On Assignment
Gabriel Luis Acosta was a staff photographer for The San Bernardino Sun from 1991 until his untimely death in 2013. Gabe, as we all knew him, was an amazing well accomplished photographer. He started out as a painter before falling in love with the art of photography. Something we both had in common. We both also went to the same school for our undergraduate degree, Cal State San Bernardino. I too worked at The San Bernardino Sun, which is of course where I met him.
Gabe and I worked together for more than five years, and in that time, he taught me countless skills and showed me too many pointers on how to be a better photographer. The friendship was definitely reciprocal though as I showed him many new tricks with digital, and even taught him a few new things in studio lighting. Gabe was an amazing mentor, and I looked to him as though he was more of an older brother type. In fact, I am only the professor I am now because Gabe told me I had to leave the paper and go to grad school to get my MFA.
After Gabe passed, we curated a show of his work to be displayed at the Robert and Frances Fullerton Museum of Art. While going through his work I pulled this image here as a definite finalist to be shown. It wasn’t one of his award-winning shots, or some breaking news but just a simple silhouette of some punk rocker out for the night. Why this one? Well glad you asked, simply because of the title or rather the title it should have had.
When Gabe was doing the cutline for this image, the information that goes below a photo in a newspaper that tells you the who what where and why, he wrote “guy with mohawk.” I told Gabe that it was not a mohawk but liberty spikes. He said nah, that no one would know what that is. And it went to press with that. I always gave him a hard time about that since the information was wrong, and we are in the business of being right.
So, in honor of my good friend Gabe, I present “Guy with Liberty Spikes.”
Thanks for all the good times Gabe. I’ll see you when I see you.
-Tony
Eric Reed
Stan Lim
Eric Reed
Stan Lim
Eric Reed
Stan Lim
Jennifer Maher
Watchara Phomicinda
Jennifer Maher
Jennifer Maher
Watchara Phomicinda
Cindy Yamanaka
Stan Lim
Watchara Phomicinda
John Valenzuela
Sarah Alvarado
John Valenzuela
Stan Lim
Terry Pierson
Keith Birmingham
Terry Pierson
Keith Birmingham
Will Lester
Will Lester
Sarah Alvarado
Will Lester
Will Lester
Will Lester
Will Lester
Will Lester
Sarah Alvarado
Will Lester
Sarah Alvarado
Watchara Phomicinda