12 Years Of Danny Trejo Photographs

All Photos: Alan Mercer

I first became aware of Danny Trejo in 1995 when I saw his performance in Robert Rodriquez's 'Desperado.'  Considering the film starred Antonio Banderas and a newly discovered Salma Hayek, the fact that I noticed Danny says a lot, but I did!  I said to myself, "That guy is a star already!" 

Jump ahead to May 2000 when Danny is in Austin, Texas filming another Robert Rodriquez film, 'Spy Kids.'  I really desire to get into Celebrity portraiture at this time and who better to start with than Danny.  I wrote his agent and asked her what were the chances of getting Danny in front of my camera lens?  Turns out they were pretty good.

Living in Dallas at the time, I drove to Austin for my first photo session with someone from the movies!  It was all very exciting.  It happened to be Danny's birthday, so we even had a little party on the set where I got to hang out with Robert and Antonio Banderas!!!  It was so much fun and they were all extra nice.  To this day I believe it is the best set I have ever been on, minus the tension and stress so common on many sets. 

I moved to Los Angeles the next year and started seeing Danny regularly and taking shots whenever I could.  I have seen my photos of Danny published all over the world since these days and eighteen of these photos were used in the documentary on Danny's life 'CHAMPION" made in 2005 by Joe Eckardt. 

Next week on this blog I will have all new photos taken in June of 2011 and our conversation as we catch up.  I'm thrilled for all the success Danny has had in the past twelve years.  No one deserves it more.