Jamm Aquino Archives - Marco Garcia Photography

Friday Night Lights OUT!

What I thought would be a typical Friday Night Lights, rather Saturday Night Lights college football game turned into something more exciting, and painful.

Last Saturday at the Western Carolina Hawaii game, an unexpected force crashed into my 400mm lens thrusting my camera straight into my face. The massive blow tore my forehead open and cost me a trip to the ER. Luckily, the cut, although deep, was relatively small and required no stitches but the doctor glued my wound shut with Dermabond.

Before the start of the game, I was trying to photograph Hawaii’s head coach on the field. I stood on the sidelines and was waiting for him to walk from behind a few players.

Marco Garcia at the Straub Hospital ER as a nurse wipes my laceration above my right eye. — Friday Night Light Out. A selfie at the Straub ER as a nurse wipes my laceration above my right eye.

I could see Hawaii’s QB making passes a few yards in front of me but I had tunnel vision as I was staring through my long lens at action on the other side of the field. Either the QB threw an errant pass or a player running knocked into me but I never saw it coming.

The blow was quick and sharp and was more startling than anything else. My ears popped, my jaw clenched, and I saw stars for about a second. I then felt my right hand squeezing tight around my monopod and then began to curse that my glasses fell of my face.

What I thought was sweat was blood quickly filling my eye socket and spilling on my shirt and ground. I stood there stunned for a bit not knowing what to do and worried whether my camera was busted and whether I could work through the game. Then someone from the visiting team came to see if I was alright and he ran off to find someone to help me.

Christina, a student trainer from UH, walked over and helped me control the bleeding. She cleaned my face off and applied pressure to my head wound. I didn’t think it hurt but it did. I sat on a bench with her attending to me while fans cheered as the marching band played along.

She then put a bandage on me and went to grab the team doctor, Dr. Inoue. I told her to meet me at the end of the field as I had to grab some different gear. When Dr. Inoue and another medical person arrived, they asked me how I felt and I got on my knees for her to take a look at the cut. They immediately said I needed a trip to the ER for a stitch or two. I argued that I had to work the game and they said to go straight after the game and not wait til the next day.

Throughout the game I had a dull headache and a mild throbbing at the wound site. I changed my bandage several times as it was soaked with a bit of blood but mostly sweat. I never really felt that bad but had a bruised pride and a dedication to finish up the football game as I knew someone, somewhere was expecting my images for the night.

During the game, I saw Dr. Nick Crawford who operated on my torn meniscus several years back. He served as the team orthopedic doctor and I saw him at most of the UH games. He heard about someone being injured and was surprised to see it was me. He quickly pulled me aside and looked at the wound and said it would be best to go to the ER as well.

I continued to photograph the game and got laughs and sympathy from most of my colleagues but didn’t let them get the best of me. Jamm Aquino was overly concerned for me and worried I had a mild concussion. I didn’t think the hit was bad enough to worry about it but the ER confirmed all was ok.

(Jamm took the photo of me walking at the game.)

After the game, Jamm, whom I shared a ride with to the stadium, took me straight to the Straub and offered to stay with me but I told him to go home and not to worry about me. I checked myself into the ER but was treated very quickly as my friend Aaron, who lives in my building, is like a head nurse at Straub and he hooked me up. He called ahead and told them I would be at the ER that night.

The ERs was a mix of drunks, real medical conditions, and one really attractive hooker. A nurse shuffled me in where I was asked a bunch of questions then led to a bed where another nurse doused my wound with ice cold saline then another came in and sealed my cut with Dermabond.

Dermabond is basically skin glue and when applied, it burns like a dozen fire ants are biting the same spot for about 15 seconds. It was horribly painful. Another nurse came in to administer a tetanus shot (which still hurts) followed by the ER doctor who checked me out and released me from their care.

All in all it was an eventful night, full of pain, dedication, care, and laughs. Before I left the stadium I sought out Christina and gave her a hug thanking her for her warmth and care. She was probably about 20 years old but cared for me like a mother.

Thanks Jamm for the kindness. Thanks Dr. C for your advice. And many thanks to everyone else who laughed and poked at me making the night fun. Oh and thanks Courtney for the Advil as it made the night bearable.

Fears of the world wide web.

I noticed I had started this blog some time ago but never got around to finishing it…or for that matter starting it.

Technology Review Magazine hired me some time back to take a portrait of cyber security expert Jeremiah Grossman who, at that time, was based in Maui. He so happen to be in Honolulu and I had a window of time to shoot a portrait photo of him.

Grossman, who founded White Hat Security, was a punk hacker who hacked Yahoo to show them their security flaws. He went on to be hired on as one of their Security Officer before starting his own security firm.

Jeremiah, who showed up wearing a business type aloha shirt, hulked right up to me and my assistant, Jamm Aquino at the location. He had that intense stare that looked right threw you scanning your brain for all your passwords and personal information. After reading a bit about him, I learned he plays rugby and knows martial arts. So if he couldn’t read your mind, he likely beat your passwords out of you one way or another.

I knew immediately I had to capture him in a dark and dangerous cyber world atmosphere; however, its hard to capture this in beautiful Honolulu with blue sky and sunshine. People don’t think of Hawaii as a dark place so my challenge was to create a moody scene.

I knew I had to get a few shots of him with the standard blue sky and what not. But I had the idea to drag him into my dark parking garage and shoot him using the available florescent lights mixed with a bit of daylight. I wish I had had a set of Kino Flos to really make my mood moodier but the overhead strip did its magic as did the odd shifts of daylight falling in the background.

I then dragged Jeremiah and Jamm down to an alley across the way and we shot him with a bare head and 7″ reflector on a Profoto 7B. It always surprises me what editors pick as I tend to favor my choices but they hardly get picked. The mag picked the safer shot of Grossman but I really wished they had gone with the garage shot.

What made the job really memorable was hearing the fears of hacking, the vulnerability of web browsers, and general chaos of the world wide web. He told me of hacker groups in Eastern Europe stealing credit card numbers and making millions of dollars via holes in the internet. I learned stories of internet security officers from big companies going to far away lands only to be run out by mafia and other assorted criminals because of the money involved in internet crimes.

Its quiet fascinating to learn that many web based corporations account for a certain percentage of uncontrollable fraud and loss into their business plans. Although security is improving, nefarious groups and governments keep finding ways into stealing from the unaware. What was most fascinating was finding out how these cyber security plans you can purchase are more like insurance policies where you are actually just paying a part of their premium for the protection…which in most cases is not really necessary.

The reality in my mind is it can happen to you but hardly likely you’ll end up stripped of everything. It seems most consumer businesses already have security watching. We got a call from our credit card one Saturday morning because of odd purchases made at Best Buy and the Apple Store which we didn’t make. My mother found her credit card hacked as well not too long ago. Chances are you’ll be hacked at some point vigilance can go along way. Don’t respond to emails from the former Oil Minister of Kenya and don’t use your bank ATM card for anything on line.

Also, according to Jeremiah, don’t use the same browser to surf and do bank work. Use separate browsers altogether. Its likely you’ll get hacked at some point but you’re also likely to have your house broken into (once in Jersey City) or getting rear ended while driving (twice in HNL.) I’m not saying I’m not scared but our pockets are not as deep as Chase or Ebay, meaning, as an individual, you’re an unknown and no one has any particular interest in you.

By the way, if any of the facts of my story are wrong, I’m certain Jeremiah will find and correct. I doubt his fists will do the talking but most likely his fingers will commit the terror.

You can see the story here.

III

I hate the Canon 5D Mark II. I hated mine copy so much I sold mine within weeks of purchasing it. Not because it busted while on assignment in Nara, Japan. Not because it didn’t make some amazing shots because it did. I hated it because of the handling. I hated the feel of the body. I hated the focus points. I really hated the focal points. But in reality, I hated it because to me, it wasn’t a 1D series camera. I purchased it as a back up to my full frame Canon 1Ds Mark II body. Canon’s 1Ds Mark III body didn’t match up to my expectations and I figured why bother doing an expensive upgrade when the gains were so little. But I sadly found the 5D was a fancy toy that non professionals used, not something serious pros would consider as a primary camera. (Just another GWC uttered in disgust as a wannabe wandered over to work next to us with a 5D.)

Yet, 5Ds were flying off the rental shelves at Hawaii Photo Rental. Major photographers were using the camera to make amazing stuff. TV shows and movies were being made with it. I made a timeless shot in Kyoto with the camera. The 5D Mark II can take some pretty amazing pictures and videos!

Maiko in Kyoto, Japan with a 5D MII

I know so many people who use it as their primary and love it. There are thousands of photographers and cinematographers who use it and do amazing work with it. But for me, a rough-and-tumble kinda photographer who uses a t-shirt to clean his lenses, the 5D Mark II is and was a toy. Mind you, so many pros, from White House photographers to travel-in-the-jungle photogs use and love it.

I didn’t.

Low and behold, Canon released the new Canon 5D Mark III with some major improvements. As I’m faced with upgrading my 1Ds Mark II (this is a whole different story…the Mark II is amazing…at times it feels like there is enough flaws within technology that its like shooting film…you get organic-ism, not perfect-ism.)

So thanks to Josh and the crew at Hawaii Photo Rental, I had the chance to test drive and review the new Canon 5D Mark III for the shop. What made it more exciting was I was going to lunch with two amazing photogs, Eugene Tanner, AP and commercial guy, and Jamm Aquino, full time bad ass staffer at the Star Advertiser. I pitched my review idea to Josh and he liked the idea that he’d here from three professional opinions on the newest Canon camera.

I picked it up from Austin and Natalie (and Christine) at Hawaii Photo Rental and immediately, I felt the camera was built a thousand times better than the 5D Mark II. Natalie quickly pointed out how the flash card door was now lined with a piece of “leather” making it harder for the card door to slip open. She, and Austin, noted the seals, feel, and design of the body stating Canon must have listened to pros and made major improvements. The selection dial on the left of the body now has a lock to keep your settings in place. That feature alone was one of the better and noticeable upgrades that can make it a winner. The menus were updated and a bit complicated with numerous upgrades and features.

We rattled off the motor drive and it was fast for a prosumer camera. Its about 4.5 frames a second? Plenty of time to do moderate action. But the greatest thing about the camera as the increased focus points.

The 61 focus points ROCKED.

Oh what joy to see a camera where you can actually find focal points throughout the frame. The ability to move your focal points to almost any part of the camera gives the camera a major improvement in handling. This was the main Achilles tendon of the camera for me…along with it just feeling like a toy. The Mark II always reminded me of my first Canon digital camera, the 10D. Just a prosumer camera off the shelf.

So I walked out with the camera and went to meet Jamm and Tanner for lunch over at Murphy’s Bar and Grill in downtown HNL. We were having a late birthday lunch for Eugene but it was a celebration none the less as it was good cheer around. We passed the camera around and all took pictures and made pro comments on the feel, style, and responsiveness of the Mark III…all over burgers, fish and chips, and a few adult beverages.

Kramer by Tanner.

Jamm, being a bit snobby in the use of in his gear, said immediately it was a GWC camera but after playing with it for a few minutes, he changed his tune. I think all three of us are snobs with gear as we rely so much on our cameras to give us 110% all the time that its hard for us to “trust” a prosumer camera. But again, we were quickly proved wrong.

The handling, structure and feel of the camera was reasonably good and beyond our expectations. Eugene liked the fact the Mark III could easily fill the void a Canon Mark IV’ cropped sensor lacked. But as we started to feel out the camera further, we three quickly noted several shortcomings and issues…all in reference to professional standards, conditions, and situations. Immediately we all said the response was good but was it good enough, rather quick enough? I stuck my Canon 35mm f1.4 lens on the body and took it for a spin down Ft. Street Mall. I immediately felt it wasn’t responsive as a professional body. Both Jamm and Tanner said roughly the same thing. It doesn’t fire when you want it to. Jamm pointed out it was probably a custom feature but we just felt it didn’t snap when you snapped. Those instances when the decisive moment appears, you need a camera that will do what you tell it to do.

Knocked kneed on Fort St. with the Mark III

Now, we really only had this new tool for a short time and can’t really speak with any major authority about the camera and its functions but the responsiveness was noticeable. So it could have been the custom function in the menu. Knocked kneed was out of focus. I aimed, fired, and the camera didn’t catch it. There are so many quirks that we are not accounting for (my lens being out of tune, the camera settings, my lack of precision to catch the focus properly…there are numerous things to ask before I judge this scenario) but I would have expected some reasonable sharpness on the girl. Who knows. On the elevator in my building, I tried to sneak a few frames of one of the maintenance girls in our building and shoved the camera in her face. Wouldn’t fire. Nada. Again, I have to refer back to Jamm and the custom functions in the menu but alas, no book and no time to fuss with buttons. I feel strongly that if you gotta mess too much with the menus, etc…then you can’t take a picture. Fire away and deal with the after mass later.

Lunchtime Stella

The one noticeable and wonderful feature was the lack of noise in high iso. 25600 is ABSOLUTELY useable. Why you, the average user, would need to hit this high is beyond me but its absolutely useable. Butter as some would say…silky smooth as butter. The above shot of the lunchtime Stella was shot at 2000 iso. Clean. Amazingly clean. Like shooting at 640 0r 800 iso on an older body. Just simply amazing a prosumer body is capturing files like this.

Padded elevator rising to 32nd at 2500 iso with the Mark III.

Now the issues we all agreed upon was the focusing and the buffer were not 1D series standards. Does that matter? Should any of our shortcoming decision force you to spend $6700 over $3500 for a little bit faster focus and longer buffer (think renting for at least $150/day versus doing a three day rental from Hawaii Photo Rental at $185)? I think not. Most of you who have been renting from Hawaii Photo Rental have probably used a 5D Mark II and know its a fantastic camera. Whatever short coming I (we) found or you might have figured out shouldn’t discount it. Now with the new Canon 5D Mark III, the game shifts drastically and you can now rent a semi pro camera that works as close as to a professional 1D standard as you can get.

Deep thoughts with Tanner by Jamm and a Mark IV.

In reality, the 5D Mark III is a super camera. The fantasy world we live in in reference to long buffers, etc…also reflect a world where we sometimes don’t live. 90% of what I shoot could be done with an iPhone. The camera, priced a little too high (a strong demand and possibly a lack of production due to tsunami damaged factories or last year’s Thailand flooding) but it is a camera well worth its weight. To rent it is to see where you stand with it. Jamm, Eugene, and I all felt it was a superb camera but lacked just a little bit to make it a professional grade body. Now does it matter as I stated above? To 99% of you GWCs who are going to use it to shoot your dog, family or friends, absolutely not. To those of you who will rent to shoot a wedding or paid job? Absolutely not (maybe if you are picky) but no way if you’ve done well shooting with a 5D Mark II. For a picky pro, its a great tool and if you are a pro you will have to know your limitations like anything. If you are shooting a sporting event and your timing and focus mean the difference between a paycheck or going home empty handed, you’ll have to know your limitations with the tool. And again, its a tool. You can’t shoot an elephant with a bb gun, but how often do you get the chance to shoot an elephant? The high ISO range expands your horizons drastically. You can literally shoot in the dark now with little notice. I find that option fantastic. What a great new tool.

To note, I didn’t process any of the raw files as my version of Photoshop isn’t upgraded to open the new Mark III files and I couldn’t be bothered to deal with downloading it at this moment. But the damn jpgs files are so damn good, its almost as if you don’t even need to shoot raw. The files are amazing. This is a superb camera and well worth renting from Hawaii Photo Rental.

We three photographers did not do any technical testing. This is just talk over beer (and a whiskey) over the use of cameras, handling, and whatnot.

I highly recommend renting this fantastic camera from Hawaii Photo Rental. Its a really, really nice camera and its a huge improvement over the Mark II. Well worth the rental fees.

Hokulani Bakery

It seems like such a long time ago although I shot the images for Entrepreneur Magazine in 2008, but the shot of Tushar and Ana Dubey of Hokulani Bake Shop remains one of my favorite pictures mainly because I think I clearly captured their existence at being: Tushar with the frosting on his nose and Ana with her nose for baking. The picture took no more than a few swipes at his nose for their relationship in business and love to clearly shine through.

Entrepreneur really knew their stuff as they spotted Hokulani Bake Shop as an up and comer. Amazing their writers spotted and predicted they would go to the top.

Tonight we attended their celebration and screening party for their bakers and bakery, Hokulani Bake Shop for winning the recent Food Network’s Cupcake Wars. It was great to see their little bakery started at Restaurant Row gain national and possibly international attention for having some of best bakers and cupcakes in the Pacific.

Let the victorious eat many a cupcake and may they sell a million more.

SALUDOS! and BADHAI HO! (I hope that means congrats in Hindi as I hope I didn’t call Tushar a donkey…well, maybe I really meant to.)

If you’ve never had one of their cupcakes, please visit one of their three locations, Restaurant Row, the Hyatt Waikiki and at downtown’s Pioneer Plaza. At their website (http://www.hokulanibakeshop.com/) you can see their audition tape where their bakers, Angela Chandler and Nicole Ferriman, made it big for the shop.

I hope this shameless plug gets me a cupcake or two!

Pearl Harbor Survivors

Ralph Lindenmeyer, who was stationed at Ford Island during the attack, was on his way to a day of surf and sun in Waikiki after attending Church. He saw the swarm of Japanese planes flying over the base towards Pearl Harbor.

I grew up in somewhat of an anti-Asian family. Its not like we were totally racists and threw eggs through the neighbor’s windows…its just my father had some issues with who the US chose to go to war with most of his life. Mrs. Hymer, our next door neighbors for most of my childhood, was Japanese and her half Japanese kids were my childhood pals. Al was my hero, there was nothing he could do wrong. Chris was the brain and I wanted to be smart like him and Nina, well, she was a babe. My parents loved the family. My super close friend in high school, Sant, (now Cheksant for some odd Buddhists reason) was from Bangkok, my NYC buddy is Yong from Korea, George Lee is Chinese, and Yukako is…of course…Japanese. Not to mention I do live near Chinatown and can’t escape all the Asians around me here in Honoruru!

So to say anti-Asian, I mean that in a propaganda type of way because of how the US stereotyped Asians (even Bugs Bunny got into the act!) In the 20th century, we did wage war against three, no four, possibly five types of Asians. My father fought against two (maybe three) so I guess you could say he wasn’t fond of people who were trying to kill him. (They weren’t found of you either, Pop!) Of course they didn’t hit him but the pleasantries were duly noted. I also think my father was racist in a foodie type of way because he never forgot the revolting stench of fermenting kim chee in remote Korean villages as a young soldier. And he claimed (and believe me, he claimed LOADS of things) he encountered little kids in Vietnam gnawing on dried rat skins but, again, eh…?
But the attack on Pearl Harbor is what got him started on his anti-Asian rants. He told me how he and his friends thought of ways to join the army as teens. He was somewhat upset when the Japanese surrendered because he missed his chance rain revenge on those who dare to attack a military base on an American territory (that quiet possibly had been occupied by the West illegally for some time…er…what?) But he wouldn’t have to way too long for his wish to come true.

Anyway, as a kid, we watched all those old war movies where Filipino or other non-Japanese actors portrayed the mean, cold-blooded Japanese. They always seem to laugh when they killed a poor, unsuspecting, fresh faced, white American soldier. (Funny, there were no black actors in those movies…and the only Latinos were, uh, well…ah Anthony Quinn…yeah…but, he covered his Mexican-ism.) That mocking, sinister laugh that only murderous non-Japanese Filipino or slanty-eye Latino actors (Ah! That’s where they all were!) make when they portrayed those blood thirsty Japanese soldiers. I recall my father saying once…or maybe I saw it in one of those movies…the Japanese laughed when the bombed Pearl Harbor. They laughed as they killed all those milk-fed boys from Iowa. I grew up thinking “those dirty Japanese rats!” forgetting that I just spent a good long summer afternoon playing with that “half-dirty Japanese rat” Nina, who, as I must confess, my first Asian love. I think she was about five years older than me but it didn’t matter.

I digress…it was just stupid propaganda films my father watched when he was a kid and then made my brother and me watch when we were kids. Propaganda is powerful.

Seeing how Pearl Harbor was dramatically attacked on film, I developed a special spot for a place I had never seen. I never gave much thought to the men aboard those sinking ships as they were always actors and in the back of my mind, I knew they’d be all right. So when I first came to Hawaii on a work trip back in the 90′s, the first place I visited was the Memorial. It was stunning. Unbelievable to see the dreams of my childhood, from film/video to reality. I though “wow.” What else could I say? From the Memorial, there, swimming just about 10 yards away…the smokestack of the USS Arizona!

But what was more unbelievable were the real, live, in living color, survivors! Not those young actors I saw in the movies. Grizzled old war vets in cheap aloha shirts. Tough old guys who made it through the attack. Some smiled gleefully when approached by tourists while others seem to suspiciously eye those young Japanese tourists who probably failed to understand the chaos created by their grandfathers. The survivors were living history right before my eyes. I think I might have talked to one or two of those guys but it was just small talk and we went our ways. Still, it was like seeing George Washington or Thomas Jefferson, at least for me. As I said, from cellulose to reality.

So years go by and somehow we end up permanently living in Honolulu. I went to several Pearl Harbor ceremonies for work and realized many of those survivors I saw about eight years ago were gone. I knew at that point I needed to make portraits of some of these guys before it was too late. With the help of Daniel Martinez, the National Parks Service historian at the USS Arizona Memorial, I was introduced to the right people to start my documentation project. He and Lisa Ontai share responsibility for helping me create these images.

The project evolved over the years since my first tries in 2006 and 2007. My technique and vision have evolved from the beginning as well. This last session in 2010 took place at the Hilton Hawaiian Village during a ceremony dinner for the survivors. Jamm and Erica, my best assistants for the day, helped do lights and wrangle veterans to stand for my camera. Again, there is no way I could have created this work without them.

During the session, I could tell Jamm choked on a few of the stories the vets told and Erica seemed visibly moved by what she saw and heard. They are a little younger than me and grew up in Honolulu so they probably didn’t think much about Pearl Harbor as much as I did, but I think they walked away with a bit of history and understanding. I’m glad they helped and participated in this project.

When talking to the survivors, its as if these men still live in the past. I don’t mean that to disparage these men but they surely cannot escape the past that defined their lives. Its hard to image being 17 years old and seeing friends dying horribly. Seeing bombs blowing up all around you. Seeing your world torn asunder. We Americans always have that we-are-the-best attitude and nothing can stop us. Before the war, propaganda portrayed “…the Japanese as nearsighted, bucktoothed, harmless children…” How could these nearsighted fools do this? And do this to, us…THE US!?!?! It surely was a blow to the American psyche.

The attack, of course, defined the Pearl Harbor survivor’s futures. It defined their attitudes, the way they lived, how they lived…even what car they would drive. I once asked a survivor if he drove an imported Japanese car. He emphatically stated… “no.” But these days, little if any of these men still carry hate towards the Japanese. “They had a job to do as did we,” said one veteran. And so many buried the hatchet and went on to befriend many of the Japanese war vets brave enough to visit Pearl Harbor and pay their respects.

In 1991, Japanese pilot, Zenji Abe, who participated in the attack on Pearl Harbor, attended several of the Pearl Harbor memorials the name of peace. During a live broadcast several months before the 50th anniversary, he extended his hand in a sign of reconciliation to several Pearl Harbor survivors. They begrudgingly accepted his hand shake but it was the start towards peace and understanding. However, many Pearl Harbor survivors still refused to accept Abe or other Japanese war vets presence at the Memorial’s solemn ceremony. But over time, Abe’s yearly persistence to reconcile with the past, finally won many over. Abe now has a special part in the lure of Pearl Harbor as a man who created chaos, yet begged and finally won closure and forgiveness for a war half a century before. And as that Pearl Harbor vet said…”They had a job to do…” Mr. Abe died in 2007.

There is nothing more to say about the portraits as I feel they stand on their own. I feel their eyes link all the portraits together. Their fears, painful memories, and horrors cling to them, 69 years later. Yet, through the wrinkles and stubbly faces, you can still see that young boy, on the deck of his ship, fighting for his life, and for the life of his country. As we know, those who survived won. They won with a vengeance. A sad vengeance if you think of Hiroshima and Nagasaki…yet that’s a story for another day.

So just like his son, my father’s fake anti-Asian stance never amounted to anything other than heated words over popcorn and old war movies. He cried when the Hymers moved away. He loves watching Jackie Chan movies, and he loves Yukako. He also likes bad Chinese food but once accused us of feeding him dog and baby fetuses when we took him to eat dim sum. I think he eventually ate it but I didn’t think to check under the table when we left.

My father has always embraced my nutty friends, whether they were Asian or not…so long as they left their kim chee at the door.

You can see the entire gallery at www.marcogarciaphotography.com The survivor’s gallery is under projects.