Free Event
Join us in the Leica Lounge on Thursday, April 2, 2015 with Miami Herald photojournalist Al Diaz.
Leica Lounge is a lecture series hosted by Leica Store Miami which features presentations by local members of the photography community. Held monthly, these free events are designed to create and inspire the local photography community through sharing images and exchanging ideas.
The Leica Lounge is kindly sponsored by Brooklyn Brewery. Participants will be able to sample some of their amazing craft beers during the event. Brooklyn Brewery is one of the largest craft breweries in the United States, producing a portfolio of traditional and experimental beers sure to impress any beer drinker.
In 2014, Miami Herald photojournalist Al Diaz was presented the Humanitarian Award by the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) for his efforts in the CPR rescue of baby Sebastian de la Cruz on a busy State Road 836 expressway in Miami. Diaz flagged down police after the infant stopped breathing, then captured one of the rescue’s most dramatic moments. The photograph was awarded “Photograph of the Year” by the Associated Press Media Editors (APME). Diaz believes, “A still photograph can change the course of history, affect policy, raise awareness and cause leaders to act, as in the image capturing the breath of life. Once viewed, it has inspired others to become trained in CPR techniques so they too can save a life.”
Diaz doesn’t wait to be handed an assignment—he never stops shooting. He wakes up each morning raring to tackle the waiting-to-be-photographed world. From the US invasion of Panama, balseros in Cuba, the coup attempt of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to the devastation of Hurricane Andrew and the deadly earthquake in Haiti, he has had his boots on the ground.
His photo of the Miami Heat’s glitzy launch of their “Dream Team” players—Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Chris Bosh—spoke to the essence of that NBA-on-steroids moment. He has photographed Super Bowls, the World Series, NCAA championships the NBA Finals, and the Olympic Games. His sense of timing and eye for the revealing shot have also personified the likes of Madonna, Paul McCartney, OJ Simpson, Britney Spears, Penelope Cruz, Shaquille O’Neal, Tiger Woods and five U.S. Presidents.
Although perfectly at ease photographing boldface names and superstar athletes, Diaz’s visual journalism is at its most poignant when he’s capturing the “common” man and woman. His tender portraits of the homeless, the hungry, and the disenfranchised in Florida won him a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award.
Diaz is a member of the Miami Herald news team that won the Pulitzer Prize Gold Medal for the newspaper's coverage of Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and the McClatchy President's Award for Journalism Excellence for coverage of the devastating earthquake in Haiti in 2010.
Diaz, a Miami native, joined the photography staff at the Miami Herald in 1983 upon graduating from the University of Florida with a degree in journalism. Diaz takes pride in always being ready before the moment.
To view more of Al's work, visit his website.
