Photography art for Sale The Old Man and the Sea|Photography Art Gallery Neare Me

Old Fisherman, Cojimar Marina

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? Rad A. Drew

One of my favorite locations for experiencing Cuba is a little marina near the sea-side village of Cojimar. It's the place where Ernest Helmingway moored his boat, the Pilar , and the people who worked at this marina back in his day were the inspiration for his great novel, The Old Man and The Sea .

In that novel, Hemingway wrote of the hardships of the lifestyles of the fishermen there, of the poverty, and of the countless hunt for the big fish that allowed men to eke out an lifestyles to aid their households.

Today, I don't agree with it's miles tons exclusive. The fisherman are nonetheless very bad. The boats appearance as although they barely flow, and the fisherman use the identical strategies that were utilized by the Old Man in Hemingway's novel. The fight to usher in a big fish is tons the equal.

When we arrived at the marina on the morning of our maximum recent visit, absolutely everyone was buzzing with the news: a ship crewed with the aid of antique fisherman had simply back with two several hundred pound sharks. We have been there in time to witness the cleaning and butchering for market.

Old Fisherman Cleans his Catch, Cojimar Marina

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? Rad A. Drew Watching the process I was struck by this way of life and how it represents just one of the many facets of the multiple cultures that are Cuba.

Only hours earlier, our photography group had been in the presence of some of the most beautiful, graceful creatures on earth: the young dancers from the Cuban National Ballet.

Dancer at the Mansion, Cuban National Ballet

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? Rad A. Drew Now, we watched an old fisherman, long, lean, and muscular from his trade, bronzed and leathered by the sun, as he cleaned his catch. It was a bloody process and a necessary one and he performed it with an elegance and grace that rivaled that of the Dancers we'd photographed earlier in the day. The old fisherman had no sharpening rod for his knife, so, as he butchered the giant fish that he'd caught at sea, he made do by occasionally running the blade of one knife along the blade of another to hone the edge, the metallic scritch-scratch ,  scritch-scratch of steel on steel punctuating his gruesome task.

I turned into struck with the aid of both the polarities of these worlds ? The dancers and the fishermen ? And their similarities, however primarily how both stories are a lot a part of what's so precisely, so exactly, Cuba these days.

I'll be returning to Cuba next week for another adventure, this time in collaboration with tremendous Cuban Photographer, Ramses Batista. We'll photograph dancers in Havana, models in Ramses' studio, and then venture to the farming regions surrounding Vinales where we'll experience farm life and rural living.

For those interested in visiting Cuba, I'll be leading another Photography Tour (it'll be my 11th since 2013) from March 4-12, 2018. We'll photograph dancers from the Cuban National Ballet, shoot in the streets of Havana and Trinidad, and visit marinas and villages in rural areas outside of these two cities. If you'd like to be on the early notification list for this trip once I get it posted, you can email here. I like to work with small groups, so the tour is limited to 6 participants.