Blog Archives
selfie
A short story:
I saw her. And she saw me. And then I moved on.
The end.
Havana, Cuba
photographed 11.7.2022
portal: toward the light
If you’ve never seen a clump of photographers get excited by a puddle in the middle of a street, you may not believe me when I tell you that we spend at least a half an hour right here. There were many, many photographic possibilities and we were determined to explore every one of them.
(This will also serve as a warning to non-photographers: hanging with us is likely to cause a rapid onset of complete boredom.)
Calle Amagura
Havana, Cuba
photographed 11.6.2022
juxtaposition: Melanie and everything else
This is Melanie; she spent part of the afternoon with us.
And this is a pretty good summary of what Cuba was like: beauty, old crumbly things, and people all in the same vicinity, all existing side by side.
Havana, Cuba
photographed 11.6.2022
if laundry can be magic
This room felt like magic. Like laundry-magic, if that’s a thing.
Bright white tablecloths, freshly laundered, were hung to dry in this room. The combination of laundry (and its wind-led dance), the stone floor (look how those tiles are laid on a diagonal with the room), a chandelier, those yellow walls, the columns: you see what I mean about magic.
I hope I never forget what it felt like to stand in this room.
Havana, Cuba
photographed 11.7.2022
tropical gothic
This cemetery in Havana is one of the world’s largest, with over 450 mausoleums and 800,000 graves. My Lonely Planet Pocket Havana guidebook says there are an average of 50 funerals held here every day.
We had only about 45 minutes here, but I could have easily spent almost my entire week in Cuba exploring the place: you know how I am about cemeteries. I tried to make good use of my time, moving and shooting as quickly as possible. It was hard: I wanted to stop and savor what I was seeing. But that was the way it worked out: at least I got to see it.
This particular mausoleum had a tattered tarp hanging over part of the door, but I am not sure what its purpose was.
When we were leaving, cemetery security guards inspected the trunks of our cars: apparently stealing pieces of graves or mausoleums is a concern.
(Also, the place is so vast and has so many visitors that city bus routes go right through the place.)
(And, the photographer who made that iconic photo of Che Guevara – you know the one I mean – is buried here.)
Necrópolis Cristóbal Colón
Havana, Cuba
photographed 11.11.2022
One Day | One Image 