Alan Diaz, 53, was born and raised in New York. He moved to Cuba in 1964 to be with his parents, who had previously returned to their home there. Diaz earned a teaching degree in Cuba, taught school, and studied what was to become a career change, photography.

Diaz returned to the United States and began his photography career in Miami in 1978 while also teaching English. In 1994 he began working with the AP's Miami bureau as a freelance photographer and became a staff photographer there in June, 2000.

In August of 2000, Diaz was selected by the Associated Press Managing Editors as winner of the 2000 Spot News Photography award for his pictures of federal agents seizing Elian Gonzalez.

The saga of the 6-year-old Cuban boy gripped the nation for five months, and Diaz's pictures were often on front pages. He was the only photographer to capture the pivotal moments inside the home in Miami's Little Havana section, and his dramatic pictrues were immediately transmitted to AP members and subscribers around the world. "I was just doing my job," he said afterwards, "I did what I always do - I shoot pictures."