About the Author

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 has appeared in Time, Newsweek, The New York Times and international magazines, including Stern, and he has worked with lynda.com in producing the course Pitching Projects and Products to Executives. In 2008, Richard was awarded a national Emmy® award for the New Approaches to Documentary category for his work on the Mercury News video, Uprooted. In 2003, Richard was the recipient of the James K. Batten Knight Ridder Excellence Award. His work for the Mercury News has earned him two Pulitzer Prize nominations. His photography and multimedia work has won numerous awards on the national and regional level, including two Emmy® nominations. Richard was named Deputy Director of Photography and Multimedia after spearheading the creation of MercuryNewsPhoto.com. He has taught multimedia workshops for Stanford University, National Press Photographers Association, The Southern Short Course, National Association for Hispanic Journalists and National Association for Black Journalists. He has lectured at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Stanford University. A San Francisco State University journalism graduate and a guest instructor, he is currently a visiting fellow at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism supported by a Ford Foundation grant to produce digital news sites for San Francisco Bay Area communities.