El Campo Gallery
Countryside, Cuba 2005
® Christina Creutz
Physically, I’ve returned to New York from Cuba’s countryside. But I don’t think that I’ll ever have my heart completely back. I seem to have left a very big part of it with the Cuban people. I feel it ache as I think of how they gave so unselfishly of themselves to those of us participating in Ernesto’s workshop. They opened their lives and invited us in to participate in the most personal way I know, photographing. Ernesto helped us to really see what was around us, that which is really occurring. He helped us to really see. Christine Creutz
® Gail Goodwin
El Campo, The Country is where my fellow photographers and I spent most of our time in Cuba. I was so touched by the generosity and warmth of the people and families we met on our journey. I feel so much gratitude to them and our Maestro, Ernesto, for their willingness to bring us into their hearts and their homes. I hope that my photographs reveal the intimacy that was shared between us, even though we barely knew one another, or for that matter, barely spoke the same language. Yet every person, child, porch, old car, dog and rooster spoke so eloquently. The Cuban people completely charmed me with their presents and aliveness. My camera was the means to express how they inspired me. I was particularly fond of the families of Fidel and Miguel and I will remember them always. Hopefully I will be able to return in the not too distant future so that I may resume my story. Gail Goodwin
® Maria Mylona
I left for Cuba for a photography workshop and I came with a new way of looking at life.
The first days there, I witnessed the lack of basic material goods, which where I live are taken for granted and I felt for the people there. As the days went by, I realized that it was ME who was lacking something they have: THEIR SPIRIT — and I felt bad for myself.
The people I met in Vinales gave me the feeling that I had known them for a long time. They were the imaginary people in my head — people in a perfect world.
These people are an endangered species; their way of connecting to other people, their generosity, their warmth, are very rare qualities for people living in fast and furious cities.
I still think of the Cuban people every day, people who have so little and have given me so much. That said, I think it is very difficult to describe their spirit with words or capture it in a photo. Maria Mylona
® Michael Oliva
One can only be surprised by this simple life of El Campo. Each gesture, each glance seems to express what exists since the beginning of times, something that has a perfume, the freshness of the essential.
Surrounded by my friends, guided by you Ernesto, each one of us looked further into our subjects, which were going to be recorded on film.
I appreciated the daily critique given by Ernesto of the images filled with moments, places, faces taken by my friends with digital camera.
All that widened my glance, refined my critical direction and helped me to go further into my photographic approach. Ernesto, you know how to transmit that, your criticism is always sincere, precise and true.
I am not very skilful to translate into words what I feel or what I see. These sentences are far from summarizing all that was given to me to share, to see and learn during this training course.
Thank to you all. Thank to you. With friendship. Michel Oliva
® Nancy Falconer
For a workshop neophyte, this, my first ever– our El Campo as we have titled it– was a strangely liberating and at the same time extremely challenging and exhilarating experience. Quite simply, Cuba is now well and truly ‘in the blood’. The savoury scent of cigars, the warm burn of raw Cuban rum; that incredible, exquisitely golden, afternoon light; the totally engaging smiles, the warmth of the Cuban people, their open, generous, and welcoming nature that makes you feel that finally you are home; and especially the intimate privilege they gifted us, of sharing in their daily lives, all amount to a humbling and deeply moving experience. Thank you, Ernesto. You said you would teach a beginner if I was truly willing to learn. I have learned so much more than my camera will ever show. And, student to teacher….volverè! Nancy Falconer
® Roger Van Zaal
This was the first workshop I have ever done, so I didn’t know what to expect.
I really liked the group ‘s dynamic. My camera broke on day one and another student helped me out with her spare one. I was donating films to Michel who was shooting like crazy. We helped Nancy understand her digital camera.
I enjoyed driving around Viñales searching for undiscovered places with the group. And after a few days I got the hang of scouting locations for Christina’s interior shots. Too bad we broke the china at my host’s casa.
I was excited to see after so many days of shooting everybody’s images. It was remarkable to see how all my friends had a different views of the same environment that we all had shared.
All in all, it was an interesting experience and I’m very happy that I just discovered a little bit about trying to “make a picture that is more than just a nice photo” Roger Van Zaal
® Willard Pate
This workshop was my fifth with Ernesto in Cuba. I calculate that if I add up all these ten-day workshops, plus the few extra days I usually spend working on my own; I’ve now spent over two months on the island. In one sense, sixty plus days are not all that many, but, in another sense, that is a period long enough to qualify me as more than a “if this is Tuesday, it must be Havana” tourist. I now walk the streets of Havana without a map. I travel to Viñales to greet friends rather than to meet strangers. This growing familiarity shows, I think, in my photographs.
When I look back over the images Ernesto and I have chosen for my Cuba portfolio, I see definite growth from 2001 to 2005. Ernesto tells all his students that we need to return to locations, rather than always flying in for one-time experiences, no matter how rich they may be. I’m very glad that I have been able to take his advice. Willard Pate
