Joseph Estrada: The Comeback Kid?

Photo: Nacho Hernandez for The International Herald Tribune

Joseph Estrada (aka Erap), a famous actor turned politician, became the 13th President of the Philippines in 1998. In 2001 he was ousted under accusations of corruption. In 2007 he was found guilty of plunder and sentenced to life in prison, but was later pardoned by current President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. This year the 72 year old Estrada has come back to films after more than two decades. He has also announced that he will run again for President in the 2010 elections, which has stirred a political debate on whether the Constitution allows it or not. In his own words, this will be “his final performance”.

In the photo, Joseph Estrada emulating Philippines’ darling during the filming of a fight scene for his new movie.

This photo was shot on assignment for the New York Times / International Herald Tribune. Read the full story.

Featured in The Travel Photographer

My website, in particular my project on the Western Sahara, was featured today in Tewfic El-Sawy's very popular The Travel Photographer blog.

Thanks to Tewfic. Visit his very interesting blog for anything related to travel and documentary photography.

A photographer in the Philippines

I am already in the Philippines, country which I now call home.

As usual, I am available for assignments. From Manila I have easy access to the Southeast Asia and Asia Pacific regions. Please contact me if you need photos from this part of the world.

For the moment I am trying to find my bearings (and an apartment) in Manila, but I'll be back soon posting regularly about new work and projects.

Stay tuned.

"Well I said anywhere, anywhere, anywhere I lay my head, boys
Well I gonna call my home"

Tom Waits

Rio 2016

Photo: © Nacho Hernandez

Congratulations to Rio de Janeiro, city which has just been nominated host of the 2016 Olympic Games. The other finalist was my hometown Madrid so my heart was a bit torn, but Rio and Brazil deserve this and I am sure that the 2016 games will be one big party. Hope to be there then.

Hallelujah

Photo: © Nacho Hernandez

I am back in Madrid for a month or so, before moving to the Philippines. I arrived in my hometown at the best of times, that is, when Leonard Cohen was visiting. Almost literally from the airport to the arena to watch an amazing, mind-blowing, soul-shaking concert.

Hallelujah, indeed.

Here are my two favorite versions of the, maybe, best song ever written:

Goodbye Rio, goodbye Ipanema

Photo: © Nacho Hernandez

Time to leave, after three months in Rio de Janeiro.
I will miss this rightly called "Cidade Maravilhosa". A lot.

Bad Waters

Photo: © Nacho Hernandez

The Tupi indians got it right when they named this beach Ipanema (Bad Waters).

Although the name originally referred to the lack of fish, it also applies to the treasonous undercurrents that often trap over-confident swimmers, sucking them towards the ocean.

Some of them (like today, in the image) have to be rescued by casting a net from a chopper, proving that there is some fish to catch in Ipanema, after all ...

World Photography Day

Photo: © Nacho Hernandez

Apparently today is World Photography Day, whatever that may mean.

Go out and take a photo to celebrate.

Maracanã

Photo: © Nacho Hernandez

If football is a religion in Brazil, Maracanã stadium in Rio de Janeiro is its Sanctum Sanctorum. Most major teams from Rio play in this municipal stadium, one of the biggest in the world. Among them is Flamengo, whose supporters claim to be "a maior torcida do mundo", the biggest fan base in the world.

The keepers of the flame ...

Lazy Sunday afternoon in Rio

Photo: © Nacho Hernandez

One of my Sunday rituals while living in the United States was to buy the New York Times and the Washington Post (a few kilos of journalism), and spend a lazy afternoon reading on the couch, sipping coffee or tea.

Now in Rio, I have realized that if I substitute the "Times" and the "Post" for "a Folha" and "o Globo", the coffee for a coconut or a caipirinha and the couch for a chair on nearby Ipanema beach, Sundays get even more relaxing.

The beautiful Rio winter light helps, of course ...

Apollo 11

Photo: © Nacho Hernandez

Exactly forty years ago today, the command module of the Apollo 11 was orbiting the Moon with Michael Collins on board, while his colleagues Neil Amstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin did the original "Moon Walk".

Today, the only section of the Apollo 11 that came back to Earth greets visitors at the entrance of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC (a museum not to be missed if you are in that town).

World Refugee Day

Photo: © Nacho Hernandez

Today is World Refugee Day. According to the UN Refugee Agency there are 42 millions of forcibly displaced people worldwide.

In the image Raul, a young Saharawi living in the Smara refugee camp near Tindouf, in Algeria. Already two generations of Saharawis have been born as refugees in the Tindouf camps. Some 150,000 Saharawi people survive there under very harsh conditions, waiting and hoping to go back to their homeland the Western Sahara one day. They have been waiting for over 30 years now.

More photos from the Saharawi refugee camps and the Western Sahara in my website.

Arpoador - Rio de Janeiro

Photo: © Nacho Hernandez

Arpoador (also known as Arpex by the local crowd) is a rock / beach in Ipanema, and a major surf spot in Rio de Janeiro.

Cariocas also claim that it offers one of the best sunset views in town.

Surf in Rio

Photo: © Nacho Hernandez

Surf's up.

I am finally in Rio de Janeiro, where I'll be shooting and available for assignments during the next three months (June, July and August) .

Winter is coming but the light is great ...

Farewell Washington DC

Photo: © Nacho Hernandez

As I pack and mop my own floors I realize two things:
1. I have accumulated too much junk over the years.
2. I will really miss this city.

I was going to do a list of all the things I like best and least in Washington but, the balance is so overwhelmingly positive that I will just say this: I will always carry this city in my heart.

That said, I am really looking forward to the future. During the next three months I will be based in Rio de Janeiro, and in September I will move to Manila, from where I will cover Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

Stay tuned!

Rio de Janeiro

Photo: © Nacho Hernandez

I will be based in Rio de Janeiro and available for assignments during the months of June, July and August. Please send me an email if you will need images from this city.

Some photos from Rio already available in my website's archive.

In the photo, Ipanema beach.

March on the Pentagon

Photo: © Nacho Hernandez

Last Saturday the streets of Washington DC saw the first big demonstration since Barack Obama is President. March 21st was the 6th anniversary of the beginning of the war in Iraq and thousands of protesters marched to the Pentagon to mark the date.

In the image, a demonstrator carries the American flag upside-down, a code for "distress".

More images of demonstrations in the streets of Washington in my website.

Tibet

Photo: © Nacho Hernandez

Today, at a demonstration in front of the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC. March 10th 2009 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Tibetan's uprising in Lhasa, in 1959, an event that would ultimately lead to the flight of the Dalai Lama and thousands of Tibetans into exile.

Protest in Washington DC

Photo: © Nacho Hernandez

Environmental groups lead by Greenpeace organized a march and a civil disobedience act in Washington yesterday. They blocked the entrances to the coal plant that heats the Capitol and the Congress office buildings, as a symbol of their fight against coal energy and to raise awareness about climate change. Very fittingly, when talking about climate change, we had one of the coldest days of the year (in March), and a snow blizzard during the night.

The streets of Washington continue to be a theater where the most diverse groups play out their frustrations regularly. You can see more images of protests in Washington in my website.

Western Sahara

Photo: © Nacho Hernandez

I recently spent a week traveling in the Western Sahara (in the part not occupied by Morocco), taking photos for my ongoing project on the Sahrawi people. During this trip I had a taste of the "desert hospitality" and the confirmation that the Sahrawi are some of the friendliest people on earth.

The Sahrawi are the descendants of the "Children of the Clouds", desert nomads who in the past would roam the Sahara with their herds, following clouds laden with rain. For over thirty years now they have been chasing an equally elusive goal: independence for their homeland, first a Spanish colony and since 1975 occupied by Morocco. Some 150,000 Sahrawi live in the bleak refugee camps near the Algerian border town of Tinduf. Others live under Moroccan control in the Western Sahara, and some still live as nomads in the part of the Western Sahara not controlled by Morocco. They are all waiting for the UN-sanctioned referendum on independence to take place, a referendum stalled by Morocco.

You can see a gallery of photos from the Western Sahara and the Tindouf refugee camps in my website. More photos of the Sahrawi refugee camps and from the Western Sahara available in my archive.

Photos and texts available for publication. Please send me an email if interested.

A new dawn for the USA?

Photo: © Nacho Hernandez

A whoosh of fresh air blew through Washington DC this past week. 1.20.2009 will be remembered as the day when the system in this country was rebooted. It needed it badly.

I think that Barack Obama is honest, committed and has common sense by spades. He is cool too. A big, big change. The bad news for him is that the country is in shambles and the expectations are too high. The good news is that the bar has been set so low in the last eight years that it is almost impossible to do a worse job as President than his predecessor. Even if he tried. So, best of luck to Obama. We all need him to succeed.

In the image, the Washington Monument at dawn, a few hours before Barack Hussein Obama was sworn in as 44th President of the United States of America. More images from inauguration week in my website www.nachohernandez.net

Obama's inauguration

Photo: © Nacho Hernandez

Washington is getting ready for Obama's inauguration. Tomorrow will be one of the biggest days in the history of the United States, and I will be witnessing and taking images of this historic day. Please send me an email if you need photos from the inauguration ceremony at the Mall in Washington DC.

Western Sahara

Photo: © Nacho Hernandez

From January 3-10 I will be in the Sahrawi refugee camps of Tindouf, Algeria, and in the Western Sahara, working on my ongoing project on the Sahrawi people. Please send me an email if you need photos.

Paris, Museum of quai Branly

Photo: © Nacho Hernandez

As if Paris needed more museums ...
The excellent quai Branly museum of indigenous art is the latest addition. Well worth a visit.

Notre Dame de Paris

Photo: © Nacho Hernandez

Art and coffee

Photo: © Nacho Hernandez

El Circulo de Bellas Artes is one of my favourite spots in Madrid. Many floors with exhibitions, a rooftop with amazing views of the city, and one of the best cafes in town. Get a table by the huge windows and watch life passing by ...

Madrid, Paris

Photo: © Nacho Hernandez


I am shooting in Madrid until December 25th, and then in Paris until January 2nd. Please send me an email if you need specific images from any of these two cities.

Some images from Paris and Madrid already available in my archive.

Lisbon, the city of light (and shadows)

Images from my trip to Lisbon last Summer.

All photos available for licensing. Check them out at my website, or directly in my archive by clicking on a photo.

Josef Koudelka

Photo: © Nacho Hernandez
(Photo in background: © Josef Koudelka)


Josef Koudelka, member of Magnum, last night at an exhibition of the famous photos he took in Prague in 1968. This was a great opportunity to listen to one of the legends of photography talking about his work.

Check out his portfolio.

Tuscany

I spent a week in Tuscany this Summer, taking a workshop with photographer David Alan Harvey, of National Geographic fame and a member of Magnum photo agency (hopefully some of his magic rubbed off).

You can also access my photos from Tuscany going to my archive.