Beauty in Cuba
This is a Story about that photo journey to Cuba that turned into so much more. Everybody who goes to Cuba has their own Impression of it, and I am no different. As I got to know Cuba, I found it to be a total contrast, between the Old and the New, between Capitalism and Communism, the wealthy and the poor, it defied everything that made sense...
My goal is to tell the story with photos and some supporting words, I hope it makes sense…But then, why would it?
This was a Friday night in Havana. It seemed alive and vibrant, from a distance it could have been a city anywhere. This is looking off our the balcony of our "apartment" on the 14th floor toward the Capitol and Old Havana. I got to know Havana pretty well, but just barely in my week there.
I walked over to this old hotel called “The Habana Riviera”, along the Malecon, and it was right out of the Twilight Zone. This old hotel setting, seemed a set from a 1950’s James Bond movie, with these 2 beautiful women playing music for seemingly nobody. The bartender stands ready at the bar, but nothing happens, and life in Cuba just continues to go on...
Right across the street from the pick-up football game, a couple gets married....
Look at the stark contrast between the beautiful antiques and the conditions of the walls
The Malecon is a broad roadway and Seawall that stretches 5 miles along the cost of Havana. When conditions are right, the wind pushes the sea in the right direction, so that it breaks over the wall and on to the road in a spectacular way. Those were the conditions on my first walk along the Malecon.
Discipline and Talent in Cuba....
I would learn that, as with the Dancers yet to come, the discipline and the talent in these obscure places in Cuba was out of the world.
Josie's Mansion was the first of many contradictions and mysteries in Cuba. Josie was an elegant, older lady who lived in this immaculate but crumbling stucco mansion. It was filled with what we would call antiques, but there, this is how life still works.
Nothing in this library says anything but 1955....
What can you say....
One day after a shoot, I was getting back to the apartment and I saw the sun setting like a fireball over the water. I’m convinced that places like this, Key West and Malibu CA., life stops for a minute when the sun set so everybody can watch it.
The Alicia Alonzo Grand Theater, the Grand Staircase.
In the middle of Old Havana, on the Prado and next to El Capitolio (the Capitol of Cuba) sits the Grand Theatre. With its polished marble and gold, the people of Cuba are so proud of their Theatre and their Ballet, even though it stands in contrast to much of its surroundings.
Mixed with the showcase of old automobiles, its quite the show....
In front of the Habana Riviera
I just took it all in, like with a group of men outside I imagined were plotting a deal, it was all just surrealistic. As I left this Twilight world of monotones, I could almost hear Rod Sterling in the background saying "Something strange had just happened here"...
Josie, her close friend and Claudia
We spent all morning with Josie and her good friend and helper whose name I don’t know. Ines and Claudia were our first 2 dancers, Stoic and disciplined, they did not speak English but were as graceful as I’d ever seen.
At least an hour out of Havana, were to the ruins of the Coffee Plantation of Antiguo Cafetal Angerona. The woods, fields and roads were quietly alive with people, hitch-hiking or moving quietly about their business. The place was old, and only the stone remnants of the structures remained. Brenda and Carla, both Cuban dancers took the long ride out with our team, and again, no English, but I would find that with all the dancers.
It was rumored that the owner of this plantation, Souchay Cornelius, who died in1837, had a forbidden relationship with one of the slaves. He built a small house for her next to his mansion, and he allowed his slaves on this plantation to make money, have a market on site and have families. The slaves were treated different on this plantation than any others on the island, they could make money and it largely was a self-sufficient village that had up to 450 slaves/residents at 1 point.
Walking down to the ruins of the old slave quarters...
Deep in the middle of Old Havana, Ramses hosted us for dinner one night at his studio. It was in an old building that he had purchased and restored in a style that’s hard to describe. The dinner was catered and he gave us a presentation on work his foundation does with youth in Cuba, like mentoring, teaching art and photography as well as disaster relief. As with everything I saw and learned in Cuba, there is so much more than meets the eye.
Its still unclear to me how we got the opportunity to get shoot inside of this place when it was empty....
The Contrast, the colors and the Street Scenes....
Then I walked through a nearby neighborhood full of sunlight, color and life. Lime Greens, muted purples and bright pinks, people on their way, kids playing soccer and people getting married. This was Friday afternoon in Havana.
One of 2 of my favorite shots, this and Claudia in the same place (Next photo)
Ramses, Josie's Friend and Josie
Ramses Batista is one of Cuba's premiere Photographers
The Slave quarters in the Back.
These were massive underground rooms. I did not venture into any of them, and all we knew was these were the homes of the slaves back in the day.
Ramses invited our whole team, as well as some of his students, and a few others who I believe were fine art collectors....
You notice the cars right away, and again the old and new. These cars are many people's primary transportation (if they have any at all), and they love them. Cuba I think has the most innovative and imaginative people in the world to keep these old things running and looking good.
As I walked deep into the neighborhoods, you see how vibrant life is, despite the conditions. These kids are not laying down to life...
Second of 2 of my favorite shots....
They stylishly jumped and leaped from anywhere, always landing delicately, but perfect.
Ramses had a lot of his work hanging in his studio. Here kids run in the streets of Old Havana when Hurricane Irma hits Cuba in 2017...
