PHOTOS: Football Season Is Back!

These are my season preview covers published today in the Miami Herald. Last night I photographed the Miami Dolphins as they hosted the St. Louis Rams at Sun Life Stadium. Last week it was against the Dallas Cowboys.

Miami Dolphins defensive tackle Garrison Smith (68) puts a choke hold on Rams quarterback Austin Davis after sacking him in the second quarter. Davis appeared to be gasping for air after the play.

LEICA STORE MIAMI: Photographer David Bergman August 20th

Meet and greet at Leica Store Miami with music and sports photographer David Bergman Wednesday, August 20th from 7:00 - 9:00 PM Traveling around the world on a private jet with one of the biggest rock bands of all time is a dream gig for any photographer, and that’s just an average day for music and sports photographer David Bergman. Join us at Leica Store Miami to meet, mingle, and swap stories with a photographer who has over a dozen Sports Illustrated covers to his credit and is also responsible for creating one of the 21stCentury’s most iconic images, the Gigapan photograph of the inauguration of President Barack Obama. Bergman just completed a world tour as Jon Bon Jovi’s photographer, and will be bringing along a copy of his new photo book, Work. Feel free to bring some of your own photography to share as well! Drinks will be provided. RSVP by emailing info@leicastoremiami.com Leica Store MIami 372 Miracle Mile Coral Gables FL 33134

BALSEROS: A Desperate Journey - 20 Years After the Crisis In Cuba

In early August 1994, tensions between the Castro regime and the United States heated to a new boiling point. The Cuban president was threatening to unlock his country’s emigration gates for the first time since the Mariel boatlift, 14 years earlier. Meanwhile, a man, who was attempting to hijack a ferryboat and flee the Communist nation, shot and killed a military officer.

The Miami Herald sent me to cover the disturbances that ensued along El Malecón, Havana’s east coastal seawall. Now known as the Maleconazo uprising, a protest against government policies in Cuba.

By the time I entered the Island the uprising had been quashed.

The next several days I spent photographing pro-government rallies, scenes around Old Havana and reconnecting with lost family members.

I was operating in a vacuum, unaware of what was brewing: Cuban television wasn’t reporting the story, there was no Internet available and my ability to talk to my editors back in Miami was minimal.

In the middle of the night I received a tip that people were leaving on rafts off the coast of Cojimar, east side of Havana. I hailed a cab, a circa 1950s Chevy. It was pitch black. Still, I could see the outline of homemade rafts bobbing in the water, some, overflowing with passengers.

Over the next several days, I walked into homes of the balseros (rafters) and watched them use their bloody, swollen hands build their vessels. At daybreak, I would run from one end of the beach to the other chasing those casting off on their dangerous voyage. Eventually, I hitched a ride on the back of an old bicycle. The owner, I figured, could pedal me around Cojimar much faster.

These photographs capture what I was seeing firsthand: the armada of rickety rafts, the faces of agony and desperation as many, tried and failed and tried again, to flee their homeland.

Video of violinist Lizbet Martinez by Jose Iglesias 

PHOTO GALLERY HERE

IN MY OPINION

A revisit to the Cuban Balsero crisis and the people who found freedom in America

Miami Herald columnist Fabiola Santiago recalls the stories of Cuban refugees she met two decades ago in the Guantánamo camps and how they carved out new lives in America.

"Cuban rafters: 20 years after the crisis" is a nine-minute retrospective co-produced by the Miami Herald, el Nuevo Herald and Univision23 on the 1994 mass exodus out of Cuba in that brought some 35,000 people to the United States.

• Cuban rafters: 20 years after the crisis

• Photos
• Cuban rafters: 20 years after the crisis

Related Content

• Exhibit to feature Cuban ‘balseros’ experience
• THE BALSEROS | JOURNEY FROM HAITI
• Remembering Guantánamo through the lives of the Haitians held there

BY FABIOLA SANTIAGO

FSANTIAGO@MIAMIHERALD.COM

When the tiny Guantánamo-bound jet took off from the Fort Lauderdale airport, the door handle fell into my lap.

The handful of journalists on board laughed nervously, eyeing the ripped roof cover and beat-up seats of the Fandango Airlines commuter under contract by the federal government to shuttle journalists to the U.S. Naval base on the eastern end of Cuba.

“I hope this is not an omen,” I remember someone saying.

The unsettling start of our trip that crisp day in 1994 was like an omen, but it was the least of our worries. We were on our way to report on the lingering limbo of the Cuban balseros without a country and enduring wholesale detention in a tent-city metropolis set up by the Clinton Administration in a remote no-man’s land.

It had already been an extraordinary year.

That summer, furious at unprecedented protests and chants of “Freedom!” rising from people gathered at the seafront Malecón in Havana, Cuban leader Fidel Castro threatened to unleash another exodus — and he made good on it, allowing people to leave the island by whatever means. READ MORE HERE

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/08/16/4293221/a-revisit-to-the-cuban-balero.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/08/16/4293221/a-revisit-to-the-cuban-balero.html#storylink=cpy

CALL FOR ENTRIES: Miami Photo Salon

PHOTOGRAPHERS WANTED! Do you want to see your photography exposed to thousands of Art lovers, collectors, and curators during Art Basel Miami 2014?

Enter now:                              Miami Photo Salon Festival- Fine Art Photography Festival During Art Basel 2014 FINAL DATELINE SEPTEMBER 7 Our entries fees are designed to be very  low so the worldwide community of photographers can participate. Your submissions fees help us defray the costs of the venue and the Art Fair engineering, as well as allow us to promote the artists and galleries participating in the Festival. Miami Photo Salon is an International Photography Festival that will take place during Art Basel with plans to continue yearly. The goal of this project is to create a salon-style venue for photographers to showcase and exhibit work to international audiences along with artists solos and photo galleries. This event will take place in downtown Miami, where foot traffic between visiting art fairs will bring in thousands of visitors, both from the local community and international tourists. Dates for the event December 2-5, 2014.

Copyright © 2014, Miami Photo Salon. All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you showed interest in photography Our mailing address is: Cuban American Phototheque Foundation 4260 SW 74 Ave Miami, FL 33155

Schedule for BEST OF PHOTOJOURNALISM FESTIVAL August 8, 9 & 10

Palm Beach Photographic Centre Presents

The National Press Photographers Association's

BEST of PHOTOJOURNALISM 2014 CONTEST

Award Show + Education FESTIVAL

ALL EVENTS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC!

DAY ONE: Friday, AUGUST 8, 2014   • CELEBRATE

17h – 19h: 2014 Best in Photojournalism (BoP) 2014 Contest 'Best in Show’ Opening:

Palm Beach Photographic Centre (PBPC) Museum • 415 Clematis St., West Palm Beach, FL 33401

19:30h – 22h: BoP ‘14 Awards Show • Event Sponsored by Think Tank Photo

Lake Pavilion and Terrace, •101 South Flagler Drive, West Palm Beach

DAY TWO: Saturday, AUGUST 9, 2014    • INSPIRE + ILLUMINATE

A full day of education & sharing and followed by an evening of community!

8:30 – 9:30h: 'Best in Show' Breakfast, PBPC Museum

EDUCATION 10-18h: City Hall Chambers & Flagler Gallery • 401 Clematis Street, adjacent to PBPC

10 – 11h: Session #1: ILLUMINATE

Sean Proctor, Niko Koppel, Joshua Maranhas, Tom Rapp and Moderated by James K. Colton

11:15 – 12:15h: Session#2: ENLIGHTEN

Chang W. Lee, Nicole Frugé, James Gehrz, Aaron Kurtz and Moderated by James K. Colton

12:30 – 13:30h: Session #3: CHANGE

Andy Buck, Michael Driver, Enrico Meyer and Corky Scholl and Moderated by Bethany Swain    

13:30 – 14:45h: Lunch Break

14:45 – 16:15h: Session #4: HOME - "Bringing the Story Home”

Jonathan Malat, Al Diaz and Michael Laughlin and Moderated by Peter Cross

16:30 – 18h: Session #5: INSPIRE

Patrick Smith, Scott Mc Kiernan, John Tlumacki and Moderated by James K. Colton

19 – 20h: Buffet and Beer Provided by DOUBLEtruck Magazine, PBPC Studio, 2^nd Floor

20 – 22h: BoP ’14 • STATE OF THE INDUSTRY TOWN HALL

Palm Beach Photographic Centre Studio • 415 Clematis St., West Palm Beach, 2^nd Floor

NPPA Board of Directors and Moderated by Scott Mc Kiernan (NPPA Vice President)

DAY THREE: Sunday, AUGUST 10, 2014   •    PRESENTATION

10:30 AM – 1:00 PM : ART of The Portfolio

Come Brunch, with NPPA and ASMP in a co-hosted FREE Biz Event

WHOM: World Famous Picture Editors: Jimmy Colton and Scott Mc Kiernan, will be joined by other top editors.

              Also Top TV people such as Bob Gould and Merry Murray and NGO superstar Ben Rusnak

WHAT: to give a fast paced primer on Best Presentation Practices + FREE review of attendees portfolios.

WHY: Get best business practices and tips from those who hire photographers for both still and motion work.

WHERE: Palm Beach Photographic Centre (PBPC) Studio (2^nd Floor) • 415 Clematis St., West Palm Beach, FL 33401