Cuba: A photographer takes a stroll along Calle O'Reilly, Old Havana

by Andrew Holman

Just to prove what a photographer's paradise Havana is, here is a sequence of photos shot in just under eight minutes as I wandered eighty yards down Calle O'Reilly in Old Havana.
At the top of the street, this guy has given up in the 32C heat.  Hard to witness. 

Ten paces further and here's a sneaky shot of one of the watch repairers.  Note the Zorki 4K camera on the shelf at the back. 

Next to the watch shop, beautiful old moorish tiles left over from a bygone age and 'mullered' by water pipe installers.  

Then a shot down the busy, narrow street that is Calle O'Reilly. 

Ten paces further and here are some of the fruit and vegetable sellers you find on every street corner.

The watch mender's rival only twenty yards away.  Note his glasses, - there's no actual glass -, with a custom mounted homemade magnifier.  I think he got the idea from Google Glass!

The watching man.  Interesting to do a Sherlock Holmes on him.  Nice, expensive shoes.  Clean, well-fitting clothes.  Large scar on his hand and buckled fingers.  ID badge.  Chair: home-made from rebar with a plywood seat.  Wrapped water bottle hanging on the back? Often means rum concealed inside.  The three colours on his wrist band?  Friends in Sicily?

The egg lorry - just delivered to the shop and you can see the queue beginning to form.

Anyone fancy a pastry?


At this point I am not even half way along the street.  Why does anyone wonder that I managed to take almost 15,000 shots in three weeks!