Blog Archives

transportation options

It is true that are old cars in Cuba.

There are other transportation options too, like newer cars, or horse-drawn carts, or pedi-cabs, or motorbikes, or buses. Or this bicycle built for, well, three, rolling down Avenida San Carlos in central Cienfuegos.

Cienfuegos, Cuba
photographed 11.9.2022

shadow boxing

The sweat-covered boxer from this post is the man on the left, giving it his all in full Cuban sun.

The men would pair up, sparring until the coach said, in a calm deep voice, “Tiempo.” They’d rest a few minutes, wipe their faces, drink some water*. And when the coach again announced, “Tiempo.” they’d start back up until the next announcement.

Gimnasia de Boxeo Rafael Trejo
Havana, Cuba 

photographed 11.11.2022

*And if we were there, put up with a swarm of photographers intent on getting a Very Important Portrait of Very Sweaty Boxer.

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

which way the wind will blow

If you are from someplace where the wind fails to blow nearly every single damn day, you may not understand why people from the Plains will immediately get that this shot was made in an always-windy locale.

Deaf Smith County, Texas
photographed 11.13.2021