Jorge Luis Goes to Santa Maria

Driving out of Havana to Santa Maria just before dusk, the skies were dark and cloudy for the first time in days. But, glory, just as we were arriving at the beach, the skies cleared. And, gratefully we had the beach, often very crowded, to ourselves.

Jorge Luis

On the street the first time, I approached Jorge Luis to model for me. He was out shopping with his brother and his mother who looked as if she might swat me like a fly. On the street the second time, I was like the moon out walking with the sun. The women, the men, the Cubans, the foreigners, the children, the viejos, everybody was watching Jorge Luis.

Orly Goes to Soroa

It was a two-day quest to find a waterfall. We travelled to Pinar del Rio and Viñales and ended up in Soroa, a quaint and quiet village; so I was surprised to discover that the waterfall was a tourist destination. But we would not be put off our plan and, on the rather precarious shelf just above the giant waterfall, we staked our territory.

Orly

I'm mad about Orly. And he sings. This was a Friday afternoon on a friend's rooftop. The friend, Victor, who might be a bit fussy, did not want us to use the gold wire. "It's too dirty," he fretted. And when he tried to clean it, I had to forcibly stop him. I insisted: "We can clean the boy. It will be faster."

Road Trip: Pinar del Rio

For years, friends and well-wishers told me to go to Pinar del Rio. So we rented a car and packed up the gear and left La Habana chasing mountain ranges and caves and waterfalls. Orly served turns as driver, on-hand model, and singer. For the most part Pinar del Rio, a quaint antique town, was closed - after 6 pm, the streets were all but abandoned. But the next morning, I did find Jesus. Or rather Jésus.

La Habana

Here's what you're missing: the smell of diesel rising off the city, the salt pushed in by the tradewinds, music everywhere, salsa, boleros, and the theater, amidst the beautiful architecture, the ruins, the classic cars, the living vibrant thrumming theater of La Habana.

One Bed, Seven Boys - One Sordid Sultry Saturday (Part One)

The set: In a building among many like it on a street of huddled and shamed ramshackle buildings in the shadow of Cuba's jewel, the Capitolio, six stories up a tight and winding staircase, a condemned apartment.

One Bed, Seven Boys - One Sordid Sultry Saturday (Part Two)

The cast: Jorge Luis, Orly, Yasnier, Yudismiel, Michel, Amel, and Giovanni.

Playa del Chivo

On Goat Beach, I have seen no goats (chivos) but there is a vast cratered beach, and tucked away, a few paces off the beach, an abandoned armoury, made up in dirty graffiti, where in the dark corners, yes even as we worked, boys cruise and buzz with hungry insect lust.

Jardines de la Polar

We loaded up the gear and Jorge Luis, Lazaro, Yosmany, Luis, and Daniel and made our way to one of Cuba's mostly forgotten places: Jardines de la Polar. The garden, with its gazebos and bridges, lovely ancient trees, and tiled mosaics, originally designed for socialite parties in the 50s, is now a smashed up over-grown ruin.

Jean and Omar Go to Jardines de la Polar

If I could stage Midsummer Night's Dream, I could find no better place than Los Jardines de la Polar in the tangle of vines and roots and under the dappled canopy. I would cast the twins as the young lovers, Lysander and Demetrius. And then I might be forgiven for playing that merry wanderer of the night, Puck.

Jean y Omar

I met Jean in the street and I asked him if he would model for me. He said sure but that he had a problem. What? I asked. I have a twin brother, he advised me. After meeting Omar, his brother, I have never understood how that was a problem.

Jean y Omar 2

I was photographing Jean and Omar at the base of El Morro – the Havana lighthouse. It was not until we were finishing when I noticed a group of Cuban school girls, rather bestirred, watching us intently.

Francisco y Ricardo

I had met Francisco on a former sojourn to Cuba and asked him to model for me. He seemed interested but it didn’t happen. On a subsequent visit to Cuba, I ran into Francisco by accident and finally persuaded him whence he confided, "I have a twin." Really? What are the odds?

Deportes

At handball, tennis, boxing, baseball, at gymnastics, at whatever, Cuban boys are physical and fierce.

El Campo

Nothing happens quite by design in Cuba. So it happened that somewhere between design and accident, I stayed on a farm for two days in Santa Clara.

Un Día con Daniel

My day with Daniel almost didn’t happen. We had missed each other twice. Finally I met him on my last day in Cuba. We waited two hours for the girl, Rosie. We got kicked out of a resort. I was interrogated by a cop in the street. Finally we stopped at a farm and I asked to use the space. The farmer was so sweet. He brought me coffee and made me promise to come back to his home for a BBQ the next time I return.

Around Town

Images wandering around Havana and more from Jardines de la Polar.

A la Playa

To the beach to swim, to laze, to play. To the beach to drink and sleep and flirt. To the beach with their music, with their rum, with their sport, with their play, with their dance, with their young raw dizzying delerious spirit.

A la Calle

In the streets, Havana lives. Close-quartered neighbors open wide their doors and windows to gossip on balconies, to sit on stoops, to work with their cars or with their laundry, to drink, to dance, to sing, to watch, to partake in the beautiful boundless all-absorbing theater.

Los Chicos

I find many of my models on the street or through friends. Otherwise, they are not models. But Cuban boys, many of then have a rawness and an openess and, yes, a sense of adventure that I love to photograph.

The Rooftop Shower

A scorchingly hot Thursday. We started early in the morning. We went to the rooftop of an 18 storey building in Vedado where Michel and Jorge Luis took a shower to try to cool off.

At Polar Gardens, Yoander and Yohandri

Between rain storms, I took to the Polar Gardens, Yohandri, a long-standing favorite, and Yoander, a fresh find. In the gardens, slicked green dripped with silver raindrops. And in that beautiful canopied forgotten space, the boys - who had just met - were quickly, delightfully at ease with each other and with the camera.

Yosmani at the Garage

Yosmani is a real mechanic. But he works at a larger more cosmopolitan garage for Havana; and so we found this quieter and smaller garage for the shoot. The proprietor, an affable but grizzled old man, was keen to stick around to offer modeling suggestions to our young mechanic. When Yosmani wanted to strip off his overalls, gratefully he convinced the senior mechanic to give us a little privacy.

La Seducción de Jorge Luis

Over drinks, I raise my idea to my champions, Jorge Luis and Orly: the seduction of Jorge Luis. No one could meet the task as much as Orly. They've always had a chemistry. Jorge Luis' eyes brighten. And he looks at Orly and smiles. In Spanish, Jorge Luis challenges Orly: “You think you can do it, brother?” Orly gives a jerking nod of his head: “Let's go. Right here. Right now.” Yes, they were good to go, and the plan, resistless.

Esperanza

I wanted to try doing a shoot with Orly and Jorge Luis and a girl. But the girl I had planned to use didn't show up. We had to find Esperanza at the last minute. She spent most of the shoot in bemused shock, repeating, “Ah Dios mio”.

Havana Twins

Meet the Havana Twins: Omar, Jean, Francisco, Ricardo, Marlon and Andro.

Beach Party Part 1, Playa Rotilla, Jibocoa

When I got back, I really wanted a beach party. Twins, Marlon and Andro, were excited about the idea. And so I invite my good friend Ulises as well as my champions, Orly and Jorge Luis. And mid-week, we got a vintage Chevy, and found a beach about an hour out of Havana: Playa Rotilla in Jibocoa.

Beach Party Part 2, Playa Rotilla, Jibocoa

At first Orly and Jorge Luis wanted direction. My only direction was “It’s a party. Have fun.”An hour together in the car had helped. And before long, the twins had cranked the music on the car stereo on the empty beach. And without direction, or without much direction, the boys danced and swam and dived off the abandoned pier and burned through their dazzling youth.

Enrique

The twins, Marlon and Andro, introduced me to their primo, Enrique. He’s a dream to work with, with beautiful skin and bone structure. And he’s another one of those boys who knows exactly what to do with his body and almost never takes a bad photo. These are his initiation photos.

Jorge Luis the Photographer

I wanted to give Jorge Luis a turn as the photographer too. He interviewed and auditioned old friend, Orly and our new initiate, Enrique. He didn't just play the photographer; he played me which was really funny, speaking in my abrupt on-set Spanish. After we finished, it was very satisfying when he confided that he was really sore and that it was a lot of work.

Jorge Luis, El Pingu

The other models have named Jorge Luis, “El Pingu” – the one with the big, well you know. El Pingu waited for Orly and Enrique to leave and then he asked me: you got time for this? And he showed me again how he got his nickname.

There are over 40 more images from this set in the Members area.

El Toro

I have to confess I was a little nervous. El Toro is a giant bull of a man. But it didn't take long for us to get comfortable with each other. I got El Toro some place he was the most likely to be comfortable: a rooftop gym. And it didn't take him too long to get all worked up in more ways than one. And I was surprised that, on our first go, he was excited about getting out of his sweaty gym shorts.

My Trio of Champions

Long-standing fan and personal favorites, Jorge Luis, Orly and Michel, at last, together.

Introducing Geannys

Geannys, a Scorpio, is a wild one. A musician and a personal trainer, Geannys is also a devilish flirt. During the shoot, he enjoyed very much telling me about his diabolic side. In fact, I had to stop a few times to catch my breath and to keep him in his pants. He even dared me: if you let me keep the pants, he said, I'll wear them home just like this. But, for once, I wasn't brave enough to test his mettle.

Marlon & Andro 1

Working again with the twins Marlon and Andro has been at the top of my list since I last left Havana. The brothers have, besides beautiful honey brown skin, an electric charm and easiness with me and with each other that gets me and keeps me entirely enrapt and I might still be working, still be working, in that space with the twins if the sky didn't open up in a wild torrent long before I felt we were finished.

Road Trip - El Rancho Luna

This time we took a road trip to Cienfuegos where we were led to a beach resort called El Rancho Luna. We scared a few local fishermen away, and my favorite instigator, Orly, got things going with Reinaldo, Alejandro, and Jean Miguel.

There are over 40 more images from this set in the Members area.

Marlon and Andro, Los Jardines de la Polar

Inevitably, I would take the twins, Marlon and Andro, to los Jardines de la Polar. And after a mostly mad week of dark skies, aborted plans, and missed opportunities, the quiet luxury of the forgotten gardens and the relentless charm of the brothers found me, restored me, and set me right again.

Enrique’s Striptease

After his initiation session where neither Orly nor Jorge Luis could get him out of his briefs, when Enrique said he wanted another more daring shoot, I did not need any more motivation to find a space and put together Enrique's striptease. There are over 40 more images from this set in the Members area.

Jean and Omar, the Old Couch

It has always been clear that Omar is the leader. On camera and off, Jean will defer to his older brother. And I am forever left with the impression that Omar would play the devil of bad counsel on my left shoulder, and on the other, Jean, the angel of a more right-respecting counsel.

Orly Goes to Los Jardines de la Polar

Orly was jealous. I had taken nearly everyone to the gardens but not him. So when I discovered he was vexed, I had to fix it. And so, in the late afternoon sun, Orly and I got fairly steamy and sweaty in my favorite gardens.

Enrique at Megano Beach 1

Empty beach, brown sugar sand, aqua-marine water, and porcelain-skinned, Enrique. I soak up the space and the light and the tranquility and walk in the water before we start. And it almost hurts, I am so happy. Over 50 more photos in the Members section.

Leon with Marlon and Andro

Marlon cheers up his brother with puppy, Leon.

Los Tres: Rooftop Gym

The twins and Enrique are so nearly inseparable that I call them Los Tres, the three. They know they are Los Tres. And my Cuban friends know them as Los Tres. And my house mother too, who takes my phone messages, knows Los Tres. Over 40 more images in the Members section.

At the Garage, Orly and Indo

In the garage, we were watched and often interrupted too. But when I convinced the mechanics to leave for lunch and when we were alone and Orly and Indo got in the mood, you could not have forced me out. More in the Members section.

Enrique at Megano Beach 2

So I had a beautiful day and a beautiful beach nearly all to myself. And I had Enrique too. And it is almost always hard for me to say I've had enough. We found an abandoned building near the beach and shot these off in a few minutes before heading back to Havana. Over 30 more photos in the Members section.

Back in Bed with Marlon and Andro

Normally I don't like to shoot on my last day in Havana. Give me a party. Give me friends and beer. Give me my farewell mojito. But when the twins Marlon and Andro said they wanted one more shoot, well I just couldn't miss this. Over 50 more photos in the Members section.

Modeling, Toronto - Part 1

Photographs from Toronto: event photography and modeling portfolios

Modeling, Toronto - Part 2

Photographs from Toronto: modeling portfolios Part 2

Editorials

Editorial photography for fab magazine and pinkplaymags

Kevin Slack Photography is the online portfolio site of Kevin Slack featuring Cuba travel photography, Cuban landscapes, portraits, and streetlife. All images are copyright by the photographer © 2012. Tag Cloud: Kevin Slack photography, travel photography, photography portfolio, Cuba photography, digital photography, Havana, Havana Photography, Havana Cuba, Jardines de la Polar, Cuban landscapes, Cuban portraits, Cuban streetlife, Cuban men.

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