Crossdoor

 

©2010 Tony Hernandez Photography

Used cars

 

©2010 Tony Hernandez 

Redfall

©2010 Tony Hernandez Photography

I dream of palm trees

©2010 Tony Hernandez Photography

Golftree

©2010 Tony Hernandez Photography

Road less travelled

©2010 Tony Hernandez Photography

Streetbird

©2010 Tony Hernandez Photography

Words credit ....

Posting up some new work because an image is worth 1000 words.

At least, that's what I've heard.

Enjoy

Hotrod Shrugged

©2010 Tony Hernandez Photography

Nestdown

©2010 Tony Hernandez Photography

Merrycacti

©2010 Tony Hernandez Photography

Shadowfam

 ©2010 Tony Hernandez Photography

Where do I go from here ?

My time as a high school photographer was coming to an end. Our little gang of darkroom dwellers had grown very close in a couple of years and we did a lot of things together outside of school. Our favorite group activity was backpacking. Explorers Post 477 met once a month to plan trips into the wilderness with everything we needed carried on our backs. When you spend a few days with people hiking for miles, sleeping in the open air, cooking on campfires, and generally just messing around, you get to know them pretty well. It was a coed post so there were always separate camps depending on who you were with, who you wanted to be with, or, who you just ended up with. The one common thread that bound us all was the camera. We would hike in and set up camp. The first night, fires would blaze until the wee hours while we sat around just being ourselves, talking about anything and everything. The next morning would be "exploring day". Cameras in hand, we would take off together in search of mischief and cool things to shoot. I remember saying "lets follow this little waterfall up to see where it starts" during one of our outings. What started as a quiet little trip up the hill turned into a full on quest to see where that darn thing was coming from. There were times when we were almost waist deep in water as we waited our turn to climb up the next drop off because we were sure it was going to end right up there. It got to the point of comical as we were drenched by the "now larger waterfall" we had found that was feeding the small one we had started following in the first place. By the time we returned to the camp, we were soaked but happy. We had all shot tons of photos with the film the school had so nicely provided and, no ones camera had ended up in the water. They were some of the best times of my life and I cherish them all. Our memories were, for the most part, captured on film by one or more of us.

Always from a different angle.

Usually never of the same thing.

Yet we all shooting at the same place and time.

crossdog

©2010 Tony Hernandez Photography

A funny thing happened on the way to the Senate

I know this is supposed to be a blog about photography, but I just can't help myself tonight. In one of the biggest political upsets in the history of this great country, Scott Brown, the Republican, defeated Martha Coakley, the Democrat, in the Independent state of Massachusetts. I know it's "supposed to be" the great Democrat, Kennedy state, but the voters showed their independence today. The tide may finally be turning on the nightmare that is the "one party rule" taking place in Washington D.C. at the present time. The arrogance of the current congress is about to be paid back in a big way. Watching the liberal news stations tonight was a blast. CNN, MSNBC, CNBC were all about blaming the candidate, which is partially true. But the real reason for the loss was about the direction the country is being taken by the likes of Barak Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. It was a message that was sent loud and clear. "Can you hear me now?" With any luck, the "rules for radicals" gang may be out of business as soon as November of this year. That being said ..... a big "congratulations" goes out to all of those voters in Massachusetts who voted for "the good of the country", not "the good of the party".

©2010 Tony Hernandez Photography

The last hurrah for pom pom girls .... and football photographs

Being a photographer in high school was great. I was amazed at how much freedom we were given to photograph events on and off campus. I once got out of class to photograph the entire marching band parading through the AV department. I think it was someone in the departments birthday. Middle of the day, pulled out of class, it was great. Field trips with the Homecoming kings, queens and attendants for the honors section. Out to the field for the All State football players photo. Clubs, groups, student government, everything and anything. Now I understood how Bob, the guy with the black hat, was able to cross over the "clique lines" so easily. When you have a camera in your hands, it's amazing how welcoming people of all types can be. Our high school even went to the state championship  football game in my senior year. The game was to be held at the stadium of Arizona State University. It was the biggest thing the school had accomplished in it's few short years in existence so "access to the field" was crucial. We found out on Monday following the semi-final game, there would only be "one press pass" allotted to the yearbook photographers and, one pass for the newspaper guys. Needless to say, the lobbying for the pass started immediately. All of the "seasoned" photographers hit up Mrs. D during the course of the day. All of them except me. I figured I would let her decide who "deserved" the pass by looking at the work done during the season. The layouts for the football section were filled with photographs I had taken. One of the other guys, we'll call him "Bruce", wanted the pass really bad. He was a first year guy who considered himself in high regard when it came to photography. In all honesty, he was a decent shooter but, his attitude and willingness to suck up to the advisor were a bit off putting to the rest of us on the photography staff. But hey, who am I to stop someone from trying to get ahead, right? The week before the game went by slowly. Anticipation for the game was at an all time high throughout the school. But in the yearbook room, it seemed even higher. Mrs. D, our lovable yet super strict boss had not made a decision regarding the pass for "the big game". I saw Bruce butt smooching his head off all week. Every time I looked in the general direction of Mrs. D's desk, there he was. It was sickening, but I had to give him credit, he was going all out. Friday finally came with no word on who was getting the pass. The school day was almost over. The crew was wrapping up the days work in preparation for the weekend and "the big game". I was sitting in the room outside the darkroom looking at contact sheets when Mrs. D came up to me. She sat down and began to quietly talk to me. After a short discussion, she handed me the pass and told me to keep it on a low profile. "No problem" I said. Right after she left the room, I went back into the darkroom to secretly celebrate. When I came out, there was Bruce. He didn't look very happy. I guess he had heard form Mrs. D too. I looked at him, smiled, and left the room. On the field that night, I saw Bruce in the stands. I guess he figured out who ended up with the pass. He did somehow get on the field in the forth quarter with his camera. I guess his butt smooching paid off in the end.

But by that time, the important parts of the game had already happened.

The only thing left for me to photograph in my final football game were the pom pom girls.

Kicking and screaming .... all the way to the digital world

I may have been one of the last professional photographers in my area to make the switch to a digital camera. The photo store I went to for supplies was beginning to keep cretain things on the shelves just for me. I seemed to be the only one left shooting "type B" film. Polaroid was a hit and miss for stock on hand, and sometimes, at least two stores were visited just to get enough film to get through a shoot. It was getting ridiculous. For the record, I still believe film is far superior to digital imaging in many ways but ... "you can't stop progress". To me, there's still nothing like a perfectly exposed 4x5 transparency on a light table with a 30 power magnifier sitting next to it. But alas, things have moved on and the digital camera rules. Just before the switch, I was shooting everything with two Hasselblad bodies and four lenses. The difference in speed with the Hasselblad, as opposed to a 4x5 view camera is amazing. The image quality of the lenses are awesome. I really do miss shooting with that camera. In digital's defense, it's even faster than that. Shooting with large format cameras takes time. Just exposing the film could take a few minutes to a couple of hours depending on the shot. Making the move to the medium format systems expedited the exposure process because you no longer had to deal with large film holders, only compact film backs that clicked right on the camera body, and much shorter exposure times. Now, when the shot looks good in the little screen on the camera, or a laptop ..... your done. I think that's one of the best things about shooting digital. That, and being able to take small, annoying things out of the shot. Things like light switches, air conditioning registers, alarm sensors. I'm not one of the "we can fix it later" crowd. I still shoot 99% of the final image in camera. It's just too hard for an OCD-ish guy like me to pass up removing an ugly wall socket in a shot. In the 80's, shooters liked to put plants in front of things like that. It got to the point where looking at an interior design ad photo was like looking at a jungle with furniture. "Too much of a good thing?" I think so. But now, anything is possible with a little knowledge of photography and a lot of Photoshop classes. I am amazed by what's being done with digital images and a computer. My personal Photoshop skills are limited because I don't have the need to "put things together" later. Having done it that way for film makes it easier. I really should take some classes on the subject, just to broaden my horizons, but I find it hard to get excited about it

That must be my last kick and scream.

©2010 Tony Hernandez Photography

Tinker toys and the joys of worry free riding

We tinker because we must. I don't know about you, but I have to mess with stuff. There has to be "someway" to improve or understand better, everything I get my hands on. While sometimes visual, there also seems to be a "small amount" of operational tinkering that goes on with the things I choose to propel myself on. It started with my not so genuine "Schwinn Stingray styled" bicycle in the 70s. Ape hanger handlebars were all the rage back then. Everybody was doing it. But what was even cooler was ... boxed in handlebars! They were the same as ape hangers, only with less bend in them so the hand grips were much closer together. I'm pretty sure it was an "Easy Rider" thing. All of my friends wanted them but, we had no idea where they came from. I finally got up the nerve to ask the guy in the neighborhood where he got his. He laughed and said, "I did it myself". I was amazed! How did you do it? "Easy! You want me to do them on your bike?" The thought of having real "boxed in handlebars" was too good to pass up. I said "Sure"! He then proceeded to throw my mock Stingray on the ground, and began pushing on the bars until one of them bent. I was still in shock as he lifted my bike up, looked at it, threw it down again on the other side, and proceed to repeat the process I had just seen. Before I could totally freak out, he lifted the bike once again. Looked at it and rolled it over to me. There they were. The most perfect set of boxed in bars I had ever seen. Thinking back on it, they probably weren't all that perfect. But to me, I was way cool. I thanked him and rode off to show my friends. They were also astounded. "Where did you get those?" They asked. I told them the story and next thing you know, everyone's bike was on the ground getting "custom bars". From then on, whether it was bikes, skateboards, motorcycles, cars, everything had to be "tweaked". Just for the record, I am not a mechanical wizard. I know people who are and I am certainly not one of them. But I'm not a complete idiot when it comes to things like that. So off I go into the world of tinkering. My current tinker toy is a motorcycle. It's the most basic, simple, clean machine I could find. Nothing fancy. No flashing lights, windshields, heated grips, fuel injection, stereos ..... nothing. Just the basics, and that's the way I like it. It's amazing what you can do to this thing with the simplest tools. But the best part is, at least for me, is being able to do minor stuff yourself. The ability to make adjustments and understand why they were made is awesome. It reminds me of when we were skateboarders. We would build up our own boards. No Vans pro-shop for us ..... probably because there weren't any. We knew every nut, bolt and bearing. "Know thy equipment" we would always say. And now, it's the motorcycle. There's always something to do to it. I'm sure it was perfect to the guy who owned it before me, but there's always something I feel the need to change or improve. A new tail light. A carb adjustment. Changing the handlebars. Always something. If I was smart, I would have bought one of those new fangled, fuel injected, heated grip jobs and would have never had to worry about the stuff I do with my basic ride.

But seriously, where's the fun in that?