Journal of a professional freelance photographer in the Philippines

Monday, January 23, 2012

The Year of the Dragon

Chinese New Year in Binondo, Manila, the oldest Chinatown in the world.

Kung Hei Fat Choy!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

¨The best pictures last because they sing ...

... and some people will remember them as they remember songs. Maybe that´s a stretch. But I believe it; it works for me to think that way¨. - William Albert Allard

Friday, November 25, 2011

My coldest Winter was a Summer in San Francisco, said Mark Twain, and that could probably apply to Wellington too.

Like San Francisco, New Zealand's capital is a very cool city in every sense of the word cool. Cool because the chilly gushes of wind from the Cook Strait keep it that way, cool because of its overall vibe. Modern and dynamic but laid-back, with good museums and culture, fun bars and cafes, good restaurants. Friendly people, everyone seems to be into one sport or another. All of this by a very beautiful landscape, water ever-present.

While traveling for my project on rugby in New Zealand, I got a call from one of the photo editors at M, the weekly magazine of Le Monde. "Can you fly to Wellington and shoot something for us?"

Why, of course ...

Some photo assignments are more fun than others, and this one fell in the camp of the really fun ones. M has a section where a local who knows a city well, writer Eleanor Catton in this case, picks her five favourite spots. My job was to take photos of those places: a theater, a pizzeria, a bar, a pie shop, and a trendy street.

Camera in one hand, pizza, mince pie, flat white or beer in the other. Fun.

Eleanor Catton takes us to Wellington, Le Monde's on-line slide show.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Rugby World Cup 2011 - Final - All Blacks vs France

Congratulations to the All Blacks for becoming the World Champions, 24 years later, and to France for putting a good fight. After my previous comment, which came out a bit harsh on the French, this time I have to give them credit for falling with honor. In front they had the best team in the world.

More photos of rugby in New Zealand in my website.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Rugby World Cup 2011 - Semifinals

This past week-end, semifinals at Eden Park.

Next Sunday France and New Zealand, the All Blacks, will play the final of the 2011 Rugby World Cup. One of these two teams represents the greatness, the passion, the honor, the respect for the shirt one wears and for the legacy it carries, the love of rugby. The other one (at least in its current incarnation) represents the mediocrity, the lack of respect for the public and for its own colors, the search of the result no matter what. Two very different ways of seeing and living the most beautiful sport there is. Unless the Gods of rugby decide to play a big, cruel joke on rugby fans worldwide, we already have our Champion. Let's just hope the final result is a crushing victory for one, a humiliating defeat for the other. A lesson for decades to come.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Rugby World Cup 2011 - quarter finals

Some photos from last week-end, during the quarter finals of the Rugby World Cup 2011. Auckland is oozing rugby ...

It will only get better this week-end, with the semifinals.

Sunday, October 09, 2011

New Zealand's passion for rugby

My work on rugby in New Zealand was featured this week-end in the BBC website.

You can read the whole story here.

I am now back in Auckland to continue this project during the knock-out phase of the Rugby World Cup. Will post some new photos soon. Stay tuned!

Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Kia Rite! Kia Rite! Prepare yourself!

The Rugby World Cup in New Zealand is about to start. Rugby (or any other sport) does not get better than this.

Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Rugby in New Zealand

The Guardian - Weekend Magazine

The Guardian, in its Weekend Magazine, published this past Saturday one of the photos from my project on rugby in New Zealand.

Very timely, as the Rugby World Cup starts in New Zealand in two days.

Thursday, September 01, 2011

The hunter, hunted

The Spanish newspaper El Pais published last week one of the photos from my project about the catholic church in the Philippines, to illustrate an article about family planning in the country and how the church opposes it. I was happy they followed my suggestion and picked this photo, which illustrates that "war" in a non-literal way.

I took the photo last Easter in San Fernando, Pampanga, where real crucifixions are still done every year. Excellent photographer and friend Miguel Pereira was with me, and he took some photos of yours truly at work.

The hunter, hunted.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Recently featured in ...

The Travel Photographer

and Verve Photo.

I have been away from the blog for almost two months, as I had some computer problems while traveling. I'll now go back to some regular posting but wanted to mention these more or less recent features in two photography blogs I enjoy and respect. They chose to feature the two main projects I am working on at the moment: Rugby in New Zealand and the Catholic Church in the Philippines.

Thanks!

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Rugby in New Zealand

I am in New Zealand for the next six weeks, to continue shooting my project about rugby. As the country prepares to host the 2011 Rugby World Cup (September/October 2011) rugby is, more than ever, everywhere.

I have created a specific gallery in my website for this project: Rugby in New Zealand

Photos and text available for publication. Please get in touch if interested.

Sunday, May 01, 2011

Good Friday Crucifixions in the Philippines

Every Holy Week some twenty men from the city of San Fernando, in the Pampanga province, are crucified on Good Friday. When I write crucified I mean literally nailed to the cross. Many of the local young men also wander around town flagellating themselves until their backs are raw and bleeding.

The whole event was a mix of deep religious fervor, rite of passage and touristic attraction, with a splash of gore. Definitely not for the faint of heart.

While taking the photos and maybe to compensate, I could not take this song off my head. Perfect ending.

All photos © nacho hernandez. All rights reserved.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Manila 6 AM

Sunday, April 10, 2011

"If you can smell the street by looking at the photo

... it's a street photograph". - Bruce Gilden

Binondo, Manila's Chinatown © nacho hernandez

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Bondi Beach

When a country prints its currency in waterproof paper you know its people are serious about their relationship with the sea. In few places is this idyll with the big blue more present than in gorgeous Bondi, one of Sydney's Eastern beaches. In "Bon-dy" surf is king. Even its name, which in aboriginal means "the sound of water", speaks of good waves to catch. You'll see surfers running into the water just before sunrise and retire exhausted, with a big smile in their faces, long after the sun is gone. Only a few meters away from the beach, like an evolved species that left the sea long time ago, skateboarders "surf" in their own way.

But there is much more than surf to Bondi: trendy cafes, crazy partying, the odd charming bookstore, families and groups of friends enjoying the beach, children training to be the Ian Thorpes of tomorrow, sexy women jogging around, clad in impossibly tight running pants, lifeguards that would make David Hasselhoff blush in shame. Everyone is there, coexisting in a rare harmony. My kind of place.

Thursday, March 03, 2011

"Never show a picture editor a weak photo ...

... he may use it." - William Albert Allard

Sunday, February 27, 2011

People Power (in the Philippines)

Filipinos claim the "copyright" to people power revolutions. These days, as we watch dictators in Northern Africa fall one after another like domino pieces (cliche!), they seem to be thinking "been there, done that". Last Friday marked the 25th anniversary of the EDSA revolution that toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos and Filipinos came out "en masse" to celebrate.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

New colors

I have made some changes to the design my photography website. The main one is its color. Or maybe I should say its lack of color. Or, more correctly, the sum of all colors at the same time. Anyway, white is the new black ...

I hope you will enjoy it.

Thursday, February 03, 2011

Dragons and bunnies

At the Chinese New Year celebrations in Manila, today.
Happy year of the rabbit!

Saturday, January 29, 2011

"When people look at my pictures

I want them to feel the way they do when they want to read a line of a poem twice." - Robert Frank

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Seoul

I have finally edited and created a new gallery in my archive, with the photos of Seoul I took last year.

This is a city that combines, like few in the world, cutting edge modernity with respect for its heritage and history. Visually, a strange mix of Ridley Scott with a dash of Kurosawa.

Photos and text available for publication.