All posts by : Danae Jones Photography

Last month I had the pleasure of joining three other incredible photographers on a whirlwind street-photography trip to Havana, Cuba.

My personal goals for the trip were to give myself a creative boost, improve my composition skills and learn to see things differently. In other words: I’m learning how valuable and important it is for me to have personal photography projects that have nothing to do with client work. Projects like this trip are both educational and a great creative ‘re-charge’ both personally and professionally.
In an effort to spark creativity and force myself to compose differently, I decided to limit my gear to one camera and one lens – A decision that I worried over, but ended up being really happy with. Eliminating options and choice when it came to my equipment forced me to work the scene differently than I normally may have and literally made me see things through a different perspective.

I can absolutely tell you that we utilized every waking moment of this trip. Alarm clocks would go off at the crack of dawn and we’d head out at sunrise and fill the entire day with photography adventures. At night we’d reconvene over dinner (and Mojitos. obviously.) and critique and give feedback on each other’s work – an exercise that proved to be incredibly beneficial to me.
I’m so very thankful to Jide, Nicole and Matt not only for inviting me on this trip, but also for being so willing to share their time and creative process with me (and each other)!

If you’ve ever considered going to Cuba please go! I’m already planning a return trip. I learned a lot about Cuba and met so many kind and incredible people that were willing to pull up a chair and swap life stories with me. Plus, there’s rum and cigars.
Here’s a look at some of my favorite moments from the trip.

If you have questions or thoughts about Cuba (or anything!)
I’d love to hear them in the comments below.