Cuba - Photography after Fidel

[david_fields1]

How might photography change there in the near future? There was this guy on

the evening news exited about starting up fast-food joints.

Yeh, right. The old architecture in the backround, old cars foreground, and

smack-dab in the middle a McDonalds/KFC/Subway/etc.

Allready nauseous.

[richard_cochran]

Fidel's not gone yet, and it remains to be seen what will happen to Cuba's government after he is gone. My wild guess: Hugo Chavez unites Venezuela and Cuba into a united communist Cubazuela with more vitriolic anti-US politics than Fidel ever dared to have. But since Cubazuela will have Maracaibo's huge oil reserves, I'm not sure whether the US Congress will continue the trade embargo.

<p>

Regardless of how or when it happens, there's a distinct possibility the embargo and political tensions may end one day, and trade may open up. When that happens, several things will happen almost simultaneously: It'll be a lot easier for US Citizens to visit Cuba, and they'll go there in droves. Modern tourist facilities will quickly be built for them, with mega hotels on the beach (think Cancun). It'll be a lot easier for Cubans to use that tourist money to buy modern cars, and they'll finally lose the absolute need to keep their old cars running forever. Many of the good and bad things that give Cuba her unique character will be gone forever.

[john_h.1]

It may change a lot, a little or not at all.

[david_henderson]

Whilst I wouldn't debate for a moment that the pace of development will increase dramatically if a "liberalisation" of the political regime in Cuba led to a re-establishment of workable relations with the US, I should point out that there is quite a lot of this going on regardless. 50's cars are no longer in a majority in Havana and it seems to me that the drive to maintain these in fabulous condition is slackening. Much of Habana Vieja is already pretty much sanitised, restored and dressed up for tourism, as is Trinidad. It's becoming possible to book a decent hotel room on the internet and eat other than atrociously. It's even possible to direct-dial a telephone in the UK from some hotels, admittedly not cheaply. There are already strings of hotels and all-inclusive resorts along some of the coast.

 

I visited Cuba first in 2001. By the time I returned in late 2004 eight of my "best" dozen photographs were no longer available.

 

Meanwhile there are unique and fascinating things to see, albeit that change is in progress and increasingly you need to look for them. For those that might be interested in photographing Cuba there is much to be said for doing it now rather than waiting until its like cities like Prague with a cafe bar or a crystal shop on the ground floor of just about every building in the (otherwise) most picturesque parts.

[jack_lo_..._t_o]

I've always thought of those 50s cars as an undeveloped resource.Why couldn't Fidel have made a deal with Toyota: a one-on-one trsde: 1953 Pontiac/2006 Prius? Or with some European antique car dealer/millionaire for cold ca$h?

 

Perhaps now we are in a time when architects are more respectful of history and the old buildings will be restored rather than demolished and replaced with curtain-walled krapp. Whatever happens politically I hope it's peaceful.

[craig_gillette]

There is kind of a luxury available in some areas or some societies to look at "old" differently. Sometimes, it's old and "special" as in historic and valuable just on it's own merits, etc. Sometimes it's looked as old and "in the way." The people who have been trying to keep up with the plumbing and the plaster or the auto parts may have a less romantic view of their "treasures" than someone who hasn't had to try to deal with them and can afford or at least has had the opportunity to do something else. Chavez can try to buy his way in but I'm not sure that the idea of being a client state again seems inviting even if ideologically less impure.

 

The same kinds of changes have taken place elsewhere, with the same competing interests: preservation of history and culture versus modernization, etc.

 

I tend to expect an evolution more like most of Eastern Europe as the bloc dissolved and less like Yugoslavia in particular where Tito had kept the lid on.

 

So photographically, I'd guess that the aspects which are special or romantic to visitors will likely be shoved aside to one extent or another. It's kind of up to the Cubans to decide if they'd rather deal with the US or Venezuela.

[fredrik_calabrese]

Maybe it not as much a hunt for the nostalgic as hunt for unique places. That witch has not become transformed into standardized suburbia.

I think the key to opening up US cuban relations would be the US lifting sanctions agianst cuba and apologizing for terrorizing cuba since the bay of pigs.

[tommy huynh]

As much as I love Cuba the way it is today, I have to remind myself it doesn't exist so that we can go there and take photos of it. The Cuban people want to open the doors, with development comes certain evils, it would be selfish for us to wish that things not change for them. It's a funny thing, we go there and admire how simple life is. They look at us and admire how much we have. Neither of us are correct of course.

<br><p align="center">

<a href="http://www.tommyimages.com/Stock_Photos/Caribbean/Cuba/Stock_Photos_Cuba.html" title="Cuba Pictures"><strong>The Old Cuba (2006)</strong><br><img src="http://www.tommyimages.com/Stock_Photos/Caribbean/Cuba/Life_in_Trinidad/slides/Cuba_2575-Trinidad_Donkey_Cowboy.jpg" alt="Photos of Cuba"</a></p>

[phil_marion]

<p>Yes, Fidel is not dead yet. The Revolucion will live some time after him. There are too many people in the part that stand to lose if it doesn't. The people of course want change and liberalisation of economic policies. An influx of American capital will improve the lot of many Cubans and may alter the charm of it's people who exist in a world without mass media and advertizing. It is a unique country and though the loss of this may sadden me it is their country and they have a right to live as they see fit.<br>

Chavez will NOT unite the 2 countries in to a communist 2 state country. First of all Venezuela is a capitalist country and Chavez has constitutional limits on his reign.<br>

<a href="http://www.flickriver.com/photos/phil_marion/sets/72157623058220853/">http://www.flickriver.com/photos/phil_marion/sets/72157623058220853/</a><br>

<a href="http://www.flickriver.com/photos/phil_marion/sets/72157623185416694/">http://www.flickriver.com/photos/phil_marion/sets/72157623185416694/</a></p>

[steve m smith]

<blockquote>

<p> It'll be a lot easier for US Citizens to visit Cuba, and they'll go there in droves.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>What's the problem with US citizens visiting Cuba?</p>