Photography by Ellen

I'm Baaaaaack
Did you miss me? I hope so, because I missed all of you! Reading blogs has become such a part of my daily routine now that it was really strange to not be keeping up with everyone. Meghan, I was thinking about you and your house all the time, Lulu I wanted to know what you were up to and how your exams were going, Jennifer I was sure I was missing lots of awesome photos at your blog and missed your faithful comments, Rebekah I was at a beach in Cuba that reminded me so so much of the beaches of Lake Huron, it was crazy.. Sigh. I can't mention everyone, but I hope you know I mean it when I say that I really did realize how much I just *like* all of you while I was away! And thank you for the comments on my last two posts, I loved reading them when I got home.

Now, onto Cuba. Some of you wondered what I was doing there, so I'll explain a little about that.. This was my 5th trip to Havana, my best friend and I were lucky enough to meet a family there 4 years ago who have taken us in and become some of the best friends/chosen family you could ever imagine. It's such a treat for us to get there and just live in the culture for a few weeks. We stay with our friends, right in the middle of Central Havana. I love it so much, it's hard to describe. There's nowhere that I feel happier or, strangely, more at home. It's no luxury holiday (our friends live in a 1 bedroom apartment, so it's our friends and us all sleeping together (husband, wife, 10-year-old daughter and us), but we wouldn't trade it for anything. I have so many stories that I don't even know where to begin to tell them. I wanted to organize my pictures by theme, or at least by date when posting them here, but through my tears today (I'm hate leaving them behind, hate it. I cry for days every time) only certain photos spoke to me. So those are what you'll see today. I'll post more for sure, I took over 2000 photos while I was there. All snapshots, but I'll post some with stories over the next few days.

Here's beautiful Helen, our friends' daughter. She dances beautifully and gets straight A's. She always does her homework right away and never gets in trouble at home. And she's got spunk. Lots and lots of it. She and her friend Raul drive their teachers crazy with their antics, and she and her cousin Daisiris write inspired songs with titles like "Lunch," "Ham," and "Hair Relaxer." She loves to hear stories about Canada, about the kids I babysit and the crazy people on the subway. Her favourite song right now, that her toddler cousin from France taught her, is "We will, we will F*** you, F*** you!" (i.e. F instead of "rock"). She totally knows it's a bad word, but pretends that she doesn't. She does gangster rap motions and sings it to everyone she meets who speaks English. She knows I know she knows, but she also knows I'd never tell her parents!

Both this picture and the next one were taken in the one spot in their house with good natural light, the doorway from the little laundry balcony into the bedroom. I just love the light there. It's a tight sqeeze though, especially with the 85mm.

85mm, f/1.8, 1/400, ISO 200

Helen's grandmother brought her cousin Jan Carlos over for some pictures since she doesn't have any of him. Isn't he gorgeous? He's 3.

85mm, f/2.5, 1/250, ISO 100

Tiny (and well-dressed) photography fan at an art market/street party:

85mm, f/2.2, 1/320, ISO 100

Fun light in the evening. This is the capitol building, modelled after the US Capitol Building. It's not used for government proceedings anymore though. We live right close to here. I played around with this a lot, and added some texture. I've never done that before, so tell me if it's terrible!

10mm, f/11, 1/250, ISO 200

One of our neighbours feeding her granddaughter on the stoop of their building. Accidentally at ISO 1600, I had just walked out of the house and didn't realize. Ah well, I like grainy b&w :)

30mm, f/4.0, 1/125, ISO 1600

Shoe store on our street. There are lots of commercial shoe stores in Cuba where you can get Nike, Puma, Fila, etc. shoes, but they're the same price as in the rest of the world, which can be a year's salary for many Cubans. So stores like this exist where they come and trade shoes or pay around 10 cents for a pair. All *very* used. If anyone's ever going to Cuba, take old shoes! Much more useful than the traditional gift of soap.

30mm, f/3.5, 1/100, ISO 800

A man who always sits outside this expensive hotel begging. I don't think I've ever seen anyone give him anything. He makes his hat fresh out of the newspaper every day, without reading it. "It's all that it's good for" he told me. After I took the photos and showed him on the LCD, he laughed for a good 3 minutes straight. "Look at that, look at that. How handsome." I gave him $2 and he decided to call it a day early.

Both 30mm, f/2.0, 1/500, ISO 800