Lost in Fidel's Cuba

 In this issue:

• A7R VI ebook - pre-order yours now at a discount!
• Uganda Update
• Lost in Fidel's Cuba

Sony A7R VI Ebook

I've received a large number of emails asking if I'll be working on a new book covering the new 67 megapixel Sony A7R VI, including the new features and the new menu system (and another reason they needed to introduce a new battery).  The answer is YES.  Mine is already on order and I'll start as soon as it arrives.  If all goes well it will be finished by early August if not sooner.  

You can pre-order your copy at a 10% discount here.

Uganda Update

Last week I contacted Dr. Schiff, the subject of my ongoing project documenting his work in Uganda.  I asked him if the samples he and his team took out in the field had arrived at Yale for analysis yet.  The answer is yes, and he adds "The samples we collected are proving rather incredible. Evidence of the pathogenic Paenibacillus bacteria in soil, cow milk, and … many fish."

So now the question isn't "How is the bacterium getting into these infants?", it's more like "Why isn't EVERYONE getting infected??"  And time is of the essence, since cases have already begun to show up in the U.S. and nobody knows how or the best way to treat it.

I'll have more to say about this story in a future blog post.  Stay tuned.

Lost in Fidel's Cuba

Cuba has been in the news a lot recently; now seems a good time to tell the story of my visit there two decades ago.

All my life I had heard that Cuba was a photographer’s playground.  But the only pictures I ever saw from Cuba were from Havana, its largest city.  What was the rest of Castro’s Cuba like?  

I found out in 2006, when I had an opportunity to travel to the Northeastern corner of the island with others who had been there before and knew many of the locals.  We flew directly into the city of Holguin, and spent two weeks in a tiny rental car, traveling on dirt roads going from village to village, making friends and taking pictures and delivering much-needed medical supplies.   An ideal trip!! (As always, click on any image to view larger and sharper.)

With me were my 6 MP Konica Minolta 7D (Minolta's first DSLR), 11-18mm, 24-105mm, and 100-300mm APO lenses, and another trusty camera – my Konica Minolta A2 – as a backup.