It’s the crack of Dawn in Brooklyn. Admittedly, I don’t know Brooklyn all that well. I’ve been a queens guy for the last decade and change, so when Tavia brought me on to photograph one of her illustrious clients, RIO Olympics 2016 Mexican Pentathlete star Ismael Hernandez in Brooklyn, I thought, ok, great… I’ll come up the concept and story. You style him and let me know where he runs in BK.
So, leaving queens, I make the crack of dawn trek down to dumbo, which was actually brooklyn heights, and got to the location early to setup, Scout and said aloud, to no one …
Where’s the XXXX track?
I was, in a word, pissed. I’m in Brooklyn, I should have done my homework and googled Brooklyn Promenade, but was in awe of whom I was about to capture and simply hadn’t. It was September of 2023 and I had just gotten off the road. Exhausted, it was just me and Tavia with Ismael. An hour of Golden Light and an Olympic pentathlete star. Seemed easy enough. And it was, once I got over my little inner tantrum. But still…
The 2024 Olympics was what, a month ago? …and it got me thinking, as it did with Ismael, …what next? Where does your career/life take you post Olympics and training for what often appears to be the majority of your life up until that point?
It was my first time working with an Olympian, and despite the early personal drama that morning, it was an exciting moment. An Olympian stood before me, and I before an Olympian. This man was the pinacle of excellence for Mexico in 2016, bringing home the Bronze medal. What was I going to say, not only to him, but in his photos?
Thankfully Ismael is one of the kindest persons you’ll ever meet. Down to earth, wise and extremely focused, this was a collaboration you dream of, especially when you’re facing a time clock of a different kind, the Sun.
Bouncing ideas off of Tavia before the shoot, we ran with the duality of man. That you can never take the runner, the Olympian, out of the man, regardless of uniform. He’s always running, and in this city, that’s a great way to perform. -AK
