Have you visited my new site?

New posts are being made at my new blog.

PLEASE VISIT!!!!

New blog site and website!

Everyone...

I've switched blog formats from here to Word Press. I am not sure if I am happy with Word Press yet but my new site for now is

www.marcogarciaphotography.com/blog

you can also see my new edits and galleries at my new yet old site with a new address...

www.marcogarciaphotography.com




I'll keep up with this blog every so often just to keep readers aware that I've switched.

Thanks for reading and keep on with the new site!

Sorry to be gone so long...

I've been working, been lazy, but I've been working on a new website and blog.

Updates and new addresses will be launched soon!

Check back in a week.

Obama on the Beach

I got another spread in a magazine called Ode of Obama walking on the beach with his kids. I must stay I was very lucky with this shot.

The Transmission

From my recent story shot for The New York Times, I spent behind the scenes time with Ryan and Jen Ozawa, creators of ABC's Lost podcast "The Transmission." Although not affiliated in anyway with ABC or Lost, the couple as spent the better part of every season (sans the first one) producing a weekly podcast for a legion of followers who download and comment on the Ozawa's post show discussions.

Story is here.

I preferred my selects over the newspaper's selections so I posted my outtakes. Jen and Ryan, two who couldn't be more visually different, were hard to place. I wasn't sure how to fit them into a frame and make sense of who they were and the environment. I mean this was a story about two podcasters, not the people standing in front of me.

We met way out in Waialua at Camp Erdman, aka, the Other's Village. Dusk sank quickly giving a strange glow to all around and the sickly yellow walls of the camp lent to that eerie Lost feeling.

What was hard about snapping the couple together is that they didn't say "Lost podcast." Jen has a motherly school teacher vibe while I felt Ryan was going to lecture on derivatives or something very cerebral. I think my problem was Jen showed up in a red dress that seemed out of place and I think she knew it. Ryan showed up in Hawaiian work attire...an aloha shirt. Funny, once we got back to their home, Jen put on a green tee shirt and jeans transformed into a totally different person. That red dress stopped her, and for that matter me.

However, I stopped doubting myself and moved forward working with my awkwardness and placed them in juxtapositions. In the fence shot, I was thinking of Grant Wood's American Gothic painting.



My awkwardness visually placed them into an interesting place.



I was very happy with the shot. Nothing says American Gothic...yet maybe it does. Sadly, the eds didn't see it as such but it gives me a moment to write about it for my blog.

The Ozawas pushed me to make a tough story into a really great shot, at least for me. I really appreciated working with them. They were amused...well maybe annoyed with me...using the word "interesting" as I posed them in different situations and poses. It wasn't so much they were making my job hard, I made it hard for them. I just couldn't find what it was to make the image work. But it did. I think they were one of the better jobs I've shot as it allowed me to think out of the box and do something slightly different than the usual shtick for a portrait job.

Striking to me is how the couple have grown a small home based project into an international sensation all from the den of their home. Two mics, headphones, a bit of software, and the solitude of nighttime help them create a very interesting show.
Sadly, I've never heard it. For that matter, I've never watch Lost. I don't know anything about the show other than I've photographed Lost red carpets events and cast members over the years.



I shot Daniel Dae Kim and restaurateur DK Kodama at the Counter Hamburger joint for Modern Luxury and



Michael Emerson for the cover of Hi Luxury Magazine. He loved the issue and images and signed a copy which I framed and am very proud of. I should have been watching the show. Thank goodness for reruns.

SPAMMED!

This morning I was going to make a new post when I was surprised to find my blog site hijacked by a spam counter forwarding the site to random sites around the web.

Took me a bit to figure out why and how to fix it.

Sorry for any inconvenience but I'm now back in business.

Rainy Day

It's rained a bit in Honolulu the past few days but it hasn't kept me from snapping a few images.

I found this girl walking with a bag over her head. I though it funny so...

Leica M6, 35mm Summilux, Fujicolor 100.

Parades

Funny how this image seems like almost yesterday. Well, not really, but I do remember taking this shot. The date is a bit fuzzy but it was around 1992 plus or minus a year or so. The image is from a scene at the Battle of Flowers Parade during Fiesta Week in San Antonio, Texas. Fiesta Week, held the of last week of April, celebrates San Antonio's history and culture with fairs, parades, live concerts, and dances. Its all topped off with healthy doses of great food and copious amounts of alcohol.

Fiesta was a big part of my life as a kid and young adult as we'd try to go to all the events as they were the biggest social parties of the year. I actually saw one of Stevie Ray Vaughn's last live concerts at Fiesta back in 1990 before he died a few months later. He played a rocking show over at La Semana. My policeman brother was actually working on the stage that night and actually shook his hand. What memories.

For more on the event, see here.

I never really liked parades and I still don't. I didn't like being in those big crowds, the phony waving and the likes. It just bored me mostly but they were fun to explore with a camera and a few rolls of film. I am not sure why I was even taking photos back in 1992 of that above shot but I was exploring and learning what photography was about. In many ways, I still don't as photography and the art of seeing is a life long journey.

This past weekend in Honolulu, the Honolulu Festival was held and it celebrates the diversity of Hawaii and Pacific Rim nations. The weekend event is topped by a parade down Kalakaua Ave in Waikiki and I figured I'd go out and search out for an interesting photo or so. And as much as I don't care for parades, I had a bit of fun.


A group of Japanese hula dancers from Japan were preparing for their march down the street.


Two dancers await their cue while sitting on a marker of some sorts.


The blur of the camera along with the viewpoint, well, either love it or hate it.

I spent a majority of my time behind the scene as that is where my eyes pulled me. I am evolving and seeing slightly beyond the usual.


Enjoy.