Award-winning Multimedia Journalist, Street Photographer, and Professor: Interview with Richard “Koci” Hernandez from The Mobile Photo Group

Koci Hernandez

(All photographs in this article copyrighted by Richard “Koci” Hernandez)

Eric’s Note: I was introduced to the work of Richard “Koci” Hernandez by two of my good friends, Misho Baranovic and Oliver Lang from The Mobile Photo Group. What first struck me about Koci’s work is the depth, soul, and the mood of his beautifully-crafted black and white images. Not only that, but all of the street photography done is on his iPhone!

Richard “Koci” Hernandez is a national Emmy® award-winning video and multimedia producer who worked as a photographer at the San Jose Mercury News for 15 years. His work for the Mercury News has earned him two Pulitzer Prize nominations and was awarded a national Emmy® award for the New Approaches to Documentary category for his work on the film, Uprooted. His work has appeared in Time, Newsweek, The New York Times and international magazines, including Stern, and he has worked with lynda.com to produce a course on iPhoneography, iPhone Photography, from Shooting to Storytelling.

To read more about the man behind the camera, check out my interview with him below!

Video Interview with Anton Kawasaki about Instagram and the Future of Mobile Photography

Anton Kawasaki is a member of The Mobile Photo Group and also a street photographer based in NYC. He uses the iPhone more or less exclusively for his work, and started shooting around the same time that Sion Fullana started as well. Coming from a nearly a 20-year background in the comic book industry and also being an editor, his photos of NYC are colorful, vivid, and introspective. He gets close both emotionally and physically to his subjects, and is able to capture those wonderful “decisive moments” which bring a little humanity and life into the crazy life of the big apple.

In this interview we discuss an article he wrote, “Is Instagram Defining, and Therefore Ruining, Mobile Photography?” and get more in-depth about his thoughts.

* Once again, the interview was done in a crowded and loud cafe (it is impossible to find anywhere quiet in NYC) so pardon the excessive noise! 

Photos by Anton

Anton Kawasaki