Photography Archives - Page 18 of 30 - Marco Garcia Photography

Tsunami Fundraiser

Japan is in bad shape. Tens of thousands are homeless while more than 20,000 are now presumed dead or missing. The Japanese economy is struggling. Entire villages are gone. Its a tragedy beyond what words can describe. The effects will surely surely filter down to the West.

Hawaii, with its large Japanese and Japanese American population, is strongly sympathetic with the tsunami and nuclear tragedy and has done much to raise funds for those in need. Masaharu Morimoto of Iron Chef fame held a fundraiser last night at his restaurant, Morimoto Waikiki. A sellout crowd of 350 people attended and the event raised more than $100,000. Sushi, sake, and songs. A great event all around.

I participated in the live auction by donating two images from my 2010 geisha series. While working in Japan, I was granted rare permission to go “behind the scenes” with an apprentice geisha, or maiko, to document her transformation from normal Japanese teenage into a traditional Japanese entertainer. Access to geishas and maikos is very restricted to Japanese and foreigners find it even harder to meet or even see a true geisha/maiko in Japan. The access allowed me to photograph her applying her makeup, fixing her elaborate hairstyle, and donning a traditional kimono.

Little did I know that this access would help me raise more than $2000 at the auction for the two images auctioned off.

Kristin Jackson, of Jackson Ink, the PR firm which works with Morimotos, holds the the framed image which raised big money last night.

All the proceeds from the event were given to the American Red Cross Japan earthquake and Pacific tsunami relief fund. I feel very proud to have given so little yet made a difference last night. Many of us just sit around and facebook or twitter about how sad they feel but few do anything. We did something. We helped.

We made a difference.

gurgle gurgle splash splash (pre nuke meltdown)

About a week has past since I started this initial post about our tsunami in Hawaii. The earthquake and tsunami in Japan has now been surpassed by a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima plant. We luckily have gotten a ticket for my father in law to get out of dodge this weekend. Whether he will escape is a matter of the airlines, the governments, and Godzilla.

Below is my first take on our HNL tsunami:

North East Japan is destroyed. Video and still coverage of the earthquake and tsunami damage is astounding. Rather its unbelievable. When we first saw the initial reports on NHK, we couldn’t believe it. It seemed as if Godzilla was just down the road smashing all in his wake. Some images even reminded me of Doolittle’s bombing raid on the once wood and papered Tokyo. It was, as I said, unbelievable.

Its hard to imagine this natural disaster destroying so much so quickly, yet, Banda Aceh was devastated within 20 minutes of their major earthquake.

Really…its unbelievable.

I’m tempted to get to Japan to take part in covering this disaster but I’ve got nothing to offer. I’m not a rescue worker. I could be. But I’m not. I can’t do it. I couldn’t do it in Indonesia and I know I can’t do it now.

The Japanese tsunami hit Hawaii with a wallop. A small one in scale, but a wallop. Houses on the Big Island were wiped out, the Four Seasons and the King Kam Hotel, along with many shops and the likes, were hit very hard Loads of property damage. Several boat harbors on Oahu were severely damaged and there was damage as well on Maui. Things turned out well but not that well. Yet…it wasn’t really a big deal…not like the destruction in Japan.

The waves were scheduled to hit around 3am and Hawaii anxiously awaited their arrival. 3am passes and no major waves. I (again) stationed myself at the Illikai Hotel and watch the harbor to see if anything takes place. About 3:30 I run down to the harbor and see loads of boats sitting in the sand. Water drained out of the harbor and many of the boats were sitting dry out of the water. That spooked me a bit but I ventured out to the beach catching loads of people sitting around, drinking beer, and getting out into the beach where the water had run out.

I shot these fools and wondered how foolish I am for being with them. “Who’s more foolish: the fool, or the fool who follows him? At one point, the water has drained way off the shore, exposing reef, rocks, and whatnot and it quickly floods back in splashing up against a seawall where the guys above were standing.
Once that took place, I knew it was time to boogie outta there. So after a few more hours of darkness, the sunrise made us aware of the damage that took place in Hawaii. But its nothing like the devastation of Japan: thousands of people were killed, entire villages and towns destroyed, and the Japan economic muscle comes to a halt. What happened in Hawaii pales to the destruction in Japan.

To write any more about Hawaii is really saying too much. We had a few docks destroyed and there was millions of dollars of damage. Homes were washed out but no lives were lost. We survived again.

A red umbrella

Just a quick post on a quick little action shot I found today while doing a bit of a scout on the Windward side.

We went to the Valley of the Temples to check out the location. The Temple, a replica Japanese style Buddhist temple, is part of this grand, beautifully sculpted graveyard. It sits in the back of this gorgeous valley, mountains jutting up around it, mist and clouds all around. Every time I go there I think it would be pretty grand to take that super long nap in such a valley of splendor.

Anyway, this blurb isn’t about some beautiful eternal home but of some small girl with an umbrella. As we left the (mosquito infested) Temple, there was this long staircase and this girl dressed in some type of Asian-style outfit jumping up and down the stairs as her family stayed above. I assume it was some type of memorial (we are in a graveyard) and the little girl just decided to fool around while the adults stayed above.

The little girl didn’t seem to really notice anyone but herself and the umbrella. It wasn’t really raining but she seemed to use that red umbrella as a parachute. She was having loads of fun.

Funny thing about the really quick snap of the photos was I didn’t feel I was in the US. I mean Hawaii is only America on paper…

37,000 plus…and a shaka!

37,000 plus images

482.38 gigs to be precise. I’ve been re editing all the work from Japan. I’m worn. I can’t believe I took that many pictures.

So as I edited through some of the outtakes and non assignment locations, I found a few little gems here and there. I’ll be posting individual images in the next few posts.

After being in Japan for sometime, I got tired of eating Japanese food. Yeah sure, I eat that all that Japanese food back in Honolulu but I can easily go to get a cheeseburger (not like a Texas burger mind you) and fries anytime I want. I do have to declare Tanaka Saimin makes a mean cheeseburger with fries.

With that in mind, a month is a long time not to eat, well, as they say, comfort food. I don’t need that much comfort in food as I am very quick to adapt to the local food wherever I travel to (I mean what is American food? burgers, pizza, and chicken wings?) so I never have too much of a breakdown. And besides, Japanese food, including the stuff they make from other countries (Japanese croissants are amazing!!!!!) is mostly near perfect. Yes, there are loads of interpretations (pizza with natto?!?!?!) but we are in a global market so nothing is never or not available. (yes…double negs)

But its still hard to be in Japan and not have a good grasp of Japanese. Most menus in Japan are mostly written in….anyone? anyone? Bueller? Bueller? …. in Japanese. If I was by myself, I was resigned to pointing at pictures on the menu to order or sadly dragging a willing waiter/waitress outside to the front of the restaurant where I could point at the little plastic food models. Ah, my big mouth taking a back seat to my index finger… (T_T) it is a bit intimidating for me to be on my own and try to get into the swing of functioning in Japanese. Loads of misunderstood nods, hai’s and wakaranai‘s! I let on I don’t really understand too much but I’ve gotten better. Japanese is just a tough thing to learn.

So when I had the quick chance to pop into a McDonalds in Osaka for a quick bite, I knew I’d get something pretty good (if you consider McDonalds good) and the menu would be in Engrish. The meal might come with a side nori (seeweed) but it’d be a good ol’ processed quality controlled food. Yet, as I read over the menu ( as children and old ladies stare at me from all angles) I couldn’t help but to stick to the Japanese style food and go for this one item on the meal called the Shaka Shaka Chicken.

Hmmm…What might this be? Chicken with pineapple? Chicken wrrapped in spam? Nothing of the sort. It was a fried chicken patty served in a little paper bag in which you’d sprinkle a package of this peppery salt into the bag and then then…shaka shaka! (see instructions on bag) HO…brudda that was way cool and really GOOD. Crispy, spicy, and so American in that unique Japanese way.

I guessed the reference to the shaka was McDonald’s clever way of saying shake shake. They couldn’t (I assume) state shakey shakey because Shakey’s Pizza is still alive and well in Tokyo (hmmm….) and using that term would warrant a nice little law suit. Hence, Micky D’s borrowed the lovable, yet misunderstood, shaka from the Aloha State’s aloha spirit.

Now if we could only get McDonalds US to adapt something as tasty and cool.

How about a badonkadonk burger?

(that killed me…)

a few from that wedding…

Since the article for the New York Times was published on Sunday, I can post a few here.

I was pretty smitten with this photo but what really makes the entire job is actually the couple. They were a blast. They were completely unaware of me and that’s what made the photos. I caught moments unguarded.