HAVANA, Cuba, 13 December 2011 — We’re in the second day, Production, of a Backpack Documentary Workshop at the Advanced Institute of Art, known by its Spanish acronym, ISA. The four-day workshop has been made possible by a grant from the Reynolds Foundation. The grant application was submitted by Eric Hershberg, director of American University’s […]
HAVANA, Cuba, 15 November 2011 — This two-page spread appears in the latest edition of News Photographer Magazine, published by the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA). It shows Chelsea Crandall, one of my AU Abroad students this semester, at work in Habana Vieja. I’m teaching my “Photojournalism and Social Documentary” class to the AU students, […]
HAVANA, Cuba, 8 November 2011 — I gave an afternoon presentation at the Havana headquarters of Prensa Latina, Cuba’s global wire service. Life is curious. When I worked for United Press International (UPI) in Mexico City some three decades ago, we subscribed to Prensa Latina as a key source of information about events in Cuba, […]
HAVANA, Cuba, 5 November 2011 – Students who attended the first-ever Backpack Journalism Workshop at the Jose Marti International Institute for Journalism pose for a group photo with their new diplomas, their talent and their unbridled enthusiasm. A few of the students unfortunately could not make this last day of the five-day event when we […]
HAVANA, Cuba, 4 November 2011 — We’re on the final work day of a five-day Backpack Documentary Workshop at the Jose Marti International Institute for Journalism. About 25 Cuban students are participating in the event. On the fifth day, we plan to view and critique the mini documentaries they generate. (Photo by Heriberto Gonzalez Brito.)
OLD HAVANA, Cuba, 2 November 2011 — AU Abroad student Cristina Khan eyes a street vendor before making a picture of him and his Che Guevara tattoo. Cristina is one of a handful of AU students taking my Photojournalism and Social Documentary class, the foundation of backpack journalism. (Photo by Bill Gentile.)