FOGG Odyssey

Faces of Cuba: 008

T-roy — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 17:00:55 +0000

What is your first name: Jorge
What city are you from: Trinidad
What country are you from: Cuba
What do you do: Bartender
If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why: Would like to go to any socialist country and work.
What’s your dream and why: For the USA to lift the embargo and release the 5 Cubans that the US government has locked up.

FOGG Notes: Jorge was working a at a bar that we were walking by and the first thing I noticed was that he didn’t look Latin. I know that might sound bad but it’s the truth, so much that I think a lot of Cubans look American or European a lot. Is that just me or does anyone else agree? Anyways, he had this real classic look to him that just oozed 1950-era style about him. What I mean is that I could have converted these photos to Black & White and said my grandfather had taken this photo back in the war and you wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference. Then again a lot of Cuba oozes 1950 and guess it’s what makes it so unique.

I did find it funny though that Jorge wanted to visit any socialist country in the world to work in. Coming from a communist nation and at war with a capitalist country (USA) made me think why? Maybe he was splitting the difference and seen the worse of both extremes, thus his logic was the middle ground. Again this is where I wish I knew more Spanish so I could ask more about that. He was to my surprise the only Cuban that I met while there that stated he wanted the embargo lifted by America. To my surprise, after doing some research after coming back, that one of the single biggest factors for the embargo not being lifted is because American-Cubans don’t want it lifted. I thought that was strange but if you really think about it does make a little sense, seeing how all these people were kicked out of their country by Castro. Can’t blame them if they still have a bad taste in their mouth from it.

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Faces of Cuba: 007

T-roy — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 17:00:58 +0000

What is your first name: Gerardo
What city are you from: Trinidad
What country are you from: Cuba
What do you do: Painter for the last 10 years
If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why: Travel to Brazil to watch a soccer game there and to get with some Brazilian women (who he thinks they are hot!).
What’s your dream and why: Wish to one day display my art work in a large gallery, so that I could sell more paintings.

FOGG Notes: I met Gerardo while interviewing a lady on the street next to his shop. At first he walked up and tried to sell me and a friend a painting but quickly stopped when he saw we were focussed with the interview with the lady. He stepped back to his shop and watched us very intently while we were with the lady and never took his eyes off us. When we wrapped up the quick interview we turned to walk up the street by and seen him smiling at us. So I figured the least thing I could do was stop and see what he had to offer. I was really surprised by his art work as it was actually quite good! We talked for several minutes and finally I asked if it would be ok to shoot a few photos and ask him a few questions. At first he didn’t want to do it but I told him it would be a way to display his art on the internet. Then it was a 180 degree change of mind and I began to ask him the standard questions.

I remember at one point though when I asked him what his dream was he just looked at me with a really weird look and thought about it for a minute. Then he said “You are asking some really hard questions you know!” I couldn’t help but smile but told him to take his time and think it over, as there was no rush.

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Things You See in Ecuador That Make You Wonder, WTF? Ecuadorian Math

T-roy — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:10:28 +0000

I went out a few Saturdays ago to eat out. The price for this meal was a little high by Ecuadorian standards but it’s good to splurge every once in a while. At the end of the meal I asked for the check and the total was $29.96. I put two $20s in the bill holder and waited for the waitress to come back with the change.

In Ecuador there really isn’t a need to tip because all bills will have government tax (10%) and service (12%) included in the cost. That being said I still leave a tip most times when dinning out and have no reason to other than I’m gringo and it’s in our nature to do so. It’s how we were raised you know.

The waitress finally brings back my change and when I opened it to make sure all was good all I see was this $10 bill. Do the math for a second ($40-$29.96 = $10) and tell me how that adds up?

So now I’m in this situation of do I ask for my $0.04 that they owe me or do I let it slide? For me personally, it’s like stealing and the principle of this gets me going to no end. If I ever get worked up fast over something it usually involves money. Ask me sometime about getting punched in the nose by a Thai Taxi driver over a penny (alcohol was involved in this case which didn’t help).

Now this isn’t the first time this has happened to me in Ecuador, in fact I can recall at least 4x this has happened and it’s not always in Mom & Pops places either. The time before this it happened to me at KFC and the girl didn’t bother to give me back my nickel. When I asked her about it she just shrugged and said she didn’t have the change. Told her that wasn’t my problem and that she owed money and should pay what is due. She handed me my food and said if I went and sat down that she would get the change and find where I was sitting to give it to me. I never seen her again and didn’t bother pushing the issue.

So the real question is:

Do Ecuadorians not know how to do math?
Is it a cultural thing and people think it’s no big deal?

I believe it’s #2 and is typical Ecuadorian. They just don’t think it’s a big deal as it’s only a few cents. Me being gringo I’m sure makes it worse but my gringo ass will stop and pick a penny up off the street. A penny is a big deal to me and feel if you said something was “this” price, then it should be “this” price when I give you good money. Then again I’m not in America anymore and this is TIE land.

TIE: This Is Ecuador

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Before & After Photo: Converting photos to Black & White

T-roy — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:00:32 +0000

Wedding flowers in Quito, Ecuador

This photo was taken at a wedding in Quito, Ecuador. I wasn’t the official photographer for it but did try and get some good photos of the event to give back to the bride and groom later. To see more photos of my first “non-official” wedding event click on the links below:

FOGG Odyssey: Before & After Post-Edit

This photo wasn’t Photoshopped and used Adobe Lightroom only to edit it. I used the adjustment brush (my favorite tool in Lightroom) to highlight all the area around the flowers. Then I turned down the saturation all the way to give it the Black & White feel, leaving only the flowers in color. This is a very simple way to add a different perspective to your work and people really like this style. It can be a little hard depending on the photo you take, as this one took a little more time as I had to zoom in around the flowers to clean it up.

After I got everything desaturated that I wanted, I then highlighted again around the flowers to add more clarity and contrast to give the background more depth. In total this took me about 15 minutes of editing, most of which was spent on zooming in around the flowers. If you have tried this technique and have a photo you want to share, please leave a comment with a link to show us. Would be great to see what others have done.

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Faces of Cuba: 006

T-roy — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 17:00:44 +0000

What is your first name: Silvia
What city are you from: Trinidad
What country are you from: Cuba
What do you do: House wife (although she is single)
If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why: Travel to Mexico because I like Mexican men (and she was dead serious when she said that!).
What’s your dream and why: To take care of her children and support them.

FOGG Notes: I was interviewing her when Gerardo was trying to sell me a painting. She was the only person in Cuba that approached us versus us approaching them. We had circled the streets of Trinidad about three times looking for someone interesting and willing to do an interview with. As we walked by her on the street she saw my camera and stopped us. I didn’t know what she was saying at first but she had a big smile on her face and just seemed genuine. She was a real bubbly person and when I asked if I could photograph her she was very excited about it and even more when we asked her the interview questions. She seemed like the kind of person who had a wild younger life but now that she is older she still longs for those days. The sheer aspect of telling us without a flinch that she loved Mexican men pretty much summed it up… she was and still is a wild women. Grandma’s Gone Wild comes to mind!