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kodak.com
presents
Rick Sammon and Professor Denis Defibaugh
Photographing Cuba
March 15, 2001
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Page 3 of 6
Denis:
Did you have a planned agenda for your students or did you just go to shoot?
Denis Defibaugh:
We did have a planned agenda. Since we were there for such a short time and it was the first time most everyone had been in Cuba, my first thought was that we had to introduce the students to the city of Havana. First day we had a tour and bus for Havana and we basically drove all of Havana until about noon and walked around in the afternoon. The second day we went to one of the beaches because Cubans tend to have a day off on Sunday and go to the beach and I thought that would be a good way to spend our Sunday. The third day we took about a three drive to Pinar del Rio. That is where most of the tobacco farms are. Very beautiful mountains in that region. We had plans to visit cigar factories during the week, which we did, and a baseball game, which we did, but after those first three days, the students were on their own to explore Havana and work on projects that they proposed for themselves to do.
William:
Did you travel outside of Havana?
Rick Sammon:
Yes, yes, yes. We went to one of the oldest towns in Cuba. Trinidad. It's a five-hour drive from Havana. It's a long drive. I strongly recommend going to Trinidad, which is one of the oldest cities in Cuba. There are people riding around on horse drawn carts, men on horses, donkeys pulling carts, old churches. This is so photographically inspiring; you must go there. And there's great music there almost 24 hours a day, Salsa music.
Denis Defibaugh:
The picture of this woman with the cigar and the smile was taken in one of the cigar factories in Havana, La Corona Factory. There was a brief conversation with her, my Spanish is not very good, but I think there was definitely a look and we each smiled at each other and there was definitely tension between the two of us in the making of this photograph. She was definitely part of making this photograph. It was a collaboration between me and her to make this image. It seems to be a little blurred on the edges and that's because of drag shutter, flash in the shutter was left open for about 1/8 of a second to record the ambient light, and she moved a little during that exposure. One thing I also want to mention, I made this photograph in August on my first visit to Cuba and when I returned to Cuba two weeks ago or so, I brought pictures back to the factory that we photographed in, and this was one of the pictures that I brought back to her. That makes so much difference in terms of relationships that you have with people and the respect that they have for you, that you're actually sharing pictures with them. We were able to give photographs to people that we photographed in August, and it's a very positive way of maintaining a relationship with someone.
Rick Sammon:
I would like to comment on Denis' comment. 1) That's great that he was talking about the slow shutter speed. Please take your camera off automatic and think about making the picture and not just taking the picture, and that picture is a good example of the difference between taking a picture and really making a picture. 2) That comment about bringing back the pictures is so important to these people, many of whom can't afford a camera.
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