Photography by Ellen

Cuba: Wide
I used my 85mm in Cuba almost exclusively.. I really do love it, and I found it to be perfect for nearly everything I wanted to capture. Many days it was just too much to carry an extra lens, so I just took the 85. Unfortunately, I didn't use the 10-20 nearly as much as I was hoping I would. I definitely need more practice with it, I found it very challenging to use.. I had a lot of trouble figuring out what to focus on, and almost all shots had blown highlights and clipped shadows (to the extreme). I love the look of wide angle shots though, so I'm not giving up!

Here are a few wide angle shots from the trip:

1) A classic Cuban shot.. Cars like this really are everywhere, it's really cool. Mixed in with less exciting Russian cars like the one next to this one though, but still. Here's a car story from this trip: I was in Cuba with my friend Kristin, and her mom came down for a few days during our trip. Our good friend Tony (Helen's dad) told us we'd pick her up from the airport in his friend's car, a classic Mercedes. We jumped at the opportunity, thinking we'd really be introducing her to Cuba in style. Sigh. We didn't quite know just *how* classic this car was. It was so classic it had holes in the floor, and you could see the road racing by under you. It had no windows, and the outside finish resembled papier mache. Oh and the ignition? There wasn't one. He started it by touching two wires together. It was too late to find anything else though, so off we went to the airport in this true antique of a car. It was hilarious, and we loved it. Kris' mom wasn't quite so amused, but she was a good sport. We delivered her back to the airport in a newer car, but we took this one back when we were leaving. Unfortunately for our friends though, after they dropped us off a huge rainstorm started, as they drove the 40 minutes to get back home. Without windows. Nowhere but Cuba! The car in this photo is a much shinier, nicer, newer, and better-maintained version of "our" car :)

10mm, f/9, 1/400, ISO 100

2) Another car shot, sort of. I just like it.. This is in a small town a couple of hours from Havana, we went for a 2-day tour with Kris' mom:

10mm, f/14, 1/100, ISO 100

3) A view into a school in another town we visited on the day trip. All the kids all across the island wear the same uniforms to school - red and white for primary, mustard and white for high school. It's cool to see that continuity throughout the country, and the smallest kids always look sooo cute!

10mm, f/5, 1/100, ISO 100

4) Some kids playing in front of a mural in Havana. Just a fun shot!

10mm, f/11, 1/400, ISO 200

5) A mural in Havana. Roughly means "The fundamental clay that molds our deeds (revolution) is youth." - Che

10mm, f/8, 1/200, ISO 200