Photos I took today of John Edwards, who was down in Miami

[RagingInMiami]

At the rally sponsored by SEIU in support of the University of Miami janitors, who have been on strike for almost two months. James Hoffa Jr. from the Teamsters and Charles Steele Jr. of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference were also there.





You see that photographer in the background? Not the guy with the camera to his face taking a shot, but the guy with camera at chest level, backwards baseball cap. That is AP photographer Alan Diaz, who won a Pulitzer Prize for the shot of Federal agents seizing Elian Gonzalez a few years ago.

That was the shot that rang around the world in minutes, thanks to the Internet. You probably remember it. Machine-gun wielding federal agents grabbing a terrified boy out of the closet. Even before that shot, Diaz's style inspired me.

I called the Miami Herald to see if they were interested in my John Edwards shots, but they told me they were using AP, which means they're using his shots. I'm looking forward to see how his shots compare to mine. Am I competitive? Hell yeah. Is Alan Diaz a nice guy? Hell yeah.



That is James Hoffa Jr. in the bottom left hand corner. The Teamsters are bad mofos. The guys accompanying Hoffa looked like a cross between mobsters and undercover cops (down here, there usually one and the same). Very buff, streetwise looking guys. Not the kind of guys you want to piss off.

I ended up riding in a van with Hoffa and I talked to him about my days as a Teamster back when I worked at UPS. We knew the same people. I'm going to see if he wants to buy some photos.






And just to give you an idea how hot it was today (it was a scorcher), check out John Edwards' shirt as he talks to this democratic candidate for Florida representative.

[ultraist]

1. WOW. Great shots

Good report too. Why not cross post this in General Discussion so it can make the Greatest Page? I KNOW it will get enough votes.

Nice work, thanks for this.

[benny05]

2. Awesome..thank you!

Great Pics and rally!

[mia]

3. Nice photos!

Wish I'd been there. Live nearby, but had to work today.

Do you have more photos?

[RagingInMiami]

9. Yes, I have loads more

I've been covering this strike since it started, I will soon be posting more. Much more.

[benny05]

4. Would You Repost to GD-P or GD

This cannot make it to the Greatest Page othewise, and your post/pics deserve it.

[RagingInMiami]

10. I will

But first I need to add more photos. I am putting something together now that will be a slideshow complete with storyline.

[Blue_In_AK]

5. These are great, Raging...

[priller]

6. Those are excellent!

Especially the first one. Really captured him in a good moment. It's a keeper!

[F.Gordon]

7. If I had grandchildren....

I'd tell them the story about this photographer I knew in the day.... use to hang online with him before he became rich and famous.

Sumtin' tells me you're destined for greatness... well, you're already great. We know it. The rest of the world doesn't know it yet.

I know envy is a "sin", but I'm envious. Doing something you enjoy. Shit, I can only dream of that.

[RagingInMiami]

11. Thank you

Right now it's a bit of a struggle but I'm covering what I want to cover and shooting what I want to shoot. In fact, I will be flying to NYC on Thursday for the antiwar protest this Saturday. I will also photograph the immigration rally on May 2, which is when Hispanics across the country are threatening to go on a general strike.

There's a lot of talk about it in Miami, but it's bigger in other areas like the SW. I imagine it will generate a nice crowd in NYC.

The way I look it, I am documenting a subtle, but growing movement of disent in this country. It is fragmented it right now, but not for long.

I'm doing what I've always wanted to do as a corporate journalist. I've become an activist journalist.

[benny05]

8. This needs to go on GD-P

We are not allowed to K & R this thread...will you transfer it, RIM?

[RagingInMiami]

12. I will

Thank you

[JeffR]

13. RIM, these are magnificent

Edwards isn't my first choice, but if this man becomes president in 2008 - and I'd have no trepidation about voting for him - America could do a hell of a lot worse.

Keep on keeping on, but watch your camera in these scrums!

:toast:

[RagingInMiami]

14. And here is Alan Diaz's shot, which came out in the Washington Post

If you look closely, you'll see me in the shot. I'm the guy with the camera almost directly under Edwards.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/25/AR2006042501078.html

[CC]

15. These are great

are you the one in purple? I love the first one, you might want to try sending it to Edwards. Not a photo journalist at all here so can't judge it on those merits but I love how it looks like he is making eye contact with you, therefore with the viewer.

Just an idea where you can go with your photos though I have a feeling you know better than I how far you can go. You are that good. I met a photographer for a small Harford County newspaper the Aegis. I forget his name though (bad me its been about 2 years). Anyway he rose up in the ranks of the small paper as Cal Ripken Jr played for the Orioles. He was one of hundreds if not thousands of photographers present for game 2131. Because he was local and was there for every home game he got tied up in the clubhouse and didn't make it out to the "approved" press area for the game celebration. Also because he was local and known someone from the team got him out onto the field at a slightly different area. Also because he was known Cal saw him and looked at him and pointed his way and waved. *Snap* and he has a photo of Cal with eye contact from a different angle. Well the next year the Orioles want that picture to send out special to the season ticket holders. They talked to the Aegis who officially owned the photo since said photographer worked for them. They gave the photog the rights to his photo. The O's paid him $25,000. for one time use rights to use the photo as part of the season ticket holder package. Don't forget other sources that might pay well for your photos.

[RagingInMiami]

16. Not the guy with the purple SEIU T-shirt

But if you look at the top-left hand corner of the podium, you will see someone wearing a backwards baseball cap holding a camera up to his face. The shirt is red, but I guess it looks purplish in the photo, so maybe that is what you were talking about.

That's a hell of a story. It's a good thing the newspaper gave him rights to that photo. Very nice of them to do that.

[CC]

17. Ok I see ya now.

Hard to tell with cameras in front of faces and all. Still say you should email Edwards a low res of the first shot though.
And it really was very nice and unusual for them to give him the rights to it, then again it is a small paper that doesn't pay nearly as well as say the Baltimore Sun would and he has stuck with them in spite of the lower pay. His feeling on it was they would like to keep him around and if letting him earn the money from one pic helped, what would it hurt? Both the Aegis and the Cecil Whig here lose most of their reporters and photographers to the bigger papers after a while and have learned to give some leeway to them so they stay. Its been working pretty well for them photog wise the last few years, that turnover has really slowed down.

[RagingInMiami]

18. I am going to e-mail John Edwards people some of these shots

You never know what might happen. (I'm not holding my breath for $25,000)