Miami Heat Advance to Eastern Conference Finals

Click HERE to view a Miami Herald Photo Gallery
by Charles Trainor Jr. and Al Diaz

Dwyane Wade leads Miami Heat over Indiana Pacers to advance to Eastern Conference Finals

Dwyane Wade scores game-high 41 points, grabs 10 rebounds as Heat  closes out Pacers in six to return to Eastern Conference finals



BY JOSEPH GOODMAN
JGOODMAN@MIAMIHERALD.COM
INDIANAPOLIS -- This was Dwyane Wade’s very best — his Ninth Symphony, his Ulysses, his roundhouse, double-legged dropkick from the top rope.

In a rough-and-tumble second-round series that featured blood and flagrant fouls, cheap shots and suspensions, Wade delivered the final blow Thursday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

He scored 41 points in the decisive game of the series, leading the Heat into the Eastern Conference finals with a 105-93 victory against the Pacers.

Although the series was peppered with hard fouls and trash talk throughout, there was none of that in the final game. There was just a whole lot of Wade doing things that reminded all that watched of the 2006 NBA Finals and delivering a performance that will live forever.
READ MORE HERE.

Click HERE to view a Miami Herald Photo Gallery 

by Charles Trainor Jr. and Al Diaz

Indiana's Photo Arsenal Depot, Robert's Camera

Pacers fan, Matt O'Brien at Robert's Camera also known as Robert's Distributors

Stopped at Robert's Camera, Indiana's photo arsenal depot and met up with Jody Grober and Matt O'Brien. Charlie Trainor and I are on our way to Bankers Life Fieldhouse right down the street from Robert's for tonight's game, Round 2, Game 6 of the NBA Playoffs between the Miami Heat and the Indiana Pacers.  Watch for our tweets with game photos on twitter from @CTJphoto and @aldiazphoto.  I'll also have links to a gallery of images posted on MiamiHerald.com

Al Diaz and Jody Grober before the game at Robert's Camera also known as Robert's Distributors

Phone Photo Apps!

The Brownie & Instagram 

By Rick McCawley 
rickmccawley@gmail.com
Not since the introduction of the Kodak Brownie has the popularity of photography exploded this dramatically, this time it's times a billion. 

I'm of course talking about smart phones, but more specifically Instagram, Facebook and the iPhone. 40 Million users on Instagram, 900 million on Facebook, and the iPhone dominates Flickr as the most used device beating all other cameras combined in shear numbers of photos produced with it.

Photography as a social activity, is fueled by the simplicity, "You push the button, We do the rest" - Kodak, and by it's ability to communicate complex ideas not bound by language, "A picture is worth a thousand words…in every language". 

So why is Instagram worth $1 Billion dollars Facebook paid for it. Because it covers up the flaws of the amateur with the beauty of nostalgia, emotion and mood, enhanced by it's filters. Whether is '70's Instamatic, lens flare, Black & White, Instagram adds a layer that allows an amateur to express how they feel thru an image. 

Suddenly the overexposed photo of a building has a haunting look of a bygone era, and the blurry photo of a friend the emotion of freedom and happiness. 

So as a professional what should I make of all this? Well the first Brownie brought an appreciation of the Photograph to the masses and what followed was the Golden Age of Photography. Amateurs making tons of photos to share will quickly respect the professionals ability to make great photographs everyday. 

Exxxotica Expo

Magic and Spyda perform at Exxxotica Expo.

 The Gospel at Exxxotica Expo

A group of evangelical Christians traveled to this weekend’s Exxxotica in Miami Beach to share the gospel and help porn addicts. To view a Miami Herald photo gallery CLICK HERE. 

Abby De La Fuente, at right, with XXXchurch.com talks with GlitterGore GoGo
performers at Exxxotica.

BY KRISTOFER RIOS
KRIOS@MIAMIHERALD.COM 

This year’s Exxxotica expo at the Miami Beach Convention Center brought out the regulars. There were married couples, partners and friends looking to explore themes that on any other Saturday would normally seem taboo. Vendors sold the latest adult DVDs and toys while adult film stars signed autographs for their adoring fans.

And then there was Ryan Russell, who was there to sell a different kind of love.

For at least a decade, Russell and other members of XXXchurch.com have participated in adult industry expos around the world, preaching about the dangers of pornography addiction. Members of the evangelical Christian organization stood in front of signs that stated “Jesus Loves Porn Stars” and encouraged conference participants to hop in a video booth and talk about their experience with pornography. READ MORE HERE

Adult film actor Ron Jeremy plays a game of ping pong at the Expo.

To see a Miami Herald photo gallery of Exxxotica Expo CLICK HERE.

Wade Missed but I Didn't

The Pacers even the series 1-1 as the Miami Heat can't keep pace. 

At the AmericanAirlines Arena still photographers are not allowed to mount remote cameras at the basket or in the rafters except for NBA photographers. Frustrating when the official often stands right in front of you as LeBron James and Dwyane Wade work the paint. 

To get around that I keep a third body on the floor next to me pre-focused and angled at the basket. I never saw Wade go up for this shot late in the game but I anticipated it, triggered the remote and captured the moment. Wade missed but I didn't.

To see more images by Miami photojournalists Al Diaz, David Santiago and Charles Trainor Jr. visit the Miami Herald photo gallery.

BY JOSEPH GOODMAN 

JGOODMAN@MIAMIHERALD.COM  

Two players can’t be better than an entire team every night.

In the Heat’s first full game without forward Chris Bosh, Miami lost to the Pacers 78-75 in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Tuesday night. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, who carried the Heat to victory in Game 1 after Bosh went down with an injury, combined for 52 points in Game 2, but it wasn’t enough to offset a horrendous offensive effort from the rest of the team. Read more here:

Miami Heat vs Indiana Pacers Game 2

Watch for images from Tuesday nights game of the Miami Heat as they host the Indiana Pacers for Round 2 Game 2 of the 2012 NBA Playoffs. Follow Charles Trainor Jr. and Al Diaz on Twitter at @CTJPhoto and @ALDIAZPhoto as they cover the game and post online photo galleries for The Miami Herald.

Heat Beat Knicks Advance to Next Round

Miami Heat's LeBron James scores over Knick defenders in
the second quarter of Game 5 in the first round of the NBA Playoffs

View a Miami Herald photo gallery of Miami Heat vs New York Knicks in game five. CLICK HERE.

The Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade passes to Chris Bosh to score in the second quarter.

The Heat's LeBron James at mid-court with the Knicks Amar'e Stoudemire at mid-court after the Heat win 106-94 to finish the series

CLICK HERE for Miami Herald photography gallery.

10 Tips for Photojournalism Students: How to Succeed Visually and Financially

Students attending the lecture delivered by photojournalist Al Diaz at the SPJ Region 3 Conference received a copy of the National Press Photographers Association's News Photographer magazine. Perfect timing for the cover story on Freelancing in 2012 Who Would Want To? and What Does it Take to Survive? Think Tank Photo founder Deanne Fitzmaurice is seen on the cover. The ladies are holding Digital Holster camera bags provided by the seminar's sponsor Think Tank Photo.

By Daniel Reimold

dreimold@gmail.com

By his own admission, Al Diaz shoots better than he speaks.  The award-winning photojournalist and Miami Herald staffer began his presentation at a recent SPJ Region 3 Conference at the University of Florida by admitting that while his oratorical skills may lack gusto he hoped the photos he planned to show and the stories behind them would resonate.

And they did. Diaz delivered a kick-butt talk with stirring images to boot.  Below is a top 10 sampling of the wisdom and witticisms he shared with j-students, profs., and advisers. 

10 Steps to Succeed as a Photojournalist in 2012

1) When you wake up, consider yourself on assignment.  Shoot every day.  As Diaz put it, “Don’t just shoot for class.  Shoot for yourself.”  Early in the talk, Diaz mentioned with a smile that when people ask him when he stops shooting, his two-word answer: “I don’t.”  People laughed when he said it.  But I didn’t get the impression he was joking.

2) Develop your own style and vision, while also mastering the basics.  Take visual arts classes.  And visit museums to get a firsthand glimpse of how artists capture and present elements such as lighting, composition, and depth of field.

3) Embrace photojournalism as a business.  The days of surviving and thriving as simply a staff photographer at a single news outlet are over.  Set up multiple revenue streams that include editorial and commercial work such as wedding photography, holiday and business portraits.

4) Self-promote, humbly not arrogantly.  Set up a professional website featuring a portfolio of your work.  Be present and active on social media.  Blog within reason about assignments and photojournalism news of the day.

5) Retain the rights to your images.  Diaz repeatedly stressed the importance of copyrighting your work, along with keeping track of the whereabouts and use of your older, archived shots.

The message featured beneath images on his own site:  
“COPYRIGHT NOTICE All multimedia content, photographs, text, video, sound and music within ALDIAZPHOTO.com is copyright protected by Miami photojournalist Al Diaz and/or the stated publication and are presented for web browser viewing only. No images are within public domain. Nothing contained within this site may be reproduced, downloaded, stored, copied, manipulated or altered for broadcast or publication. Nothing may be redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium  without prior written permission from Al Diaz and/or the stated publication. Using any image as the base for another illustration or graphic content, including photography, is a violation of copyright and intellectual property laws.”

6) Enmesh yourself within the larger photography community.  He recommended joining the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA), Editorial Photographers, the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), and Professional Photographers of America (PPA).

7) Don’t wait to be handed an assignment.  Develop, pitch, and undertake your own projects, for your employer and yourself.  Advantages: You get the chance to follow your passions and do work you’re excited about.  You can earn a rep as an independent thinker, someone with the foresight to simply be let loose on the waiting-to-be-photographed world.  You have the opportunity to stand out by building up a body of work that represents a particular style or content niche.  And you are motivated to stay visually sharp, always looking for the next potential project.

8) Learn and love video along with stills.  Become a multimedia whiz, adept at capturing, quickly stitching together, and presenting narrative slideshows, still-and-video mash-ups, and full-on video reports.  These presentation options also seem to be great for organizing and featuring your own work on your portfolio site.

9) Dress appropriately, depending on the assignment.  Don’t wear sandals and shorts to shoot a funeral.  Don’t wear a shirt and tie or super stilettos to shoot a construction site.  Think ahead about the type of scene you’ll be entering, the people within it, how long you will be on site, how much you will be moving around, and what the temperature will be.  Bottom line: Attempt to fit in while still projecting professionalism and ensuring comfort and ease of motion.

10) Never work for free.

Dan Reimold, Ph.D., is a college journalism scholar who has written and presented about the student press throughout the U.S., Southeast Asia, and in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. As the Student Press Law Center Report notes, “Reimold’s work allows him to track the pulse of America’s college papers and identify student press trends.”

He is an assistant professor of journalism and the co-coordinator of the journalism program at the University of Tampa, where he also advises The Minaret student newspaper. Along with maintaining CMM, Reimold serves as the college media correspondent for PBS MediaShift and the “Campus Beat” columnist for USA TODAY College. His first book on college media, Sex and the University: Celebrity, Controversy, and a Student Journalism Revolution, was published in fall 2010 by Rutgers University Press. His forthcoming textbook Journalism of Ideas is due out in spring 2013 by Routledge. Read more here

Interview with a HURRICANE

Going wide in the storm.

Mark Wallheiser is interviewed on 97.9ESPN Tallahassee by Brien Sorne.
Dated 05052012 http://tallahasseetalks.com/listen 

By Mark Wallheiser 

mark@markwallheiser.com 

To me there only one way to cover most anything and especially the only way to cover a hurricane is ditch the 70-200 and pick up the 16-35. Going wide in the storm forces one to interact with the survivors to get to know them, empathize with their plight and bring a piece of their personality to the film plane. 

Don’t get me wrong, I have a 70-200 slung over one shoulder and in many instances it makes the best frame in a series but after editing for my “Interview with a Hurricane” exhibition opening at 621 Gallery in Tallahassee May 6th through the 26th almost always the 70-200 was quickly followed up with the 16-35. In the film, pre-zoom days, it was the 24mm. 

It’s interesting going back and editing negs 25-30 years later for the exhibit and seeing how I shot, the progression and in most cases read my notes and IDs that I almost always stuffed in my negative envelopes. The first few hurricane notes were hard to read because the ink had run until I discovered that pencils don’t bleed in the rain. 

Interview with a Hurricane is a 50 print exhibition curated by Kenny Irby of the Poynter Institute, from the 16 hurricanes and 11 tropical storms I’ve covered since landing in Tallahassee in 1981. 

Sunday May 6^th from 3 until 5 pm, stop by the Nan Boynton Gallery inside 621 Gallery for the official opening.  

The show runs the month of May leading up to the 2012 hurricane season and is showcasing my photo reportage over the past 30 years. Cold beer and wine is part of the lure, of course.

Score with Think Tank Photo Rolling Camera Bags

A cluster of Think Tank Photo camera bag rollers spotted at a Florida Panthers vs the New Jersey Devils hockey playoff match. At left is AP's J Pat Carter, at front, and Panthers team photographer Eliot Schechter.

Our friends at Think Tank Photo just announced a special deal on their popular rolling camera bags.  Order their Airport Security V2.0, Airport International V2.0, Airport Airstream, or Airport TakeOff rolling camera bags before May 31, 2012 and you will receive one of their Artificial Intelligence V2.0 laptop sleeves for free!  This is a $59 value.
 
Their Airport rolling camera bags are considered the best designed, most durable in the industry.  Backed by Think Tank’s "No Rhetoric Warranty" and great customer service, their rollers have traveled millions of miles and been used on every continent.
 
All of Think Tank’s rollers are designed with the intention of helping you keep your bodies, lenses, and accessories near you at all times, even while flying.  Think Tank actually designs their rollers to comply with airline carry-on size requirements.

All of the rollers share three levels of security (TSA approved combination locks, front laptop cable and lock, and back cable and lock for securing entire bag to fixed object).  They employ the highest grade materials, including all fabric exterior treated with DWR (underside fabric underside is coated with PU for superior water resistance), 1680D ballistic nylon, abrasion resistant YKK® RC Fuse zippers, custom designed extra tall skid plates, replaceable in-line skate wheels, antique nickel plated metal hardware, nylon webbing,  and 3-ply bonded nylon thread.
 
If you are looking to buy a roller before you head out this summer, this is a great time to do so!