Cuba – an outsider’s view of place and people. Photographs by David Simone

My wife Karen and I were very fortunate to travel to Cuba in January of 2020. Little did anyone know that in three months, travel there would be restricted and ill-advised.

Cuba had long been near the top of my travel list because of the Cubans’ scrapping yet friendly reputation and for the visual interest of the aging colonial architecture. I am interested in learning from the Cubans about their government and the condition of their lives. Fortunately, Karen speaks Spanish or we would be left like so many tourists, unable to communicate and really understand what is going on. Many Cubans do know at least small amounts of many languages. Cuba is truly an international travel destination. We meet travelers from all over the world and when almost out of luck in the boonies, hitched a ride with a Russian family on a horse drawn taxi. Now travel has all but dried up and like so many people around the globe, the Cuban’s fiscal health is threatened.

Likewise the Cuban countryside did not let me down in terms of it’s beauty. Going to a tropical place where we can wear shorts in January isn’t too bad either.

For this show though, I choose to focus on my images taken roaming the streets of Havana and the provincial capitals of Cuba. As an architectural photographer, I am drawn to the colonial relics and unique facades of a country that has been scrapping for it’s existence for decades. I often got up before dawn to photograph and Karen and I would walk in the evenings photographing and enjoying the people and music. My thanks goes to Karen for her patience. She explored, talked with locals or played her ukulele while I stopped yet again to photograph.

I have been working on improving my photographic imagery for over 50 years. After studying photography in high school and at a community college, I received a BFA from the U of O in visual design and photography. While continuing a fine art practice, I opened Lightworks Photography doing commercial and architectural photography as well as portraiture. I stopped doing commercial work four years ago and am now working on creating photographic imagery that portrays our amazing world.