It's Not Always Sunshine and Roses

Today I want to share a story from way back in early 2008, which has been my largest photographic trauma that makes me shiver whenever I think of it.

Let’s start from the very beginning. Back then I was still enamoured with all those exotic National Geographic types of photos, and I was dreaming of going some day to one of those distant places where every street corner was a banger frame bathed in otherwordly light. I have been taking photos for years already, but I hadn’t had a direction or a broader idea what I really wanted from photography, this was to come a bit later.

And then, due to a totally ridiculous sequence of really random events at work, I was selected as one of the best salesmen of the year at the computer store I was working at. This wouldn't be anything to write home about if not for the prize. The prize was a trip to… Cuba.

I could not believe my luck. It was a dream come true. I had all these amazing photos already pre-imagined and was eagerly waiting for the day of departure.

In pure coincidence, a couple of weeks earlier I bought my first digital camera, a Nikon D80 with the amazing 18-135mm lens (That’s what the salesman said). I was very proud.

The problem was, I had no idea how to take photos with a digital camera. Having “upgraded” from an analog SLR, I had all these preconceptions in my head about how “good” photos should be made. I was pretty proficient with analog photography, but digital was completely new to me, and I did not do my research. I used that digital Nikon the same way I was using my trusty old Canon.

When the big day came, I packed my shiny new Nikon in the bag, leaving my analog cameras at home.

The itinerary was a typical one. A few days in Havana, a couple of trips to more prominent places, then transfer to Trinidad, some more sightseeing, and a weekend in the Varadero resort.

Cuba was different from anything I have seen before. And I don’t mean the crumbling buildings, the regime, and the ancient Cadillacs. The light in the Caribbean is something else completely. I was not prepared for these extreme contrasts. Bright sun and smoky black shadows. I had no idea how to expose my photos correctly in these conditions. I did not know that I should preserve highlights, because digital cameras are better at recovering shadows. I made all possible rookie mistakes. Add to that my analog habits, such as sticking to single ISO all the time, as if I was shooting on film, and thinking I can hand hold 1/15th of a second…

The photos looked okay on the back screen of my camera, but I was to find out later, after coming back home, that they were all blurry due to slow shutter speeds. The unrecoverable highlights added to the mayhem.

On day two my spanking new camera broke down…

It was taking pictures as if nothing wrong was happening, but all the files were corrupted. One in ten, or fifteen frames came out okay, but all the rest had blue and red lines across the image, some were completely green — there was information only in the green channel.

I was devastated.

Whenever I took a photo, there was zero guarantee that it would come out okay. At one point I simply stopped checking the back screen so as not to be angry all of the time. I was taking photos without knowing if they were good or bad. I tried to enjoy the trip.

I fell in love with Cuba. Even though I was only a tourist. It is a beautiful place, steeped in history. The people I met were absolutely amazing. Also, I was looking at many things happening there, the empty shelves, dilapidated buildings, people trying to make ends meet and suddenly I remembered them as the sights from my early childhood in Poland. We were the lucky ones and had left all this behind, but Cuba stayed as this relic of a communist country without a real prospect for change.

As a photographer, I also learned very quickly, that these photos I wanted to make were not happening with me being just a tourist. I understood pretty quickly that to get their stories the photographers I so admired had to spend weeks if not months in these communities to be able to photograph and capture these special moments. It may sound funny, but I lost my love for exoticism in photography in the most exotic place I have ever photographed at.

The photos accompanying the story are those that I could salvage. Still, they are quite awful. Blurry, with blown highlights. They serve as a reminder that I should do my research and master my tools before using them for anything critical.

I can only imagine what photos I could bring from Cuba today. Maybe one day I will get a chance to return there…

PS Nikon wanted to reject my warranty claim after I came back. However, they had to fix my camera because they did not send me their response in statutory period, and it was automatically validated. The sensor was faulty.

Till the next one!

Jakub