In January, I was very fortunate to travel to Cuba. To me, this was somewhat akin to visiting Oz or Narnia. That's because Cuba has long loomed large in my imagination. For so long it was the focus of American political tensions, and the embargoes and restrictions imposed kept Cuba mysterious, hard to get to and even forbidden. Beyond all the propaganda (on both sides) what was Cuba really like? So, after President Obama re-established relations and travel restrictions were eased we knew we had to go.

There were many reasons for wanting to go, but high on the list was my belief -- based on the few images I'd seen -- that Cuba would prove to be a photographer's paradise. And indeed it did.

As it turned out, there was a great deal more to see and do in Havana than we anticipated, and so we never left the capital. (The rest of Cuba will have to wait until the next trip -- and there certainly will be one.) While there, I took literally thousands of pictures. As often happens when I visit someplace for the first time, I ended up taking two kinds of pictures. The first are what I call postcard pictures -- carefully framed, technically good photos that depict well-known sites. I shoot them mostly to document what I'm seeing, and also to help share the destination with others when I get back. (Showing people a series of vintage cars wouldn't really give them much of a sense of Havana, for example.) I don't intend it as any kind of criticism when I state that you know a postcard shot when you see it ("Yep, there's the Sydney Opera House!") because it looks like something you've seen before.

The other pictures are those that I shoot for me -- things that catch me eye in some way that prompts me to think, "That's cool!" If you've looked at the images on this site it won't surprise you that the things that catch my eye include bold shapes, graphic patterns and vivid colors. These are the pictures I love taking most, and generally I hope they don't look like something you've often seen before. These are the mages that I feel are most "me".

You'll be happy to know that I haven't posted thousands of images. Instead, I've chosen about 120. They are mostly "me" shots, plus a few postcard shots that I was especially happy with or I thought people might enjoy. I make no claim that these images are in any way a definitive portrait of one of the world's most fascinating cities. The only thing I claim is that they represent how I saw Havana.

For now, I put them all in one gallery (called, in a blaze of originality, Havana) to make them easy to find. Eventually, I'll integrate the pictures into my other galleries. Until then, I hope you'll explore the gallery and that you'll enjoy it. My thanks for taking a look.