Went out with a camera and found a view from above.
Surf’s up…on the street…from above!
Author: Marco Garcia
gossip (and a small update)
Rockwell was the first thing that popped in my frame when I raised my camera. A scene, duplicated anywhere in America, or the world, of women speaking, gossiping, talking, sharing, talking story…
It just so happen to take place in Honolulu…at a high end hotel. A mirrored moment.
I realized the above pix was on the small side. Here is a larger version…
Here piggie piggie…
Down the street from our place is Honolulu’s notorious Chinatown. Once the first and only stop for Chinese immigrants and laborers in the 19th century, Chinatown’s colorful history has transformed it from a seedy prostitution and gambling den during the greatest generations of World War II (many from that generation onced lined up by the hundreds to visit their favorite girls at such places named Club Hubba Hubba) to a trendy shopping and nightclub spot where homeless, hipsters, and drug dealers all co-mingle in a slight disharmony. And don’t forget the Chinese and Southeast Asian immigrants who step over and around mentally ill drug addicts to shop for choice produce, exotic fruits, and some of the freshest chops, slabs, and chunks of, well, just name it. Roast ducks slowly drip their goodness in the window of a hole in the wall restaurant, tropical fish glare back at shoppers while on ice, and slices of durian fruit can be smelled a block away. Very few things are like Honolulu’s Chinatown. Small indeed but it packs a tasty and visual (sometimes stinky) punch!
Ola Magazine, the in-house magazine of the Hilton Hawaiian Village, tasked me to document Chinatown so as to entice daring hotel guests to drift downtown and visit the exotic side of Honolulu.
The spread, published this month, can be seen here in pdf form.
How do you whitewash the “exotic” and make it interesting for the average tourist couple to visit? Like the Asian shoppers, you just jump over the homeless, avoid the drunk hipsters, and politely decline anything for sale by Kimo the dealer.
Overall, Chinatown is a fun place to photograph. Its not as bustling as New York’s but its interesting none the less. To photograph can be a challenge as language and misunderstandings can easily follow. At some spots I asked to shoot at, I was met with suspicion as many thought I was expecting a bribe or a kickback for “advertising.” Once people opened up, they easily allowed me to enter their worlds and see/smell/taste only insiders might.
Sweet gelatinous chicken feet in a brown soy sauce, Filipino balut (fertilized eggs…oh so good!) , fresh local lychee. Cheap Chinese made sandals, jade jewelery, a steaming hot bowl of Vietnamese pho. Fresh cut flowers, hand made leis, a legit massage. Its all in Chinatown if you look and step over the calloused outside.
Yes, the poor thing…destined for a wok, soy sauce, and a pair of chop sticks! Ooo la la!
So gone are the whore houses, the thousands of sailors, and bad art galleries have replaced shooting galleries. Gone are the good ol’ days.
My father, stationed at Schofield Barracks in the 1950s, told me the prostitution was gone (historically, the State, which ran the brothels for the military, did close the sanctioned businesses of the brothels by the end of WWII) said the vice was still around and everywhere. During the year he was stationed here, his claims range from having a pistol shoved in his face after racing to rescue a damsel in distress to escaping out of a just a bit too small window above a bathroom to avoid a thrashing by drunk sailors. Said, “I’ve only thought it was in the movies that I would see a grown man thrown through a plate glass window.” Hawaiian police with yard long batons, flying beer bottles, tattoo parlors…ahhhh…what life must have been like…
In case you didn’t see it…
you can see the opening scenes of Hawaii Five O at the TV Guide link.
I must admit it was a fun evening watching all the hard work play out on national TV. What surprised me more the response from friends, colleagues, and the likes and the biggest of them all, a write up on the Profoto USA’s blog.
The only sad note was hearing Springfield was arrested that day for DUI in California. Hey, publicity is never bad.
Thanks all that watched and for all the great comments.
See my name? HA!
HAWAII FIVE (MARC)0!!!!!
Yes the secret is OUT. I’m going to be on this week’s episode of the new HAWAII FIVE O!!!!!
I actually pulled in by the local coordinator, Angie, to coordinate a “beach photo shoot” as the episode was about a famous fashion photographer killed while on assignment in Hawaii.
Here is the synopsis of the show: HAWAII FIVE-0 “Ho’ ohuli Na’ au” Season 1 Episode 22 – Five-0 focuses on several key suspects when world-renowned photographer Renny Sinclair is murdered while on assignment in Hawaii shooting the annual swimsuit edition of a top sports magazine, on HAWAII FIVE-0, Monday, May 2 (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.
I was tasked to coordinate all photographic lighting and grip equipment for “made for TV photo shoot.” Production relied on my skills to make it look believable as well as functional as I also had to assist Hawaii Five O director Brad Turner (Alias, Smallville, 24, and many others) during his real photo shoot.
Brad wanted to try his hand at actually taking still photos and the production again relied on my skill to make sure Brad’s photo shoots were perfect. I sadly was not hired to push a button but all the work put in definitely gave the imagery my signature. Brad did a great job and the images we shot on the beach and inside a studio were phenomenal. Really nice work and, I must say, fantastic lighting.
But the best part of this job was actually playing a photo assistant on TV! With all the hard work put in, production decided that they couldn’t rely on an extra to act like a real photographer/photo assistant so they had me be the on-screen assistant to the actor. Sadly, no lines. (Damn…I could hear myself screaming CARRY YOUR OWN *&^%! LUGGAGE, NATHANIEL! And if any of you photographers I worked back in NYC and abroad read this, just substitute your name and your demands, you ^%#$!!!!)
And the actor, no less, was RICK SPRINGFIELD. Yes, Jessie’s Girl, yes General Hospital, yes mega 80’s great. How fun. Yes only being a young lad back in 1981 when Jessie’s Girl became the #1 single, I sremember the song as a kid and more so now due to the recent 80’s revival and subsequent playing of that song on lite rock radio and being a staple on classic 80’s music cds. I found myself recalling lyrics throughout the long waits between filming to fill the void.
…Where can I find a woman like that…
The episode’s set was out on the North Shore and filmed for three days. The early call times had us out in the chilly Hawaiian dawn setting up the photographic lights for the show. For the first part of the job, my task was to dress a beach setting creating the feel of a real magazine photo shoot in Hawaii. The directors wanted more flash than what I would call functionality but the key phrase was the “bigger, the flashier, the better.” I set up my Profoto 7Bs and one Profoto 7A pack, an Elinchrome Octabank, a few umbrellas, and used several California Sun Bounce reflectors. All the lights were synced to the set camera Springfield, who plays famed photographer Renny Sinclair, to fire when he faked his pictures.
I was surprised to also find that I actually had to coach Springfield in the art of photography. He had very little experience knowing how to act like a professional so I coached him on how to properly hold a large DLSR camera, how focus and zoom in/out with the lens, how to properly stand when taking the pictures, and even what dialogue to use as he interacted with the actress Serinda Swan, who played the bikini wearing fashion model. With the dialogue, I had to channel my inner Austin Powers and gave Springfield such key phrases as “right in the lens, baby” and “give it to me, baby” and other over-the-top phrases that make for good TV. I kept quiet but I really wanted to teach him how to be a super fashion ass but it never came to be. I did ask him if he was an ass in the show but he thought I called him an ass. Funny.
During the filming, I basically just held a Profoto Ring Flash above his head during the scene and acted as if I knew what I was doing. I think I frowned most of the time feigning super interest in the lighting, exposure, etc…I had no dialogue and was loutishly dressed by wardrobe in a loud Hawaiian printed shirt along with a black muscle shirt. I felt more LA than HNL, but I figured people would be looking at Springfield and not me.
Rick was sort of a cool dude. As I’ve worked and photographed other celebrities, its really no big deal to be around people with fame. We chattered about this and that, the models tiny bikinis and the likes. He actually joked around with me as he thought I was surely just an extra but was surprised to see me actually taking test shots of him and testing the lights in several instances. I think most of the crew were surprised to see that extra jump out and work grip and lighting.
With Brad’s photo shoots, we shot on the beach and inside a studio. The show needed several still shots that would be published in a book of Renny Sinclair’s photographic work. The book’s photographs held clues leading the detectives to Renny’s murderer. I, along with several union assistants, set up several 9′ seamless backgrounds, numerous lights, and allowed the director snap fashion photographs of several of the actresses on the show including famed model and actress Angela Lindvall. Brad actually threw me the camera in one of his shots to let me photograph Angela as he knew I could make her shine a bit more than he. I can’t say any of the images they used for the show/book are mine but if you are keen you might spot a bit of my signature in the show as well.
On a side note, its no secret Renny is killed in the show as CBS released the show synopsis. Without watching the show, can any of you 80’s kids guess who kills him?
