portrait Archives - Marco Garcia Photography

Samoan Chicken Wings

As we rolled our gear into the darkened garden center, the overwhelming smell of chicken manure filled the air. The earthy yet foul odor, as disgusting as it may sound (or smell), helped soothe the pregame jitters I usually get when I show up on a location and need to build a studio. What made this job different was that I was shooting in the garden center of a well known big box store in the middle of the night. Well, not that late but when you’re call time is at 10pm, it’s pretty late to be thinking about setting up a seamless, lighting it and bringing your subject to stage—ready to work–at midnight.

Well, it’s all in a day’s work for me. I never know what strange request I’ll have and hours I’ll need to be available. I was assigned by a client (who I should probably keep confidential as the article isn’t published yet) to create a portrait of an associate who works at said big box store. This particular client was featuring an associate, a Samoan woman, who has become famous for her local style chicken wings recipe. The problem was the associate didn’t show up till 11pm and they required I shoot her on location during her shift. The client wanted the subject shot on a white seamless backdrop which would be stripped away and placed on a white page with her recipe printed next to her. I just had to fit the subject onto the provided layout and ensure I had a quality shot to deliver.

Lighting a portrait can be tricky. There are as many ways to light a portrait as there are light modifiers. In my assistant days in NYC , I pushed to perfect the perfect light. I learned how to use studio strobes (and hot lights) in just about every conceivable situation and location. Those days were invaluable, as they helped me understand my own work and how to approach different situations. I learned how to light everything from a tiny tube of lipstick to an entire warehouse. I learned to get F16 from corner to corner, top to bottom, including the floor, on a white cyclorama. My light meter and I were best of friends in those days. I loved to work out light ratios and I reveled in my craft. A photo editor once told me it was obvious I had worked with Nathaniel Welch as she saw the same approach to light that he takes in his work. There wasn’t a prouder moment than to hear this from a big time photo editor. It was then, that I realized how far I had come from my assistant days. I wish I had learned more, but you can only assist so much before it’s time to do it yourself. Again, I think any budding photographer out there needs to assist in the big cities. Books and your own small time assignments can’t teach you what you can learn from the pros in the big cities.

The one fun drawback to assisting at the top levels was the access to gobs of equipment we had at our fingertips. At times, I probably had been in charge of $50,000 or more of strobe equipment and had access to so much more –Broncolor and Profoto mostly. It now seems insane–I don’t have this type of equipment at my fingertips any longer–but I do own quite a nice arsenal of gear. And fundamentally, the study and methods used in lighting has changed over the years, as well as the camera gear itself. In my earlier days, I worked with photographers who shot with large medium format systems and which required powerful lights sources to shoot at small apertures. I remember working with 4800ws strobe packs and bi tube heads. Now, with DSLR cameras, you can pop on a 60ws on camera flash and photoshop your effects. My how things have changed. A lot about lighting that used to require the most acute hands-on skill and craftsmanship can now be done on a computer with a slim collection of modern software–pirated at best.

My lighting scenario was pretty basic as I had to light the subject with a nice broad but specular light. I opted for a Photex umbrella as the main light but fill it in with a Chimera large softbox from the side. Umbrellas are one of the most classic lighting tools available and frankly, one of the easiest to travel with to a location. If used a certain way, umbrellas cast a dramatic light wrapping around the subject with a sharp drop off and deep shadows. Sadly, the client wanted a fairly flat light with little drama so the large soft box was the filler to balance everything out. The 9′ white seamless was lit by two satin umbrellas and everything was powered by Profoto. Profoto is the professional standard. Sure, everyone raves about what an on camera flash can do but try to light a 9′ foot seamless with two Canon 580s. When I know the art director wants to strip the background out of the shot, I don’t worry too much about being 100% perfect but will strive to get my background nice and clean.

Paul, my surfer and dog loving assistant, modeled form my light tests and I found I had great examples of how I used multiple light sources to get the right light. The first light is to check how the back ground lights affect my subject. The second shot is to see how the Chimera fills on camera left and the last picture shows all the lights working together. The light worked well for our circumstances and it does highlight Paul’s perfectly flat feet. I can’t get enough of those boats he walks around on. He seems more suited for living in water than on land. Well, maybe on land, possibly like the base of a tree. A big tree mind you. Paul has become one of my better friends and for me to call him an assistant feels like I belittle him. He’s not a photographer by trade but understands what I need to get done. What he lacks in technical experience he makes up in people skills and being very bright…but more so, his friendship. Besides, I’d love to be a Hawaiian surfer dude, flat feet and all.

I did shoot with my newly acquired Canon 1Dx and the new version of the Canon 24-70mm F2.8 lens. The combo is really nice; I clearly see the advancement of Canon’s newest flagship camera and lens. The metering is superb and the handing is pretty nice. I do have to say the older Canon 1Ds Mark III is a great camera but the 1Dx is a vast improvement.

So onto my associate, who I can’t show you, so you’ll just have to imagine Paul holding a plate of chicken wings, Samoan chicken wings. We got our shot done pretty quickly with a little tough love wrangling to ensure the picture was useable. It was a tough night but we were able to finish by 1am. It took us about an hour and change to set up our seamless and lights but took all but 20 minutes to get the hell out of dodge. We ended the night with the taste of Samoan on our lips and the smell of crap up our noses. Luckily, both wash off.

I hear that train a commin’…its rollin’ ’round the bend

This past September, Hyphen Magazine, an Asian-American publication out of California, called me out of the blue and asked me to do a portrait of an ex con who was on Oahu. The story focused on Native Hawaiians who were incarcerated and sent off-Island to serve their sentences due to State budget matters. The ex con was one of the first Native Hawaiians to be shipped off in the late 1970s. After finding out how much they actually wanted to pay, I turned them down stating it was way too much work for what they expected. The photo editor, Damien Maloney, who believed I would be the best candidate to capture this unique portrait, then told me the story of Delbert Wakinekona and I was sold.

Its not everyday you get to spend time with a man who broke out of Folsom Prison, the jail made famous by the man in black, Johnny Cash.

According to a legal record found on the web, in 1970, Wakinekona and a partner entered a local store to buy sashimi when the outing turned deadly as the shop owners were robbed and beaten with one later dying of his injuries. Wakinekona and his partner were “indicted for the crimes of first degree murder, first degree robbery (two counts) and aggravated assault.” Although he claims he was not part of the attempted robbery and/or the beating was unintentional, Wakinekona was given a life sentence for the murder. Wakinekona felt he was framed by the others testimony and flawed court system worked against him. He tried unsuccessfully to fight his conviction but lost.

After serving time in jail, and if I’m not mistaken, breaking out of the Halawa Correctional Center, Wakinekona was found to be a troublemaker and was sent off-Island to the mainland to serve the rest of his sentence. Wakinekona was part of the first wave of Hawaiian shipped off to the mainland thus breaking his family and cultural ties to Hawaii. He sued to remain in Hawaii, even having his case argued in the US Supreme Court, but eventually lost his case.

And I ain’t seen the sunshine,
Since, I don’t know when

So as I drove out to Waianae to meet Delbert Wakinekona and Lilian Harwood, his new wife who helped him get out of prison on a compassionate release due to Delbert’s declining health, I filled with dread and anticipation of dealing with a man who might be maladjusted to the outside world. But the few hours I spent with ex-con Delbert had me understand not just what life is like inside prison but understood was prison does to a man. I make no excuses for the crimes Delbert supposedly committed. He was no angel. However time does change people and injustice can make a person very bitter.

Delbert, who looks give him the appearance of a weathered Santa Claus, greeted me with a smile but his demeanor made me realize he was a tiger. He looked through me, intimidated me, and outplayed me instantly. I immediately knew I was dealing with someone who understood the nature of man and survival. Delbert lived within a silent world where life and death were separated by a glance, a sudden mood change, a split decision. There was no trust, no basis of friendship or loyalty in his mannerism. He was dangerous. But dangerous as a means of survival.

We began to chat, talk and getting to know each other. I felt every move I made was watched and anticipated. Like a wild dog, any movements towards him might have resulted in a snap, growl or worse. I could sense he struggled with PTSD as he had been in jail for most of his life. The outside world was different. He had no constraints yet knew no other way.

I’m stuck in Folsom Prison,
And time keeps draggin’ on,

We talked about his case. He asked about my ethnicity. I told him I was Hispanic and he relished time time spent with Mexican Americans in Folsom Prison. He told me once he was shipped off Hawaii, he entered a world in the late 70’s early 80’s where Hawaiians were only known through Elvis and aloha shirts. Hawaiians were virtually unknown on the mainland and invisible in prisons. He was neither white or black so the only people he could visually associate with were the Hispanics. In his first encounter with Hispanics in jail, they began to talk Spanish which he couldn’t understand. The Mexicans, finding his disrespect intriguing, demanded to know who or what he was. He told them he was Hawaiian and quickly the Hispanics found humor in calling him a pina, or pineapple in Spanish. According to Delbert, this slight was more sexual in nature and he quickly had to establish he was no “fruit” and quickly gained the respect of the Hispanics for his bold stance. Delbert was then referred to as Hawaiiano which he claims with pride.

He talked about his case, his life, his breakout of several jails including Folsom, and life being outside. He talked about some of the more infamous inmates he knew at Folsom including Charles Manson and others. He talked of legal battles with prison wardens, judges, and prison itself. He talked of life on the lam and shining the light on Native Hawaiian struggle as they are sent off Island. He mentioned the correspondence from other infamous prisoners he met along the way. Delbert was a walking history book of American crime figures and prisons.

But that train keeps a-rollin’,
On down to San Antone

As I finally felt he trusted me enough to pose, we went down to the beach near Yokohama Bay at sunset and I was able to snap some haunting images of this man who some might feel he still belongs in prison for the crimes he committed. It wasn’t hard to have him give me that prison stare as it seemed natural to him. I never posed him pretentiously or expected him to show me some deep emotion. I wanted to capture him like the man I saw in front of me.

At first he work a dark blue t-shirt with some type of fishing logo and I really wanted it to come off. I quickly realized his body was covered in “jail-house tats” and Delbert was more than willing to show me his history told on the folds of his now old skin. He had the names of his children, Hawaiian folklore icons, dragons, roses, and a half goat man hugging a naked woman. His crude tattoos told a story that no hipster skin could ever begin to tell. These were the stories of a man whose life turn a turn for the worst on a faraway night back in 1970.

Across his now flabby belly were the words “Hawaii No Ka Oi’,” or simply, “Hawaii…the best.”

Aside from the convicted murderer who stood in front of my lens, I found Delbert to be a tiger, but an older tiger who still had his teeth but losing his bite. He was granted a compassionate release from jail as he is currently suffering from advanced liver cancer. Whether a man like this deserves to be out of prison is up to debate but with cancer quickly advancing, he might not be around long enough to fight that battle.

At the end, Delbert was grateful for the attention and kindness I gave him and gave me a bear hug that clearly wasn’t toothless. It was kind and tender but quickly felt the power of man who survived prison life. I learned I wasn’t meant for prison but a young Delbert probably thought the same thing. We all have tigers inside of us, its just odd we have to be incarcerated to find it.

When I hear that whistle blowin’,
I hang my head and cry.

The gaffer’s tape that saved the day!

May 1 UPDATE: SHE’S ONLY 10!!!!

As the last few bags spun around on the conveyor belt at Kona International, I got the sinking feeling my large Tenba duffel just wasn’t around the corner. My Lightware case with the Profoto 7b, grids and dish came through and I rolled my Pelican with cameras with me as carry-on. In the Pelican, I had my cameras, cards, lenses, and on camera flash so I was set but I knew without my duffel bag, I was sunk to pretty low depths.

In my duffel was an all-important C-stand with boom arm, flyaway sandbag, a few mafer clamps, softbox, umbrella, and a few other knick-knacks that make a quick afternoon shoot take place on the Big Island. Without a stand, I had no real reasonable way to light my subject. A law mag commissioned me to fly out for the afternoon to shoot a lawyer (imagine…me saying I shot a lawyer…folk hero status?) and I had scheduled to shoot the job at a beach near KOA.

Now imagine I have to light a portrait at sunset with no stand. Impossible, indeed. Truly impossible. Without a c stand, how the hell am I going to hold up a Profoto head?

After a panic and heated discussion with Hawaiian Airlines customer service at the airport, they were certain the bag would be on the next flight arriving a little after five. I had about an hour to stew and figure out a strategy to make this work.

My subject offered to pick me up from the airport saving me the hassle of having to rent a car but at that moment I was wishing I could have had that car to drive far away from my sunset nightmare. She luckily was super understanding when I said Hawaiian Airlines lost my bag and quickly started to help me create solutions to my dilemma.

First thoughts aside from sheer panic…a broom and gaffer’s tape. I figured I could tape a strobe head to a stick and have someone hold the light. The lawyer had her 12-year-old daughter along on the shoot and I immediately commandeered to be a living light stand. I have a solution. I asked Margaret, my subject, if we could rush over to Home Depot and purchase a broom handle but she oddly had a had a telescopic broom handle in her work vehicle. Shazam! Her offices were like four minutes away and zoomed down the highway to pick it up. We got the stand and I “MacGuyver-ed” my 7B head to the stick. The endless possibilities of gaffer’s tape! In the back of my mind, I knew there was the overpriced Lighthaus Camera in Kona but the sun was sinking quickly and I had a portrait to shoot. And the time it would take for me to head into Kona and pick up a stand might have been the time lost in creating the portrait.

Now the next issue was teaching a 12-year-old girl the basics of photography. I mean how tough could it be as much of photo assisting is done by kids with about a much sense as a broomstick? As a matter of fact, most photographers…well…that’s a story for another time. So the kiddo sorta figured out directions but had as much interest in the lighting as I did in her friend’s text messages. Failure. Complete failure. She, the poor darling, couldn’t hold the stick up at the right angle and surely didn’t have the patience to stand still for the time it would take to make the picture. I asked her if she could do any longer but she shrugged her shoulders and when crab hunting amongst the lava rocks and ocean. Slowly the voggy Kona sky was opening and the fireball of a sun began to burn through.

Dread. So I started to pick up the broom stick myself and fire away a few test shots and it seemed to work decently well. I knew I would have to use an open dish sans grid as I could no way handle aiming with the left side of my body as well as shoot with a full size dslr on my right. It wouldn’t be the portrait lighting I needed but it was going to be something.

I started looking around the near empty beach for a random beach goer to recruit into my photo shoot but alas, no one was around. I asked where Margaret’s husband was and he luckily was around the corner coming to join us. Solutions were happening but not as quickly as I would have liked them. But out of the blue my cell phone went off. IT WAS HAWAIIAN AIRLINES!!! They had my bag and it was at the airport. Margaret, me and the kid hopped in her Honda and sped off to KOA just in time to get the bag and get the job done.

I dodged a big bullet. A really big one. I quickly assembled the right stuff and got my picture shot. The pictures came out fantastic and the sun gave up that fireball friendly flicker only a voggy Kona can deliver. Hopefully the clients will be thrilled…and rightfully so considering the absolute panic that rang my ears for an hour plus after arriving.

Now what lesson do I take away with this as a photographer? Not much. There isn’t very much I can do if the airline’s misplaces my bag. My broom stick magic would have worked but I didn’t have a reliable adult to act as a stand. At least I had my Profoto set but what on earth would I have done if my powerful 1200ws light had gone missing? Sure I had my Canon on camera flash I don’t care what strobists claim, a Canon/Nikon/Vivtar flash will never mimic a Profoto with modifier. I know Joe McNally does magic with his small flash units but he has a dozen or more and really does some outrageous lighting schemes. You can create really nice ambient flash portraits with ETTL but I’m set up with big powerful Profoto packs. Maybe the ETTL is a little nice if not weaker than the Profoto but I don’t have the time or the expense to figure out how to spend a few thousand dollars and make McNally lighting. Besides, my Profoto stuff was and will always be expensive.

I can’t carry a Profoto kit in my carry-on. I can’t bring a big c stand in carry-on either. I’m kinda stuck having to rely on the airline and TSA for me to get my gear to my location. I really have to rethink my travel procedure and figure what I can carry on. Manfrotto makes a tiny light stand that could be used in a pinch. I could stick that into a carry-on messenger bag or laptop bag. I put all my pocket wizards in my check-in but now I think I’ll always carry a few in my check in just in case. And just maybe I have to figure out how to really make magic with an on camera flash.

In the end, I could have shot her with ambient light and made some fantastic images as well but the clients were expecting a certain look. If I couldn’t deliver, I’m out of a client and a paycheck.

The true hero of the day is gaffer’s tape. Don’t leave home without it. Gaffer’s tape, that sickly, sticky, fabric wonder, saved me even if my bag showed up just in the nick of time. I kept thinking as my 12-yr-old assistant (whom I quickly fired after I got my back) kept trying to wiggle away, hmmm…how long before the adhesive comes off her if I taped that broomstick to her hands? Then taped her to the rocks?

Senator Inouye

A few weeks ago, the Washington Post commissioned me last month to spend the day with US Senator Daniel Inouye from Hawaii.

My memories of the Senator stretch back to eight grade when I first saw this one armed man on TV during the Iran-Contra hearing where he chaired a special committee investigating Reagan’s alleged affair in selling weapons to Iran via Israel to help fund the Contras in Nicaragua. From Wikipedia…Inouye stated the following:

“There exists a shadowy Government with its own Air Force, its own Navy, its own fundraising mechanism, and the ability to pursue its own ideas of the national interest, free from all checks and balances, and free from the law itself.

How true his statement…

The Post was writing a profile piece on the aging Senator and writer Jason Horowitz and I followed Inouye for day in September. Much of the work was fairly generic…the Senator at a military ceremony, at a ground breaking…etc…nothing earth shattering. But most intriguing was a moment granted to us with the Senator and his wife at their condo in Waikiki.

The immaculately clean (and sterile) condo faced Waikiki with Diamond head towering in the background. I had humped along a sent of lights in the event I were to do a formal portrait but time dictated I needed to snap something very quick and catch a moment instead of formality. In most these cases, writers, especially staff writers, are prone to long interviews giving photographers very little time to take pictures. We only had an hour before the Senator was scheduled to attend a ground breaking ceremony for a project he helped fund federally.

I kept my cool with time as Jason engaged the Senator and got an earful of political history as Inouye “talked story” with us. Being the master politician he is, the Senator side-stepped, hopped, dodged, ignored…whatever you want to call it…any hard questions Jason threw at him. It was a graduate level course in politicking!

When I finally got a chance to capture the Senator’s likenesss, we walked out onto his balcony and I shot him overlooking his kingdom and the blue ocean beyond. Many of my shots I found to canned, rather, just to typical of what the Senator wanted me to see. Forced yet genuine smiles, an innocent man who accidentally had things go his way. I wasn’t too happy but I knew I got what he was going to give me. He knew how to interview and he knew how to control his image. His press aide was pushing us to wrap up and get out of the house. Oddly enough, the Senator, feeling good about the great banter between us and him, decided he wanted to show us around the condo. As the Senator’s wife showed Jason the bedroom, the Senator walked over the piano which sat as an art piece in the corner of his white carpeted condo.

He then sat down and was joking and laughing with us about only having one arm and owing a piano. He tragically lost his arm while fighting the Germans in WWII. He was telling us how back in rehab, the hospital would not let him out until he had mastered the use of his left arm. One of the drills was playing the piano. He masterfully plunked down on the ivory keys to play several songs including the melancholy Danny Boy. He laughed and giggled as a kid as he played tunes from his youth all the while his wife, Irene Hirano, glowed besides him. The eastern facing windows gently filled the room giving me the perfect setting.

Moments like this don’t happen often and I had fired off probably 80 to 100 shots before time was up. As I look back at the shots, I realize how no matter what I had planned with lighting, etc… for my portrait, the best images are never planned. Decisively, as Cartier Bresson might say, I captured a brief moment of a long life.

You can read the article here.

Lidia

Lidia,

Thank you for giving me a moment to photograph you. Your eyes are mesmerizing. Haunting, translucent, showing something not everyone can see…a glimpse into your life…a life in Oaxaca…a student maybe…serving cafe and crepes to strangers from far away. did you think you’d ever be perserved in nitrocellulose and silver halide?

Taken in Oaxaca City.
June 15, 2007.
Tri-X
Mamiya RZ w/ 140mm at 5.6 at 90

See the rest of my portraits at marcpix.com under Projects and Portraits in Mexico.