Havana Reconsidered
In 1933 the great American photographer, Walker Evans, accepted a commission to contribute a series of photographs to an upcoming book by Carleton Beals, The Crime of Cuba. The book was aimed at exposing the corruption of Cuba’s dictator, Gerardo Machado, and the country’s complex and often unsavoury relationship with the United States.
Evans, according to his biographer, Svetlana Alpers, was interested in the photographs, rather than the politics, of the undertaking - but in saying this Alpers offers us a caveat. Photography for Evans, the biographer writes, ‘…was a matter of seeing, but also a matter of thinking.’
She continues,
Though he had no interest in taking a political stance, and perhaps could not face doing it, his analysis of Cuban things seen has kinship with political thought. It is the fine-tuned observation on which reformist thought depends.
Politics, in any event, intruded: as Evans himself reported, ‘…I never read [Beals’s] book. But I did land in Havana in the midst of the revolution, [when] Batista was taking over….’
More than eighty years later, on New Year’s Eve, 2016, Rob and I landed at Havana’s Jose Marti International Airport, not, primarily, to take photographs, but to enjoy a respite from the Canadian winter, and to have a brief holiday together before I flew out to South Africa for the start of a long-term consultancy contract. Fidel Castro had died barely a month before.
We had the good fortune to stay with a local family, who met us at the airport, and drove us home, and helped us get oriented. They were a delightful couple, progressive, well-educated - the wife spoke excellent English, and the husband’s English was a good deal better than our non-existent Spanish.
So we chatted away, and what we couldn’t say in words was expressed in gestures and smiles. As we shared our back-stories, Rob explained that, although Canadian, I had been born in South Africa. Ah! the husband exclaimed. He had served in Angola, in the Cuban forces, during the Angolan civil war. It had been a difficult - a terrible - time.
The Cubans, of course, had been giving the South African Defence Force, who were in Angola supporting (with US encouragement) the rebel movement Unita against the communist-backed MPLA, a pretty hard time too.
Not as a soldier, as an engineer, the husband hastened to clarify. I had not borne arms, either, I responded quickly; in fact, I hadn’t served in the apartheid military at all. Smiles all round, knowing and rueful as well as relieved.
In the event, I took an awful lot of photographs during the week or so we were in Havana - it was impossible not to, everywhere you turned there was something interesting, unusual, or disturbing to see. But it was a long while after our visit before I found the time to go through the images, and choose the ones I was interested in, and figure out how to process and present them. There is nothing romantic or photogenic about the poverty or oppression of other people, and I am not a fan, having grown up in apartheid South Africa, of police states or dictatorships.
Only recently, as I have revisited both the experience and the photographs, have I come to realise how much more my eye and my camera saw, and with how much more empathy and curiosity, than my more critical and judgemental conscious mind did at the time.
It would be nice to think, as Alpers wrote of Evans, that there is ‘a kinship with political thought’ in the resulting portfolio, but that the photographs speak for themselves. Not, of course, as Evans’ photographs speak to us, but, at least, in a minor key.
Havana - The Magazine
I love it when someone buys a print of one of my photographs - a fine art print, beautifully framed and hung, is the best way to enjoy an image, in my view. And thank you, sincerely, to those of you who have purchased a photograph or two.
This is not a practical option for everyone, however - not everyone has the wall space, for one thing - so the question of how to share my photographs in an affordable and accessible format has long bothered me.
One option is to produce an annual calendar, which I did last year, but this has obvious limitations. Another is to produce a photo book, which I have done for myself and for family, but the high cost of a book may be an issue for some people.
And so, I have hit upon the idea of producing a series of photo magazines, showcasing different themes and aspects of my work. The magazines are much more affordable than a book, and offer a great way to page through my work and share it with others. And, you can still buy a print if you want one!
I am happy to announce, then, that the first magazine includes the twenty photographs from my Havana portfolio, and is available for order, should you be interested, at a cost of $15 Canadian, excluding shipping.
Just shoot me an email, if you are interested, using the form below.
Forthcoming Magazine - Istanbul
Hagia Sofia | Istanbul
While revising and, in a sense, re-imagining, the Havana experience and my Havana portfolio of photographs, I have also been busy re-thinking and re-selecting my photographs of Istanbul.
Look for the new Istanbul portfolio in my next blog, and keep an eye out for the Magazine edition, which will be available for purchase.
Two Photographs selected for the 130th Toronto International Salon of Photography
I am delighted to share the news that I have had two photographs selected for the Open Monochrome section of the prestigious 130th Toronto International Salon of Photography.
The Salon is the oldest of its kind in North America, and the second oldest in the world; last year it attracted 365 entrants from 54 countries.
Selected photographs will appear in the Salon Catalogue, to be published on 18 January 2024.
Gallery Acceptances in Glasgow & Minneapolis
This photograph selected for the Glasgow Gallery of Photography’s Urban 2024 Exhibition.
Kolmanskop Interior
This image selected for the Empty Spaces, Abandoned Places exhibition in December 2024 at the Praxis Gallery & Photo Arts Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota
A personal note
As we enter the festive season, it seems appropriate to end on a personal note.
Only last week, Rob and I returned from a month’s trip overseas, to visit family in the UK and South Africa. The motivation for the trip was my sister’s wedding - as you may know, Rob and I made a similar trip in April, and another such trip was certainly not on the cards, at least not this year.
But, family matters, and so do friends: with a wedding on the agenda, and family and friends tugging at our hearts, we climbed on the bus and flew back across the pond, and then onwards down south.
We had a wonderful time. But the most important thing was that we were there - that we could be there.
That’s not something we take for granted, these days.
Happy Holidays, everyone, and a happy New Year!