Cuba March 21st – 26th 2011
When traveling, I work with a hand held camera and have it in my hand all the time. It becomes an extension of my eye and as I am so curious of my surroundings in a foreign country I am looking all the time. When I see something that attracts my attention I go after it, often not looking at what hazards might be hovering around me. When I was in Cuba I was fortunate to have my granddaughter, Melanie, acting as my guardian angel keeping me from becoming road kill. We only had one day to walk around Havana and I felt as if the whole city was a narrative – sort of a billboard of the community with the street life right out there in front of us. I would loose myself as perhaps Jackson Pollack did with his painting. I was in a dream state with the city pulling me along. When you are out of your routine it’s easy to stay in the moment. I found myself photographing a lot of walls and although the walls were abstract in my mind at the time , I later realized I was drawn to them subconsciously because they represent the socio-political reality that I have always known. I felt as though everywhere I looked I was seeing remnants of the past. I felt like I was probing abstract expressionist imagery on walls in the old jail and on the streets. Man and his symbols were being manifested in very unconscious ways. My eye was getting more and more cultivated at looking for surprise surfaces both man made and organic. I used to work almost exclusively in black and white but the colors were so bright and appealing that I had to go with color. I tried to keep my mind and eyes open to things I didn’t recognize and allow the camera and lens to show me things I might not have noticed. I let go of my preconceptions and let chance and intuition take over. Being stuck with what you know often keeps you from seeing what you don’t know. With no premeditation, spontaneity can take over which is the keystone to my best work.
Lucinda W. Bunnen
