how it could help you out. I'm hoping this show will get me some attention, so that I can receive some feedback and further hone my craft. (More information on the event can be found here: [link] )

As you may have noticed, I've added some CSS to my Journal page - particularly, the "Official dA v5 journal CSS" by =33xiT, found here: [link] . I've seen a number of people with it, and thought it was a much better system than my old makeshift "layout," so I'm hopping on the "bandwagon," if such a vehicle exists.

Thanks for the all the feedback lately, to those of you who have been continually commenting and favouriting my recent work. I appreciate all your support (especially if you comment when you add something as a fave - makes the worth even more).

Gaahhhhh, the gamer in me is yearning passionately with the heat of a million suns for Super Smash Brothers Brawl for Nintendo Wii. This game is one of the main reasons why I bought a Wii last year, and all of the creator's blog posts and the handful of delays have only made me salivate at the mouth even further. ~GESH-in-the-house will be coming down a couple days after it comes out to get his ass kicked - or rather, to beat the living crap out of me, as he does in SSB:Melee.

- hoog out
=hoogathy 1000 Pageview Time Capsule http://hoogathy.deviantart.com/journal/17007243/ http://hoogathy.deviantart.com/journal/17007243/ Fri, 22 Feb 2008 11:01:07 PST
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Well, I finally made it to 1000 pageviews! Thanks a lot to everyone who has ever stopped by to check things out. I thought it'd be kinda neat to preserve my Gallery Stats at this moment; I'll continue to do this at every landmark.

*hoogathy
Chris de Hoog

Status: deviantART Subscriber
General Digital Photographer
Male/Canada
Deviant since Nov 25, 2007, 1:40 PM
Subscribed until Mar 26, 2008, 3:00 PM

hoogathy has 999 pageviews total [this count always seems behind by 1] and his 73 deviations were viewed 2,204 times. He watches 34 people, while 18 people watch him.

Overall, his deviations received 225 comments and were added to deviants' favourites 87 times, while he commented 576 times, making about 6.52 comments per day since he joined DA. This means that he gave 26 comments for every 10 that he received.
His deviation with the most comments is Frostkissed I with 16 comments, while his most favourited one is Purple Flowers, Blue Sky, with 19 favourites. His most viewed deviation is Aaron vs. Godzilla with 122 views. [For the record, Purple Flowers, Blue Sky has the same number currently.]
4 favourites were given for every 10 comments.

Every 1.2 days he uploads a new deviation, and it's usually on a Tuesday, with 14 (19%) of his deviations.
His busiest month was January 2008 with 25 (34%) of his deviations.

The majority of his deviations are uploaded to the photography/architecture/exterior gallery (9), while his favourite category was photography/architecture/exterior with 9 deviations.

Comments per deviation: 3.08
Favourites per deviation: 1.19
Views per deviation: 30.19
Comments per day: 2.54
Favourites per day: 0.98
Views per day: 24.96
Pageviews per day: 11.31

I owe a lot of these PVs to a spike I had on Monday the 18th, when =alexiuss mentioned me in his journal (I had found another instance of his art being stolen without credit and reported it to him) - I received 170 pageviews that day alone. So, hello to everyone who found my work through =alexiuss. Another big help in getting this much exposure was the *iPhotograph chat, founded by *AshleyXBrooke87. The regulars there are very talented and helpful, in particular: *jayxxbe, ~Whitewings05, ~dllavaneras, and =romance-is-dead. Overall, though, thank you again to everyone who's come by to look at my work - I'm starting to get a bit of that feedback I've been looking for (although more is always appreciated!).

I've been posting a lot of older stuff I took with my Nikon COOLPIX L3 point-and-shoot camera recently, because I'm running a little dry on new material. I've still got some more coming from Alma College and the park near my house, so expect those soon. It's kinda frustrating to me that I can't post more stuff from my D40x, but then again, I haven't had many great opportunities since I got it. Once summer comes I'll be getting up to the photography goldmine that is Lake Huron again (I'm looking forward to using my new toy there). Also, I'll be going on my first vacation outside my province and Canada entirely in August, so I'll be able to experience nature outside Ontario and take some pictures along the east coast. Until then, I'm at a loss for spectacular subjects. Winter really is beautiful, but the weather isn't cooperating at the right times, and other commitments take up more time.

Just a quick notice - the footer of my journal is updated everytime I post a new entry. I list 5 of my deviations which I'm particularly fond of, my top 5 most popular, and 5 deviations by others that I think are outstanding. Please check them out and help support some other deserving Deviants!

So, I guess that's all for now. Thank you to all, again - every view, comment, and favorite/collection is appreciated.

- hoog out

EDIT: *jayxxbe takes the credit for the 1000th view! [link]

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* Some of My Personal Favourites *
http://hoogathy.deviantart.com/journal/16806066/ Tue, 12 Feb 2008 18:24:09 PST
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So I kinda missed updating on Wednesday, and kept on forgetting until now...but it worked out, because now I have something to tell y'all about.

Today, ~Irish-Baby and I headed out to Alma College in St. Thomas. A classmate tipped me off to its existence and told me it was about to be demolished soon, so I decided we should take the opportunity while it existed. The college was a womens' school, built sometime before 1894 - I haven't been able to find an exact year. Either way, it was closed down in 1994 after over 100 years of business; since then, there were plans to convert it into an old folks' home, but I think they've been abandoned since, and now the building sits empty.

The drive into town St. Thomas was a little unsettling, as the weather turned from sunny to overcast to wet snow, but it cleared up a bit by the time we reached Alma College. The building has apparently been gutted mostly inside, and since I didn't see a point in venturing inside and risking falling through the floor and/or being charged with trespassing just to get some pictures. So, we made a circuit around the building, including a little detour to a kind of ravine off to the side with some odd, seemingly man-made ledges - which, as I learned while looking for info to write this journal, used to be an amplitheatre.

The Elgin county website has some nice old photographs, which show Alma College back in its undelapidated state, which makes a nice comparson to the pictures I'll be posting: [link]
abandonedbutnotforgotten.com has more nice pictures, and a little write-up: [link]

EDIT, 2008/02/12: I've been adding the pictures from the shoot to the bottom of this journal - something I'll be doing with future Photo Shoot Journals. Anyway, the classmate who tipped me off to this location created a Facebook group to support the restoration of the college yesterday, and within 24 hours it's up to 143 members! If you'd like to join the cause, you can find the group here: [link]

Pictures From This Shoot:

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* Some of My Personal Favourites *