Marco Garcia, Author at Marco Garcia Photography

Take Monday Off!

I’m not sure if you can, but according to the Wall St. Journal’s late December travel piece (shot by me of course) you can manage to see Oahu in three days!

See article here.

I’ve often thought travel to Hawaii is tough as we are a long way from “da mainland” so considering flight times, jet lag, Oahu traffic, etc, it seems like a tough path to follow. However, the story lays out a great argument of what you can see and do on Oahu in a short period of time.

I had a helluva time shooting the job all considering it rained during the entire commissioned time to work. I had to dodge rain, clouds, and gloomy seas but I was able to produce wonderful telling images of Oahu.

The WSJ article produced a really nice video with all my images which can be seen on their website here… Take Monday Off

Of the wonderful Oahu spots, Iolani Palace is one of those places that lots of tourist seem to visit from the outside but hardly go in. The interior shows the elegant side of Hawaii’s Royal Family with 18th-19th century imported indulgences giving the Royals that touch of European royal class.

Waimea Bay without waves can be boring as most tourist expect big waves and surfers but when the water is flat, its like swimming in a big lake. Brilliant place to spend the afternoon and see the sunset…if you can park!

And of course the not well visited Doris Duke’s Islamic shrine, Shangri-La. Duke, the trust funded daughter of a super rich tobacco tycoon, used her wealth to import only the best art, furniture, and artifacts from all over the Islamic World. The home is now a museum with limited access. The ocean side estate is a Pacific mecca of Islamic art and architect bringing scholars from around the world to study and conserve the many artifacts and pieces on the estate . Although some may see controversy as Duke purchased priceless art and pieces throughout the Middle East, including having an entire room (floor to ceiling) imported from Turkey, she helped preserved parts of Islamic culture that might have been lost dude to neglect or theft, or sadly zealots. Imperialism aside, Shangri-La is fantastic and well worth the time to visit the home.

a long time away

It’s been some time since I’ve written here and its time to update the life around me.

Those who know me well know that I’ve entered a new stage in my life by having to let go of something. Its been tough but these are the unavoidable obstacles in life.

As work goes, things have been very busy. With Hawaii having a “shooting season,” I’ve been shooting loads and keeping myself busy. I’ve done work for Sony, National Geographic Society, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and everything in between. Great images all and all.

I will update my blog as the days go on and will start with a more interesting subject…FILM!

I shot a page for Conde Nast Traveler and the editors wanted me to shoot 4×5 Polaroid! Now you’re saying to yourself…”Polaroid? Do they still make that stuff?”

Actually…yes and no. The company Polaroid no longer makes instant after going kaput in the early 2000’s but Fujfilm still makes instant film, although they stopped making it for 4×5. There is a Dutch company, the Impossible Project, that did buy the patents and technology to make their version of Polaroid but they haven’t made a 4xt5 version yet. They do have an 8×10 version but its pricey. But luckily I found some old stock of Fujifilm locally and set off to shoot a portrait of of Roxy and Matt of Vers Hawaii.

Roxy and Matt design all the clothes on their Vers line and they got national attention from the mag. They were quiet a nice pair to photograph as its never hard to shoot good looking people. The idea was to shoot them near sunset near Portlock and to ensure a nice tilt/shift on the image. Pulling out the old 4×5 proved to be a tough one since the last time I really shot that camera was for a surfer project I shot before Polaroid T55 pos/neg disappeared. To have to rethink like a film photographer after shooting totally digitally was tough yet fun.

With assistant Natalie at my side, we shot about 20 polaroids, rather Fuji45 instant film and lost about 4 to 5 shots to exposure, sand, and unstable film. It might have been easy to shoot if we had more time, more experience with shooting 45, and just a more controlled situation. You forget how quickly the light changes when the latitude of the instant film is clearly unforgiving…unlike digital which captures and sees all.

The shot the mag chose is on the layout along with my shot of an Ono Pop. The Mexican Style palettas are quiet the hit here in Hawaii and the mag figured I had the skill to do both a still life and a portrait. Clearly people recognize my ability to wear many hats while living in the Aloha State. When living in a place where a photography career can have you shooting a football game, a business portrait on an airplane, and a concert by a hip hop artist, you have to learn to do everything. There is very little room to specialize in Hawaii.

So the pineapple vanilla Ono Pop needed to be shot on a white background. Hence I shot the ice cream on a piece of white plexiglass, lit from below and a hard light from above, all the while having my living room as my studio. Shooting white on white on yellow is really, really tough but I managed to pull it off.

Ikebana

I’ve been wanting to put this cover up since the beginning of November but life has gotten in the way. Not the good life mind you but life. It can really just come out of nowhere and really put you on a different path.

But back to the cover…

I don’t like to sing too many praises to myself at times but I must admit I am very impressed with my ikebana, or Japanese flower arrangement, photo appearing on the cover of Halekulani Living, the resort’s in-house magazine. One of the editors I work with seems to never give me the easy jobs. She never hires me to snap photos of bikini girls or beautiful celebrities as she’s always throwing the hardest and most difficult subjects on my plate. The jobs are usually obscure, never obvious or easy to capture. Either she wants me to fail or she knows I can pull something out of nothing, as they say, and come up with something bordering on the fantastic.

If you could only imagine how this picture was taken and the little photoshop it took to make it sparkle, you’d be surprised. Well, more than surprised. I won’t say much more other than “damn, that’s a good shot!”

Museo Nacional de Antropología

A man stood next to me in a Korean owned deli in Palisades Park, NJ. His boots were fake, not real lizard but still in the style of botas de vaquero none the less. The boots you can buy in any norteno town where the men have paid thousands to sneak across the border to work as low paid laborers in the US. His trim mustache and dark skin, tucked-in shirt and ironed blue jeans might have made him a short Lotharo back in Piedras Negras but here, he was just a a guy who worked as a baker in a Korean pastry shop. Maybe he cut grass, painted, lifted, delivered, hauled, got spit on, harassed, not paid, paid lowly, hid, ducked, drank, shivered, and maybe he did none of the above. But he was here, not in his country, and trying to work.

The Spanish I heard in Times Square coming from Minny Mouse wasn’t the native tongue of the native Puerto Ricans or Dominicanos. It was la lengua of the Mexican. Maybe the Chapinas or the Peruvian. But it was the accent of the new comers. They dressed as Elmo, Spiderman, and Minnie to pose for a dollar or two with the kids of those who stayed in $300 a night hotels in the City. They crossed borders to stand next to white kids so that their parents could snap pictures of them in the blinking lights.

One guy gets hot and lets slip his facade. The mask slips revealing a face more fitting inside the Museo Nacional de Antropología than on the streets of Times Square. Cada de indio as my mother would say of the neighbors. The face of an indigenista, a face from Southern Mexcio, of Guatemala, of the south.

So Spiderman crossed 9th ave near Port Authority. Wherever he went, he seemed tired. Worn from dancing for the Spanish and Italian tourists. Of hearing the accents of his conquerors and taking the money of his master. He probably walked to his next job. His delivery job where he would make a dollar or two running msg-filled Chinese food up six floors up to an uppity Iowan who now calls Manhattan home. The Iowan feels its his new right to belittle the delivery guy who was five minutes late because he couldn’t walk fast enough. The rain was too hard, the snow was too cold.

Santiago once pointed out the only people out on the streets during a blizzard were the mojados who were delivering food.

I learned on this trip New York works because of it’s illegal infestation. An infestation that makes the City move.

a quick post about tear sheets

I’ve been busy…which is good but haven’t had time to think much about blogging. So here’s a quick post on a few tear sheets from a couple of jobs I’ve had in the last few weeks.

Melissa Rivera is a babe. An art babe no less. Further…a RISD artists and a Chilanga! And when you’re able to shoot a creative person, they do all the work. Melissa made a great portrait for Modern Luxury. I actually didn’t do much but just point the camera. Shes a great designer and could only hope…rather…strive to have the creativity she oozes when you’re around her. Check out her designs on her website.

The Wall Street Journal sent me to the Four Seasons Maui to shoot their updated resort shopping. Always exciting to see a 3/4 page with all my images. Fun Stuff.

And the lead image is of a job I’m proud of as its for Texas Monthly, a mag from my home state. Oddly, a Texan blogger by the name of Kev Jumba was in Honolulu by chance and I had a quick portrait session with him. I contacted Diane Ako at the Halekulani and rented a banquet room to shoot a clean white background. The fit was a bit tight but we got the job done quickly. Erica was a big help. Great portrait and he used my camera as a prop.