10 days in Cuba 

I returned a couple of weeks ago from a trip to Cuba which turned out to be more of an adventure than I’d anticipated.  In the ten days I was there Foreign Office advice changed, and I paraphrase here, from “be careful” to ”don’t go”.  It wasn’t difficult to see why. Cuba currently faces shortages of both food and oil, which impact virtually every aspect of life.  Power cuts were a daily fact of life, there were queues of cars outside every petrol station, and flights from Havana had to divert immediately to the Dominican Republic to refuel. Food hygiene was also an issue – 4 of the 12 people on our trip fell ill. 

But, boy does the sun shine, and when it does the colours of Cuba are magical. The buildings, many of which were crumbling, looked wonderful, and classic US cars, beautifully restored, made the streets look like old Hollywood movies. But best of all were the people who were unfailingly polite, helpful and surprisingly upbeat. 

Before I went I watched a few videos about photography on Cuba and had some idea of what I wanted to shoot. But the environment dictated the photography and I’m very glad that it did.  The photographs I enjoyed taking fell broadly into three groups: people; street life; and crumbling buildings with classic cars. There were opportunities to shoot landscapes at sunrise and sunset, and the interiors of old buildings, but while interesting, these shots didn’t grab my attention in the same way that the others did. 

I enjoyed taking portraits of people with whom I’d made a connection. Many people were very happy to have a picture taken, and with some rudimentary Spanish I managed to interact with them and show them the pictures on the rear screen. Colours were integral to these pictures so I haven’t converted them to mono which I would normally do.

Street life was incredibly colourful and vibrant, particularly in the early morning and late afternoon.

The buildings, especially in Havana, were largely monochromatic, either because they were built that way or because their original paint work has faded and has not been redone. I decided to leave the buildings in mono, but show the fabulous cars in their original colours

All of these pictures are pretty much straight out of camera, apart from the buildings and cars, but they’re at an early stage too. So they all need some editing. I’m hoping to mount an exhibition of the finished Cuban pictures at Shambellie later in the year along with fellow photographer Paul Skehan.