#133 Old Havana Portraits 🇨🇺 哈瓦那街头人像

itchyfeetdonica (68)in #photocircle • 6 years ago (edited)

^{ISO 800 | 1/50 | F5 | 38mm}

What's up fellow Steemians! Here is my entry for the 7 DAYS PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST by @flamingirl. I resteemed her contest post earlier, check it out and join the photo fun! =)

I shot the photo on a street in La Habana Vieja (Old Havana) district, in the capital city of Cuba. That afternoon, I walked past a bakery, and the people inside waved hello to me. So I stopped at their window to have a chat with them in my crappy Spanish. Despite the economic condition in Cuba, they are pretty happy and carefree. We managed to talk a bit and laughed a lot.

The rationing system of food distribution in Cuba reminds me of the same situation in the Communist China decades ago. I heard the stories from my parents and grandparents. Like the Cubans, Chinese people at that time had to take a coupon booklet to a ration shop, to get their family minimums for supplies like rice, oil, salt, sugar... and the frequency of basic goods is also defined by the government.

Before I left, they asked me to take a photo for them. Enjoy their contagious smiles! =)

To show you their working environment, also to prove this is my photo work as required by the hostess, here's another photo of the same lady:

As I said in a previous post about Some SMILE Portraits in My Travels :

A smile costs nothing, but gives much. Pretty often we underestimate the power of a smile, the gorgeous curve that sets everything straight. Have you ever had the experience that someone's lovely smile just brightens your day? It happened to me a lot in daily life and during my travels.

And a flashback of a scene I captured on another street in Old Havana, a lively and hectic district full of local charm. The doors of local homes are usually wide open, and portrait of Fidel Castro or Che Guevara is a common sight on the wall of many homes. The locals seem to enjoy sitting outside, chatting or playing music.

这几张照片都拍于古巴的哈瓦那老城区。这块地区的居民大都是本地家庭，和不少拉美的老城区相似，虽然有些脏乱，却充满原始蓬勃的生机和活力。色彩明艳的街道建筑，喧闹拥挤的市集，浓烟滚滚的老爷车，奔跑嬉闹的孩童...... 没错，原汁原味的古巴风情就在这里。当地人家几乎都是大门敞开，在门口坐着聊天或吹拉弹唱，欢声笑语，好生快活。一条街走过去，很多户的墙上都挂着菲德尔 · 卡斯特罗或切 · 格瓦拉的肖像，就像凭粮票领日常供给的国营商店一样，这是一代人共同的记忆。

^{All content by @itchyfeetdonica

图文 by Donica多

Photos shot with Canon EOS Kiss X3}