Rick Sammon in Cuba
It’s not easy for American’s to get to Cuba (don’t get me started), but somehow Rick Sammon figured out a way to get down there, and he’s getting some amazing shots, and he’s blogging about it as well.
Here’s the link to Rick’s blog—-he’s already started posting images (including some cool HDR stuff), and he’s going to be posting images from his trip for the next week or so, and since we in the USA get so few glimpses of Cuba, I find it really captivating (plus the color, the people, and the way parts of it are stuck in time just make it one of the most amazing places to shoot in this part of the world).
Rick invited me to sneak down there next year as he’s leading a group of photographers on a trip to Cuba—I’ve always, always wanted to visit Cuba, and well…I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that I can go. Thanks Rick, for sharing this with us. 
I’ve just taken a look at Rick’s blog and there are some great shots. Cuba has to be one of the last unspoilt locations for photographers to visit. I can’t wait for my chance.
Many great shots at Rick’s blog…Thanks Scott for introducing him…
Thanks. Be back later to check posts.
Thank Scott.
Please do, Rick. And please understand why I will never think of having anything to do with you. I only wish you could go through what millions of people are going through down there instead of traipsing in and out as you make money off the backs of people who have no say in their lives, can’t communicate freely with the outside world, can’t leave, can’t voice opinions, and get tossed in jail for thinking anything that the government doesn’t allow.
Oh, I would sign up for that trip in a New York minute.
Hi Scott,
I’m with you, I would love to see Cuba for a week or two. I would really like to see it “BEFORE” the USA removes sanctions. After sanctions are removed, there will be so many Americans visiting that it will be very crowded, expensive and it will suck. The new administration says change. This is one change that is loooooooooong over due.
Until we get to go, we can “Dream On!”
See ya
Mike
Oh Yeah, Thanks for the great pics Rick!
I had a chance to meet Rick in Columbus, Ohio. What a fasinating photographer.
Cant wait to see them Rick, Cuba is one of my top 5 places i must go, its always fascinated me. Like others have said…sign me up now!
I am against this. The fact that someone has to sneak into a country to take pictures shows that the politics of that country do not respect individual rights and freedom.
An element of the art of photography is the freedom of the photographer to capture the imagery he sees and present it to be viewed, by himself and/or others. Where there is no freedom, the pictures are meaningless as art. (I am not talking photojournalism here).
Cuba is a Communist country. Communism enslave the citizens. Freedom of speech and rights don’t exist. Most Cuban’s don’t even know what a DSLR is. Taking pictures of poverty is not a trip I would want to be part of.
Cuban’s risk their lives all the time to get this country yet here you a praising someone for getting into theirs.
Do not apply American ideals to Cuba or any other slave nations. I don’t care to ever take pictures in slave nations. The picture can not rise above the integrity of the photographer’s beliefs.
Well said Jack.
I have family in Cuba, you wouldn’t believe what they have to endure.
Ana Prendes
I would dearly love to visit Cuba. I was born there. I was forced to leave in 1960 when I was 5 years old because my father and grandfather feared for their lives at the hands of my father’s University of Havana classmate Senor Castro. My father brought us to this country, washed dishes, bused tables, worked in a furniture factory and delivered coffee to grocery stores in order to put food on the table. He passed away 4 years ago never having had a chance to go home. I still have family there – an aunt and 3 cousins, one of whom I have never met as he was born after we left. I had a chance to exchange e-mails with one of those cousins a few years ago, but as soon as I mentioned what a great life I had made for myself in the US,all e-mails to him were returned undeliverable.
My aunt has communicated with her sister (my mother) and has filled us in on what life is like in Cuba for ordinary folks. They are rationed one chicken per week (when available), a few eggs, some sugar, etc. after standing and waiting in long lines. Whatever else one needs one has to seek out on the black market. Anyone suspected of being disloyal to the gobernment has their ratiopns cut or eliminated altogether. Neighbors rat out their neighbors to curry favor with the government. Most important of all, the basic freedom to leave the country is denied.
And you folks are dying to visit? To help prop up one of the most vile, repressive governments in the world? A government that denies its citizens basic human rights that you take for granted every day? You folks talk a good game when you decry the denial of human rights elsewhere in the world, but you’re willing to look the other way when it comes to Castro?
Sorry, folks. I will pass on going to a place like that, despite knowing what tremendous photographic opportunities await. Maybe one of you can take a photo of the house my parents owned before they were forced to abandon it; maybe you can photograph the graves of my relatives who were executed by Castro for dissenting; or maybe you can drop bt my aunt’s home and slip her a few bucks so she can buy luxuries like flour, coffee and milk.
What many of you are missing is, as Scott pointed out, that it is difficult for AMERICANS to get to Cuba. It’s not difficult for Canadians, Europeans, S. Americans…only those of us from the good ole US of A.
I was in Mexico once and a cab driver asked me if I’d ever been to Cuba. He had.
There’s people traveling to China all the time and I don’t see you protesting that. What about countries in Africa? Are you going to embargo that too? No more safari expeditions.
Scott,
please do NOT write stuff like “It’s not easy for AMERICAN’S to get to Cuba”. It should make every English-speaking person cringe. And not just those having English as mother tongue.
American (singular) => Americans (plural)
Please feel free to remove this post. But please, fix that spelling error (or typo, hopefully).
Yes, go! I went in ‘99 and loved every minute.
It will change forever when it completely opens .
That’s right, Matt. Go and spend money to prop up a regime that enslaves its people. Maybe you can sit around with Fidel and his boys, holding hands, singing Kumbaya, and they will see the light. Did you get to visit the prisons where dissenters are locked away?
But it will all change when it opens up, right? Yeah. the fat cats will gladly give up their lavish life and let freedom reign.
Right Blurryphoto. Have you ever seen an American prison
where poor slobs are locked away for minor offenses
whereas the rich guy with the same offense walks?
Oh, praise the glories of capitalism!
No,your so called Commie Fat Cats will partner with more multinational corporations make tons of money and still
subjugate displace and imprison the local populous .
It will be to protect the bottom line and shareholders interests instead.
Go kumbaya !
So Matt,
When are you moving to Cuba? Do you need help packing? I’m sure you will find no shortage of volunteers to help you pack. If you are so miserable living in a capitalist country you should end the misery and move to someplace more to your liking. In your case it sounds like you would finally find your happiness in Cuba. Good luck with the move and send us a postcard to let us know how it is going. Oh, that’s right you can’t send us a postcard because Fidel monitors all mail coming into and leaving Cuba.
Steveahole,
I should so as to not be surrounded by narrow pinheads like yourself. You are probably a disgruntled Bush/Palin, birther.
You must be pro war,unregulated big business, and unregulated Wall Street . Oh yeah don’t forget Obama pals around with terrorist, Pinko commie, love it or leave it , Sadam had wmd’s and we should bomb bomb bomb iran.Drill baby drill.
Greed is good ol stevearino just look where it put us .
In hock up to our ears and beholden to, oh no , Communist
China!
One thing all you Cuba knee jerks are forgetting is that
the U.S. does 10’s of millions worth of trade with
your evil dictatorship. Stevereetee tell all the American
rice farmers , Catapillar, and game fishermen among other to pack up too. Oh and I guess all the Americans who
annually take donated medical supplies and medicines
are traitors .
I’m Canadian so am able to go to Cuba. It was the first foreign place I ever travelled to about 20 years ago. It was an incredible eye-opening experience. My friend and I were fortunate to make friends with some Cubans who took us to their homes and community and explained/showed their lives to us. We were shocked by what they had to go through and how their lives were governed.
When we returned home, we realized how incredibly lucky and blessed we are to live here. It gave us a much greater appreciation for our freedoms. It was a great life lesson. Since that time I know one of the guys we met has been able to leave Cuba and is living in the States.
The comments here are much as I expected. I have to admit that I’m torn on the issue of visiting Cuba for photography. From what I’ve seen, it’s a beautiful land that does seem frozen in time, which yields some great opportunities for photographers. On the other hand, I respect the people who know better than I do about life in that place. I have no wish to support a government that denies freedom to its own people.
I have to look back at over four decades of sanctions and prohibitions against Cuba and realize that it’s a policy that hasn’t worked at all. Doing the same thing repeatedly and hoping for a different result just doesn’t work.
Whether an American photographer visits or not seems unlikely to bolster or topple a regime. If change comes to Cuba, it will come from its own people.
“I have to look back at over four decades of sanctions and prohibitions against Cuba and realize that it’s a policy that hasn’t worked at all.”
It’s not the policies of the United States that have failed, it is the policies of Fidel Castro’s totalitarian regime that have been a complete failure.
The people of Cuba are suffering because that’s the way Fidel wants it.
Just wanted to say that I’m a big fan of Rick Sammon. I’m a newbie and find his catchy phrases like “Name of the game is to fill the frame” and “dead center is deadly” to be very easy remember and a very easy way to improve your photography skills.
I’ve even started to pass around those phrases to people I know and have seen their photos improve as well.
Thanks Rick!
Whoa!! Some of us are going a little heavy on the caustic criticism, aren’t we? Ease up a little on the vitriol, folks; lashing out in a post isn’t likely to help or topple the Castro regime…
Go Scott, go! and I wished I could go with either or both of you, a chance of a lifetime for me. Go now before it’s too late, as I will go back to VN for another month or two, because with the speed of “modernization” and everything for tourist’s dollars, many historical places, buildings, places, etc…will be gone before they realized it.
Sam
Clearly, Scott meant no harm. Clearly as well, he touched a nerve. Like Obama did recently. It’s a complex world out there, and it seems there’s never time or place to resolve especially the deepest hurtful experiences. Take slavery, for instance. People and groups are forced to hold experiences deep within, against their will, at great personal cost, sometimes echoing across generations. And life seems to steamroll forward, clueless. Occasionally, these feelings get spring-loaded into our faces and all of a sudden we can feel the pain and imagine the rest and think to ourselves some version of “there, but for the grace of God, go I.” Personally, I believe dialogue is the only answer, whenever and wherever it can happen.
As for photography, another form of dialogue, sometimes its pursuit and its outcomes really matter. Like here, in this thread. All the voices matter. Peace.
“It’s a complex world out there”
There is nothing “complex” about financially supporting a Communist dictator that treats it’s people like slaves.
“I believe dialogue is the only answer”
How exactly do you have a “dialog” with someone that does not believe in freedom of speech?
Complex? Look at the points of view on this thread … for starters.
Dialogue? I didn’t say it was easy. Look at all the listening and inquiry and understanding of the other’s point of view on this thread — not. Mostly, people don’t make the effort and that’s the problem. Sometimes it takes decades or centuries for the truths to be told. Still, imho, the only way out is through.
But, ahem, this is a photography blog right? At least it was back before that nerve got touched. Any non-flame-throwing, constructive ideas out there? Is there any middle-ground or useful stance with respect to shooting in Cuba?
“Is there any middle-ground”
With Fidel Castro? I going to have to say “no” on that one. Fidel Catro did not become a dictator because he cared about the ideas of others.
Please spare me the social-babble of propping up a communist government. Seems we are doing a pretty good job with China. And, keep in mind we do business with Viet Nam. How many Americans died in Cuba? If you really want to “overthrow” Castro and and his buddies, visit there, shown the people what they are missing. Spend money. Heck, one week after opening a McDonald’s in Havana people will be in the streets wanting more freedom. It happened when East Germany starting letting people see what they are missing. With the stupid embargo the US can always be blamed for the conditions, the shortages, the poverty. Go there with a smile and buy local from the people, tip. Smile. The Ugly American will no longer be to blame.
BTW it is very easy for a North American to visit Cuba, they don’t stamp your passport if you ask or if they se it is USA Try traveling from Mexico, Nassau, Canada and any other intelligent country.
Thanks for caring about the suffering of others.
It must be nice to be a rich fat spoiled American with a it’s not my problem attitude.
Thanks for totally missing the point.
I’d like to know what happened to Rick Sammon. He posted at 6:02 am on Friday and said he’d keep checking back. Then the whole Cuban thing blew up and he hasn’t posted since.
This is a photography site, were we are suppose to discuss photography, not politics. Rick probably understands that and is waiting for the ideologues to cool off.
I have a friend and former professor who took two stock shooting trips in the 80s with another shooter. He had some great stories and amazing photos.
One story was about a bakery that people would line up for each morning and that would run out of fresh baked bread very quickly. The other shooter looks to my friend and says – look at that, under this oppressive government people have to wait in line just for food.
When they got back to the States they got together for diner. The other shooter picked my friend up and had to stop at the grocery store to grab something for their diner. When they got to the check-out line my friend said – look at this, people have to wait in line here … just for food.
Life is how you perceive it. Are evils that are committed by those in power? Again it is all in how you, your group of friends, your society, those you connect with perceive it. We cannot escape that and even when we try to be impartial in what we shoot we still bring to each photo our past and our prejudices. We shoot the way we are taught and live the way that we believe is right.
How we feel about Communism, Cuba, Free Market Capitalism, all of those things are part of how we shoot.
Awesome pictures! I’ve had a chance to visit cuba (Canadian) and took so many pictures.
PS. For all the naysayers – Cubans are incredibly nice people who love love love the tourists that come and visit their country. We took a bunch of products that are tough to get there (toiletries, makeup, children’s books/school supplies) and spread those around to a lot of the local people we met. They loved it and were more than happy to help show us a good time. They also told us how appreciative they were of us visiting their country, bringing these things and helping their incomes out with tips etc.
Plus they are very aware of what cameras are and what is going down… go to old Havana and you will find no less than 5 women in every block who dress up in the old formal cuban style with huuuuge fake cigars that all try and pose with you for a few pesos. They love it.
“It’s not easy for American’s to get to Cuba (don’t get me started)”
Cubans are willing to die to get out of Cuba (don’t get me started)
I have been to Cuba 3 times in the last 10 years (Mexican passport). I have to say that after traveling all over the world, Cuba is one of my favorite places I have been to and look forward to visiting again. The people are very hospitable and more than willing to share their points of views on topics. You still find many that defend the current system but there are fewer every time I visit. The younger crowd especially. For those of you considering traveling, keep in mind that Cuba has no problems with Americans visiting. It’s the USA that forbids you from exercising your right to travel and see for yourself what all the fuss is about.
As for the politics, we Mexicans endured it for over 70 years. They just kept switching the guy at the top every 6 years. I give the current Cuban system five years tops before they finally cave in. Maybe sooner. Still, go while you can. It is a very beautiful country with very lovely and warm people. Can’t say that about other countries I have visited.
If you want to feel less guilty, stay with a local family and eat in their home. Service is way better than the government run restaurants & hotels.
Oh, and since this post is about Photography, Rick & Scott consider me for your next trip to Cuba. I would love to go.
Gotta go. I have a call on my iPhone (Made in China) and have to get dressed for a meeting. Hmm, most of my clothes were made in Vietnam (go figure).