Being Here Now
The Art & Practice of Street PhotographyTM
A Cuba Travel Workshop
By Photographers – For Photographers!
February 2024
Photography "has little to do with the things you see This Cuba Street Photography Tour is open to those with a desire to photograph life in Havana, the Republic of Cuba – preferably using Fuji X or Leica M digital cameras. Both of these systems are well suited to the classic image-making activity we will be practicing. Using these tools we will be engaged in both “street portraiture” and “street photography.” (The distinction being that the "street photography" genre involves images captured without the subject being aware.) In either event this Tour is for photographers who prefer to capture a moment rather than create it. The Details
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Tour Cost Total cost for the photo tour is US$3195 per person, double occupancy, based upon 4 to 6 paying participants. While most such tours stay at hotels we stay at a casa particular (a Cuban B & B). We require a deposit check of $800 within a week of you making your reservation with us. Your balance must be paid at least 90 days before the start of the Tour. A transaction fee of about 3.5% will apply if you pay your balance by credit card. Our group will contain at least 4 but no more than 6 participant-photographers. All prices on this site and in any promotional and informational material are listed in US dollars. Prices while we are on the Tour may be in either US dollars or Cuban Convertible Currency (CUC). If you have participated in other Tours/Workshops with us you are eligible for a $200 discount on the price of this trip! Your tour price includes and pays for: US Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) authorized people-to-people Cuba travel permit Double room with en suite bath for 7 nights. Photo Walks with a Tour leader(s) (general schedule below) All breakfasts and lunches; 5 of your 7 dinners Transfers to/from Havana airport and our lodging Group transport for Tour activities that need it Entrance fees for Tour-included activities Pre-Tour instructions to prepare you for Cuba as well as dozens of articles NOT included in your tour cost is: – your airfare to our departure point: Tampa (TPA), Ft. Lauderdale (FLL), Houston (IAH) or NYC (JFK, EWR) from your home base* – Cuban visa ($50) – Cuban Airport Exit Fee ($25) – baggage charges as well as excess weight fees – two dinners in Havana during the Tour – drinks (after the first, included, one) during meals – personal outings and entertainment and incidentals (music/dance, gifts, etc.) – medical
expenses incurred before, on, or after the Tour – money exchanging fees – travel insurance. More info here – any optional activites not required by the Tour – a single room with en suite bath (available for extra cost) – tips for meals and services – Do ask about any other items if you have questions. * If your flight from home to the departure-to-Havana-airport (we use Tampa or Ft. Lauderdale) leaves you less than three hours of layover time you should get a flight for the day before and stay overnight at a hotel near your departure airport. Allow a good three hours plus for all the paperwork clearance and boarding requirements for your direct flight to Cuba! Allow at least 3 hours for your layover between your arrival from Havana to the US airport for your trip home, as well. We use La Quinta Inn Tampa Bay Airport at 4730 W Spruce Street (circa $150 total) because it's a 10 minute ride to Tampa Airport and they have a free airport shuttle service. Ft. Lauderdale is more difficult in terms of lodging but we have found the Motel 6 to work. ** NEW! Your regular U.S. medical insurance policy may cover you in Cuba if the policy is a global policy. Do check to find out whether this is the case with your medical policy. If you are not covered we have a very good option for our participants. |
Within 7 days after you make your reservation (by telephone, email, facsimile or other means) we require a deposit of $800 per person to hold your place for the Tour. We will send you an invoice for this deposit and then one afterward that includes the payment and your balance due, with the sequence of due dates for your other payments. The final payment for your place in the Tour will be due in full 90 days before the start of the Tour. Your place in the Tour may be cancelled without notice if you have not paid any fees upon their due date. If you find you cannot go on the Tour after you have made a reservation/payments to us, you can cancel your participation. To do this you must notify us in writing. An email and/or a telephone call concerning your intent to cancel will also be helpful as this is a small group endeavor and your cancellation will affect the whole Tour. Please read this page carefully as it describes our Cancellation Refund policy in full. |
Below is a list of the photographers who will be leading our Photo Walk sessions and classroom work. All have many years of experience photographing people on the street as well as landscapes. All are familiar with Cuba, either living there or having photographed there. Go to this page to see their photography work. Diego F. Lastre is a Cuban photographer engaged in street photography as well as commercial advertising and newspaper, magazine and book work, having more than 30 covers since 2009. He has traveled all over the island working with Editorial Letras Cubanas on a book about the pre-Baroque in Cuba. Wilbur Norman is a Santa Fe writer and photographer who studied social anthropology and has owned rare book and tribal art galleries. His first camera was his father's bakelite 120/220 Ansco Panda. He has ‘upgraded’ many times to where he now feels somewhat competent to handle his current image-making tools: the Leica M10, Leica M246 Monochrom, and several of the Fuji X-cameras; kit chosen for the beautiful rendering produced by their companion lenses. He is quite partial to black and white whether on film or on digital, except in the tropics, and in commerce, where color is (usually!) king. Happiness does not come from doing easy work but from the afterglow of satisfaction that comes after the achievement of a difficult task that demanded our best. – Theodore Isaac Rubin |
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