15 Jul 2015 Josh Hodge – Microstock Celebrity

Josh Hodge is a 28 year old Australian photographer based in Denmark. You may know him better by his exclusive iStock contributor brand, pixdeluxe. He has a very interesting story, from growing up in Tasmania, Australia, to becoming a very successful stock photographer, speaker and, in his spare time, an ironman!

Josh’s Story

At the age of just 21, he moved to Denmark to continue his studies in Architecture.  The city in Denmark?  Aarhus.  If that city rings a bell, it’s because that’s the home town of Yuri Arcurs.  Despite not being involved in photography at all, Josh met and became friends with Yuri.  Yuri encouraged him to become a stock photographer, but Josh initially declined.

Instead, he took a job at Crestock where he worked remotely as chief editor.  This exposed him to a lot of photos.  A couple of years later Josh decided to take Yuri up on his suggestion and become a stock photographer after all.  He started shooting, using Yuri’s ‘distribution network‘ for post-processing and distribution.  He quickly rose through the ranks to Black Diamond canister level, arriving in the top 20 contributors at iStock by all-time sales.

He continues shooting in various parts of the world and has involved his passion for sports in his work, shooting a lot of athletic images.

The Stock Photographer

Josh’s experience as content editor with Crestock gave him a leg up in building the quality of his portfolio.

He started off exclusive at iStock, which back in the day was extremely lucrative for high quality lifestyle shooters like Josh.  Now iStock exclusivity isn’t everything it used to be, but obviously still works for him.

His outstanding portfolio lead him to iStock’s highest canister level, Black Diamond, within just two years.  He found his images in use with a long list of international brands including Coca cola, HP, Samsung, Microsoft and National Geographic.

While he’s still based in Aarhus, Denmark, he often returns to Australia, and also has a home in Cape Town – where he shoots most often.

Style & Gear

Josh has always been a lifestyle shooter, but has incorporated his love of sports and the outdoors into his style.

According to Josh, his style is based on “keeping it simple”.  As a director he tries to get natural, not-so-posed expressions from models to create authentic shots.

Currently he uses the 36Megapixel Nikon d800s and loves prime lenses.  He previously show with the Canon 5DII before the d800s came out.

He likes to use as much natural light as possible, accentuated with reflectors.  His choice of lights are Profoto HMIs for the always-on benefits.

The Speaker – Microstock Expo

Josh spoke at both Microstock Expo 2011 and 2013, speaking about lifestyle design and strategy respectively.  He also provided his expertise on the portfolio review sessions at both events.

The Ironman

Shooting only a couple of times a week, and with post-production outsourced and pre-production well delegated, Josh has a lot of free time.  He commits this time to the sport of ironman, having worked his way up through a lot of triathlon events. He participates in events such as the Cape Rouleur – a road endurance competition in Cape Town – and the Ironman challenge, known as one of the world’s most physically demanding circuits, in which he participated 6 times.

This activity is now a big part of his life. It merges into his work in photography, not only as an inspiration – for all his sports theme shots – but also as a source of energy and relax that keeps him motivated and clear-minded.

He is currently in the top 1% of ironman triathletes in the world and is going to the world championship this summer, where he’ll compete with other 20 of the best triathletes in the world. 

So far he’s been racing as amateur, and his best result in the category is 1st place at Challenge Denmark. Josh is hoping to continue racing and getting a professional license within the next two years. 

Josh Online

Check out Josh’s iStock portfolio here, and his website here, and connect with him on social media: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.