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William Vazquez
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Bruce Byers
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On October 16, after receiving them at the airport of Santiago de Cuba, from the United States, Bruce Byers, William Vazquez, Jennifer Lawrence and Pedro Cerón, we started to celebrate the arrival of these well-known photographers in Cuba.  Just the fact of bringing them home seemed more difficult than landing on the moon.
After having been to remarkable landmarks in Santiago de Cuba, we left bound for Havana the 17th in the morning. With the sole purpose of taking as many photos of people and places as we could, we devoted 4 days to our beloved Capital city. Admittedly, any time is short to complete an objective of this type. However, in light of the various criteria, the trip was a success, especially since Cuba is a visual paradise for photographers and sensitive people.
The story of this trip goes back to 1996, in New York, in a small apartment in Manhattan, where William Vazquez and his wife, the great painter Scheherazade Garcia, gently had me over for eight months (frankly I do not know how they could). There it was born a friendship that has lasted for more than twenty years and also a promise that one day I would show my country to them. At the same time, my friend William, whose professionalism as an artist of the lens let me astonished, would fulfill his desire to explore Cuba with a camera. My country had begun to attract him every day more, also influenced by my passionate stories.
I remember that, as he was taking a series of photographs of important New Yorkers, he came up with the idea of doing the same in Cuba: come and photograph conspicuous, influential, charismatic and famous people; just the kind of people who constitute a small group in any society. The big surprise of our trip was to encounter an «all star» of millions of people with a lot to say without moving his lips, people who «spoke» with eloquent gestures: sportsmen, farmers, artists, doctors, dancers, drivers, professors…
Going into the valleys and mountains was possible due to a partnership founded by William Vazquez with Bruce Byers: Camera Voyages. Both creative professionals, with a vast experience in travelling and photographing the brightest corner of the world, began to offer their massive expertise to those wishing to use photography as a mean of expression. In that purpose, Jennifer Lawrence and Pedro Ceron joined us, unknown to me until they landed in Santiago.
We found amazing scenery everywhere. Even where there are obvious deteriorations, the photographer’s eye can find the beauty that is more visible when the lens captures the human soul. Precisely, what Camera Voyages, the company that William Vazquez created with Bruce Byers, is looking for is the aesthetic point of view of a look, not only in Cuba but anywhere in the world.
In all these places, they are able to discover the psychological moment in which human dignity, in solitude and introspection, create giant images. Fortunately, the look of professionals as Bruce Byers and William Vazquez focus on Cuba. They have spent years perfecting the art of revealing what goes unnoticed to the common eye, unraveling the intimacies of a face or a place. And for me it was a great luck accompany them on this adventure.

 

William Vazquez

William Vazquez is an advertising, portrait & documentary independant photography professional based in New York, USA. He is president of Visual Waves Inc, a photography and multimedia studio. Co-Chairman, American Photographic Artists New York (APA).

Bruce Byers

Based in New York City since 1975, Byers has a wide variety of experience, including advertising, high fashion, and travel. Byers assisted Robert Newman, of New York’s The Old Print Shop, develop the gallery’s Fine Art Photography in 2000, with an exhibit of his work. Byers’ work is frequently featured in galleries in Germany, Holland, China, England and Japan.