There has always been one person capturing some of the most important moments of the school year from afar, and many haven’t even noticed the camera.
Junior Miguel Hernandez was a new face to the student body this year when he moved back to Grand Rapids after living in Mexico most of his life. His cousin, junior Zeke Padilla, was already a student enrolled at Northview. It was only fitting that Hernandez ended up here as well.
“He’s done very well establishing himself and he has made a lot of new friends. Everything I’ve heard from him has been positive,” Padilla said.
When Hernandez moved back to America, one of his other cousins had a camera that was no longer in use and gave it a new life by gifting it to him. Hernandez was always into film-making, but never tried out photography before, and he didn’t for the first two months he had the camera.
In time, Padilla went to Hernandez around the start of soccer season and asked if he could take pictures at his games, mainly as a suggestion on where to start on Hernandez’s newfound hobby. Even with the push he gave, Padilla knew that challenges may arise for Hernandez, but he was confident that he would excel past them, no problem.
“I think photography is a great passion for him. He loves trying new things and he is also very comfortable with failure,” Padilla said. “He understands that you’re going to get bad photos and make small mistakes, but he’s always looking for a solution.”
Hernandez ended up loving the experience he received from the game and realized that this was something he could continue to pursue.
“It was my first time touching a camera and I was like, ‘Okay I love this and I want to do it again and again,’” Hernandez said.
From there, Hernandez started to photograph the football team after attending his first game at Forest Hills Central. Afterwards, he continued to take pictures of the soccer team and eventually found himself on the sidelines of the basketball court this winter.
“I really love to take pictures of sports because it’s student centered,” Hernandez said.” I can take pictures of a lot of [different] people who are involved.”
Before Hernandez picked up photography, he executed his love for film-making during the pandemic by taking on videography. His first video was a project about switching to online school when COVID first ran rampant, writing and executing the entire video on his own.
His passion for videography didn’t run dry after he started photography.
On top of taking pictures of the boys basketball team, Hernandez began to go along for the ride, taking video footage of them at the majority of their games as they knocked down opponent after opponent. Hernandez plans to compile their game footage, along with student interviews, in order to create an end of the season hype video to share with the student body.
“I think that the team that we currently have will not be [at] Northview again for a long time and I think it is an opportunity that if I didn’t take now, it would never return,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez also found a niche in helping out the Drama Club with picture and video promotion for the fall play and the spring musical in collaboration with photographer Shannon Heldt.
“It’s been so great to see [Hernandez] bring his talents to this department, his enthusiasm is infectious and his desire to help however he can to bring these shows to life has helped elevate what we do so much,” senior and Drama Club president Marc Stoufer said. “He clearly has such an eye for photography and filmmaking, and I know that we all greatly appreciate his fantastic contributions.”
Photography and videography take time and dedication to learn, many times boiling down to simple trial and error, especially when self-taught.
“He never gives up on his craft and I really respect him for that,” Padilla said. “He could have very well given up at many moments but he kept exploring and learning.”
But Hernandez isn’t just a “behind the scenes” kind of guy. Admittedly, growing up, Hernandez wanted to be an actor. So when he came to Northview, he found the perfect opportunity to perform and act in front of an audience. This past fall, he auditioned and received various small roles in the play, The Skin of Our Teeth.
“When I came here, I saw the Drama Club, and I said ‘Oh my gosh, this is my opportunity,’ and I really loved it,” Hernandez said. “I did it to show my mom that I really like it and that this is my thing.”
As for the future, Hernandez is thinking about stepping back from videography and photography next fall to enjoy his senior year and get more involved in the performing aspect of the Drama Department.
“I might take a little rest my senior year and probably do both [the play and the musical], and spend more time with the high school experience,” Hernandez said. “I want to leave with a little bit of the experience.”
While Hernandez might hang up the camera and put this particular passion on the back burner for a while, he has no plan to give it up indefinitely.
“I really want to keep doing it my whole life,” Hernandez said. “The reason why I think I love consuming, creating and analyzing movies is because it was what I have been doing for as long as I can remember. The act of consuming movies makes me feel like myself and I feel movies are part of me.”
Even though he’s the one behind the camera, Hernandez can’t help but feel that he is the one in front of it.
“If I can describe this experience in one sentence, it’s ‘living the dream.’ Many times when I went to sleep, I dreamed that I was in an American high school and [when I came here], each of my expectations were fulfilled,” Hernandez said. “I really feel like I’m in a movie.”
