Havana, Cuba teenagers. From my book CUBA. Young photographers often ask me how I get close to people. It’s easy. I usually know them. I rarely photograph random “strangers”. In this case I ride in the passenger seat, picked up off the highway as a hitchhiker after my rental car broke down. These super friendly teenagers gave me a ride, putting me in the front seat out of courtesy. We had a two hour ride to Havana, so by the time we got there, we were friends of course. During most of the ride I chatted with the driver who picked me up. The music was playing so loud I couldn’t really talk much with those in back. Yet I decided to shoot. I didn’t really have much else to do. The windows were tinted, the light awful in the car so I used a small strobe and bounced it off the interior roof. Hardly ideal. Yet turning bad things into good things is definitely the role of today’s best documentary photographers . I have very fond memories of Cuba and will return for the first time in 10 years to do a photo essay workshop with the Santa Fe Workshops. Our workshop “Open Window” will be in Havana: February 19-27, 2017 @santafeworkshops February it will be freezing for most of us in the north and so a perfect time to combine some warm weather with what promises to be a very exciting workshop. Few subjects have tugged at me quite like Cuba. The history, the culture, and mostly the people themselves. I have a whole new project to do in Cuba and will start it within this Santa Fe Workshops program. I’m only a good mentor if I’m also shooting seriously myself. My students pick up on this and often tell me that 5 minutes shooting with me is better than 5 hours of class critique. Well they need both. We will do both. Join me in Havana in February. If you track my Snapchats and IG Stories and see student work published on @burnmagazine , you will already know I try always to create a lifetime experience for all. #havanaopenwindow #photographcuba