Some photos from Cuba

Talking of visas etc reminds me that the USA Govt. used to ask if you were intending to overthrow the Govt. by force etc, and it wasn't so long ago. A lot of people gave that as the purpose of their travel...


Regards, David
 
nzeeman said:
photos are great really but its too much poverty tourism for my taste. also that attitude-look how they live like **** in communism-well i lived in communism and it was much more advanced than west in many things. also very poor conditions exist much more in west-in communism/socialism noone was homeless in east eueope-every family had its own flat-maybe it looked poor but still house is much more than tons of homeless i see here in netherlands have. i could make more trashy depressing junk photos here in amsterdam but i wont do it-i will let people dream their capitalism perfection dreams further. and i hope i go back east as soon as possible. this is not a place to live. i would rather live wars and hyperinflation again than this hell with sugar voating. sorry for interrupting and please continue-i wont discuss anymore on this topic-any questions you can dm me.
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I have really mixed feelings overall, but from a USA perspective there is also another sort of national guilt over Cuba. Maybe guilt is the wrong word, I don’t know what the right one is.

The photos here are amazing, in my opinion, but I also cannot separate them from my feelings about Cuba and the US. They are less poverty porn that I feared, and for that I am impressed with the general level of respect I think went in to them.

Still, I cannot fully disengage my sense of national shame for how the US and Cuba have interacted, so that always tints my perspective.
 
Actually there are 12 exemptions to the US travel ban. They cover every possible trip to Cuba. Very briefly summarized they are:
1) family visits
2) official US government business
3) journalistic activities
4) professional research and meetings
5) educational activities
6) religious trips
7) public performance, workshops, competition
8) support of the Cuban people *
9) humanitarian projects
10) private foundation research
11) exportation / importation of educational materials
12) exportation of licensed goods


Now each is further defined. examples are "journalistic activities" apply only to full time journalists and not someone who posts an internet blog. "educational activities" applies only to students with full time enrollment at a Cuban university. Taking a salsa class does not apply. BUT, the "support of the Cuban people" * exemption can apply to just about any trip. That is the catch all for most visitors.

Having listed those exemptions, it is noteworthy that there is no prior approval, audit or followup by any US governmental organization. Everything is on the honor system. No one has been fined for illegal travel to Cuba in over 20 years.
 
Henry said:
The photos here are amazing, in my opinion, but I also cannot separate them from my feelings about Cuba and the US.
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Nationalism/politics has its place in art, but I don't think that's what Michael's visit was about. These photos show people who live in circumstances very different than ours, but clearly take pride in who they are, how they dress and how they conduct themselves.

It's refreshing to see cities that aren't plastered with advertisements everywhere and people interacting with each other rather than staring at their cell phones.
 
Thanks everybody for your comments. I grew up in South Florida and remember learning about Cubans who were fleeing Cuba and washing up on the beaches close to my house. I particularly remember when I was in high school, I read an article about a person who had arrived on a windsurfer and I remember thinking a lot about it and just asking myself "why?". Sometimes I would see makeshift rafts that had washed up on the beach and I remember wondering if the people had made it ashore alive.
I knew very little about the world then and didn't start traveling internationally until a couple of years later.

Now that I live back in this part of the world (1st time in 25 years), I'm going to be traveling to a lot of places close by. Places that I have been thinking about for a long time, but I have never been to. I was either living in California, Europe or Asia, so it wasn't really practical for me to explore the Caribbean, Central and South America then. Now that I am back in South Florida, I am going to be traveling a lot and exploring this part of the world.

As far as taking photos go, I am a photographer with an education in Anthropology and I am curious about the world. Without sounding too rude, whether you agree or disagree with my photos or the places I travel to, I don't really care. I know what I am doing, I am aware of the interactions I have with people, I know the conversations that I have and I know how to talk to people.

Havana
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Havana
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cheers, michael
 
Leica All Day said:
As far as taking photos go, I am a photographer with an education in Anthropology and I am curious about the world. Without sounding too rude, whether you agree or disagree with my photos or the places I travel to, I don't really care. I know what I am doing, I am aware of the interactions I have with people, I know the conversations that I have and I know how to talk to people.
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This is a pretty great response. Art is always two part anyway. We don’t control your creation of it anymore than you control our reaction to it.

I do appreciate your response as well as the images, well thought out and considered in both fronts.
 
This is what I like about photography; you can forget all that nonsense about pixels, lenses and so on and just enjoy other peoples' experiences and memories. Wonderful!


Regards, David
 
Thanks a lot guys, I really appreciate the comments.

I was walking down a street in Havana and I thought I saw a picture of Mecca hanging in a door way, so I naturally went to the doorway and looked in. I smiled at a man who was looking at me and I said "As-Salam-u-Alaikum" and next thing I knew, I was having tea with him and talking about my travels in the Middle East and South Asia. It was awesome, I asked him a million questions about the local mosque and the religious community in Havana and in Cuba in general. As I was leaving, I took this photo of him and he wished me luck during my travels.

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Just a simple portrait of a friendly local that I talked to on the street in Havana.
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Love these cars
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cheers, michael
 
Leica All Day said:
A week before my trip to Cuba, I bought a new phone and I was looking forward to using it for just snapshots. But, the more I got to use it in low light and in places that I wanted a wide lens, I started to discover that i could take photos with it that I couldn't take with the lenses and film speed that I brought with me.
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And most stunning, excellent work it is. Terrific impact: intimate, punchy. Book-worthy; 'zine worthy. Fer sher.
Want me some 'zine.
 
4 years later and a pandemic in between I found this thread again.

Sublime street and environmental photography Michael. Cuba has a certain aura and mystique that has allured me, yet due to its situation and geography across the Atlantic, never been quite an attainable place. Unfortunately, also a US administration that has listed the country as a SST, deterring tourism to the country. Long story short, visiting Cuba precludes using the ESTA for the USA, making it harder to visit the US.
For about a decade now I have had some touchpoints. I grew up in a Spanish region with a lot of ties during the Colonial age, "Indianos" and their influence that is still in place in the Metropolis regions; and others such as music and dance. I can say that I have become relatively decent at Salsa.

And the scenery looks fantastic on film, the color and stillness of time due to what the Country endures. But one very strange place, what reaches me is a romanticized image and sound; From photographers, from music, from the island and from Cubans that left it long ago. It is however very appreciated that I can travel there through the lens of other photographers.
 
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