Monthly Archives: November 2022
curbside mechanic
This gentleman spent a long time working on a motorcycle. His shop was a little space along the street and the curb served as his toolbox.
I am sure that a clot of photographers aiming their lenses right into his space was distracting; and I am not particularly proud that I contributed to that distraction. (This is the sort of internal conflict I felt every day in Cuba and am still trying to get my head around since I got back.) (More on that later, if I ever feel coherent enough to address it.l)
Cienfuegos, Cuba
photographed 11.9.2022
boxing gym, after practice
Our days in Cuba were of course filled with photography. And it wasn’t just the things you’d expect, like old cars and older buildings. We spent part of one morning at a boxing gym, watching the men work out. It was an open-air gym, it was hot, it was muggy, and they were sweaty. It was rich with history and aspirations.
The gym is named for famed revolutionary Rafael Trejo González, who was killed leading student protests in 1930; his killing was a turning point in the battles against the dictatorship of Gerardo Machado.
Aspiring boxers train here under the coaching of Nardo Mestre Flores, whose goal is to keep alive Cuba’s rich boxing heritage.
Gimnasia do Boxeo Rafael Trejo
Havana, Cuba
photographed 11.11.2022
¡patria o muerte!
Homeland or death – that’s what the sign on the wall says. I do not know if there is any connection between that and the headless statue (other than the connection I made in my mind, that is), but at any rate, those things did all fit within my viewfinder.
Havana, Cuba
photographed 11.7.2022
car + driver
Me (pantomiming taking a photo)
This guy (giving a very brief nod of agreement)
And here’s the result.
Cienfuegos, Cuba
photographed 11.9.2022
estefanía in a doorway
Seventy hundred twenty six days.
That’s how long it was between when I first spoke to photographer and tour leader Don Toothaker (whom I barely knew at the time) about his Cuba trip and when Don and I and the rest of our group arrived in Havana earlier this month. I am sure you can easily do the mental math and realize that the pandemic was the cause of that really long gap.
However: it was completely worth that wait.
And this begins a series, in a random order, of the things I photographed. This is Estafanía, a ballet dancer who posed for us in the streets of Havana.
I took notes* during that long-ago phone call with Don, and now I see that I wrote down he promised me that I would “see parts of Cuba that people don’t usually go to” and he stressed that human element would be a vital part of every day’s shooting.
He was not wrong on either point.
Havana, Cuba
photographed 11.6.2022
*Yeah. I take notes. Keep that in mind if we every talk on the phone…
One Day | One Image 