I knew, eventually it would happen

Got the NYT's Friday edition - and there it was. Don't normally read the "style" section, but do keep up with the photography goings on.

I was last in Havana back in 1998, on the visa ruse of photographing Pope John Paul for a magazine, but my real intent on returning, was to document a neighborhood where I was staying with my long-time adopted family. I spent two weeks there - and ten days shooting portraits on the street corner of Calle Cardenas & Apodaca.

The noted architectural street corner (Cardenas & Apodaca) in the art-nouveau style with its unique sculpted columns - where my friend and I set up daily for the neighborhood portraits and interviews.

One of 24 portraits - Jair Barrabia Noa, mechanic on lunch break and long-time neighborhood resident.

Now that Cuba has become hip and trendy, it has become the backdrop for many publications. I recognized the columns immediately - and appears as if they were painted over for the staged fashion shoot. These shoots look simple, but their advertising budgets are high, including - the location art directors, hair and make-up people, the stylists, caterers, logistics people, scouts, security and of course, the models. I don't believe that the residents of this neighborhood, of Jesus Maria in Old Havana, or for that matter, all of Cuba, are ready or prepared for this huge, on-coming onslaught.