Cuba Is Luring More Photographers Than Ever

As relations with the U.S. thaw, this nearby country is luring more photographers than ever. How to get beyond the typical cliches of decaying architecture and classic cars? We talked to four photographers who are making amazing pictures of Cuba as it really is, right now.

- Peter Kolonia

OF THOSE Americans who benefit from the slowly opening gates to the 42,000-square-mile Caribbean nation of Cuba, photographers can be counted among the grateful. The country’s urban and rural areas seem to have been fixed, as if in amber, since the 1950s. (It’s tantalizing to imagine that some of the same backgrounds available to Walker Evans in the 1930s may still be there today.) 

We spoke with four photojournalists who have explored the visual treasures of Cuba collectively for decades. The consensus? Though some Cuban views have become visual clichés—i.e., 60-year-old DeSotos and Spanish colonial architecture—there are many other worthy subjects that should compel American photographers to pack their camera bags and head south.