30 AUSTRALIANPHOTOGRAPHY.COM AUSTRALIAN PHOTOGRAPHY JUNE 2016
PHOTO TIPS travel photography
S
pend enough time talking with people in Cuba, and
there’s a Spanish expression you will probably hear:
no es fácil — it’s not easy.
It’s an expression born of a special type of patience
and stoicism. You might hear it in the queue to change money
at the bank before you wait even longer still to buy a loaf of
bread. It may be uttered by a self-taught mechanic tenderly
turning a wrench on a 60-year-old car before it splutters back to
life. You could probably hear it sighed collectively by the entire
neighbourhood when the power goes out. For some Cubans, it
comes from wanting to visit family in Miami, but never being
able to afford the airfare. No es fácil seems to sum up this
beautiful country perfectly.
It’s also an expression that Cuban horse-whisperer, former
electrical engineer, cowboy and renowned photographer Julio
Muñoz uses frequently to describe his life.
“I knew that photography was something I was interested in,
but getting hold of a camera in Cuba is not easy,” he explains.
Like many Cubans growing up after the 1959 revolution, Muñoz
was forced to reinvent himself every time the economy changed,
with photography just one of his many talents.
Muñoz’s hometown of Trinidad is perhaps Cuba’s most
recognizable city after Havana and a place of just 70,000
residents where rural and urban harmonise effortlessly. Horse
drawn carts share the road with cyclists, while old 1950s cars
idle next to buildings draped in beautiful pastel colours.
Throw in a sun that casts a warm light across the north and
south facing streets, equal parts catholic and African culture,
and open, friendly people, and you’ve got yourself a stunning
photographer’s paradise.
I’m staying with Muñoz in the family home he was born and
raised in. Sitting proudly on a corner near the centre of the
UNESCO world heritage city, it’s a beautifully grand Spanish
colonial house with peeling paint on the outside and original
tiles on the inside. It also dates back to 1800 and has been in the
Muñoz family for at least 130 years. Muñoz’s photos on the walls
nestle next to images of his beloved horses and formal pictures of
his children.
While doing research for my three-week trip to Cuba I
had stumbled upon Muñoz’s striking and uncluttered street
photographs of his hometown. Keen to get some tips to improve
my own travel photos, I signed up on one of his hugely popular
photo tours. But before any of that can happen, I’ve got some
learning to do.
“Traditional teaching of photography is really depressing,”
says Muñoz, looking exasperated. “Think about the manual for
a camera, it’s boring. Nobody wants to read that. My tips are
simple – understand how to use the camera and have a clear
sense about what it is you want to photograph – that’s all.”
For Muñoz, there’s no need to fire away on the shutter,
spraying photos everywhere. “My fourteen year old daughter
can do that – life’s too short to take hundreds of photos. It’s
about being ready to capture the decisive moment. One photo
should be all you need.”
To me, it already sounds like a breath of fresh air in the world
of technical jargon I’m exposed to everyday – but surely it can’t
be that easy.
Before we set out Muñoz shares his preferred camera settings
with me for shooting on the street, encouraging me to set my
camera on shutter priority, with a low enough ISO to guaranteeBack-button focus
To take a photo with most modern cameras
you depress the shutter button halfway to
focus and then all the way to take a photo.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Most
DSLR’s allow you to reassign your autofocus
to a button on the back of the camera (it’s
usually assigned to AF lock by default). The
advantage of this is you can focus faster,
avoid the vagueness of half-pressing, and
keep your shutter button dedicated for its one purpose – taking photos.IMAGE: JULIO MUÑOZIMAGE: JULIO MUÑOZ