LeBron James, a victorious gladiator,
holds court and roars in triumph at the pinnacle of his career with all his trophies after the Miami Heat defeats the San Antonio Spurs in Game 7 of
the NBA Finals.
As a photojournalist I have to be ready before the moment
despite the rumble from thousands of screeching fans, security telling me I
can't stand there and flailing hands armed with smart phones blocking my view.
It's an uphill battle any time I'm trying to capture a defining image.
AL DIAZ is a veteran Miami Herald staffer and a member of the Herald news team that won the 1993
Pulitzer Prize Gold Medal for the newspaper's coverage of Hurricane Andrew.
Diaz earned his journalism degree from the University of Florida in 1983 and
was hired as a staff photographer by the Miami Herald upon graduation. A first
generation Cuban American, he and his wife, Cindy Seip-Diaz, their children,
Angelika and James Bartek and their dog Amanda, make their home in Coral
Gables.
With her infectious smile and
comforting personality, midwife Mariame Ovedrago was a warm, bright light in
the middle of a grim story on the rising number of unsafe abortions in Haiti.
Here, she proudly shows off a newborn she delivered as two other midwives help
another woman give birth at a healthcare facility at Petite Place Cazeau funded
by UNFPA and the Haitian government. Her ability to soothe and celebrate with
new moms calmed everybody in the midst of joy, pain and chaos.
PATRICK FARRELL has been a photographer at The
Miami Herald since 1987. He was the recipient of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for
Breaking News Photography. Patrick graduated from the University of Miami in
1981 with a major in film. He grew up in Miami, the seventh child in a family
of 12. He is married to writer Jodi Mailander Farrell and they have two
daughters, Annie, 14, and Lucy, 13.
This is one of my favorite photos of the year because it reminds me of the fact that we are all young at heart. SuSu Smith, who has been modeling since she was 16, according to her ‘a few decades,' dazzles the crowd at Forest Trace, a senior community at Inverrary, who were on hand to see a group of 80- and 90-year-olds putting on a fashion show.
C.W. GRIFFIN has been a staff photographer at the
Miami Herald for the past 30 years. His work has appeared in National
Geographic, Smithsonian and Time, and in multiple volumes of the Day in the
Life photo book series, for which top 100 photojournalists in the world were
assigned to various countries to create a book from a one-day shoot. He has
taught at the University of Miami for more than 11 years, and also teaches at
the Little Haiti Cultural Center with Iris PhotoCollective. His work has also
been a part of many major photography exhibits in such galleries as the
Brooklyn Museum of Art, The Corcoran Gallery of Art and the Historical Museum
of Miami. While serving in the military, he was the first African American to
be named military photographer of the year for all branches of service.
On an uncharacteristically slow news
day in September, I headed out to find a feature photo for the Herald's Local
& State section and website. I was drawn to Miami's Wynwood Arts District,
where building exteriors burst with color and graffiti. I saw Pablo Garcia
applying lime-green paint to the Wynwood House, a new Goldman Properties
project. Garcia focused on his work and appeared oblivious to the low-flying
Air Berlin jet approaching Miami International Airport. The jet's entry into my
camera viewfinder brought a serendipitous element to the image.
MARSHA HALPER began working at the Miami Herald in
1983. She is married to Ry Mueller and is the proud parent of Jackson Fadely, a
freshman at FIU's Honors College. She is a graduate of Guilford College in
Greensboro, North Carolina.
Where else than Miami can nudists
wrap their right to bare arms and other parts while hoisting the American flag?
Miami is a magical place where anything can happen and everything generally
does. Welcome to Miami!
CARL PHILIPPE JUSTE, born in Port-au-Prince, Juste came to
the United States with his politcally active family in 1965. Raised in
Brooklyn, he arrived in Miami in 1973, earned a bachelor's degree at the
University of Miami and has worked at the Miami Herald since 1991. Assignments
have taken him to Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as to the nation of
his birth. Juste is co-founder of Iris PhotoCollective, a collaboration to
create new context for exploring and documenting the relationship of people of
color to the broader world.
Romel Joseph marked the three year
anniversary of Haiti's devastating earthquake by performing a violin concert
for the people at Jackson Memorial who he credits with saving his life. Romel,
who was trapped in the rubble of his Port-Au-Prince music school after the
earthquake, with two broken legs, a broken arm and three broken fingers also
lost his wife and his school to the earthquake. With all of his injuries, Romel
thought he would never play the instrument again, but after much
rehabilitation, he went on to play a fine concert three years later accompanied
by his daughter Victoria.
The concert was a special assignment for me as I
first met Romel shortly after he was airlifted to Jackson. He was badly banged
up and broken, he had lost so much, but he maintained a passion for life, his
children and his music. It was such a pleasure to see him come so far and touch
so many as he continues to share his music with South Florida and Haiti.
EMILY MICHOT has been a photographer at the Miami
Herald since January, 1995. Born in Fairbanks, Alaska into an Air Force family,
she traveled around attending schools in Florida, Massachusetts, Hawaii and
Maine before moving back to Florida to attend the University of Florida and the
Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale.
Michot shoots pictures and video for the
Miami Herald and is married to Herald photographer Walter Michot. They have two
sons, Ryan and Michael, and a chocolate labrador retriever named Cooper.
This photo captures ‘Miami' — Its
sun, fun, water, fashion, tourism and economy all in one still image. For the
last several years I have been covering a lot of crime and breaking news. This
was a great chance to cover the flair and sweeter part of Miami. It's a break
from the more negative side of Miami, and to express its uniqueness.
WALTER MICHOT, born and raised in Fort Lauderdale, Michot attended
Chaminade High School and then attended Loyola University and Florida State
University. Photography was his hobby, and turned profession. He has been
shooting pictures for 40 years in South Florida and 30 with the Miami Herald,
with over a million miles covered in Dade and Broward counties. He primarily
shoots breaking news for online and print. He is happily married to Emily
Michot, also a photographer with the Herald, and they have two great boys.
Horticulture is his present hobby.
I was smiling as wide receiver Mike
Wallace was flying into the end zone for a touchdown against the Jets. It is
one of my favorite photos of the year because it was the last Miami Dolphins
game I covered for the Herald. I was lucky enough to have switched cameras to
capture him running right at me, and after the touchdown, as I checked the
image on the back of my camera, I was grinning from ear to ear.
JOE RIMKUS JR. followed in his father's footsteps
as a news photographer. His dad was a staff photographer for The Miami News,
when Joe began working as a lab tech at the Miami Herald in 1973, while
attending FIU. He quickly moved up to a staff photographer position, where he could
pursue his great passion for sports. There were times when Joe Jr. and Joe Sr.
would compete against each other at the same major sports event.
Editor's
note: Joe Rimkus retired from the Herald in early December. Next season
will be the first since the Miami Dolphins franchise started here in 1966 that
there will be no Rimkus (father or son) shooting pictures on the sidelines.
Miami Hurricanes Kenny Kadji leaps
for a basket over Illinois Fighting Illini's D.J. Richardson in the third round
of the 2013 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship in Austin, Texas.
This photo offered a peak moment of excitement, and a story-telling image
showing the Canes' domination — They won the game.
CHARLES TRAINOR JR. joined The Miami Herald in
1981, and has covered most of the major news events that have impacted South
Florida since. His extensive coverage of Cuba and the rafters' crisis of 1994
won him awards in national and international photography contests. Trainor
covers the Miami Dolphins, Miami Hurricanes and he has intensely covered the
Miami Heat and LeBron James throughout their championship seasons.
Lowe Art Museum exhibitions and programs are sponsored by Beaux Arts
and the general membership. Additional support from the Miami-Dade
County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, and
the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners. 
