On this Page:
* Our Mission
* About Our Instructors: Trina Koster, Scott Mooney, Laura Taylor , German Portuondo and Arisdan Balado Rodriguez
* About the Workshop; A Student Perspective
Our Mission:
Inspiration!
Travel with purpose.
Connect with culture with your camera.
Expand your photography skills.
About Our Instructors:
Trina Koster
When Trina first came to Cuba in 2005 to attend a workshop on “Developing Your Intuition” she knew she was in a special place. After a chance meeting with Carlos Caballero Reyes, a local from Chivirico, Trina’s life was never the same! Carlos gave her and Scott a great introduction to the off-the-resort Cuba “I was captivated by the sensuality of Cuba... the natural rhythms of movement and gestures, the connectedness to nature, the warmth of the people and the powerful presence of music and dance. There is a beautiful sense of humanity Cubans show to each other and visitors to their country. I have never been to a place where the people are so friendly and open to having their photos taken. Life in Cuba is challenging, Cubans are SO creative and resilient because of it! Every trip to Cuba has been a life lesson- which has truly been inspiring to me!”
As a workshop instructor, it is Trina’s intention to offer a positive cultural experience. She shares her love of image-making and acute insight to introduce students to new ways of seeing and understanding the world through photography.
Trina has been teaching and shooting since 1995. She graduated from the University of Guelph with a BA focused in Fine Art Photography. 15 years later...700 weddings documented, 3000 portraits created, hundreds of cool photo students taught... and still loving it!
To view Trina's studio site please visit www.trinakoster.com
German Portuondo
German Portuondo is a surrealistic painter, professor of art and the director of the Central Art Gallery in Chivirico. German will be delivering lectures in contemporary Cuban culture, Cuban musical rhythms and dance and Cuban Art History.
During the photo feedback sessions German offers great insight and a truly unique perspective to the photographers understanding of their images.
p.s. German’s name is pronounced “Herman”
Laura Taylor
Laura has a deep commitment to storytelling, both visual and written. She considers it an honour to be let into the lives of her subjects, and uses her open, flexible, and perceptive nature to enhance each shoot. Laura's candid, documentary photographs illuminate the moments of true connection, humour, intimacy and joy that fill a day in Cuban life. Her enthusiasm for creating stunning, artistic portraits is infectious; she turns every photo session into a fun, meaningful part of your learning experience.
After completing her MA in English and Creative Writing, Laura turned her long-time passion for photography into a vocation by completing an apprenticeship with Trina Koster. Since 2001, she has taught photography workshops and has worked as a photographer for Trina's studio, shooting weddings and events.
Laura's documentary skills have been showcased in two acclaimed shows: Images of Chiapas, Mexico (2001), and Sleeping Beauty: Cuba (2004). Her Cuba work appeared in the Lichen Journal in the fall of 2004. Laura's writing credits include the literary memoir, A Taste for Paprika (2004).
Scott Mooney
Scott Mooney is a visual artist specializing in illustration and graphic novels.
Photographically, Scott is intuitively feeling for light, texture, and story slices, seeking a sense of place and implied narrative. Scott brings to the class a focus on dramatic composition and a love for texture and patiently awaited moments.
“Cuba is the perfect place to shoot for me. The place is made of texture and colour and a creative mixing of materials resulting in a patchwork world of stone, stucco, concrete, wood and tin. It’s also a patchwork of time and place. Roads are cluttered with horse drawn carts, Chinese bicycles and scooter trucks, old russian motorcycles, Ladas, vintage American roadsters, modern Asian busses and hatchbacks. All of it weather worn. The passage of time is visibly marked on everything.”
To view Scott's art visit www.moon-man.com
Arisdan Balado Rodriguez
Arisdan holds a degree in Physics and LOVES computers. He works with the Cuban government promoting Cuban culture in the community. Arisdan and German have created Chivirico’s first camera club, "Photo Che". Since camera’s are prohibitively expensive for most Cubans this club makes them available to members on a lending system. The cameras are donated by our network of students and their friends. The donated cameras travel with us to Cuba each year.
Arisdan juggles many roles with this workshop, including I.T. technical assistance, Spanish/English translation during critiques, and logistics co-ordination. He is a multi-level facilitator that makes this workshop run smoothly each year.
About the Workshop:
We can tell you all sorts of things about the workshop, but why not let some of our students tell you. Ruth and Allan have been keen students from the beginning and attended our first three PhotoCuba workshops. They also traveled to Cuba to deliver the student’s matted prints to be included in Cuban exhibitions following each workshop! Here’s what they have to say about it…
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You know how whenever your high school English teacher would complain that the expression “life changing experience” was trite and hackneyed? Well, there are no other words to express our life changing experiences in Chivirico!
It all started in February, 2006 with our first trip to the southeast coast of Cuba. This, because Trina’s description of what was to be her inaugural PhotoCuba workshop sounded just too interesting and exciting to pass up. While there was no way to know exactly what to expect from the hotel, the village and the local Cubans, we were quite sure that whatever Trina had to offer in the way of photography lessons would be, at the very least, worthwhile. The temptation of sun and photo-making in new surroundings (and an excuse to escape our own cold winter) was just too hard to resist, and so we signed on. And we signed on again in 2007. And we signed on again in 2008.
In addition, we have returned to “our” little village of Chivirico three more times. Six trips to the same tropical location in a matter of only twenty six months surely tells the whole story. If not, then our literally thousands and thousands of photos complement the telling and the retelling.
From both a photographic and a personal point of view, Chivirico is unlike any other place in the world. It is enticing and seductive. Add Trina’s excellent touch as a teacher of photography and traveling companion, and you truly do have magic.
Charming and pretty, and with a spectacular view of the Sierra Maestra Mountains and the Caribbean Sea, Los Galeones Brisas Hotel is perched atop a small mountain, with a road leading directly into the village. From the gardeners to the wait staff to the management you can expect a daily dose of hugs and kisses. Remember, this is a small hotel, with a family atmosphere. Nowhere are we welcomed more warmly. We always stay on after the workshop; it’s just too alluring (and inexpensive - and the food is great, too!) to pass up!
We are drawn to the village and our dear friends and “our family”, over and over again. Whether it is just to sit on Tia and Tio’s porch sipping hot, sweet and locally grown coffee: or just to hang out at a baseball game; or, from time to time, at the local concert venue (Nautica, where the admission will set you back about a quarter - and that’ll cover you and a few of your friends); or to share a meal in one of their homes, or to sit on a rooftop to observe the eclipse of the moon - photo taking and making are an ongoing process.
It is pretty well guaranteed that nowhere else in the world will you find people so amenable to being photographed as they go about their daily business. Each of the three times we’ve taken the PhotoCuba course, we’ve learned something new about ourselves and what contributes to successful photomaking. Each of the three times that we’ve taken the course, we’ve found it engaging.
The progression in the style of our own work is obvious and noticeable. Trina is a fine teacher; her pedagogy, exemplary. Her respectful and thoughtful encouragement always spurs us on to new and different ways of looking at our subject matter, and our creativity has become so much more fluid and emotional.
Just when we think we can’t squeeze out one more photo from the little village of Chivirico, on the southeast shore of Cuba, inspiration strikes again.
We shall definitely be keeping in touch with Trina and the gang in Guelph. ‘Cuz not only have we formed fast friendships in Chivirico, but with our fellow PhotoCuba travelers!
¡Muchisimas gracias por todo, Trina, y tienes suerte!
Alan Madras y Ruth Howard, Toronto