Trinidad - September 11, 2010

Morning Trinidad Photo Walk
The morning began with a photo expedition through Trinidad. Getting out early to beat the heat was key during the time we were there -- ideally before harsh shadows form (shown here). It was a good opportunity to see artists, street vendors (e.g., a hat seller, a man selling carved musical instruments), and people going about their daily lives.

The yellow and green bell tower is visible throughout the city. It was worth a climb up the bell tower stairs to see the view of the green mountains, and the sea in the distance. Note: this same building also housed the "Museo Nacional de la Lucha Contra Bandidos Trinidad." There is a mention of the shooting down of the U-2 spy plane (U.S.), and some other efforts that were perceived as trying to destabilize or re-gain control of Cuba after the revolution in the early 1960s.

Lunch in the Country
After the morning photo walk, we left to drive back to Havana. A country lunch stop found us eating with some chickens and other rural denizens nearby. The rooster seemed to be giving us the evil eye -- maybe he knew we were having chicken for lunch.

Dinner at La Floridita, Havana
The writer Ernest Hemingway drank here,...and also here. It seemed like we heard this quite a bit around Havana. Hemingway liked to drink, and he used to live in Cuba. In fact, there was a life-size statue of Hemingway leaning against the bar in La Floridita, a bar and restaurant in Havana that claims to be the home of the Daiquiri drink. After taking more photographs for an hour or two, we walked to La Floridita for dinner, before returning to our hotel a few blocks away. The food at La Floridita was quite good.

(Thank you for the creme de cacao birthday present all.)

Trinidad - September 10, 2010

Trip to the Mountains, Trinidad

The group took a trip up into the mountains today, taking part of the journey in a large, covered (but open on the sides) truck.

On the activities list for today: a walk and a pig roast barbeque at Hacienda Codina (that also offered a special drink made with ginger, honey, lemon and rum).

There are some interesting colorful birds in Cuba, including a parrot I believe, and the very small bee hummingbird. Apparently, some interesting birds were heard in the on hike, but the birds chose not to come out and be seen or photographed.

The Disco Cave (near Las Cuevas Hotel)

After a dinner meeting at the hotel, two of us set off to find the disco in a cave that was mentioned to us yesterday. We stumbled down what looked to be a cow path in the dark, and saw a tarantula and a large slug on the ground on the way. At some point, after an old horse looked up at us, we felt uncertain we'd be able to find the disco; but then we saw a few people starting to line up outside an opening in the side of the hill nearby.


The disco opened at 10 p.m., and we were able to take a quick tour with a security guard, before opening time. The guard was very informative, and talked about the disco, and the legends associated with this cave system. (Picture showing guard at top of large flight of steps/seating in cave, at right.)

This disco was much bigger and more impressive than I would have thought -- so much so that I neglected to take any good pictures, e.g. of the disco ball hanging from the cave ceiling, or the enclosed DJ room, or the two dance floors inside, etc. Amazing place, and thank you to the guard, and to Bill Scull for being part of this short excursion. Note: flash photos at the cave entrance might disturb a small cluster of bats overhead, but once down in the cave this was not an issue.

Cienfuegos - September 9, 2010

Cienfuegos - > Trinidad
Today we left Cienfuegos and drove to Trinidad, one of the first settlements in Cuba (~1514 A.D.), with the first mass being said there in 1513. While the population shifted away from Trinidad to other cities later, the city is still a popular destination for tourists. We'd heard that some of the beaches here are quite nice, but given our tight schedule, it's unlikely we'll get to see them. On the way into town, we passed a large fish/shrimp farm. And we caught a glimpse of large rectangular pond-like structures at the edge of the water.

Our hotel, Las Cuevas (The Caves), we were told, would be perched on a hillside above the town, and was built on top of a large cave system. And, somewhere very close to our hotel there was a disco built into a cave. This sounded like an interesting place to visit and photograph.

Artists, Galleries, Trinidad


After we arrived in the town of Trinidad, our first few stops were to art galleries, to meet artists (Arocha; Alain Fernandez Ferreira (shown at right); Daniel Rodriguez, and others) and to see their paintings, cartoon/animation style illustrations, multi-media pieces, and some sculptures. Ferreira's works combined text and images from both the revolution and corporate marketing.

Visual Arts School in Trinidad


After the galleries, and a short walk through town, we visited the Academia de Artes Plasticas (a visual arts school), that also has incorporated folkloric arts and dance. The principal met with us, and gave us a short tour. Classes had just begun, and the school was gearing up for the new year. We visited their art studio, and there were some very nice works in their gallery. Once again, we heard that students were interested in photography, but due to the difficulties and costs involved in obtaining materials, it was difficult to offer photography classes, even if they did have darkroom space.

Trinidad Block Party

We then went to our hotel, Las Cuevas (mentioned above); and got ready to attend a block party in town. This CDR event made for an interesting evening -- a little awkward initially, but a great opportunity to meet local residents and participate in a celebration with them. Cake and drinks were served and music and dancing took place, after young children recited verses and performed short dance (ballet) and gymnastics routines.

Matt Drown (pictured right, in a very grainy photo) generated some buzz by bringing a photo printer and paper, so that he could take photographs and print out pictures for the crowd that grew up around him. Seeing kids recognize themselves in the photographs was priceless.

Cienfuegos - September 8, 2010

Cienfuegos roughly translates into 100 fires in English. Cienfuegos was also the last name of Camille Cienfuegos, a prominent member of the group of revolutionaries in Cuba who took power in 1959. This town had a historic square with some interesting buildings, including a theater.

The group toured a good-sized cooperative farm, and drove to Punta Gorda a point of land surrounded by water, where there were more interesting historic buildings. 

Havana - September 7, 2010

Hemingway House and Museum -> drive to Cienfuegos

On the way out of Havana, on the way to Cienfuegos, we stopped at writer Ernest Hemingway's old house which has been preserved as a museum after Hemingway left Cuba in the early 1960s.

It was possible to peer in the front door and in the windows of Hemingway's house -- and to see an old typewriter; stuffed animal heads mounted on the walls; and an empty bottle or two, or more. Through a small closet window, a uniform and boots were visible. Hemingway's fishing boat had been moved up to this property and was sitting in back of the pool. Also near the pool were the graves of four of his dogs: Black, Negrita, Linda, and Nerun.

Cienfuegos
Had a short walk out to the water, and down toward the old historic square. It was quite hot, and the air conditioning didn't quite reach to the room I was staying in; the chocolate I bought may be melting. But otherwise, it was an interesting place.

Havana - September 6, 2010

Presentations at Fototeca & Exhibition

This morning in Havana we saw lots of parents and children in uniforms headed off to their first day of school.

On the way to Fototeca, our guide and translator, Jesus, spoke to us a little about the Waves of Art/Style in Cuba, and the 3rd Avante Guard of paintings, which have an identifiable style: black outlines, stained glass colors/look; e.g. tile "painting" in courtyard we saw when we arrived at Fototeca.

---------------

Fototeca
At Fototeca, four members of our group gave presentations to audience that included several local photographers and artists. Jorge Gavilondo gave a quick introduction about our group, and overview about what some of our group would be presenting: our group is from the San Francisco Bay Area; we're here doing professional research; and Ron Herman (who will be presenting first) is a Professor at Foothill College.

Ron Herman- Digital Photography Presentation
"Fotographia Digital" - Digital Photography Presentation

Historical Context
- Adobe Photoshop 1.0 was introduced in 1990, and it was a very basic program; you could manipulate images, converted to a negative => onto a transparency => It was still important to print.
- In 1991, Kodak introduced a 1.3 Megapixel camera; it was a very large, heavy $25,000 camera.

Ron's Academic Background
- 1991- 1994 - graduate school University of Notre Dame
- Studied - Martina Lopez
- Scanned to film...went back to darkroom
- Collage was popular at the time due to Photoshop
Ron's Work Experience
- Spiegel, Ralph Lauren, some fashion work
- New York, Cornell University - a lot of good work, but he was interested in more digital
- Came out to California - San Francisco
- Foothill (film?) photography program was started by Marion Patterson, who worked with Ansel Adams & so the Foothill program was modeled after school.
Quote from Ansel Adams
Steven Johnson started the digital photography program at Foothill College - large format landscape photographer who shoots with a digital back. Foothill is located in Silicon Valley.
Foothill has some exhibit venues, e.g. we are planning to have an exhibit this Fall.
We're looking forward to having some shared images - some from Cuba; Ron is looking forward to talking further with those here who would be interested in being part of this exhibit.
Showed picture of the Lab at Foothill - high-end Apple systems, used for music as well.

1997 
Digital photography was not widely accepted
Foothill had a digital program, which was attractive, unusual at the time.
This was interesting, but digital wasn't "real" photography, some still thought.
The name of the program was "Photography and Digital Imaging"
But, people have been manipulating images since the beginning of time, e.g. (showed examples) from 1857, 1858 -- where they combined many images.
Jerry Uelsmann - well known for his work.
In 1997, we were running 8 different sections of beginning photography - with waiting lists too.
We had intermediate and advanced classes that would run also.
But we could barely get people to sign up for digital photography.

Now
We went from 8 sections in darkroom to a dramatically reduced number, darkroom is barely staffed.
Several intermediate and advanced (traditional) classes were cancelled.
We created a hybrid traditional and digital course
We also changed our name to the Photography Department
And we have wait lists now in digital classes.

Teaching Challenges
- Develop Curriculum - what and how?
We had to create one; there really wasn't anything in place
- Textbooks
- Upgrading hardware and software
- Updating curriculum and materials, etc.

We're using Adobe Lightroom, Camera Raw, and Photoshop.
What we found was the the photo classes end up being tutorial sessions where, at least initially, more and more advanced students don't know how to use their cameras (more emphasis on computers/applications).
Fast-paced - we see more interest in workshops than long courses; students want the answer(s) now.
We've also been teaching online classes.
We offer at least 3 courses online per quarter; this helps open up who/how students can take classes.

Advisory Board
- We have representatives from hardware, software, education, and commercial areas to help keep us up to date.
- We hosted a conference with local photography departments, talked about changes, trends
- Some programs are teaching Introductory digital classes and darkroom for more advanced; some schools don't have a darkroom(s) anymore.

Examples of Ron's Work
- pinhole camera
- digital work
- traditional
- fashion
- Alaska - converted a camera to infrared (very interesting shots, examples)

Examples of Student Work
- Showed a very nice variety of shots from Foothill students

New Developments
- Metal Prints
- Chromogenic
- new on the market
- printing


Future/Trends
Russell Brown (Adobe, Photoshop)
- RAW will become more and more important
- New ways to be able to see differences between JPEG and RAW regarding the ways of working with them.
Hardware
- Video and still - will be able to get/grab a single still
- Canon concept camera introduced in Shanghai - 0-5,000 millimeters
with more focus, more storage, high(er) resolution

Other Trends
- fast wireless
- face detection
- super telephoto ranges
- image stabilization so can handhold with super (accuracy?); more touchscreen, fewer manual dials;
- will be able to grab a single still from a movie
- HDR image from a single photograph

Technology at Stanford University
- Light field camera
- Take a shot and change the focus later
- and will be able to copy focus from one layer to another
- HDR will become available on lower-end cameras
- more 3D options with cameras - we see this now with Fuji camera that shoots in 3D

Next: We have 3 individuals in our group who have something to show/present
1.) Harlan Crowder will talk about HDR workflow
2.) Neeley Main will talk about photo books
3.) John Thacker will talk about his personal workflow
============

"Post Cards From California" Exhibit
After hand-carrying our prints in mailing tubes to this venue in Havana (with fingers crossed that the tubes would not get damaged or misplaced in overhead compartments, buses, planes, etc.), it was exciting to see the groups photos nicely framed and hanging up on the walls. The mid-day reception was well attended, and it was great to speak to local photographers.

Union of Cuban Writers and Artists
After lunch, we were given a tour of the Union de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba, which was located in a very nice facility, by a woman who was herself a union member/official.

We also walked through a gallery, and saw works on exhibit that resembled wooden toys or games with images/messages cleverly applied in black paint.

Farm Visit
We visited an urban farm this afternoon. A variety of crops were being grown, including lettuces; mint (for mojitos); sunflowers; sugar cane; herbs used for religious purposes; and some fruits.

Havana - September 5, 2010

Yoruba Association; Callejon de Hammel; Guillermo Bello

Yoruba Association
The first stop on today's agenda was a visit the Asociacion Cultural Yoruba de Cuba (Yoruba Association). We received a brief introduction to the fusion of Catholicism (the Spanish introduced Catholic dieties and saints) and African-Cuban traditions. Syncretism was the result of forced worship and the saint/diety approach. Regla de Ocho (rule of eight?) is the name of the religion. Yoruba refers to the region. Spanish didn't let Africans practice what was almost an animist religion, one with natural symbols.

We then went upstairs to look at a typical "shrine" type set-up of 8 vessels of water (that represent the rule of 8) that we may see around the city. Also in this area upstairs were physical models or representations of deities; and there were a lot of them. Some are warriors; some are male and some female; others play different roles. (I have more detailed notes on these deities, if anyone is interested.) After this tour, we saw an Oracle of Ifa (large round disc on wall with 256 symbols).

We were then ushered into a small presentation room, where we listened to a lecture on this religion, gods. There are 200 evil ones (who take part in evil in people - murders, drugs), and 201 good ones. This religion is very popular, a large percentage of the population observe traditions or have some belief in. All the religions in the beginning were making some kind of (live) sacrifices. Ocha de Regla is one of the only religions that still makes animal sacrifices (other religions use more symbolic means now).

Callejon de Hammel
We visited Callejon de Hammel, a narrow, street/alley in Havana, decorated with brightly colored walls and murals. It was crowded and a bit difficult to see everything. Behind the blue door (shown), rhumba music and dancers emerged (shown).

A small gallery/workshop (La Galleria - Taller) contained works inspired by Cuban religions with African roots. For example, there were Baba Lobo ("father wolf"); souvenirs. Inside the gallery/workshop, there was a Saint Barbara, up in a niche in one wall; and nearby was a representation of Chango (the young handsome god of thunder and the winds). Saint Barbara is linked with Chango in syncretism (fusion of Catholic and African traditions). There was also a paintings by Salvador Gonzalez, e.g. one was inspired by Echua, or the presence of Echua (another diety).

A man named Elias gave us a short presentation to us explaining a little about this street and what we were seeing; and then he also announced to the crowd that our group was there. (He also warned the crowd, half in jest and half not, to watch their belongings, in part because there were so many people in close quarters.)


Guillermo Bello 
Later we met with Guillermo Bello, who presented and talked about his work to our group. In setting this up, Bello had been asked about the series of photos that he took in Colon Cemetery, called "Luces y Sombras de la Eternidad" (Lights and Shadows of Eternity) from 2001. Bello also showed more recent and other work (doors and windows, other).


Bello talked a bit about what his thoughts were behind this series: "These works were designed to go beyond death. Some were more famous and were bigger - and some of these (statues/tombs) are in the worst shape now."


When asked if he was shooting digital, Bello replied "I was born a digital photographer." He was a physics engineer. He uses 2 or 3 of HPs printers (generations) with A3 format. Somtimes they get cartridges from other countries, such as Chile or China. Sometimes photographic papers are hard to get, so he uses different papers. He sometimes uses different emulsion treatments to get colors that are close to the results he wants. Blacks and grays are not always optimal. They have large format printers in a very few places. He's heard of some artists/photographers getting museum quality prints made from Brazil, and maybe a few other countries.


He did this Colon Cemetery series a little after 9/11/2001 (attacks in the U.S.), and some of these photos were taken during the Afghan invasion. He was/is trying to see the beauty that is there; trying to see how strong life is, e.g. in the vegetation (that keeps pushing up/through). He used a 2001 Olympus camera, with 3-4 megapixels. There were not many pixels in the camera, but they were good ones. Some print paper (said of prints he was passing around for us to look at) is watercolor paper; printed directly on watercolor paper (2002 series - blues and some other colors; doors; windows). Now he is working with a Nikon D300. He showed us a nice photo of a woman with a brushed surface.


He sells in several different galleries: the one in Cathedral Square; Obispo; Gallery Forma (sp?); at the airport. He has sold some prints in Spain. Sometimes he uses just a little watercolor or pastel to retouch the work.

More Questions and Answers:

Q?: Has he sold many prints in the work series?
A: Yes, when they had the exposition, they sold a lot.

Q?: What's he working on now?
A: He's got several ideas - currencies, passports, graphics elements....

Re: clothes blowing in balcony...
Instead of "Gone with the Wind" he wanted to focus on what wasn't gone with the wind, after Hurricane Katrina (Category 5). Fortunately, it did not go through (Havana?; could have been worse). "So I went out and took pictures of what was not affected," but could have been.

Q?: Do you use color management?
A: Yes, he bought a system recently to handle...

Q?: How many professional photographers does he think there are in Habana/Cuba?
A: He's not sure exactly. He knows some, but not all.

Q?: (to be continued...)