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Christina Koci Hernandez |
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Biography: Christina Koci Hernandez worked for the 13 years as an award-winning staff photojournalist for both the San Francisco Examiner and the San Francisco Chronicle, she recently left to pursue her personal fine art projects on a full-time basis. Her career in editorial was enriching and allowed Christina to hone her personal vision, with images also appearing in the New Yorker, the New York Times, Editor and Publisher, Le Monde and Philadelphia Inquirer. Her current fine art projects are personal documentary journeys as voyeur into secret worlds: Venues where people change identities from day to night. Christina received her BA in photojournalism from San Francisco State University.
I have always been drawn to lives that border on mystery. My first instinct is to beg for permission to enter worlds least familiar to me, reveling in the foreign experiences. I love the challenge of the unexpected, and work best in the medium of documentary photography. Whereas many photographers are compelled to stage their models, my senses are sharpened by the spontaneous experiences around me. The series "Tease" explores the neo-burlesque movement and the opportunity it gives women to explore fantasy. The revival of this performance art brings back subtlety to seduction Using only available light with low shutter speeds and fast film, my goal was capture the mood of the night and isolate the dancer, who works between the light and the shadows. Lucha Libre wrestlers employ physical theater to explore the archetypes of good and evil. And in both cases, the audiences allow themselves to participate on an emotional level. Although it is understood that the sagas observed are a bluff, the passions from the crowd are in no way diminished. Surprisingly brash words are hurled at the wrestlers, fists flying in the air, and voices becoming hoarse from screaming. In many ways, the ring is a convenient domain where our personal demons and desires can confront one another. Ambiguous Times explores personal isolation in the American city. The images play with the urban landscape as a theater in which characters come and go. Although a city can be characterized as a lonely place, it is more importantly, grounds for potential. In reaction to my career as a photojournalist, using the latest digital equipment and technology, I took to the streets with a plastic camera and black and white film. This method allowed me to be spontaneous and unobstructed in my photography. I had the luxury of reacting to interesting situations quickly, rarely even looking through the viewfinder. No deadlines loomed and I was free to experiment, fail and find my vision. My reward was making images cued by instinct, caring little about what was captured on the film. This exercise brought me back to why I was drawn to photography: an opportunity to be and work in the moment. |