architecture – Page 3 – To Travel Hopefully

Architecture in Ireland and Scotland [Encore Publication]: From Neolithic to today, Ireland has remarkable buildings; here’s how to capture them

During our recent travels in Dublin, hiking across southwestern Ireland, and visiting Edinburgh, we encountered fascinating architecture at every turn. From ruined farmhouses to stately manor houses, and from Neolithic-era “beehive huts” made of stone to modern fishing shacks, there is a wealth of diversity in the buildings in this region. Here I present some images of the architecture we saw during our rambles, along with a few words about each.

Dublin’s Trinity College is one of the oldest universities in the world. Famous as the home of the ancient Book of Kells, the college also boasts the Long Room, quite possibly the grandest study hall in the world. This image was made with a wide-angle lens using only available light. I used a relatively high ISO setting so that I could choose a small aperture for greater depth-of-field while still using a fast enough shutter speed to handhold the camera. Buy this photo

Another perspective on the Long Room, this image captures only the upper gallery, emphasizing the repeating patterns of the ladders, arches, and shelves. During post-processing I decided to render the photo in black-and-white to bring out the texture and pattern. Buy this photo

An architectural photo doesn’t have to isolate the building from its surroundings. I combined a shot of Dublin’s famous Olympia Theatre with a street scene by framing the theater and waiting for an interesting cast of characters to walk by. Buy this photo

Dublin Castle was built during the Anglo-Norman period and has witnessed nearly the entire history of the city. It is an austere but not particularly pretty building. To capture this image I shot with a wide-angle lens and a polarizing filter to bring out the texture of the stonework and to attempt to enhance a rather undramatic grey sky. Buy this photo

The interior of Dublin Castle is prettier than its exterior. This shot was handheld, as tripods are not allowed inside. I used a fast normal lens, but even with a high ISO setting the light was sufficiently low that I had to use a large aperture, resulting in a shallow depth-of-field. Although the foreground objects are not in sharp focus, I think this scene works rather well to capture a sense of the place. Buy this photo

In the remote and beautiful Gougane Barra Forest Park lie the ruins of a Sixth Century abbey founded by St. Finbarr. To make this image, I shot from inside one of the cells where the monks lived, looking outward toward the ruins of the abbey walls and altar. From this perspective the viewer gets a sense of what it would have been like to live a mostly solitary and austere life here many centuries ago. Buy this photo

On the same tiny island where the ruined abbey is located on Gougane Barra, there is a more modern but quite lovely church. We spent some time getting to know the American bride and groom who were celebrating their wedding here, and I shot them in front of the little chapel looking across the lake from the mainland. Including people in the context of the building makes architectural photography more relatable and compelling. Buy this photo

Hiking along the remote Sheep’s Head Way, we came across this old farmhouse. I framed the image with an extreme wide-angle lens to lend it an interesting perspective, and I used a circular polarizing filter to saturate the colors of the building and to enhance the sky and lawn. Buy this photo

The stately Bantry House lies at the end of the Sheep’s Head Way and has been owned by the same family since 1750. This photo was made from the top of the hundred steps leading through the gardens and up a hill behind the house. It’s a lovely vantage point from which to photograph the mansion, its gardens, and the gorgeous harbor and mountains in the background. A polarizing filter was used to add drama to the sky and to saturate the colors of the water and gardens. Buy this photo

This old farmhouse is now an interpretive center and shop open to the public to give a sense of what rural Irish life was like a century ago. The front of the house is especially charming when framed to include the rustic surroundings. Buy this photo

We started our walk in Killarney National Park at the lovely Derrycunnihy Church. I framed this scene from a low angle looking slightly upward at the church and using a wide-angle lens. The perspective gives a sense of the stark isolation of the church in this very remote wilderness setting. As always when shooting upward with a wide-angle lens, one must take care not to distort the lines of the image too severely. Buy this photo

Along the Gap of Dunloe we hiked past this bucolic scene around a ruined farmhouse. I framed the image to include the horse carts and the rutted pathway. Buy this photo

The Wild Atlantic Way showcases some of the most scenic views in all of Ireland as it winds through rolling hills toward the remote Blasket Islands. Along the way the observant hiker will see dozens of strangely shaped stone enclosures called beehive huts, some of which date back to the Neolithic Period. This image was shot with a telephoto lens to highlight the beehive huts and to compress the distance between the huts and the Blasket Islands dotting the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Buy this photo

The quaint seaside village of Dingle is chock full of charming stone houses with brightly painted doors and windows. Because it was pouring rain all day and I was recovering from an illness, I brought only my phone’s camera. Even so, I was able to make some nice images of the houses by using the Manual app to take control of the phone’s camera. Buy this photo

Edinburgh, Scotland has a tremendous variety of architecture, which could be the subject of a separate post. For today, I’ll close with this image of the ruins of the ancient abbey at Holyroodhouse at the end of the Royal Mile. I shot with a wide-angle lens using a small aperture to maximize the depth-of-field and taking care to keep the horizon level so as not to distort the lines of the archways any more than necessary. Buy this photo

For a refresher on architecture photography, check out this post: Post on Architecture Photography.

What are your favorite destinations for architecture? Please share your thoughts in the comment box.

Focus on Dublin [Encore Publication]: Ireland’s main city overflows with Guinness, literature, history, and music

We began our rambles through Ireland and Scotland with a whirlwind two-day stay in Dublin. The capital of the Republic of Ireland, Dublin is well known as the home of Guinness beer and for its literary and historical legacy, but perhaps less known as a remarkable hub of live music and contemporary fine dining. It’s also a marvelous place to make images that highlight the old and the new elements of this vibrant city. Here’s a brief photo essay along with some discussion of how the images were made.

Perhaps the world’s grandest study hall, Trinity College’s Long Room is a stately palace to higher learning. Located next to the vault housing the famous Book of Kells (where photography is not permitted), the Long Room is best photographed with a wide-angle lens using natural light. Here I shot from one end of the hall looking up at the ceiling and upper gallery. Be careful to watch your horizons when making an architectural image from such an angle. Buy this photo

Live trad (traditional Irish folk) music is a staple of Dublin nightlife, and nowhere is it better than at the famed O’Donoghue Pub, where in the 1960’s bands such as the Dubliners sparked the Irish folks music revival. Irish pubs are convivial and interactive places, where you can mingle with the performers and other locals.

To make portraits of the musicians, sit close to the “stage” (there’s rarely a true stage in the formal sense, but rather a performer’s area) and shoot with a fast normal or portrait lens using a high ISO setting. It helps to get to know a few of the players during their breaks. Buy this photo

Dublin is a world-class literary city, with ties to James Joyce, W. B. Yeats, Jonathan Swift, Oscar Wilde, G. B. Shaw, Samuel Beckett, and Seamus Heaney, among many other literary greats. We took, and highly recommend, a literary walking tour led by scholar, author, and actor Colm Quilligan. There are many photo opportunities to be found during this informative walk. You can learn more about Colm’s walking tours here: http://www.dublinpubcrawl.com/writerswalk.htm.

A self-portrait made at The Duke Pub, where many of Dublin’s great authors took their liquid inspiration. Remember to include yourself in some images, but always look for unusual perspectives. Buy this photo

A park sculpture commemorates the Great Famine of the 1840s. To bring out the textures, I converted this image to black-and-white using Lightroom’s color channel tools, and boosted the contrast slightly. Buy this photo

Dublin Castle dates from early Anglo-Norman times, and a guided tour provides a sweeping history of Dublin from its origins through the present day.

To photograph the Castle and Dublin’s other architectural gems, use a wide-angle lens. Watch out for cluttered foregrounds and keep an eye on the lines at the edges of the frame, as it is tricky to avoid distortion when shooting up with a wide lens. Here I also used a polarizing filter to add contrast to a rather bleak scene. Buy this photo

The chapel within Dublin Castle offers many photographic possibilities. Seek out the details in a place like this. Here I’ve captured the beautiful (but, alas, no longer functioning) pipe organ. I brought out the shadow detail and increased the vibrance during post-processing. Buy this photo

It may or may not come as a surprise to learn that Ireland’s biggest attraction is the Guinness Storehouse. While it’s easy to dismiss sites like this one–essentially a theme park dedicated to a beer brand–that would be a mistake. The self-guided tour is fascinating for its historical, cultural, and architectural facets, and the view from the top-floor Gravity Bar (with an included pint of Guinness) is the best in Dublin.

The Guinness Storehouse was converted into a museum and tourist attraction, but happily they have retained much of the old brewing machinery, which makes a great photographic subject. I used a touch of flash here to saturate the colors. Buy this photo

My wife Mary pulls a perfect pint of Guinness. It’s more fun to include traveling companions when they’re doing something locally inspired and interesting. I used natural light with a fast portrait lens and relatively high ISO setting. The cluttered background isn’t as distracting as it could be, because it documents the bustle of the place. Buy this photo

Parting shot on our last night in Dublin. Another trad music session. This one (which also incorporates a self-portrait) was shot at the Cobblestone Pub. It was an informal sit-in session, so I had the chance to chat with and really get to know several of the musicians before shooting their portraits. Buy this photo

Have you visited Dublin? What do you consider essential activities–and photographic subjects–in this city? Please share your comments here.

Want to view posts about other travel photography destinations? Find them all here: Posts on Destinations.

Focus on Chile and Argentina [Encore Publication]: Rugged mountain landscapes and distinctive cultural experiences abound

Our wonderful 3.5-week adventure took us from Santiago, where we visited our older daughter, to fabled Easter Island, sophisticated Buenos Aires, the mystical island of Chiloe, and then through much of Southern Patagonia. For much of this itinerary we were traveling with a local leader and a small group of fellow travelers on a trip operated by Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT). The knowledge of our local trip leader coupled with the small group size allowed us to travel to largely untouristed areas and to engage in authentic cultural interactions that would not have been easy to set up on our own and would have been impractical to include on larger group trips. Such a format offers amazing opportunities for photographers, as it provides access to an array of experiences beyond the “postcard-type” shots. From home-hosted meals to wildlife encounters to hiking across glaciers and on the slopes of a volcano, this trip packed a lot of memorable moments–and images–into just a few weeks’ time.

Easter Island is a small and extremely remote island, accessible via daily flights from Santiago. It is, of course, famed for the monolithic human figures carved by the Rapa Nui people centuries ago, called moai, that are scattered across the island. But there is a lot more to Easter Island than the moai, including a distinctive Polynesian culture and a wealth of natural beauty.

When photographing iconic sites like this grouping of moai on Easter Island, look for a different perspective. Here, I have framed the image from an unusual vantage point, shooting with a telephoto lens to compress the moai so that they appear closer together and more imposing than they would if framed from directly in front. Buy this photo on my website

From Easter Island we traveled to Argentina’s capital city of Buenos Aires. This city has a high-energy feel, offers a huge array of food specialties, and is graced with stately European style avenues and architecture.

Buenos Aires’ colorful and historic barrio (neighborhood) of La Boca is the birthplace of the tango. To give a sense of the dance’s motion, I shot with a slightly slower shutter speed. The rich colors of La Boca can be brought out in post-processing with subtle adjustments to the vibrance and/or saturation tools in image editing software such as Lightroom. Buy this photo on my website

A stay in the Alpine style village of San Carlos de Bariloche included fascinating interactions with Hans, who as a German boy growing up in Bariloche uncovered his father’s Nazi past and wrote several scholarly books about Nazis living in Argentina; and with Christina, a Mapuche Indian grandmother, civil rights activist, and jewelry maker. We then crossed overland toward the border with Chile, stopping en route for a home-hosted lunch of grilled lamb and for some horseback ridingon a family estancia (ranch).

Chango, the family patriarch, saddles up the horses for a ranch ride. An environmental portrait includes not only the person who is the subject of the portrait, but also enough of the surroundings to give a deeper sense of who the person is. A classic portrait lens would also work nicely for a shot like this one, but to emphasize the relationship between man and horse, and to give some separation between the subject and the background, I chose a longer telephoto lens. Buy this photo on my website

An otherworldly sight: a lenticular cloud forms on the summit of Osorno Volcano as we were hiking on the slopes. To capture high-contrast scenes like this one, it often helps to underexpose by about one stop to preserve the detail in the highlights. Then the shadow detail can be brought back later during post-processing. Buy this photo on my website

The same Osorno Volcano viewed from Vicente Perez Rosales National Park. To blur the water, I placed the camera on a steady tripod and used a longer shutter speed. Attaching a neutral density filter to the lens can help by reducing the amount of light reaching the camera’s sensor, thus allowing a longer shutter speed even in bright daylight. Buy this photo on my website

A ferry crossing from mainland Chile brought us to the island of Chiloe for an overnight stay. Chiloe exudes a strong sense of its mystical past and is characterized by colorful houses rising on stilts out of the water.

Characteristic brightly colored Chilote houses built on stilts. Choose a vantage point from which the houses can be framed in a pleasing manner, shoot with a wide angle lens to include more of the houses, and add a bit of vibrance in post-processing to bring out the saturated colors. Buy this photo on my website

The island of Chiloe includes a fascinating bird preserve reachable by small boat. Here is a penguin couple out strolling in their formal wear. To stabilize the camera and long telephoto lens while shooting from a heavily rocking small boat, use a fast shutter speed (choosing a higher ISO can help), turn on vibration reduction if your lens or camera offers it, and release the shutter at the instant when the boat reaches the top of its cycle of rocking. It’s helpful to use a monopod if you have one (I didn’t) and to shoot a continuous burst of images so that you are more likely to get a good sharp one. Buy this photo on my website

After traveling south all the way to the Strait of Magellan (the farthest south I have ever stood, with Antarctica the only land mass below it), we continued northwest until we reached Torres del Paine National Park, any photographer’s dream destination. The photographic possibilities here are endless, with rugged mountains meeting brilliant blue glaciers and clear lakes. We had the opportunity to view this breathtaking beauty from various hikes and by boat.

Blue ice on Lago Grey’s glacier imitates the mountain peaks soaring behind. I used a polarizing filter on the lens to bring out the intense blues in the glacier and sky, but had to be careful not to remove too much of the reflection in the water of the lake. Buy this photo on my website

Alpenglow lights the peaks behind Lago Grey and its glacier. To make this image, I had to forego much of a really good dinner by shooting through the mealtime out on the deck of our lodge. With the camera on a steady tripod, I shot a series of images using different exposures, a process known as bracketing. Later, these shots can be blended together using the high dynamic range (HDR) tools in software such as Lightroom or Photoshop. Buy this photo on my website

Heading out of Torres del Paine through the heart of Patagonia, our adventure was not yet over. We still had another national park (Los Glacieres) to visit on the Argentinian side before returning to Buenos Aires for our farewell dinner and our flights back home.

Patagonian Paradise. Don’t forget to include yourself and your traveling companions in some of your images. This one, made as we headed out of Torres del Paine National Park, made a great holiday card. Buy this photo on my website

Have you visited Patagonia, the capital cities of Argentina and Chile, Easter Island, or Chiloe Island? What did you find most memorable? Please add your suggestions for places to visit or subjects to shoot. Just enter your thoughts in the comment box.

Want to read more posts about travel photography destinations? Find them all here: Posts on Destinations.

“Building” Your Portfolio [Encore Publication]: Architecture gives local flavor and makes a great subject for your photography

Travel photography is exciting in large part because it encompasses all types of subjects. In a single day while traveling, we may have the opportunity to shoot landscapes of the scenery around us, portraits of the people we meet, wildlife images of the fauna in the region, night images after the sun goes down, and photos of the local architecture. I’ve already covered how to shoot most of these subjects in previous posts. Today we’ll focus on how to make compelling images of architecture, which includes both the exteriors and interiors of the buildings we encounter.

For architectural photography, it is essential to carry a good wide-angle lens. While I’m a big fan of prime (fixed focal-length) lenses, architecture is one subject where a zoom lens comes in very handy. That’s because it can be difficult to change our vantage point when shooting large buildings in crowded urban environments. And when photographing buildings, the widest end of the zoom range should be quite wide, indeed. I recommend a lens that can zoom out to 16mm (for full-frame cameras) or even wider. The lens doesn’t have to be particularly fast, because buildings do not tend to move quickly and we can use a tripod to steady the camera for longer exposure times, but it must be of very high optical quality for architecture photography. Cheaper wide-angle lenses are prone to several kinds of distortion that can lend an unprofessional appearance to photos of buildings. I recommend ponying up for a good professional quality wide-angle zoom lens with a range of somewhere around 16-35mm, or even a fast 14-24mm lens if you have the budget for it.

I use the Nikon 16-35mm f/4 lens for architecture shoots. It’s got great image quality and is very solid and well built, but at f/4 it is not super fast, and it is rather heavy and bulky.

When shooting the exterior of a building with a wide-angle lens, we need to make an effort not to distort the lines of the building or its surroundings. A wide-angle lens, especially when pointed upward, has the tendency to exaggerate features so that parallel lines appear to be divergent. If you have the option of moving to a higher vantage point so you can shoot parallel to the ground instead of upward at the subject, this distortion can be greatly reduced. But for those frequent situations when you have no choice but to look up at a building from the street level, try to zoom out so that the entire subject can be included in the frame without pointing the lens too far upward. This image of a stately old building in Buenos Aires was made with the camera pointed nearly parallel to the ground so that even though a very wide focal length was required to fit the building in the frame, there is relatively little distortion of the perspective.
When using a wide-angle lens from street level, try to keep the camera pointed parallel to the ground to avoid severe distortion of the building’s lines. Buy this photo

In contrast, the next image was shot from a vantage point at the same elevation as the subject, the world’s northernmost church. I climbed a snowy hill in front of Svalbard’s chapel to attain the same height as the center of the building, so that I could hold the camera exactly level to the ground and still include equal amounts of the church above and below the center of the image. This minimized the distortion and resulted in a more natural rendering of this fascinating building.

To make this photo of Svalbard’s church, I chose a vantage point at the same elevation as the midpoint of the building, minimizing distortion. Buy this photo

I like to seek interesting colors and recurring patterns in architecture. The miners’ houses in Svalbard made an intriguing subject because they were lined up in an even line of identical structures, but they varied in color. To make the image more compelling, I moved across the street and shot with a moderate telephoto lens (65mm) to compress the scene and make the houses appear closer together. I based the exposure on the light reflected from the paint on the houses, so that the snow in front of and behind the buildings was nearly blown out. In post-processing I increased the vibrance slightly to bring out the bold colors in this scene.

Look for architectural scenes featuring interesting patterns and colors, such as this view of miners’ cottages in Svalbard surrounded by snow. Buy this photo

Sometimes the most effective images of architecture hone in on the details rather than including the whole of the building. I’m always on the lookout for a characteristic or unusual feature of the buildings around me. In New Orleans’s French Quarter, I framed this shot of a lovely wrought iron balcony using a long telephoto lens so that only this one feature of the building was included.

Zoom in on just the most characteristic or compelling features of a building to make an arresting image of the details rather than the whole building. Buy this photo

Shooting interiors of buildings poses some of the same challenges as shooting their exteriors. In particular, since a wide-angle lens is most often required and is frequently pointed upward, it is important to look at the edges of the viewfinder to try to minimize distortion of the building’s lines. To make this wide-angle image of the inside of a grand mosque in Istanbul, I kept the camera level using a tripod and the camera’s virtual horizon function. There was still a good deal of distortion around the edges of the upper part of the scene, but I was able to control this to some degree by adjusting the images perspective using Lightroom software during post-processing.

This image of the interior of a mosque in Istanbul shows some distortion, but I was able to keep it under control by shooting level to the floor and adjusting the vertical lines using post-processing software. Buy this photo

Do you have tips for shooting the interiors and exteriors of buildings? Please share them here.

Want to read more posts about how to capture amazing images while traveling? Find them all here: Posts on What to Shoot.

Focus on Amsterdam, Bruges, and Copenhagen [Encore Publication]: Canal cities of Northern Europe

On a recent independent driving trip through Northern Europe, my wife and I covered a lot of kilometers in our new Volvo, from the factory in Sweden through Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium. In this post, I hone in on the ABC’s of European canal cities: Amsterdam, Bruges, and Copenhagen, three of the most photogenic places you’re ever likely to visit. I share some highlights in the order we visited these cities, beginning with Copenhagen, Denmark; then on to Bruges, Belgium; and ending up in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Familiar sights, such as Christiansborg Palace, seat of the Danish Parliament, can transform by night. To make this image, I set up a tripod on a bridge crossing the canal and framed the shot to capture the building along with its reflection. Buy this photo

Our hotel in Copenhagen was right on the harbor, or Nyhaven. This was the view from our window. Buy this photo

When photographing iconic subjects, like Copenhagen’s Little Mermaid statue, try to avoid the postcard image clichés. Here, I framed the statue from an unusual perspective and used a very wide aperture to throw the less attractive background into soft focus. While the subject is still recognizable, to my eye it’s more contemplative and serene than in conventional photos. Buy this photo

Bruges is a gloriously beautiful city, and at its most lovely by night. This image was shot from a bridge over a small canal, with the camera on a tripod and a fairly wide focal length to capture the reflection in the water. I converted the image to black-and-white using Lightroom in post-processing. Buy this photo

Instead of just shooting up at the famous Belfort tower in Markt square, turn the tables and shoot down on the square from the top of the tower. I love the colorful façades of the old houses on the square in this tight crop looking down. Buy this photo

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Don’t forget to capture some shots of yourself wherever you travel. It’s easy to get lost in the splendor of a city like Bruges, and to return home with hundreds or thousands of images of lovely medieval buildings, but you want to have a few that include your traveling companions. Ask another competent photographer to compose the shot for you (after setting up your camera exactly the way you want), or set up the camera on a tripod and shoot with a remote release or self-timer. Buy this photo

Amsterdam is another canal city filled with gorgeous subjects for photography. And like Bruges and Copenhagen, Amsterdam is at its most lovely by night. I captured this impressionistic night scene of Amsterdam’s Westerkerk (West Church) reflected in the waters of the Prinsengracht Canal. Buy this photo

Museum art makes a great photographic subject. Just be sure to understand the museum’s policy on photography and never use flash. I love Jan Steen’s painting, “The Merry Family”, because it reminds me of dinnertime in my household. In Holland, unruly families are still referred to as “Steen families.” I consider it a compliment. Buy this photo

Amsterdam’s most visited sight remains the so-called “Red Light District,” which actually features some of the city’s most beautiful old canal houses. The working women in this area do not take kindly to being photographed through the windows, so don’t try this unless you want your camera to end up at the bottom of the canal. Instead, set up a tripod on a bridge and shoot the bustling crowds as they wander the stately old neighborhood. Buy this photo

These three atmospheric old cities, with their beautiful canals, lovely architecture, and iconic sights, offer remarkable photographic opportunities. Visit, get lost along the ancient waterways, and keep on shooting!

Have you visited Amsterdam, Bruges, Copenhagen, or any of Europe’s other great canal cities such as Venice? What were your favorite experiences and images from the trip? Please share your thoughts in the comment box.

Want to read about more travel photography destinations? Find all of the destination posts here: http://www.to-travel-hopefully.com/category/destinations/.

Focus on Cuba [Encore Publication]: Go to Cuba now before it becomes ordinary

Cuba is a remarkable destination for travel photographers! This small island has all the iconic images we expect–beautiful but crumbling art deco buildings, American cars from the late 1950s, unspoiled Caribbean beaches–but there are so many more opportunities to connect with and photograph a culture and a nation that is undergoing very rapid change.

Lovers embrace on Havana’s Malecon at sunset. Buy this photo

European and Latin American travelers already know about Cuba’s charms and have been coming here for decades. But to many Americans, Cuba has felt off-limits, a destination forbidden by our government. I’m going to steer clear of the political issues in this post, but suffice it to say that the Obama administration’s recent relaxing of Cuba travel restrictions now makes this unique island nation a travel destination within the reach of most Americans. I do not recommend trying to circumvent the licensing requirements. This can lead to lots of trouble for the unlicensed American traveler later down the road: hefty fines, lots of questions to be answered, and restrictions on one’s future travel possibilities. Instead, go with one of the many travel companies who operate People-to-People Cultural Exchanges. These are legal trips licensed by the US government for the purposes of the people from the US and Cuba getting to know each other. These trips do require that most of the traveler’s time be spent interacting with Cuban people of all walks of life, but isn’t that what we travel photographers seek, anyway?

We spent a delightful 1.5 weeks on one of these cultural exchange programs run by Grand Circle Foundation. They offer a variety of different Cuban itineraries, and we would have preferred one of the longer ones, but schedule limitations required us to take the shorter trip. This itinerary brought us to the capital Havana and to the rural Viñales Valley, the center of tobacco production and ecotourism on the island. Here are some highlights from this travel photographer’s perspective.

Our small group was invited to attend a rehearsal by Opera de la Calle. Held in a decrepit art deco building in downtown Havana, the spirited performance combined song, dance, and performance art. Buy this photo

Getting to know some of the locals while visiting the exuberant art installation by Jose Fuster known as Fusterlandia. Buy this photo

We left Havana’s vibrant urban vibe for a three-day excursion to the rural Viñales Valley. Exploring this famed tobacco-producing region from our base at an eco-tourism village within a sustainable agricultural collective, we enjoyed hiking through terrain unlike any we’d seen elsewhere, taking in views of local wildlife and flowers along the way.

The picturesque Viñales Valley is noted for its mogotes, dramatic hilly outcroppings. Buy this photo

Tobacco farmer Benito enjoying the fruit of his labor. Buy this photo

Cuba’s national bird, the brightly colored Tocororo. Buy this photo

The warm and engaging proprietor of Maria’s Cafe surveys her domain. Buy this photo

During a Viñales Valley elementary school visit, we met the staff and great kids in the classrooms! Three classes for different ages shared one old church building. Buy this photo

We got to know a friendly and enterprising rural family during a home-hosted dinner. This is their typical family transportation. Buy this photo

Back in Havana, we strolled through the city’s Old Town. Buy this photo

A special performance of Santeria singing and dance. Santeria combines Roman Catholicism with African religions to form a uniquely Cuban hybrid. Buy this photo

This selection of photos barely scratches the surface of all the wonderful, unique photographic opportunities awaiting you in Cuba now. Go soon, though, because for better or for worse, this nation is transitioning quickly into a very different future.

As I write this post, the first commercial flight from the US to Cuba in over 50 years has just taken off from Florida: NY Times on US flights to Cuba. For many Cubans, the dawn of this new era will mean a partial easing of a great deal of economic hardship suffered under the US embargo. I’m eager to visit again in a few years to meet more Cuban people and observe how their lives have changed in the interim. But if you prefer to visit–and photograph–tiny colorful sidewalk cafes rather than Starbucks, authentic cultural interactions rather than slickly produced touristic shows, and wide open vistas rather than lavish resort developments, then now is the time to book your trip to Cuba!

Have you been to Cuba? What surprised you there? What were some of your favorite photographic subjects? If you haven’t been yet, what images do you associate with this island nation? Please share your thoughts in the comment box at the end of this post.