Looking for something?

Tap outside or press close

InspirationPhotography

Authentic Cuba: Photographer Charlie Clift documents the surprising reality of Cuba

What do you imagine when you think of Cuba? The colours? The rum? The revolution? Few places evoke such clear images to those who have never been before. We all get a feeling of Cuba, but how much of it represents the real Cuba?

Written By:
Via direct submission. All images courtesy of Charlie Clift

Via direct submission. All images courtesy of Charlie Clift

London photographer Charlie Clift visited the island after hearing stories of it being a photographer’s heaven. However, he didn’t find what he expected: "There’s so much life in Cuba. It overflows into the streets: music, colours, smells. But there is also so much poverty: buildings crumbling, empty shops, begging on every corner. It is a country easily glossed over, easily made much more colourful, much happier than what I believe it actually is."

Travelling to Havana and Trinidad, staying in locals' homes and chatting to the people they met along the way, Charlie and his girlfriend got the feeling that the revolution has lost its momentum for the majority of Cubans. One taxi driver told them that “the national sports are baseball and struggle: struggling with the system, struggling to stop my house falling down, struggling to keep my car driving with the high fuel prices.” With a sad smile he said the recent high-level political changes are yet to be seen by an average Cuban. "Everyone I know would leave, if only they could..."

Charlie found it a tough subject to photograph. He added: "There are exciting visuals everywhere, but just capturing the beautiful things didn’t feel like capturing what the country actually felt like. It’s hard not to find the country romantic, it feels like you’ve gone back in time. But then you start noticing that there's a bit more going on just under the surface – the people have to use horses and carts because they can’t afford to buy petrol for their cars. And if they do drive cars, they are 60 years old because they simply can’t afford to get new ones.

"That said there is plenty of colour amongst the everyday hardship. There is music and performance everywhere. Every corner has buskers playing, and the bars are full of sounds and excitement. The evenings are dedicated to dancing in the squares and the rum is as delicious as you expect. Cubans can now run small businesses of their own and plenty of them do - taxis, bed and breakfasts, beauty parlours and the fantastic churrerías as just a few examples. There is room for careful optimism, it seems. Just don't ask them about the revolution..."

Turquoise vintage car parked on a narrow Havana street lined with weathered colonial buildings showing signs of decay
Woman in red skirt and blue and red jacket stands with arms crossed in a crumbling archway with weathered walls and wooden ladder beside her
Decaying apartment buildings with weathered facades line the Havana waterfront at sunset, their deteriorating structures silhouetted against the golden sky
Rear view of a bright pink vintage Chevrolet convertible with three passengers driving through a tree-lined street in Havana, Cuba
Dilapidated concrete buildings surround an empty courtyard with a basketball hoop and potted plant in Havana, Cuba
Man with pink hair smoking a cigarette while holding a bicycle on a weathered street in Cuba
Man with grey hair and moustache playing acoustic guitar against a weathered yellow wall in Cuba
Man wearing strands of garlic and onions around his shoulders stands in a colonial street lined with colourful buildings in Cuba
A woman sits on rocks in a dense tropical forest while a horse stands on a hillside among the trees in dappled sunlight
A man diving into clear turquoise water beneath towering moss-covered limestone cliffs surrounded by lush vegetation in Cuba
Colourful colonial buildings line a cobbled street in Trinidad at sunset, with a turquoise building in the centre and pink building to the right
Ornate metal arch framing a colourful mural depicting Che Guevara, Cuban landscape and a church tower, with a weathered straw hat hanging from the arch below
A black vintage car parked in front of a decaying colonial building with scaffolding and ivy, with graffiti on a concrete wall below
Person wearing vibrant orange head wrap and beaded necklace with painted fingernails, smoking a cigar against a weathered stone wall
Two men work together at a table in a modest kitchen, one writing while the other observes, surrounded by everyday items and notices pinned to the walls
A man in a black sports hoodie gestures enthusiastically at a street produce market lined with fresh vegetables and fruits in a Cuban town street.
Woman in turquoise room with shelves of bottles, sitting at table with papers and looking towards camera
A narrow street in Havana lined with weathered colonial buildings, where a few pedestrians walk past crumbling facades and faded walls
Crumbling neoclassical buildings with weathered facades and boarded windows line a Havana square under blue sky
Share

Further Reading