So here we are on May 12, and the Florida Marlins have the best record in the major leagues.  Wow.  The team that has won two World Series titles and consistently has the lowest payroll in the majors now has the best record.  Yes, it is only mid-May, but this is still quite impressive.                              

The feeling on the field at this year's opening day was not exactly an optomistic one.  Most everybody was saying how this was the start of a very long summer of baseball in South Florida.   

By the way, the photograph above is manager Fredi Gonzalez being introduced during opening day festivities.  I shot it with a Nikon D3 body and a 400mm F2.8 lens.  When I saw how the teams were lining up, I thought I'd take a chance and go to a slightly different position on the field to make this picture.  I usually stay directly behind home plate for opening day pre-game, but that gets boring after enough years of making the same kind of photos.  I was almost by the visitors dugout for this shot.                                                                                                                                                               

As expected, the NY Mets clobbered the Marlins on this day, and many people, myself included, thought, oh yeah, here we go.  Maybe 40 wins this year.  I am gladly admitting how wrong I was. 

This team that has such famously cheap ownership, has once again proven so many wrong.  Behind the bats of Dan Uggla and Hanley Ramirez, and the pitching of Scott Olsen, these guys do not quit. 

I was covering a recent game vs the L.A. Dodgers, when the Fish went down 6-0 after 2 innings.  They managed to tie the game at 6, never giving up, but still lost the game by allowing a run in the 9th.  It showed the grit that these guys have, even though they lost that game.                                                                   

I hope they can continue this winning way, as the summers get fairly boring and very hot.  We need a little excitement during these months, and these guys may just be the ticket.

Who knows, maybe we'll be back at Yankee Stadium this October.  We never thought it would happen in May of 2003, but there we were.  I wouldn't mind shooting another champagne celebration in that stadium in the Bronx.

Jewel Cross runs around the house as Phyllida Rachel works on her computer and mother Phyllis Rachel (middle) talks to Ja'Kya Black. photo/Carey Wagner

Some days I take notes on life in my reporter's notebook. After I took down Phyllis Rachel's name for a Mother's Day story, I started to listen as she took care of her kids. She invited me into her home in Lauderhill where about 10 kids ran around after school. Even though Phyllis is in her 60's in age, she is still taking in children from her family who need her help as a mother.

All from the couch, Phyllis helped her young boy figure out how to tell if something in the clean laundry was a skirt or a shirt, and find it's owner. She told her daughter to start on her homework, not watch a movie from her laptop. Leftover birthday cake was not to be eaten all at once by the littlest ones and she had to explain again that toys are not meant to be brought to school.

With that many children, it seems like a mother would only have time for damage control. But after hanging out for a few minutes, I realized that she was more than just a pointing
finger.

Her newest 'daughter' was not one of the family. She is a family friend taken in by Phyllis.

This girl wasn't used to being teased by so many brothers and sisters, and when one of the boys made fun of her, she shouted back at everyone in her frustration. Her 'mother', Phyllis, heard the comment and the shout, and had her girl sit by her side. She explained to her that being teased meant she was being treated as a sister, just as the rest of the siblings are treated. She took the girls' feelings seriously, and gave her hope of becoming one of the family. And the girl went back to smiling.

Phyllis and her family lost their house during Wilma, and have yet to successfully rebuild. So they move from rental to rental, family in tow, making it up as they go. Life may not be perfect, but the love and effort Phyllis seemed to put into her children made me realize that you can make any house a home. And any group a family.

A cyclist rides past a dried up corn field in Homestead.

Every year my family and I either ride or volunteer on the yearly Bike MS Ride.  This year was no different.  During two days and a total of 150 miles, hundreds of riders hit the streets of Miami, farm roads of Homestead and busy US 1 into Key Largo to John Pennekamp State Park to raise money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society South Florida Chapter. 

This year my son, Dalton, and I were asked to take pictures along the ride.

We had a great time.  I sometimes forget the rush I get taking pictures.  For the last three years, as photo editor, my days are filled with budgets, meetings and looking at others great storytelling pictures. 

Don't get me wrong, I love what I do.  But, my passion will always be taking pictures.

An (right) MS Ride motorcycle SAG (Support and Gear) volunteer looks on as riders pass a rest stop during the first day of the two day, 150 mile ride to John Pennekamp Park.

 
 

MS Ride SAG volunteers (left) David Miller and Larry House wait for the ride to start at the University of Miami in Coral Gables.     

You shoot aerial photos when you can't get access to a news story or you would like a different prospective.  At a large fire, a very bad accident, or a plane crash, say, out in the Everglades, the only way to get a photo is by using a  helicopter.

TV news shows have their own copters equipped with high tech cameras and can transmit the images back to the station for live broadcast. 

Newspaper photographers carry Nikon or Canon digital cameras with a couple of lens. We usually fly in a small two-seater and hang out of a removed door.  We transmit the photos from the airport transmit when we land for the paper to use on the Internet.

Some of my aerial  photos really show the reader what is happening at the scene of a news story -- like when Gianni Versace was gunned down on the steps of his Miami Beach estate, or what it looks like from 500 feet above the construction site of a hockey arena in Sunrise.

The photo below, of large crowds on Fort Lauderdale beach for the second Air and Sea Show, was almost impossible to get.  The airspace above the beach and over the water was closed to all aircraft unless they were police or military. 

I  have done a lot of stories with the Broward Sheriff's Aviation Unit, so I asked the person in charge if they flew over the beach any time before the air show started. He said,  "We fly just before the air show at 12 noon. You can ride along with us."  Perfect.

This is the front page photo I took. It really shows how large the crowd was.

Staff Photos/Lou Toman

Thom Yorke of Radiohead.

I missed them almost five years ago because I had to go out of town for an assignment. So I drove 794 miles three years later to Manchester, Tennessee, to see them play at the Bonnaroo Music Festival. This year with no U.S. tour dates scheduled, I was seriously trying to find a way to Dublin, Ireland, to see them play in June. But with an ever weakening dollar and gas approaching $4 a gallon, reality set in that even a shotgun trip would still cost a bazillon dollars. Unfortunately, I’m just a little out of that tax bracket.

The day after I grudgingly let go of the idea going to Dublin, it happened.

Radiohead came to me (at least I prefer to think of it that way) and announced the first stop on their world tour would be in West Palm Beach.

I like to think everyone has a band that they would run to the ends of the earth to see. For most people that musical passion peaks at age 18 then gets steadily assailed by the trials and tribulations of life – more commonly known as growing up. I’m a little slow on that concept, which lead me to camping for three days at Bonnaroo in mud, rain and blistering heat to see Radiohead.

I still flash back to 80,000 people singing the chorus to Karma Police and what Thom Yorke, lead singer of the band, said when he first came on stage and glanced over the city- sized audience, “Now this is a f##king crowd!”

The band later said Bonnaroo 2006 was one of their favorite gigs ever.

Monday was the first time I had the opportunity to shoot a Radiohead concert. It was the typical three songs and we were out of the photo pit, but fortunately they let us shoot from the edge of the stage.

Where you shoot a concert from is a funny thing that sometimes makes no sense. Some shows it’s next to the stage, the next show it’s at the soundboard 40 yards away and sometimes bands cancel photos all together.

When I got to the pit, vertical tubes of lights descended from the ceiling of the stage like rows of icicles hanging from an inverted pincushion. Behind the icicles of light were clusters of spotlights poised in the air like stars waiting to burst.  A lower horizontal band of monitors along the back wall of the stage picked up the live feed of tight shots from the fixed stage cameras and stitched the band in action in no particular order. The lighting was deceptively simple and it illuminated so elegantly – so Radiohead.

I set my cameras at 800 ISO, 1/500 sec at 2.8 on full manual and adjusted the shutter accordingly. It was a frantic high trying to shoot everything in my mind in only three songs. I hope you enjoy the photos and remember to run to the ends of the earth for what you love. if you're lucky it might find you first.

Radiohead Links:

http://www.greenplastic.com/lyrics/

http://www.youtube.com/user/radiohead

Last week I wrote about my adventure on the high seas with the U.S. Navy.  I had a lot of time on the USS Iwo Jima to appreciate the Ocean and what it means to different people.  Yesterday I experienced a different way in which the ocean is loved and respected by a different group of people.  Lifeguards.                                                                                                                     
I was assigned to photograph a tribute to Timothy Wicks, a lifeguard who worked up and down the east coast of Florida, including stints in Fort Lauderdale and Pompano Beach. I never knew him, nor did I ever even hear his name before Sunday, but I can say that I was really moved by the tribute that lifeguards, firefighters, surfers, and family gave this man, who died a few weeks ago by what was simply described to me as an "accidental death".                                                                                                                                 Anybody who was by the Pompano pier at about 6:30 pm witnessed an unusual sight.  About 50 to 60 friends gathered at the shore, recalled memories, said prayers, shed tears, then took to the water.  Anyone who could, paddled out from the shore to the east end of the pier, mostly on long surfboards.  Some onlookers thought it was a competition of sorts. 

When the paddlers got to the end of the pier, they formed a circle in the water, many with flowers in their mouths, and made room for two row boats in the center.  Each row boat brought Wick's mom and dad to the center of the circle, where they asked for a moment of silence.                                                                                                                                                                  
As I looked down the pier, 85% of the people on the pier stopped what they were doing and watched.  A 3-man troupe of bagpipers played as the circle came together.   A plane buzzed overhead with a banner reading something to the effect of, "Tim, we will always love you." 

After I returned from this assignment, I phoned one of the organizers to clear up some information.   I asked The Ocean Rescue captain what the significance of the circle in the ocean was.  He told me that it's an old ritual that is performed for fallen lifeguards.  It's a way of putting life back into the ocean, the same ocean that gave life to Timothy Wicks and many others like him.

Well, I for one, miss the Air & Sea Show.

I've worked in a bunch of different places, and until I got here, an air show meant burning up on some hot tarmac somewhere. The air show here was unique in that the "runway," was an imaginary line in the Atlantic Ocean.

Sure, it was a massive traffic jam, but that is what comes with most fun events these days anyways.

A few favorites from the two years I've been lucky enough to get this assignment:

Blue Angels 2006

Thunderbirds 2007

F-22A Raptor 2007

Morikami Gardens, Delray Beach. Canon G3  external  infrared  R72 filter 1 second  exposure.

I think it was Yogi Berra who said; "...It's not invisible, you just can't see it..."

Actually, it was me and that's my technical explanation of digital infrared photography... infrared is a spectrum of light humans don’t see but camera sensors and film do.

Isabelle ,my granddaughter, pretending to fly. Canon G3 w/external R72 filter. 

I’ve tried two techniques:

1.    External filtration: Using an R72 filter on the front of a Canon G3. Most all of the light is blocked except the infrared. This creates long exposures and a tripod might be needed. My shortest exposure is 1/3 of a second.

2.    Camera modification: The IR filter is placed directly over the sensor replacing the hot mirror filter.   This allows for normal exposures and convenience. The filter can be ordered or you can have experts perform the surgery.

Spanish River Park, Boca Raton.  Canon G9  modified in camera Infrared filter.

You can shoot in color or B&W and adjust your image in processing. It’s a nice diversion from news photography.
I’m really not  an expert, so if you’re into finding out more, here couple of web sites :

http://lifepixel.com

http://www.apogeephoto.com

 

Tallahassee, Florida. Canon G3 w/R72 infrared Filter.

Yoga at  Boca's South Beach pavillion. Canon G9 modified for Infrared .

Paulette Wright & Volume of Praise perform in the gospel tent.

Gal Holiday & the Honkey Tonk Revue on the main stage.

New Orleans artist Terrance Osbourne sets up shop at Jazz Fest

Crawfish Sack, Oyster Pattie and Crawfish Beignets at Jazz Fest.

My favorite, an oyster po' boy.

Getting in touch with my inner hippie.

The rain hits Jazz Fest - hard.

It always seems that I’m at one end of a meteorological extreme when I go to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

A few years ago I went and the sun was beating down on me like a grade-school bully. There wasn’t a speck of shade and the dust from the fairgrounds (a horse track) kicked up with each step. I curled up under the shade of a light pole and waited for the evening concerts.  The lesson learned on that trip was to drink more water.

Last weekend the rains hit and the mud flowed, but as always the music was great and the food was amazing. The lesson this trip: bring a poncho.

Jazz Fest  always runs on the last weekend in April and the first weekend in May. My main objective was to see Elvis Costello with Allen Toussaint but like every trip to New Orleans there was so much more to see.

We got to the fairgrounds when it opened aound 11 a.m. and I was able to catch Gal Holiday & the Honkey Tonk Revue, a local band that plays country, western swing and rockabilly. After their set it was off to grab some food. The food at Jazz Fest is taken as seriously as the music. The food prices are usually around $4-$8 and the drinks average $3-$4, very reasonable considering the portions and the quality.

I didn’t request a credential for the event so I was just wandering around taking some photos for fun. Normally shooting a concert, it’s the first three songs and you are escorted out of there. Jazz Fest was much more laid back. At most of the venues I could go right up to the stage and shoot as long as I wanted.  Just remember to turn off your flash as a courtesy to the musicians.

I was stunned at the amount of access to the general public. It was refreshing not having hoards of security between you and the artist.

One of the best things about Jazz Fest is that it ends each day at sunset. This enables the local clubs and bars in town to have late night shows. I saw Big Sam of Big Sam’s Funky Nation playing with Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint earlier in the day, then caught his solo show with his band at the Maple Leaf Bar uptown at 3 a.m. that night (or morning?).

Jazz Fest runs this weekend from Thursday, May 1st thru Sunday, May 4th. 

We often don't think of taking a portrait as action photography, but here is why shooting like a sports photographer can help you capture someone's personality.

Ok, so a temple is not a track and a living room is not a soccer field, but if your subject is a person, chances are they move. Sports gives you tons of chances to capture expressions of emotion and physical exertion.

But, just like Michael Jordan used to always stick his tongue out before making a basket, each of his fans probably had a unique facial expression when they laughed or made a joke. You have to be ready with your finger on the shutter to quickly capture someone in their 'look'.

If I can choose who to photograph at an assignment, I look for people with idiosyncrasies I can quickly learn to predict. With patience, and timing, they will do what they do again.

Like a good sports photographer shooting the action and reaction, hold your camera up a few seconds longer than you think you should. You might get a glimpse of personality.