larsbc
Forum Pro
I just returned from a couple of weeks in Cuba. The last part of the trip was in Old Havana where we stayed in a casa particular that had an amazing view, thanks to the fact that it was on the 8th floor of a building with 270-deg views. My photo planning for the trip included a lot of viewing of Cuba-related photos and videos on Youtube, Flickr, and various gallery websites. I was especially looking forward to doing some street photography but, unfortunately, that didn't work out so well for me. Here are some of my thoughts about the experience:
Several friends have been to Havana but they've done it as a day trip from a resort (usually in the Jibicoa or Varadero areas). If you're a photographer, you really need to stay in a casa particular (essentially a B&B) in Old Havana. It is the most captivating part of Havana. It has the narrow streets, the old buildings, and the constant flow of people going about their daily activities in the streets. It's like you're walking through people's living rooms. We did a double-decker bus tour to see a large part of Havana but the rest of it simply did not compare to Old Havana.
If you don't speak Spanish, you can still get by. I only speak English but was able to order food in restaurants and buy a drink or two in a bar or from a vendor. Having Google Translate on my phone (I downloaded the Spanish translation files so I didn't need Internet) helped whenever I couldn't make myself understood. I learned some very basic Spanish just by using the Duo Lingo app on my phone for a couple of months prior to the trip.
Before breakfast, I'd get up around 7:00am and going for walks around the city by myself while my family was still asleep. This was the best time to photograph buildings because by around 9am, the sun was high enough that there was too much contrast between the shaded parts of a building and its upper parts that were directly illuminated by the sun. Also, there was usually at least one cruise ship in port and the more touristy streets were jammed with tourists by 10am. You could also wait until dusk to photograph buildings but there's many more people and vehicles going by at that time of day.
I wanted to do some street photography but during the daylight hours, I just felt too noticeable. My 15mm lens required me to get too close. I expected this to happen which is why I brought a 25mm lens. But I was nervous shooting with the 25 as well. The thing is, in the warrens of Old Havana, any foreigner is going to stick out like a sore thumb. If I had more nerve, or possibly a better grasp of Spanish, I might have been able to create better opportunities but the simple fact of the matter is that I didn't have enough nerve to get in close enough. But I felt fine photographing buildings with people in the scene. It's just getting in close to photograph people is where I was nervous. I had better luck doing street photography in China but I can't put my finger on the differences in order to itemize the factors which made China easier vs. Old Havana.
Photo geek talk: Of the lenses I brought, only my 15/1.7 was under-used, mainly because my lack of confidence pushed me to use the 25/1.4 for street photography. Usually, the 25/1.4 is my least-used lens but I came to enjoy its FoV on this trip. The other lenses I brought and used were: 12-35/2.8, 35-100/2.8, and 9-18. I brought two bodies: G85 and GX7. The G85 was used for the majority of the time due to its feature set and video capabilities. I also used a Sony X3000 action cam for recording video (it has an amazing stabilization system which makes it easy to get reasonably stable video even while walking, so I don't need to bring a bulky gimbal). I did some 4K recording with the G85 of scenes where I expect to do cropping or in-frame panning. Other than that, I shot at 1080 with the G85 and Sony. My output will be 1080.
This year I decided to spend some money on a good quality travel tripod. I bought a Sirui 025X. I'm not a big tripod user but there were a few occasions on past trips when a tripod might've come in handy and my old travel tripod was a bit big and heavy and not particularly stable. I expected to use the Sirui for a dusk photo of the Malecon in Havana but as it turns out, the tripod was incredibly useful in shooting from our 8th floor casa particular. It's still not a super stable tripod but it held the camera steady enough for me to do some multiple exposure HDR shots at telephoto focal lengths, as well as long exposures (up to 15-20 secs).
I felt quite safe walking around by myself with a camera in my hand. Micro four thirds cameras are small plus half the time I was using a small prime, too. So I think I came across as a harmless tourist but that's nothing more than my own interpretation. Who knows what they really thought of me. ;-)
Also, if you stay in Old Havana, bring ear plugs. The noise starts around 7am and ends around midnight, plus you have the joy of being startled every evening by the 9pm cannon blast from across the bay.
Internet is available in the lobbies of most big hotels, plus where ever you see lots of people sitting outside staring at their phones. But you need to buy wi-fi access cards to use these hotspots. I bought about USD$10 worth of wi-fi cards which gave me 10 hours of access time. The tip is to buy the cards when you can because they're not always easy to find if you're not a local. Which reminds me of something else: it was nice to see so many people doing something other than staring at smart phones! A local I talked to said there is talk of Cuba making cellular Internet access available to its people. So maybe things will be different 5 years from now. Also, it is becoming easier to import cars, so the numbers of old cars (American classics, Russian trucks, etc) will begin to dwindle.
To sum up, Cuba is a very interesting place to visit and I encourage you to do it soon, before it changes. But go there expecting an adventure and not a relaxing vacation (it's relaxing at a resort by totally different if you go to Havana).
Several friends have been to Havana but they've done it as a day trip from a resort (usually in the Jibicoa or Varadero areas). If you're a photographer, you really need to stay in a casa particular (essentially a B&B) in Old Havana. It is the most captivating part of Havana. It has the narrow streets, the old buildings, and the constant flow of people going about their daily activities in the streets. It's like you're walking through people's living rooms. We did a double-decker bus tour to see a large part of Havana but the rest of it simply did not compare to Old Havana.
If you don't speak Spanish, you can still get by. I only speak English but was able to order food in restaurants and buy a drink or two in a bar or from a vendor. Having Google Translate on my phone (I downloaded the Spanish translation files so I didn't need Internet) helped whenever I couldn't make myself understood. I learned some very basic Spanish just by using the Duo Lingo app on my phone for a couple of months prior to the trip.
Before breakfast, I'd get up around 7:00am and going for walks around the city by myself while my family was still asleep. This was the best time to photograph buildings because by around 9am, the sun was high enough that there was too much contrast between the shaded parts of a building and its upper parts that were directly illuminated by the sun. Also, there was usually at least one cruise ship in port and the more touristy streets were jammed with tourists by 10am. You could also wait until dusk to photograph buildings but there's many more people and vehicles going by at that time of day.
I wanted to do some street photography but during the daylight hours, I just felt too noticeable. My 15mm lens required me to get too close. I expected this to happen which is why I brought a 25mm lens. But I was nervous shooting with the 25 as well. The thing is, in the warrens of Old Havana, any foreigner is going to stick out like a sore thumb. If I had more nerve, or possibly a better grasp of Spanish, I might have been able to create better opportunities but the simple fact of the matter is that I didn't have enough nerve to get in close enough. But I felt fine photographing buildings with people in the scene. It's just getting in close to photograph people is where I was nervous. I had better luck doing street photography in China but I can't put my finger on the differences in order to itemize the factors which made China easier vs. Old Havana.
Photo geek talk: Of the lenses I brought, only my 15/1.7 was under-used, mainly because my lack of confidence pushed me to use the 25/1.4 for street photography. Usually, the 25/1.4 is my least-used lens but I came to enjoy its FoV on this trip. The other lenses I brought and used were: 12-35/2.8, 35-100/2.8, and 9-18. I brought two bodies: G85 and GX7. The G85 was used for the majority of the time due to its feature set and video capabilities. I also used a Sony X3000 action cam for recording video (it has an amazing stabilization system which makes it easy to get reasonably stable video even while walking, so I don't need to bring a bulky gimbal). I did some 4K recording with the G85 of scenes where I expect to do cropping or in-frame panning. Other than that, I shot at 1080 with the G85 and Sony. My output will be 1080.
This year I decided to spend some money on a good quality travel tripod. I bought a Sirui 025X. I'm not a big tripod user but there were a few occasions on past trips when a tripod might've come in handy and my old travel tripod was a bit big and heavy and not particularly stable. I expected to use the Sirui for a dusk photo of the Malecon in Havana but as it turns out, the tripod was incredibly useful in shooting from our 8th floor casa particular. It's still not a super stable tripod but it held the camera steady enough for me to do some multiple exposure HDR shots at telephoto focal lengths, as well as long exposures (up to 15-20 secs).
I felt quite safe walking around by myself with a camera in my hand. Micro four thirds cameras are small plus half the time I was using a small prime, too. So I think I came across as a harmless tourist but that's nothing more than my own interpretation. Who knows what they really thought of me. ;-)
Also, if you stay in Old Havana, bring ear plugs. The noise starts around 7am and ends around midnight, plus you have the joy of being startled every evening by the 9pm cannon blast from across the bay.
Internet is available in the lobbies of most big hotels, plus where ever you see lots of people sitting outside staring at their phones. But you need to buy wi-fi access cards to use these hotspots. I bought about USD$10 worth of wi-fi cards which gave me 10 hours of access time. The tip is to buy the cards when you can because they're not always easy to find if you're not a local. Which reminds me of something else: it was nice to see so many people doing something other than staring at smart phones! A local I talked to said there is talk of Cuba making cellular Internet access available to its people. So maybe things will be different 5 years from now. Also, it is becoming easier to import cars, so the numbers of old cars (American classics, Russian trucks, etc) will begin to dwindle.
To sum up, Cuba is a very interesting place to visit and I encourage you to do it soon, before it changes. But go there expecting an adventure and not a relaxing vacation (it's relaxing at a resort by totally different if you go to Havana).
, As a wide angle lover, Those architecture and cityscape shots are amazing! 
