ABC Archives - Marco Garcia Photography

A dip in the Obama pool

I won’t start ringing the bells just yet and start selling off the cameras but my professional writing career is taking off. We should take my statements lightly as I’m not sure if my authorship can cut the mustard, let alone pay the mortgage; however, we have liftoff. With the first published article on Nimitz in the Star Advertiser to two major bylines worldwide with the Associated Press, I am off to a good start…a GREAT start and end to 2013. I am soooo grateful to Associated Press news editor who happens to share my last name as he put his trust in me to report on the big news. And that big news was following Obama and la famila around during their annual Xmas vacation in Oahu. I also have to thank Audrey-san and cuz Jen as they might have been the ones who put my Nimitz article in front of hermano Garcia which convinced him I was the right hombre for the job. Señor Garcia (no relation at all) assigned me to cover POTUS and my reporting seemed to do very well and was sent ’round the world.

My assignment placed me inside the media circus that follows the President around. Permanent staffers from all the major media are assigned to cover the President wherever and whenever he travels or just stay put. The coverage, sometimes affectionately referred to as death watch, needs to ensure every minute of the President is accounted for. It is one of the most taxing assignments any journalist is assigned as you have to be ready to capture that moment. Sadly, you have to sacrifice your life as you live for POTUS. Vigilance through the lens or the pen is crucial to this job as anything can happen at any point in time. A slip in concentration could mean missing the assassin’s bullet or the angry Iraqi’s shoe. No telling when that slip will occur or when the aliens comeback to reclaim their property. The truth is you never know when you’ll have the Zapruder film or classic bloopers from the Bush years.

Sadly Obama strongly disregards the professional media and his administration would rather use social media than independent media to get his message out. He routinely uses hand outs from his personal photographer and fiercely guards his image from the press yet; as he keeps back the pros, regular citizens and paparazzi get much better access. The Obama Administration is one of the most unfriendly administration in history towards the media and clearly lacks the transparency he campaigned on.

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My above video shows the view the media bus gets of Obama and it really never gets any better. Some might argue that the President owes the media nothing; however, the media is needed to ensure the government stays honest. If you allow the government to police itself, there will be very few arrest.

Some of you might recall my so called paparazzi encounter with then Presidential candidate Barack Obama in August of 2008 when I parked myself on Kailua Beach waiting for the future POTUS to make an exit and walk down the shore. For three straight days, Obama stayed away and I figured his security detail just kept him informed of my existence. So I took a gamble and left the beach and snuck around to a different beach access point opposite his hoping he’d think I abandoned my assignment. Sure enough, as I walked from the opposite direction, Senator Obama and his two kids left the house and strolled down the beach, hand in hand, with nary a though to where I stood.

I took some of the most intimate pictures of the Senator with his daughters which I feel defined him as a father and made him human. So many times, candidates fake their photo ops and try to pretend they are just like us. They roll up their flannel shirts and help wash dishes, serve food at a homeless shelter, eat at McDonalds like the rest of us. I’ve NEVER believed these people really were who they are. It was fake. Always fake…Romney and Kerry with their millions, Bush with his dynasty. Obama, on the other hand, was caught off guard, and it shows. I caught him being human.

When the Senator actually realized he was being photographed, he got pissed. He waved his sandals at me and yelled at me to leave. Sorry, Senator, its a public beach and you’re a public figure. Secret Service said nothing. I stood next to them and showed everyone respect and dignity. The future President might have been really upset but he signed up for the whole public image thing. In my view, a politician is owned by the public. We demand to see him. His kids are off limits but whenever the parents are out and about, they are fair game.

As far as the writing assignment went, it was beyond boring. It was a tedious exercise in hours of playing Candy Crush, being pestered and pestering others on the media bus, not to mention snacking on really bad vanilla creme cookies and other terribly unhealthy things Michelle surely wouldn’t approve. Obama kept the media completely away, as in many ways, he should as his vacation is somewhat private but we are not there to paparazzi him but to ensure we cover his every move in the inevitable…well lets leave it at that.

I’m extremely thrilled to have more writing under my belt. I’m aiming to continue to add more bylines and stories to my every growing career.

I’m back on FIVE O!!!!

Yo! Danno! You looking at my photo?

So I’m Back. Well, I wasn’t exactly acting, but Hawaii Five O wanted me behind the camera this time. I guess my acting from before was so good, that no one could really replace the irreplaceable, no?

Me and “Jesse’s Girl!”

Production hired me to photograph the beautiful actress Tania Raymonde, who plays a suspect in a murder scene during HI Five O’s second season show, “Ma’ema’e.” Tania is famous for playing Alex Rousseau on ABC’s Lost. Since I never really watched Lost I can’t tell you more other than she was Benjamin Linus’s daughter.

My photographs of Tania would be used as EVIDENCE on the show.

Tania, who plays a college volleyball player, is suspected in the murder of her coach when racy photographs of her are found in her dead coach’s possessions. Melanie, as her character is named, takes erotic photos during an ad campaign and her coach is trying to sort out the problems. With a few twists and turns, Five O finds that Melanie wasn’t romantically involved with her coach; however, the coach was linked to…well…just watch the show.

My very difficult job was to photograph the very good looking Tania in a very unsubtle yet tactful (and tasteful) sexy way. As the photos would be on network television, the photos couldn’t be that provocative but the art directors needed to push the envelope until the photos bordered on the fetish. The art direction called for the actress to be in several different costumes including a skin tight volleyball uniform and a cut up halter top that would make any college boy sweat. The ripped, collegiate uniform, her sweaty body draped in a bath towel…bada bing!…all found as evidence. Talk about coaches behaving badly!

So as McGarrett and Danno case the casa where the coach lived, they find the racy photos and quickly point their suspicions towards Melanie. The photos are displayed all over the episode as the projected on their computer screens, snapped on their iPhones, etc. But as the episode pointed, out the coach wasn’t the photographer and the photos were a red herring.

Danno snapping pictures. I wonder if he saved them?

Daniel Dae Kim over looking all the evidence on the big screen.

As Tania walked onto the set (gray seamless, Elinchrom Octabank, Profoto 7a 2400ws pack) I had no doubt photographing her would be easy. It is never hard to photograph a good looking woman. Yet the actual posing and positioning proved to be fairly difficult. As I’ve said earlier, it became a struggle to find the right type of poses, lascivious enough to arouse the Five O viewers, yet tame enough for the network to give the green light. The art team, hair and make up, and the rest of the crew helped create the right balance and feeling. Tania looked more like a supermodel with her hair and makeup but she played well with the camera. We had a great rapport. During our lunch break, the crew and Tania all sat on the floor eating pasta and salad all the while talking about Hawaii and LA, acting and really nothing more.

I have to say I enjoyed seeing loads of my images being used all over network television Monday night. The images are not the proudest part of my career but whattya gonna do? Its a job but anytime I get a chance to practice my craft, its a great day. Especially when its all over the television, and when its a good looking girl.

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.