Category: Luz Escobar

15 November 2013

My TV is more than 20 years old and still looks like a movie theater. I don’t have a convenient remote control but we’ve found some pliers that are very useful for changing channels. It’s annoying because in the era of zapping I sometimes resign myself to see myself whatever they’re showing so I don’t have to get off the couch. I hope someday to have this little gadget in my hands to be able to change channels without inconveniencing myself.

Things always come to us with a huge delay and almost always after they’re out of date, or the government has prohibited them before we can enjoy them. The list is long but the most recent case is 3D movies. Suddenly these little rooms started to pop up everything, operated by private hands and I always tell myself, “next weekend.” As I was always slower than the fast hand of censorship, I never managed to try one of these.

If we continue like this the world will be unreachable and after a while we won’t even understand new developments. Of course it might sound exotic to some, but it’s very sad that we’re living in the 20th century. If it’s very nice to see how the clotheslines of Cuban women are full of blindingly white diapers when a woman in the house has given birth, and it’s very sweet that we inherit many things from our cousins or aunts. What doesn’t excite me is that we do it out of obligation and not out of love of this treasure. We all would like to buy new things for our children and we would also love to enjoy the magic of disposable diapers.

Luckily I found a piece of the 21st century that has changed my life. The possibility of having the internet for at least two hours a week is a milestone in my reality. Posting my photos in the blog and tweeting gives me a chance to enter the century that is showing on the calendar. But when I go and put my feet on the ground I’m back where it all becomes unreachable.

8 November 2013

*Camilo Cienfuegos

A repudiation rally in front of the Ladies in White headquarters in Havana, on the 2nd anniversary of Laura Pollán’s death.

14 October 2013

 

Recently a person who just arrived from a trip to Poland told me about a technique he learned in a workshop there. According to her, the teacher said you could use the lens of a camera in front of a mobile phone to make photographs that aren’t usually possible with the camera on a cellphone. I got home and tried it with some old lenses I had, one a Zenith and the other a Canon. It didn’t work like I thought but still the result was beautiful.

My husband had the idea that we could do the same but with the lens mounted on the camera. Then we took out the tripods and put the two old cameras on them. The Canon with a 50 mm lens and the Zenith with 2.8-135mm. When looking through the cellphone camera through the viewfinder the result was wonderful, magical. Like watching an old movie live and in real time. Like a trip back in time. It was a wonder that came from Poland and landed in Havana. It was a wish fulfilled.

14 October 2013