Oh, The Places You’ll Go

With this being my 10 year “anniversary” of my first visit to Cuba I felt strangely stuck between two time periods as well. In 2007 I was a 17-year-old who knew relatively little about photography (or Cuba) other than that I thought it was cool. To return as a 27-year-old getting paid to photograph in Cuba and teach 17-year-olds about photography felt surreal and inspiring at the same time. It sort of felt like living out a real life version of a favorite childhood book of mine, Oh, The Places You’ll Go.

A Changing Cuba

Cuba—which in most people’s minds is Havana—feels defined by its dilapidated chic of crumbling mansions, vintage cars and fading grandeur. Much has been written over the future of the island now that American tourism is surging, which increased 450% this past year. On one hand I find the idea that American tourism will somehow change the country to be arrogant if not naive. After all, Cuba welcomes 3.5 million tourists a year and Americans only make up a fraction of this. If tourism “changed” Cuba it’s happened well before hoards of Americans arrived.