Inspiring Conversations with Sergio Hernandez of Hernandez Production

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sergio Hernandez.

Hi Sergio, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was the top photo-scanning technician right out of high school. I was scanning old printed photos of celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Michael Jackson and more and turning them into digital. To everyone’s surprise, when the company started downsizing, the company decided I was one of the ones to be let go. The supervisor was in tears as he told me that I was being let go and later decided he quit due to the stress they gave him in laying a few of us off.

After being let go, I didn’t have a backup plan. I had just purchased my first car and was completely lost. So, I decided to take a break from work, bank on my savings and just reflect. As I was reflecting, I would take photos and videos of my activities and my friend, a 10yr professional photographer, recommended me to look into photography. I took his advice and in 2014 on Black Friday at 3am I got my first camera bundle.

I had no idea that camera would be the start of this amazing journey I’m in. I was young and eager to learn and capture ideas in my head and turn them into reality. Church was where I got the most practice for an entire year. That’s where I found my true mentor. He’s an atheist but enjoys the people at the church. He looks intimidating to walk up to, but one day, during church service, I took a deep breath and thought, “well, here goes nothing”. I walked up to him, introduced myself and asked him if I could shadow him. he responded with. “I will take you under my wing under one condition. Don’t waste my f*cking time”. I agreed and he immediately had me help with set up his gear.

The day I knew this is what I wanted to do for as long as I could is when I filmed, for free, the baptism of our pastor’s daughter. I filmed it without them having a knowledge that I was and the following week, the pastor’s wife came up to me, gave me the biggest hug and said: “thank you for capturing that special moment, we will forever cherish what you created”. I turn to my mentor and, word for word, told him “That’s it, my passion is this”.

New York, Paris, Cabo, San Fransisco, Florida, Horseshoe Bend and soon Canada and Italy are some places I have been able to go to capture incredibly beautiful moments.

I never had a good relationship with my dad. He recently passed and I had 0 feelings or thoughts about it. Not to sound heartless but I just didn’t want any connection with him because of what he did to my mother and myself. Always taking time to speak with my siblings and the one time he calls me, he calls me to ask for my brother’s new phone number. The reason I mention him is because my mother later told me my dad used to be a photographer. That pained me to hear because again, I wanted nothing in connection with him. But I decided to be better. To take my last name and make it turn it into something great.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I needed to make money to survive. I got my camera bundle with a credit card and knew I wanted to pursue photography but I also knew I needed money for rent and food. That’s it. Rent and food is all I needed and thought about while pursuing photography.

I found a job that allowed me to take the weekends off to assist my mentor on the weekends. I literally made enough for rent and food. No date nights, no money for fun with friends. Rice and Beans was the theme.

Every single day I would come out of work and drive straight to Long Beach. Every. Single. Day. Just to learn and practice. Come home late at night to do it again the next day.

Assisting means carrying heavy gear, taking care of the couple and whatever the lead photographer needs, you are there to help. Well, I knew I needed to create footage to promote myself. So, with the couple’s permission, I shot three different weddings with my personal gear while still assisting my mentor. That means carrying his heavy gear, taking care of the clients, taking care of my mentors needs all while carrying my gear and filming a quality wedding film for free just to have content to promote.

I don’t envy my past self but when I look back, I’m beyond happy I did what I did.

As you know, we’re big fans of Hernandez Production. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
“A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.” Weddings, Real Estate, Fashion, Headshots, Family, Grads, Corporate. Photography or Cinema. Need a promo video of your company? Getting married to your best friend? Need a fashion portfolio for Hollywood? We can do it all for you.

Comfort is the enemy of progress so no matter the challenge, we will take it on and do our absolute best to give you the highest quality possible.

Our turnaround time is next level. Our wedding clients are shocked how quickly they receive their content. Our headshots usually take hours after finishing the session.

Why are we so fast? Because we enjoy the entire process of our field. From the prep work before the shoot, the day of the shoot and post-production. Every single step in important but most of all, we enjoy doing it. We cannot wait to work on the content we just captured and the excited/happy feeling of our clients after receiving the content is what we strive for.

I’ve always said. If I could pay my bills with the joy my clients feel after delivering the product, I would live happily.

So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
My clients being happy with the product we provide for them. That is the upmost importance to me. There’s no me without my clients and out of the thousands of other creators out there, they choose me.

When you make a client happy with your work, they become recurring clients. They also become a referral machines. New clients come from current clients and trust me when they are happy. They are excited to refer you to their friends and family.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.HernandezProduction.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/hernandezproduction
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SergioHernandezProduction

Image Credits
All image Credits are Hernandez Production