La Habana Cuba

Matthew Walters
United Kingdom
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La Habana Cuba

We've wanted to visit Cuba for some time and finally made it this summer. I packed 16 rolls of 120 film (I was a cubscout - 'Be Prepared') with a selection of FP4 and HP5 for my 'real' camera and some expired Fuji Reala to put through my printed pinhole. For convenience and backup (you don't fly for 12 hours and come back without any photos) I also took my Fuji X100T. We had only 2 full days in Havana so concentrated on the area around our hotel which was nicely positioned near the Capitolo and old Havana.

Hotel Inglaterra - the oldest hotel in Cuba, a neoclassical building dating from 1875.

Photo: Cine El TT Légano - Seems to be an old cinema although I cannot track down any information. It is behind the Capitolo and Grand Theatro, on Calle Industria and San Martin

Cine El TT Légano - Seems to be an old cinema although I cannot track down any information. It is behind the Capitolo and Grand Theatro, on Calle Industria and San Martin

Photo: 'Servicio De Policia' - I think this is part of the communications network for the police. I loved the textures of the (presumably cast iron) box and the wall.

'Servicio De Policia' - I think this is part of the communications network for the police. I loved the textures of the (presumably cast iron) box and the wall.

Photo: I made a conscious decision not to use the ubiquitous 1950's cars as the subject of my photos of Cuba, trying to avoid the cliché - it's not easy. Taken next to the Capitolo, the building in the background is the Museum of Fine Arts - Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de La Habana. Arte Universal.

I made a conscious decision not to use the ubiquitous 1950's cars as the subject of my photos of Cuba, trying to avoid the cliché - it's not easy. Taken next to the Capitolo, the building in the background is the Museum of Fine Arts - Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de La Habana. Arte Universal.

Photo: Paseo De Marti. Taken from in front of the Capitolo, looking back towards the Cine Payret. This cinema was opened in 1951 and is one of the largest in Havana. It showed the first CinemaScope film (The Robe) in 1953 (source: http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/15057). The car in the foreground is driving on new tarmac, in the background you can see a lorry spreading bitumen for the next lane.

Paseo De Marti. Taken from in front of the Capitolo, looking back towards the Cine Payret. This cinema was opened in 1951 and is one of the largest in Havana. It showed the first CinemaScope film (The Robe) in 1953 (source: http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/15057). The car in the foreground is driving on new tarmac, in the background you can see a lorry spreading bitumen for the next lane.