As I found it
Besides conducting my personal “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops and teaching online with the BPSOP, I just returned from my workshop in Cuba as part of the Santa Fe Workshops, and it was a wonderful experience. Good as my other four trips, and in some ways better. This time we based out of Remedios, which is mostly East and a little South of Havana; very close to the coast.
Remedios couldn’t be more different than the three workshops I have done in Havana. Where Havana is full of energy (and tourists), offering a diverse set of photo ops, Remedios is on the other end of the spectrum. It’s a lot closer to the feel of Santiago.
Here is the program Kip put together of all the participants: https://youtu.be/Pli8lOkJCX4
Being less considered a tourist destination, Remedios is a centerpiece for what would be the old and traditional colonial town one might think of when talking about Cuba…after Havana, that is.
The group of people was absolutely great as well as talented. When you mix that with a fun, friendly, accommodating, and very professional staff of very good Cuban photographers, I just can’t think of a place I would have rather been. Thank you Jorge, Claudia, and Sandor for your help and friendship.
Special thanks to Kip who is the program director and after at least a hundred trips, he still approaches it as though it was his first; he’s in love with Cuba.
Here are a few of my images, including the one at the top:
As I have said, When I’m out shooting I don’t expect to see everything I want to photograph. I look for different pieces of the puzzle and try to put them together to form the finished one. Right after the last piece has been put in, that’s when I shoot.
That’s not to say that I’m not always looking for ‘moments’ because I am; my background includes shooting for the wire services. For me, those “rare special moments” are elusive and don’t come easy, so I fill the time taking pictures of what I’d like to see. Having a background in painting and design, a camera on a tripod is just like a blank canvas on an easel.
That said, virtually all of my images were actually shot as I saw them, which is sort of rare for me; not planned, just a coincidence. Besides showing a few of my photos, I have also included a short program we put together to showcase all the photographers in my group.
Visit my website at www.joebaraban.com, and check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime.
JoeB
