12-MAY-2012
Guardian Angel, Columbus Cemetery, Havana, Cuba, 2012
The discolored face of this marble sculpture makes it seem as if the angel is weeping black tears of mourning. The body language is thoughtful and patient, appropriate for an eternal guardian. I included the oxidized mourning wreaths and torches on the doors to the mausoleum as well, giving the angel its context.
12-MAY-2012
Family tomb, Columbus Cemetery, Havana, Cuba, 2012
The most fascinating tombs in this cemetery were those that are crumbling. They were originally intended to represent an eternal resting place, yet nature and time have combined over the years to negate any sense of the eternal here. This tomb seems to be caving in, its concrete and marble panels falling into disarray. The early morning sun casts shadows that accelerate the sense of decay.
12-MAY-2012
Ravages of time, Columbus Cemetery, Havana, Cuba, 2012
Most funerary sculpture is symbolic. However this figure actually represents the woman who lies buried within the tomb beneath it. It also bears the scars of time – the wind, rain, heat have pitted the surface of the face and body, causing the sadness expressed by this sculpture to become almost painful. The early morning light etches its surface and brings out the evocative texture created by time and nature. Once an expensive memorial intended to express a sense of immortality, the decaying statue now seems to represent a life largely forgotten.
12-MAY-2012
Beginnings and endings, Columbus Cemetery, Havana, Cuba, 2012
The symbols of life and death can always be found juxtaposed within cemeteries. I stress such a comparison here by photographing a tomb featuring a statue of an idealized woman, gathered within a layering of fresh green vegetation in the foreground. I kept moving my vantage point to find an open spot among the leaves in which to place both the cross and the statue.
12-MAY-2012
Silenced, Columbus Cemetery, Havana, Cuba, 2012
I moved my vantage point until this grieving figure became half obscured within its niche on the façade of a mausoleum. I then converted the color image to black and white, creating a silence that reinforced the meaning I was trying to express here. I speak here of the finality of death itself.
12-MAY-2012
Echoes of Revolution, Havana, Cuba, 2012
The lobby of a once exclusive apartment building has become a busy crossroads of a community. Here are worker carries a load of debris down a splintering marble staircase, anchored by a headless statue. A child walks past piles of groceries, awaiting delivery to a popular restaurant now operating on the building’s top floor. A fading mural, most likely in place for more than 50 years, features the visage of Camilo Cienfuegos, one of the heroes of the Cuban Revolution, superimposed on the national flag. Cienfuegos was one of Fidel Castro’s most important commanders during the guerrilla war against dictator Fulgencio Batista from 1957 to 1959. His plane vanished over the ocean in October, 1959, and no trace of it was ever found. This apartment building, built more than 100 years ago, was, like most Cuban real estate, turned into government property after the revolution. It features its own ballroom on the second floor, now used for drying laundry. A lengthy quote from a Castro speech is emblazoned on the wall in the upper left hand corner. This image offers a microcosmic look at what his revolution has produced.
12-MAY-2012
Blue on blue, Havana, Cuba, 2012
Well-used public telephones such as this one are still very much in evidence in Cuba. Unlike many other countries, a cell phone is not yet in every hand. This phone, built like a tank, was mounted in an alcove of a building alongside of a busy public street. Its blue walls are every bit as tattered as the surface of the phone itself. The blue receiver and coin return perfectly integrate the begrimed phone with its worn environment.
12-MAY-2012
Electronics repairman, Havana, Cuba, 2012
I found this man working on the circuitry of a power supply in a public appliance repair shop. As his customer watched, he explained everything he was doing with great patience and care. This image expresses the talent residing in those large hands. He has virtually attached himself to the machine as he tries to coax it back to life. (The result of his labors can be seen on the following page at
http://www.pbase.com/image/143582218)
12-MAY-2012
Success, Havana, Cuba, 2012
After only fifteen minutes of intense work, the repairman pictured on the preceding page (
http://www.pbase.com/image/143582219) successfully completes his repair and acknowledges my presence with a huge grin. Once again his hands express how he is feeling at this moment. In one hand, he still holds on to one of his tools. He lifts the other hand to his magnifying visor in salute to both the camera and to his accomplishment. He is one of many people in Havana who routinely bring old machines back to life. Everything from automobiles to electronic devices is recycled in Cuba. Nothing, it seems, is ever thrown away.
08-MAY-2012
Sunset, Havana, Cuba, 2012
I made this photograph from a glassed-in roof deck of one of Havana’s luxury hotels in the center of Old Havana. From this vantage point, I was able to look out over New Havana and make this image of a setting sun hovering over Havana Bay. I retain some detail in the shadows, revealing the mostly coarse architecture erected in Havana since the revolution. The single most graceful structure in this skyline is one of New Havana’s most celebrated buildings – the National Hotel of Cuba. Outlined against the hazy sky, it is the building topped by the two small towers at left center of this image. The “Nacional” was built in 1930, and is Cuba’s most historic hotel. Although it’s glory has faded, this now musty hotel once hosted the likes of Winston Churchill, Frank Sinatra, Earnest Hemingway, and the infamous mobster Meyer Lansky. Lansky controlled the National Hotel’s hugely successful casino until Castro shut it down in 1960. The hotel was memorably dramatized in the film “Godfather, Part II.”
07-MAY-2012
Dusk, Morro Castle Lighthouse, Havana, Cuba, 2012
Many of the photographers in our group climbed the many steps of this 19th century lighthouse to shoot the setting sun over the Gulf of Mexico. I stayed on the ramparts of the adjacent Morro Castle Fortress to make the lighthouse and the wall of the fortress part of my own image. I had made many images involving the setting sun, but later discarded them in favor of this photograph, which expresses the effect of that setting sun, rather than showing the actual sunset itself. As dusk falls, the sun has already slipped well below the horizon. The huge thunderheads roaming the neighborhood were edged in pink and purple. I use one of those thunderheads as my subject here, while the lighthouse and the wall of the fort, both now abstracted silhouettes, offer context. Some of my fellow photographers still linger on the iron balcony of the lighthouse.
07-MAY-2012
Celebration, Morro Castle, Havana, Cuba, 2012
One of the very first photographs I made in Cuba becomes the final image of my city portrait of Havana. Our workshop’s initial challenge was to shoot the sunset from the historic Morro Castle Lighthouse at the entrance to Havana Bay. Our group of photographers left the bus and headed directly to the lighthouse, while I chose to stay behind in order to photograph this young dancer practicing leaps on the distant mounds surrounding the ramparts of the ancient Morro Castle Fort. She was at least 200 yards away, gracefully thrusting her body into space defined by a mound of dirt and a golden sky. I shot again and again, and froze the peak leaps in many different positions. This image was my final shot of her. Her extended pointed foot continues the slanting flow of the hill below. Her arms gracefully float in the air as her hair flies from her head. For me, this photograph celebrates life itself. It also expresses the character of Cuba’s young people – full of grace, strength, enthusiasm, and spirit. That is why I choose to close this 60 -image portrait of Havana with this photograph.