Wednesday, November 10, 2010

The Opening Reception: "Cuba: From Inside and Out"

Works from U.S. and Cuban Photographers Unveiled

Last Thursday, Nov. 4, the opening reception was held for "Cuba: From Inside and Out" at the Krause Center for Innovation (KCI) Gallery at Foothill College. It was great to see everyone come out and support this show; we had a wonderful turn-out.

We received lots of questions about what Cuba was like; and people at the opening seemed intrigued by the few small photographic glimpses and answers that we were able to provide. Any country of 11 million people is impossible to sum up in a few words, especially given that we had seen parts of only three cities during our 2-week trip. Another question was: how many pictures did you take? Assuming that each of the 18 U.S. photographers took an average of 2,000 images during our trip, the exhibit represented a tiny percentage of the 36,000 total images that we took during our stay in Cuba.

Many wonderful stories ended up on the virtual cutting room floor, but there was still a great variety of shots and subject matter at this show. Thanks again to Ron and John for their curating talent and to everyone else for making this show happen.


We were very fortunate to be able to show the works of the Cuban photographers on a big screen at the center of the exhibit this evening; and those in attendance commented how they enjoyed seeing this diverse body of work.

And, after all the work leading up to this show, it was only fitting to be able to enjoy some lighter moments -- visiting with people, enjoying non-alcoholic mojitos, plantain chips and black bean dip, and other treats.