Don't jump!

Javier Lopez-Rosende has to be the best photographer in Miami. He is amazing. You have probably seen his work all over, he is at every event -- 4th of July, The Bed Race, the King Mango Strut, etc.

He is known for his high up, panoramic scenes, like the fireworks he does at the 4th of July.

Well, this weekend, he was on an assignment and he went high above the Mutiny Hotel to get his shot. As he was up on the roof, he decided to step over the barriers and there he was, hanging on for dear life, so he could get the right shot.

Little did Javier know that as he was high up doing his thing, the public and the authorities below were getting ready for his descent, right off the ledge -- they thought he was going to commit suicide!

So as he took his time and got his best shots, everyone below was in a panic. Just another day in Coconut Grove . . .

Now keep in mind, he got permission to go up to the roof, and just a few feet away, but not seen by everyone below was one of the security personnel from the hotel.

Anyway, Javier got his shot, got in the elevator and descended the proper way (one slow floor at a time) only to be greeted by the men in blue. He was almost carted away, until he was able to tell his side of the story. The funny part was, that as he left, someone from the hotel yelled out, "Get out of here, we don't like your kind here!" When Javier asked, "My kind? What kind?" The guy pointed across the street to all the media booths and said, "NBC, CBS,
The Herald . . ."

He didn't mention The Grapevine, so I assume we are welcome.

Anyway, here is the photo that Javier was risking life and limb and jail time for. You have to be signed into Facebook to see it.

We actually took a similar photo, not as great as Javier's, but the same concept. It was almost impossible getting that one. We took it from the 8th floor of the Sonesta. First we got permisson from Curtis, the hotel general manager, we ran into him at the festival. He gave me his card and said show it to the guy at the front of the hotel.

At the front of the hotel, there was a security guy at the front door with a Janet Jackson mouth piece, he escorted me and two friends to the front desk, the front desk lady then called someone else, who escorted us through the lobby to the elevators and then on the 8th floor, we were escorted from the elevator to the pool deck to take the photo. By that time, we wanted to jump, but we just took a few photos and took the elevator down.