From the course: Travel Photography: A Photographer in Cuba

Understanding why Cuba as a subject

From the course: Travel Photography: A Photographer in Cuba

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Understanding why Cuba as a subject

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- I had a pretty good idea that when I had the opportunity to go to Cuba on a people-to-people tour and I was able to spend 10 days there, I thought, well okay, I'm going to come away with some pretty good pictures. I knew about the architecture and I knew about the classic cars and of course, the beautiful light that's there. So I had anticipated that and I was very excited about it. I think the thing that I didn't realize was how much I was going to enjoy meeting the people there and spending time with them. And the thing that really jumped out at me, whether I was in Havana or travelling inland to Trinidad or Santa Clara, no matter where we went I saw the same thing over and over again which are people who are very resourceful. It's amazing what they're able to do with what they have on hand. And I found that inspiring. I came away with a really warm feeling about spending time with the people there. And there were this small things that really show how resourceful they are. I know when I bought a poster at a plaza from the artist, he rolled up the poster for me, he signed it, it was just like this really great experience. And then when he put it in the tube here, he didn't have an end cap. It's a plastic end cap, you don't have that, he rolled up a piece of paper here and put tape on it, and just slid it over and handed it to me. Now that's a really small thing but to me it really typifies what I saw over and over again, which is people not being held back by whatever material limitations they had at the moment. And as I think about Cuba now that I'm back, I love the pictures, I love the experiences but really love are the people there and that's what I want to share with you in this course.

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