Cuba

Havana must be the most photogenic spot on earth. The communist politics since the 1959 Revolution that lifted Fidel Castro into power and US embargoes have forced the island city, formerly a US playground, into a weird timewarp. Colourful crumbling Spanish colonial mansions, classic American cars babied along since the 1940s and 50s, Latin and African influences, and a vital people who love to play music and dance--all these combine into a culture that thrums. You can feel the energy of this city like wind on your skin. Havana is a photographers' paradise! And hands down it's the best place in the world to have bridal photographs taken! All these arches and balconies and decaying castles! That's my new dream, now: to have a gorgeous Canadian bride with a willing wedding party and a day free after their wedding just to spend in Havana making awesome, drop dead photographs. Habana Vieja, anyone?

On New Year's Eve, we snuck out of a boring event put on for tourists to roam the Habana Vieja streets. On Calle Aguilar, we followed the irresistable sounds of salsa, and finally found dancers: lithe dancers, old dancers, child dancers the size of peanuts who are better at moving than I could be with a thousand devoted lessons. We passed over our bottle of Havana Club rum and tried to keep up, our bodies hopelessly spastic. Doors led to courtyards leg to rickety, half-gone stairs climbing high only to stop dead in mid-air. Slatted boards shaped balconies so old and decrepit they looked like they'd plummet with the softest footfall. I remembered there were streets around here where everyone walks down the center in case one of the houses collapses.

We wound our way down to Calle Opispo, ordinarily the shopping street (though its wares are limited), where folks on upper balconies tossed buckets of water down on unsuspecting strollers below, to shouts and screams. We dashed from the protection of one balcony to the next laughing as they caught one after the other of us, and made our way out, finally, drenched, to drink overpriced mojitos at Hemingway's pub, la Bodeguita del Medio. It was 2007, and we were a happy family in a happy country.

Such good news!

I'm delighted to tell everyone that following the launch of our new portrait site at www.janeeatonhamiltonphotography.com/portraits, we have now officially rolled out our new travel site at www.janeeatonhamiltonphotography.com/travel. It'll go live sometime this week. What a bundle of work it was to put together! And now, beyond the showcasing of our favorite travel images, we have added the coolest site for fulfillment.

So all those times I'm overseas and more or less unreachable, you can still go ahead and order the prints or the rights-license you require without even involving the studio. Even if you need a signed giclée, you can go ahead and order it, and the studio will fulfill it when I'm back on terra firma. Make no mistake about who is getting paid here...just as with Pictage, our continuing site for portrait and wedding clients, your funds come right back to us (minus, of course, a cut). Just as with Pictage, we determine our own prices.

The other news is that the studio shut down last Friday December 8 for the holidays. Well, not holidays so much as happy days working in the Bahamas and then in Cuba. We'll be shooting in Nassau for Christmas, and Havana for New Years. Can't beat that with a stick, I say! I can't wait to raise a glass at the Hotel Nacional, and I'll be toasting all of my clients, those I met this year, and those to come next year. You brought me many pleasures, and I appreciate the chance to have come into your lives.

Oh, and while I'm thinking about it...we are only doing 15 weddings per year these days, first come, first served, and only working with clients who fall in love with our photography--for whom hiring us is a special dream come true. We're almost filled up for 2007, so if you're in a hurry, do send an email even though we're away; we'll do our best to pick up periodically. If not, check in again mid-January and if your date is still free, we can facilitate getting you finalized. Sorry for the inconvenience.

While we're gone, both the house and studio are being warmed by colleagues and friends, as usual, and we'll be thinking of them huddling around the strobes/fireplace while we throw off clothes 'cause we're too hot. We'll try hard to blog from location (you know, rubbing it in), but reception could be spotty. If not, we're back mid-January and will catch back up then. Happy holidays to everyone, with hopes that 2007 will see some resolution of world conflicts and a big lightening of loads for the burdened.

Jane