Published Work Archives - Page 4 of 9 - Marco Garcia Photography

Popular Photography

A few weeks ago, I received an email from an editor at Popular Photography magazine asking me if I’d like to be featured in their “How Traveling Photographer” article for December 2015.

Although I had shot a portrait for Pop Photo a few years ago, I was thrilled to be featured as I was obsessed with the magazine as a very young person. Their articles showcased big name photographers, fancy equipment, and different photographic techniques. They published images from far away places that truly did seem so far away from my little bedroom in San Antonio. I fantasized about one day being a Nikon slinging photographer crossing deep valley gorges to capture exotic people and locations.

At the time, I was taking pictures with an inexpensive Pentax with third party lenses, but I longed for a Hasselblad, a state of the art Nikon strobe, and Kodachrome film. The magazine made me believe if I had a camera with an evaluative metering system along with a Vaseline smeared filter, I could be a jet setting photographer and travel the world.

Jump a few decades forward and I have crossed a few valleys and do live in an exotic location. I just did it without the Vaseline.

The assigning editor asked me for a few of my best Hawaii pictures and set me up with writer, Jeff Wignall, interview me on how and where to take the best beauty photos in Honolulu. The writer and I went back and forth a few times and he came up with a great piece. I’m more of a travel guide than a photographer guru as I gave no technical advice, but it is an enjoyable read nevertheless.

I hope the article inspires a young kid somewhere to dream big about making a life with a camera. I know it did for me.

Namaste! Tulsi Gabbard’s Wedding

Back in January of this year, one of Capital Hill’s and Hawaii’s own shining star announced she was engaged and and getting married in the spring in Honolulu. US Rep Tulsi Gabbard, the newly elected maverick who regularly bucks her own party standing strong for what she believes in, was breaking hearts from the Ala Wai to the Potomac but her mystery man swept her off her surfboard and into his arms.

Some of you have read I’ve photographed Tulsi a few times for the news and once for a big New York magazine. Tulsi also saved my wife from a pack of zombies…no…uh…well… it wolves…I mean, mmmmmmm, well, I forget the original story as the narrative changes from time to time but she did stand between a potential danger and my wife as she walked home from work one day. Tulsi used to live in our downtown Honolulu condo and I would regularly accost her in the elevator getting a captive audience to complain about fire station sirens, homeless, and whatever took my fancy at the time but she never shied away and listened intently to my quagmire of complains and moans.

Years later after she became a member of Congress, Tulsi would go out of her way to say “Hi” to me at political or news events so it was nice to know I could count on her as a friend. She’s a genuine person but it was quite surprising to me when I got an email from her asking if I would shoot her wedding. Flattered as I was, I almost said no knowing this wasn’t my line of work but realized how important a wedding is to most people, I honorably took on the challenge and became her official photographer.

Knowing I could not do it alone, I needed to bring along a hired gun and I had several choices at hand but picked Hugh Gentry to be my second hand man. Hugh’s TV news and wire service background were just what I needed as the wedding would be quick and furious. As the wedding drew interest from around the globe, Tulsi needed us to get the images out to the media immediately after the wedding. I knew Hugh was up to the task.

Tulsi and her finance Abe were married in a beautiful Vedic wedding ceremony full of pageantry and color. The scene was a mix of Hawaii meets Hindu spiritualism with Tulsi dressed in an Indian style sari adorned with layers of tropical flower leis. The wedding was held in a secluded location on the east side of Oahu near an ancient Hawaiian fish pond. National, state, and local politicians were in attendance along with a few Hollywood and local big names. There was also a few international VIP in attendance. It was quite the crowd.

I documented the wedding from the beginning to the end with Hugh filling in the holes which i was not able to cover. I had full access to her and got to see her smiles, hear her laughter, and capture her tears. Her family was warm and embracing and tolerated my camera poking into every private moment.

In the end, the images turned out beautiful with images making the New York Times, People Magazine, and the local news. We created great images and documented a very special night.

Painfully Slow

“When I first arrived, I saw black smoke billowing not so far in the distance – the lava had struck a pile of car tires. When it burns, it’s quite amazing. It’s mesmerizing,” I was quoted saying during an interview with Reuters News Service on their photo blog. Reuters sent me to cover the impeding doom facing Pahoa Village on the Big Island last week as lava from Kilauea Volcano threatens to split the rural town in two. A recent lava flow has made its way down the volcano’s slope directly towards the middle of town. Many residents are able to do nothing as lava stops for no one.

The blog continues with my story: “Lava is unpredictable. It could go left or right, up or down. It will move 5 meters in an hour, then not move at all. And it usually moves slowly, like squeezing toothpaste down a hill – but it will get there eventually. Unlike a tsunami or an earthquake or even a hurricane, it’s a painfully slow death.”

And clearly residents are anxiously waiting for Pele, the Hawaiian Goddess of the volcano, to cast her judgement on the land of Puna.

For hundreds of thousands of years, lava has erupted on the Big Island helping make the island the biggest of the Hawaiian chain. The volcanoes have not been silence since they formed the Big Island. Since 1983, lava has flowed from Kilauea and the USGS has reported Kilauea is responsible for creating more than 500 acres of new land. “The Lava flows had also destroyed 214 structures, and resurfaced 14.3 km (8.9 mi) of highway, burying them with as much as 35 m (115 ft) of lava.”

Luckily for the town, the lava has currently stalled but the threat still remains and nothing can predict whether the lava will stop or continue. But if Kilauea’s past is a sign of the future, the lava will not cease and will enviably destroy much of the town of Pahoa along with everything else in the flow’s path.

While on assignment, Reuters was granted permission to fly over the flow so we hired a helicopter to get a better view of the flow’s destruction. Luka, who works for Hawaii Volcanoes Helicopter Tours, piloted the tiny little chopper and ferried me over the lava’s path. Very little compares to lifting off in a helicopter, especially one with no doors. Luka’s chopper was the size of a Prius and as we left the ground, it seemed we stood still and everything fell below us.

Luka took me over the town and up the trail to the Pu’u O’o vent where the lava is oozing slowly down the mountain. The aerial photos were noticed by Reuters’s London office and Karolina Tagaris called me and had a quick chat with me about my experiences with this natural disaster. You can see the blog here as well as a write up by the BBC’s News in Pictures site as well. The interview became roughly my story without much of her input.

I continued, “I asked the pilot to follow the path of the lava back to the crater and it was quite amazing to watch the lava flow. There’s a lot of steam and smoke and you can see some lava being created inside the crater, which looks like a bubbling cauldron. It’s so primitive it’s almost as if the world is being created – I found myself looking for dinosaurs!”

There’s nothing that really compares to seeing lava on the Big Island. I’ve tried my best to document what’s going on with the volcano over the years I’ve lived in Hawaii. I’m not a lava photographer as I don’t care to hike out miles in the middle of the night to see nature at it’s best but there are times like this when I have access to fly over it…nothing can really match it.

A Shiny and Happy Time

This past New Year’s Eve, I had the incredible opportunity to photograph R.E.M.’s legendary guitarist Peter Buck for the Wall Street Journal at his beachfront home in Kauai. The WSJ needed a last minute portrait of the musician to illustrate their story about him that was slated to publish in early January. Peter was scheduled to be out of the country during the upcoming weeks so this was the only time that I had to capture him before he left.

R.E.M. was on my music rotation as a high school kid in the 1980s. I had their earlier albums and thought I was a postmodern hipster who listened to the classics and not the bland top 40 hits. “Radio Free Europe,” “Fall on Me” and many of their other early 80’s hits were duly scratched up on their respective vinyl. I never really cared for folk rock at the time but tolerated Michael Stipe’s whine and loved their distinct sound. It wasn’t until their 1991 release of their Out of Time album that they skyrocketed to MTV fame and constant radio play.

I was already in college when that album was released. We’d mimic Stipe’s quirky dancing and sang along poorly, mostly due to the copious amounts of cheap beer, to “Losing my Religion” and the other hits on the album. Kate Pierson harmonics dominated “Shiny Happy People” but it was Peter Buck’s melodic mandolin that sold LMR to the masses. His 16^th century sound just entranced us listeners and the lyrics, along with the video, made for a Rembrandt visual along with a poetic moment.

So on the days leading up to the assignment, I told some of my friends about my job but tried not to gush too much about my excitement of photographing Peter. It is never good to get too star struck before a job.

After landing in Kauai, I worried Peter would be slightly aloof and irritable as it was New Years Eve but we had no other choice. I had scheduled only a few hours for the job, including my travel time, to ensure I wouldn’t encroach on his personal time. And as I drove into his neighborhood on the north side of Kauai, I became slightly lost in the rural beach community. In an earlier email Peter sent me, he stated his property might be hard to find. So with a little embarrassment, I called him stating my predicament and asked for directions. And as I did a U-turn and slowly drove down the nearly deserted sandy beach road, there stood Peter Buck on his cell phone, wearing dark glasses and waving at me.

He warmly invited me into his home and we small talked as I prepared my cameras and lighting gear. He had that cool rock vibe, and definitely no attitude. He wore artist black and seemed out of place on Kauai where bright aloha shirts and board shorts are the norm but he stayed true to his rock star status. At first he appeared slightly apprehensive, as we had never worked together. But after chatting for a few minutes about my work, I could see that he developed a trust that I would get it right.

I quickly photographed him on the beach, near some mangroves down near his house, and in his garden. We also had time for a few shots of him and his lovely wife. The photo I loved most was taken on the beach where he stood with his ankles crossed. It reminded me of those music videos or live concerts where he played and stood in a similar pose. The picture turned into one of those memories from a time long passed that returns to the present.

Our last shot turned out to be the best. The tropical foliage swirled around him in this beautiful bokeh and he exuded this confidence that he developed spending nearly a life time on stage in front of thousands. The WSJ chose that shot to illustrate the story.

During our shoot, Peter and I chatted about all sorts of things including the capriciousness of our businesses and how he’d have a tough time now recommending music as a full time career. Digital has made the tough business of music tougher. Photography isn’t any different. It is tough to be a Peter Buck these days, and in some ways, it can be tough to be me. He told me about his huge collection of African and gospel music on vinyl, talked about spending time living om Kauai, and eating Mexican food at Monico’s Taqueria in Kapa’a just down the road. Peter did tell me it was nice to spend time on Kauai where people rarely recognized him.

Peter and his wife were really nice to be around. I never figured I’d have alone time with someone whose CD’s and albums were scratched to hell from being played, stolen, and lost behind the bookshelf. I can’t say he meant as much to me as being around someone like The Edge or John Taylor but he’s definitely up there as rock stars go. His signature guitar style defined R.E.M. through the 80’s and 90’s. His legacy will last for a really long time. I sadly didn’t have any R.E.M. paraphernalia for him to sign but it didn’t matter, as my photographs became my proof of his existence. Our selfie didn’t hurt either. On a funny note, I can’t remember if I had ever seen R.E.M. live. I bothered my pal Diego about this and he claims I must have seen them in either Austin or San Antonio. I really can’t remember but if he says so…then it must be true.

As I left his house and headed back to Lihue, I felt relieved our job went well. There’s lots of pressure to produce a great portrait and without a budget for an assistant, its all up to me to make it happen. I felt I had accomplished my goal in that short window of time but wouldn’t know till I edited the job.

I did leave some time for a quick bite at Monico’s on the way back to the airport but they were closed for the holiday! They have some of the best Mexican food in Hawaii and I just could not understand why a restaurant with insanely good margaritas would be closed on New Years Eve. Hence, I had no celebratory limey cocktail to enjoy my elation of photographing a rock star. As I sadly drove back to the airport on an empty stomach, the radio blasted ‘It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine.)” I took it as an omen and I texted Peter of my bad luck with Monico’s but of my rapture in hearing their classic song. But T Mobile sucks in many parts of Kauai and I had no signal. Yet it didn’t matter. The R.E.M. song reaffirmed my success and I once again sang along, poorly but without booze, to their song as I soared back to LIH.

Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Times hired me a few weeks ago to spend some time with Hawaii ukulele legend Eddie Kamae as they were to feature him for an upcoming travel piece to Honolulu. As far as Hawaiian legends go, Eddie is on top of the list. He might not be as famous as Don Ho, Bruddah Iz or for that matter Elvis when it comes to that distinct Hawaiian sound, but Eddie, along with band mate Gabby Pahinui, introduced traditional Hawaiian music to the world via the post war tourists flooding the Hawaiian Isles. At the time, traditional Hawaiian music wasn’t played in the tourist districts as most local musicians catered to mainland musical tastes. But once their band The Sons of Hawaii took off, the music found commercial footing which opened the door for Hawaiian music to be heard world wide.

The duality of my job had me creating a portrait of Eddie and then turning around to document Eddie’s Honolulu and the places that helped create the Hawaiian legend. Development and time has erased some of the old town but lots remain such as the Hau Tree Lanai bar at the New Otani Kaimana Beach Hotel where he once played under the massive, century old tree in the 1970’s. Kamaka Ukulele, which made a few of his ‘ukes, still cranks out hand made and custom instruments since 1916, and time seems to have stood still in some areas of Chinatown, Eddie’s childhood stomping grown where he hustled newspapers and fish he caught in Nuuanu Stream.

Making of portrait of him proved to be the most difficult because Eddie isn’t well known to follow directions. He’s a legend. You don’t make him do much of anything as he’ll do what he wants when he wants. But with the prodding of his wife Myrna and their assistant, I got Eddie to the water’s edge at Waikiki Beach at sunset and made a magical shot of Eddie playing a few old standards on his “box.” I knew I had a few minutes to get this done before his mid 80’s patience would wear and I’d have to plan another time to get him in front of my camera.

After our quick photo shoot, we retired to one of his daily spots at the Hilton Hawaiian Village to enjoy a few Kona brews, some pupus and listen to the young musicians play music for the tourists. During our shoot, we had tourist coming around and listening to Eddie play. No one really knew who he was but people knew he was important. Eddie could still command a crowd as he crooned away. A young Japanese girl stood and watched from the beach and probably would never remember she saw a famous ukulele player on her first trip to Hawaii. Eddie doesn’t often play live any more so we got a rare and intimate concert.

Photographically speaking, I must point out a few tricks of the trade that I’ve gotten notice on. Negative space is positive. Shoot loose a photo editor once told me long ago and I took it to heart. If you shoot too close, you don’t give an editor or a page layout person space to work with. I knew to shoot Eddie with lots of space around him, especially head space on my verticals as there was a good chance it would be an opener. I thought about text and headline space and and my in-camera framing worked. Sometimes this approached is ignored as many photographers crop for themselves, not for the end product. You can always crop or shoot tight on your own frames but once you take away negative space, you image can quickly turn negative.

Below are the pdf files from the times. I have my opening shot on top mostly because the pdfs are so washed out. The editor assured me the images were wonderful in the newspaper and on line.