Large Format Photography & Cuba...

[BradS]

Nobody mentioned Polidori's amazing book, "Havana"...and Andrew Moore also has a Cuba book. Great LF work...

WOW! Andrew Moore's work is wonderful! Thanks Paul.

[dbr]

Here is what I know about going to Cuba from those I know who have traveled there fairly recently including the two people mentioned in Brads Post;

A. English is not spoken much except for the very young

B. The dollar is not the foriegn currency of choice these days given the strength of the Euro. Apparently many will not accept dollars. Remember, Cuba is crawling with Europeans who can and do go there at will so
It will cost more than you think for services, not the "third world bargain" it was.

C. Credit cards from American banks are not accepted, nor do you want to use them.(Banks have obscure disclosure rules) so you must bring lots of cash -more so now given the dollars weakness. (see above)

D. (and this is important) The Cubans sometimes stamp your passport with a little red stamp.
If you are an American citizen this can mean real trouble if a customs agent sees it.
This is not to be taken lightly, a friend of mine, an american of Cuban descent, was caught coming back via Toronto. Eventually he did no Jail time and his fine was lowered to $5,000 but almost every time he flies anywhere now, he is stopped by security at the least. Getting on the wrong list can make traveling very difficult.

C. If you are a Canadian citizen (like Polidori) or a European and you decide to go you MUST ask to have your film hand-checked at the airport. While this may be normal practice for most of us, this is especially important in Cuba given that the X-Ray machines are Soviet made from the early 1960's-very powerful indeed.

Until recently, Americans could go to Cuba as part of school groups or cultural exchange programs- This is how many went.
unfortunatley, the State dept. stopped allowing that in 2002

IMHO, I would wait (if one is American). One or possibly two things will change; come this November, the U.S. may begin to think about changing it's official policy towards Cuba and/or the dollar may increase in value.

One can only hope.

P.S. If you liked Andrew Moore's book, you must try and see the actual prints-they are jaw-droppingly beautiful - the book did not do them justice.

[PViapiano]

Andrew Moore was also featured in a recent Ovation TV special: Photographers at Work...great show featuring Moore, Albert Maysles, Sylvia Plachy, Greg Crewdson and Timothy Greenfield-Sanders.

Andrew's book on Russia is also amazing. I've been to Russia twice and his work embodies my feelings exactly.

[Tomaas]

Greetings all,

A good friend of mine (who shoots with a 5x7 Arca Swiss) is headed off to Cuba in the next short while.

Quick question... have any of the folks on this forum traveled to Cuba with a Large Format Camera?

How did you ship the camera, film, and tripod... and 2 or 3 lenses? How about film?

Any issues once you were over there with respects to being questioned about your gear and shooting?

If you did... what would you do the next time you were headed over? For example, would you take a Blad/Mamiya VII or would you take LF again?

Any permits required?

BTW, his wife is traveling with him and isn't into photography the way my friend is!

Any recommendations or advice?

TIA for any constructive advice!

Cheers

How did your friend's trip go? I hope he posts some comments about his experience.

Tomaas

[Andrew O'Neill]

It's been over two months and not a word...How did your friend do over there, Henry? And what's happening with this trip that you're organizing to Cuba 'cause I wanna go.

[Barry Wilkinson]

LF appears to be thriving in Havana!

Attachment 12738

[Andrew O'Neill]

I guess this trip is dead in the water...

[Michael T. Murphy]

I guess this trip is dead in the water...

Maybe after the next elections? We should see the rules relaxed, even with McCain (I hope.)

I was seriously planning to go with Maine Photographics Workshop - or on my own - before Bush came in. He killed many existing prograoms like the MPW one, and really racheted down the restrictions. Travel was reduced to maybe 10% of the pre-Bush numbers.

Before Bush was elected it looked like Congress was on track to allow US citizens to travel to Cuba. Heck, we can even go to North Korea, but not Cuba. Everyone else in the world can go of course .....

[Bob Salomon]

One of the German companies that we represent shot their catalog in Cuba in 1999 for the 2000/2001 version. They took a large crew of photographers and ad people and all of their product and shot on location for over 6 weeks in Cuba. They had no problems arranging the shoots or traveling to where ever they wanted (one shot was in a private individuals home). They shot product in elementary schools, ballet schools, churches as well as on the street.

They had no problem bringing film in or out. They shot digital, video, 4x5 as well as 6x9cm.

Unfortunately this particular catalog ended up having to be used for 4 years due to travel restrictions that were applied after 9/11 which prevented the shoot of a new 2002/2003 version in another locale.

This particular catalog has been shot in Thailand, Mexico, India, Brazil, USA and Canada (the current one). They plan well in advance with the embassies and travel authorities in the various countries and have had virtually no problems once the product and the camera equipment are in country. They did have some problems getting it all in to Mexico which extended their stay a few days.

If you get all of the required permits and clearances well in advance you should have no problems. You might also have the travel authorities arrange for a guide that knows photography and that speaks your language as well

Just showing up and plopping down a large format camera and tripod might not be the best approach.

[SAShruby]

Really? Did this trip ended up in the water? Again? How come? Same story?
Aah, as usual, too much talk, not much work.