Postcard from Miami: Taking in the city's Art Deco beauty

When I travel for The Press Democrat, I usually take one day to photograph something that shows the local history and flavor of the community.

After three days of making pictures of press conferences and staged events orbiting around Super Bowl LIV here in Miami, I’ve been quite close to pulling out my hair in an attempt to make an image that is both newsworthy and, well, interesting.

From my early days of making pictures on slide film, I’ve been drawn to color and landscapes as an out to the intense pressure of news photography.

My goal this week was to hit Miami’s Art Deco district at twilight, when the palate of neon and architecture merges seamlessly with the fading light of the evening sky.

The skyline of Miami has drastically grown upward from the previous time I was here for Super Bowl XXIII (49ers-Bengals). I covered a riot (my first) in Overtown, missed the biggest play of the game and was taken aback by having to spend over $100 for a motel room.

I’m grayer and wiser now, but the color still gives me a charge. The Art Deco Historic District runs 18 blocks along Miami’s South Beach (above) and is the United States’ largest, featuring more than 900 historic buildings.