Greetings! First post on this forum. Glad to *finally* be a member. Here are a few snaps I took at an old prison in Cuba. It is located on the Isla de la Juventad, which is a 30 minute ride in a windowless Anitov AN-26 South of Havana.
...a bit of background - I saw this place photographed at the National Gallery in Ottawa, Canada, and decided if I ever made it to Cuba I would go and check it out. My father and I lucked out in October 2013 to go down for a couple of weeks but before I went, a good photographer friend threw down the proverbial gauntlet and challenged me: "One camera, one lens".
...for two weeks in Cuba.
After my protestations subsided I thought that maybe he was on to something. There is an incredible freedom to only have one lens at your disposal. Want a wider view? Nope - or start walking. Longer view? Nope - or start walking. You get to work with what you have.
In this case it was a Fuji X100 with a lovely Luigi Crescini case. I lament, greatly, ever selling that camera. It was a perfect fit for our trip to Cuba. Oh, just an aside - I'm Canadian and there was never any issues with Canadians visiting Cuba. Daily direct flights from Toronto to Havana.
At any rate, the Presidio Modelo is a panopticon prison modelled on the prison built at Joliette, in Illinois. Jeremy Bentham came up with the idea - wikipedia has a great entry on the background. It is located in a massive space, 5 cellblocks with a central dining hall. At its height it had 3000 prisoners, including a certain Fidel Castro after one of his attempts to overthrow Battista. When we went we were the only ones there. I don't think it's possible to visit a more surreal place. It was, quite simply, amazing.
vman reacted to a post in a topic:
Presidio Modelo, Cuba
