Keith Cardwell

Series Cats of Maroc

The family is always a great theme in Photography.

Returning home the Dog waits, guards the house from the roof.

I generally work on Series photographs, sometimes displaying together for sequence narrative. I specialised in Film making @ college and the rhythm of multiple images has never left me.

FILM IS A COLABERATION PROCESS . I ENJOY WORKING ALONE AND DISAPPEARING IN THE CROWD.

This series of stills are named"Walk on By "

Workshops start and end @ Darhani Riad. Marrakech.

Omar (manager) just accommodation @ anytime

Photographic workshops, keith. cardie46@hotmail.com

The Riad is central to Marrakech and has been totally refurbished throughout. Check out their site and you will certainly be impressed.

Your first photographic experience is within 5 minutes of the Riad .... The heart of the Souk.

Friendly staff and good breakfast before our meetings.

At these get~togethers we will discuss approach and aspirations of each photographer. possibly SET PROJECTS AND GOALS. At the core of my work with you is Personal Vision, as I believe this the guiding force in Photography.

My tutorials are aimed @ Personal Vision.

I find out your reasons for making Photography and try, with you, to develop those ideas into skills, and led on to Photographs.

This building is, safe and secure, in fact our Oasis in an extremely busy city.

Having been to Maroc over 30 times in the pass 32 years we will plan our trip together.

You will never believe we are just 3 hours from the UK. It is an incredible experience. Although Moroccans do not generally like to be photographed I will teach to over come this.

These are great people from an incredible country. They make beautiful colour photographic images which reflect,

* Spirit of Place *

5 day workshop is an introduction to this experience. I can also arrange for you to stay longer and help you prepare your journey.

cardie46@hotmail.com

Max~number of People is 8/10.

Marrakech x Essaouira workshop 1

Fez x Chefshaouen workshop 2

Ordinary day in February Marrakech

From a new series of Images in the Souk in a particular light.

A complete image .... with the figures and composition.

The background suggestion of sounds adds to the picture.

"Walk on By" series

What joy to see people in traditional dress.

Horses saying good morning is a bonus.
 

Series : Cats of Maroc :

Marrakech.

After a few days in Marrakech Essaouira's light is incredible. We have our own air conditioned bus to take us to the coastal city .

The Port of Essaouira is Beautifuland I will prepare you to photograph it and its people, Fishermen and Berber women. Our lunch will be on a rooftop terrace with views of the city and the sea.

It is true to say this place is frequented by the elite tourist. For example, many Musicians and artists visit and live in this area.

Horses for Moroccans are a Fantanisa ... this festival will occur on special days in the calendar.

Our photographic workshops will have access to this Fabulous collection. During the September period of the workshops Keith has been invited to show prints, in the gallery from a cross section ofhis portfolio made in Morocco. There will also be evening arranged to view Moroccan culture at the new historic Musee.

The Musee houses a great collection of Moroccan photography, mainly made by Europeans.

It has the best view of the city from its café roof top.

A visit to Essaouira is must while in Maroc.

It is the last place the French occupied and the restaurants and atmosphere reflect this. The light is clear, bright and harbour a photographer's dream.

cardie46@hotmail.com        Photo~workshops, Maroc
 

Early Morning walk is so exciting.

Our workshops will not go to the Sahara as its a 2 day journey. I can arrange guides and  trips for people who want to go. It's ideal after you have done the workshop in Marrakech.

I love street portraiture and this sums up what we can achieve just by walking.

This fine print is available on Artfinder.com

www.artfinder.com  Print sold by artfinder.

"Cats of Maroc"   series

This is the view from your Balcony in Chefshaouen.

Carpet salesman and guides.

Square restaurants.

Chefshaouen. Childrens Games.

New Town.

View from Hotel Rembrandt window April 21st 2017

Young Football supporters on their way to the Game.

Went looking for a Lamp for the Hallway .... found this picture

Fishermen ..... love this pic.

Day trip starts, after breakfast, at 9am. Air condition bus with personal driver. Shoot around midday in the Harbour. Lunch and shoot town in the afternoon. Bus 5 30pm. Home for dinner around 8 pm.

Perfect day shoot in a beautiful little town.

Rainy day Chefshouen.

Fisherman not always agreeable to be photographed.

Catching the boat from Tangier to TARIFA has always been special it reminds me of the ferry rides in Liverpool with my uncle Bill and Aunt Peggy.

Of course there is The Alchemist to be considered too. The Boy catches this ferry too.

The couple were arguing most of the trip and here you can see the guy trying to calm the girl down. Of course, she has her back to the sun and has the upper hand.

I sent this to Royston, my cousin from the Midlands, on a Moonpig card … telling him I would be with him on the 11th DECEMBER. HE PASSED WHILE WE WERE SITTING IN TRAFFIC ON THE M25. RIP Royston Barber you were the best Mate for 60 years.

The workshops in Chefchaouen ...... we have a number of restaurants this being one of the interiorsThe group will get together each eveningand talk of the days work and what is to come.

"Walk on By"  series

  Birdsong is a strong cultural experience. Gypsies too bred hybreds.

This birdGoldfinch father and canary mother so its song is strong and sweet. Rather like scotch Maroc ... ie Minit Tea.

Tailor and his son. He made me 2 Bathrobes from Berber wool material, superb.

I have photographs of them laughing however, this is the portrait I needed.

Hotel Bar.

Tailor holding the material for the Bathrobes. Grand fellow indeed.

Market Day Chefchaouen brings Berber Women from the Riff Mountains to sell their goods and buy material to make clothes.

 on show in Marrakech

The French still remain in Maroc with the influence of language and attitude. The Boy looks so French in this Photograph.

Children are the core of this community.

Great picture of Cats series in Chefchaouen. Cats anywhere live on their wits and here more Postcard/poster series too!

one camera one lens x

Alberto did not like this Portrait I made of him on the Buena Vista film set in March 1998.. Photographers, generally hate their own image.

You can see how handsome his Cuban face is here.The photograph was made on my Rolliflex 2.8 Planner lens... using Bokeh.

It was displayed for the first time in March 1999 @ The Savannah College of Art and Design, exhibit in the Photography Dept, on MLK Blvd Savannah GA.

This exhibit was a culmination of a stressful period of time for me ... I had 5 bosses @ SCAD ... Not one of them talked to each other. The exception were meetings (x2) between Nancy Weber, Tom Fischer and myself, to find ways to control me. This was idiotic, of course. Oh, how I longed for a BBC type of administration were if the work is being done .... Go with it. Having reported to a online manager.

WHAT WAS MISSING WAS TRUST.

The Korda show was the most important of my 4 year stay at the College ...  At best aspirational, the show was in the Photography Department Galleries on MLK  and still the Head of Department, Craig Stevens did Not Attend its reception. Oh course he was in the process of a divorce, however, his wife and girlfriend came and thoroughly enjoyed it.

You should read my intro to * Cubana : The Buena Vista Years * to get the full story. Thinking of that night still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I will enlighten readers, further in my new book on Cuba.

*Cuba : The Buena Vista Years and Beyond.*

Alberto was a friend and Professional for just 4 years until his death, in Paris 2001.

The sermons are a four hour experience in this church. This day Rev Thurmond Tillman spoke of* Fishers of Men.* Inspiring sermon about Saint Paul. My favourite sermon of all.

 A church built by slaves, in 1776 and the core of the civil rights movement and independence..

Here we see after the sermon and Men with children.

I guess a woman bought the neck ties.
 

Here we see Travis @ the First African with African Mask from the Ulysses Davis collection from the Beach Institute.
 

Carroll Greene  was the director of the Ulysess Davis collection @ The Beach Institute, on Price Street, Savannah GA.

Ulysess Davis had been a local barber with an interest in Sculpture and African American Politics. Waiting for his customers to arrive he made small hand held sculpturs. The Beach now house that collection.

This photograph is the first time we met in the video Department of SCAD. Darrell Johnson was making a documentary on Romare Bearden and Greene was a scholar on this Black Artist.

He also introduced me to Jonathan Green : Gulleh and sea island painter.

Jonathan lived in Naples Florida and I visited him many times over 5 year period. These journies were real fun with Roger Squires driving the 14 hours to Naples. A book in itself.  

I was looking to move house and Greene had a house to rent on Greene Square Savannah. Darral told me this before we all met at the studio.

I was impressed with Carroll's knowledge and understanding of Black culture. we went for coffee. I rented the house and as he lived next door we became great friends.   

After Carroll Death in 2007 I wrote a piece for the Savannah Morning News.

* Experiencing Carroll Green * pop this into Google, it's a great story
 

Curator/Designer Professor Keith Cardwell.

18 months and 7 trips to Cuba, to organise. The College, ie Nancy Weber eventually paid for 2 trips. Flights and a Hotel. One to pick up and two to return. So the show @ SCAD had cost me:

 $13 : 000.  lar di dar.

No fee was paid for this show to Korda or the Cuban authorities.

The standard rate for a show of this status would have been $12000+

I sat in the departure lounge @ Jose Marti airport in Havana and my heart sank when I opened the portfolio of the Korda show, it was glorious. Realising that this had pushed me to the limit of my financial and organising skills. Probably loosing my professorship might be on the cards too. There had been no support given during this process.

 Yes, I had a dream and that dream was here before me.

I had the cooperation of Christina Vivas and Jose Figuroa, both connected to Korda. Christina was an Latin American Historian of great understanding and wrote the piece for the exhibit. Jose, married with Christina,, Korda's printer for 25 years , himself a good photographer had provided some prints . The majority of the prints were taken from the archieve, especially the fashion material. These were valuable vintage prints from the 1960s. SCAD had no idea the value of this collection in the market place.  Alberto at one time offered to give me the prints for the University archieve : so that when the embargo was finally dropped they would have the collection of events. I refused, because of the meaness that the SCAD administration had shown during the organisation of this exhibit : only accepting one print of women waving Cuban Flags, dated 1961 on bromide paper. .... signed, 

 For : SCAD,  Korda. Cuba. 1999.

I gave this print , and letter of explanation to Richard Rowen, I have no idea where these items are now.  ( The women waving flags I thought relevant as SCAD was really run by women)

Alberto had given me  a signed vintage 1970s 12x16 print of the icon image of Che, which hung with pride of place in the SCAD show.

* Para  Keith Cardwell, friend of Cuba : from Alberto Korda.*

That summer of 1999, after returning to Cuba to give Korda his prints, I spent in Ireland, London and Paris. After selling a Korda print , that I had purchased in 1998, to a friend Jonathan Green, the painter in Naples Florida. I then realised my Professorship @ SCAD was over. I wanted so much to Curate and produce Photographic events for the College.

I had already started to organised a Lewis Hine exhibit.

 A great sadness came over me and I cannot wait to write the Book of Events that had taken place that last year in Savannah GA. Their games and superficiality were really annoying. The Power hungry administration had this time gone too far. However, to survive there you had to play their games and it was over for me. The loss of my friends really hit me. The atmosphere was one of watch your back. I felt an odd ball at parties knowing these people, some of them real friends were terrified of this regime.

 Returning from London I stayed in New York for 4 days. I was jet lagged and couldn't sleep, I turned to the Hotel TV 4am. Diane, Princess of Wales was DEAD!  This event effected everyone. I had photographed her at the  Wimbledon Tennis event  and Hong Kong. Even sat next to her in the Hilton Bar in Hong Kong. The connections with her and my country helped me through the next 3 months in Savannah.

Returning from New York to Savannah in September, I had no job and I was broke from the 3 month road trip. I struggled to pay rent, friends were feeding me : My car was reprocessed : can you imagine how I felt about SCAD at that time.

Then an ex-student arrived at my house which I shared with Brian Slakie brother of Doug Slakie, a name to remember. The student had overheard a conversation in a Pool Bar in Downtown Savannah between Slakie and his Pot head friends.

Dougie had suggested they enter my house when I wasn't there and burn my negatives : Knowing this was a life times work. That night I moved the negatives to Denise Falk's House on Whitemarsh Island, after confronting Brian.

 They were out for me. Savannah being a small town I had to cover tracks. I knew what these people were capable of. They belonged to a Harley Davidson club, yes Dougie owned, paid for, a $15000 Harley on technician salary.

I was single with no job so I was alone a great deal. This was a can of worms that had to be seen to believed. I had to get out of there.

Dougie and Brian and two others shared house on Price Street. Brian, who was the college Framer, I got to know well while organising exhibitions for the College. Over coffee one morning, in Exlibris Bookstore Brian suggested that we became room mates, as we were friends and we could half expenses etc etc. He knew I was away a great deal so it was ideal for both of us. After we had found a house, which was owned by college professors, we set up home. Brian was cool and his love of music was extraordinary.

I was in the college Photography shop one morning chatting to students before a class and Dougie walked in and immediately said,* Morning brother stealer.* This was the beginning of verbal abuse said to me during this time. I asked Brian to talk to him.

  The explanation will be written later. In a letter to Brian Murphy.

You see I had knowledge of Dougie's activities with students and he wanted me out of Town. He was chief technician in the Photography department at this time . The professors, and staff were frightened of him as he controlled the inner engine of the Photo/Dept..  As I have said I treated students as equals, so they told me Stuff. 

This relationship with the two brothers could be a chapter but it bores the shite out of me, and I really liked Brian.

About 6 months after I departed from SCAD there was a meeting in the gallery @ the Photography Department. There, in frames, against walls of the gallery was most of the work I had made while at SCAD. The galleries department had the request from the new publishing department. They had invited two photographers to view the collection. The brief was,

Can you create work like this to make a book on Savannah?

Both photographers said, * Impossible *   for the budjet you have given us ... this is one man's vision, over a period of years.

I knew the head of Galleries very well : some time later had told me, over dinner, of this meeting and what was said. He said we were all dumb~founded looking at the quality and quantity work and wondered how did you do this and teach in 4 years.

Of course a book was produced. without my images. High quality with little real content on how the city ticked. You see access is everything and you don't get to photograph the real Savannah if your not apart of it.

They later produced Books on my photographs of * The First African Baptist *and the* MLK Parade* with out my consent. I did try to purchase said books without success.

 *SCAD and the photography department knew my concerns on Copyright. I am and always will be a freelance photographer that believes in the ownership of work produced with my own film and cameras. It became slightly tricky ground while working for SCAD as more often than not they supplied film. However, I did not use SCAD equipment to produce work as I knew there was the copyright issue. As a young photographer I had worked for music magazines and had lost all this great work to their archive. I told my students to be very quiet as confrontation with the administration on ownership of their work during the period at SCAD was not resolved.

This was something I had fought for as a freelance in London and elsewhere.

Returning from Cuba and after a sale of my prints at the café Metropole I wrote a letter to Brian Murphy explaining my situation concerning my time @ SCAD.

Murphy was sort of Head of the finance at the college at this time... This letter will be published in full in the final draft and the book will be sent to Savannah Morning News. They will publish this with my consent, of course, and at last the demons will be laid. You see I had a theory about SCAD's *cover ups*. They had one size cloth in which to cover their tracks. So while they were covering the new stuff the old stuff was revealed.

I organised, with the generous people, at the Café Metropole a print sale in early November 1999. I was due in Havana @ Thanksgiving for my first exhibit on the Island at the Plaza de Armas at the Biblateca Gallery. We opened on the 4th December 1999. Alberto Korda, Tom Waits and the Flamenco dancers of Edvardo Vieta group opened the show.

I had made new friends in Cuba.
 

I gave this letter and vintage print to Richard Rowan. I had them photocopied before I reached the office. The Rowan'smarriage had ended and they were separating at this time: the college was in a sensitive period.

The letter is an explanation of events in Cuba concerning Korda's visit to the US and the College.

The vintage print was a gesture of Good Will.

From Bahamas to the USA.

Now travelling from Cuba to the Bahamas was a well know route for Americans who had connections with Cuba . They were not necessary Cuba exiles. They could be elderly men who had found younger women on the island probably had a child with them and were going to Cuba three times a year, to visit and bring hard currency. Cuban girls are good at catching stay men.

The story I want to tell is returning to Nassau one Sunday afternoon I decided not to pay the airport tax. This was a tax of $20 paid if you were not in transit.

Coming into the Bahamas you were in Transit. However, you could be fined $50:000 for entering Cuba , as it was a no no on American radar. Arriving , collecting luggage was simple and I walked the 100 meters to the check in desk for Miami.

On arrival at the check in I told the guy I had just arrived from Havana Cuba. there was nothing to pay in Taxes He then wrote in large font on my ticket the word Cuba in Red.

Standing in the que for immigration , as it was in Nassau airport rather than Miami. When you arrived in the domestic flight area in Miami it was completely open. The Amy officer who looked at my ticket immediately said, Cuba Sir, you have been to Cuba. I can fine you up to $50:000 for that.

Please take your luggage and go and see that lady over there. Now, in that que there were at least 10 people that were on that plane from Havana. No one of them had declared transit status. So I walked with my luggage over to the Large Black girl, who looked like an retired Basket ball player ... a Globe trotter no less with her pig tails and Southern Voice she was magnificent.

Cuba Sir, I can fine you up to $50:000 for going there . I said, he just fined me, is it your turn? She smiled that smile when children win at marbles. Well, she said lets start with what you have in the bag.

Stuff, I replied, a big word in the US.

What kinda stuff?

T shirts, presents for college friends etc etc .

Any Boxes? she asked.

Sure, 2 boxes, I replied knowing there were 4 boxes of cigars in the suitcase and two bottles of Havana Club Ron in my hand luggage.

Your a Professor Sir?

Yes , in Savannah Georgia.

I could remove your J 1  Visa, so you are out of a job. she smiled once more.

I think we are going down the wrong road, I explained showing her my international Press Card.

The que now were all looking some saying he has cigars.

What a hoot, as she knew that having Press acredidation we can bring from any country a $1000 of mechandise.

She bend over and whispered in my ear .... Get the Fuck out of here.

I threw my case on the moving belt and walked slowly up the stairs for departure.

I sat in departure, drinking a large Rum and coke, Havana libre indeed: thinking I was going to be called. It didn't happen. I was in Miami within the hour.

It reminded me of Bogart in The Big Sleep: when Eddie Mars tells him *You take chances Marlow.*

I saved $20 on Transit Tax, but probably took 5 years off my life for a great story.

The first time we met in March 1998, in his apartment in Miramar Havana on the Film Set of Buena Vista Social Club.   I am wearing a Savannah College of Art and Design T Shirt. I had hoped to curate a Cuban Festival @ the College, with Dance, Music and the visual arts. Instead I went on the curate the first Alberto Diaz Korda exhibit in the US @ The Savannah College of Art and Design. Cuba was in the air .... Buena Vista Social Club had won9 Grammies and in July on 1998Ry Cooder and the Band played @ Carnege Hall in New York .... I was there and my heart lifted as The Band played Compay Segundo's Chan Chan. I swear you could hear that audience down in Brooklyn. 

This was Cuba's * Coming Out * party.

The events that took place between 1995 thru 1999 changed my life forever. Good and bad I have to explain how and why. It is time to move on so stories have to be told to clarify events.

There is a saying in Cuba:

*When you are in my country you pay! when I am in your country you pay.* Just a little advice for visiting Americans, ha ha .

 It was a struggle as middle management @ the college blocked ideas going up and coming down :  Individuals were against the exhibit. Americans, with exception to the African American community  despised Fidel,  having taken from them their pre Las Vegas playground. Proclaiming the lack of civil rights in Cuba. I find this strange as at home they still use the N word to describethese communities.

I was at the John Lennon memorial reception in Havana and Fidel was asked by CNN *Why do you have Black Bodyguards *

 *A Civil Rights reminder* Fidel answered.

*But surely Fidel they are all equal Now,* asked CNN.

*Try telling that to young Black Americans,* he answered.

 In many ways the College was Business School ( There were rumours that the PresidentRichard Rowan x his Provost wife, Paula, had tossed a coin, before opening SCAD, to decide what paththe college should take) although The Arts won they seemed to have a backseat. This all sounds resentful, however, I loved being in Savannah, greatly admiring the energy and power of this College and had great friends @ the college and in the Town. The local people generally disliked SCAD. They were a non~profit making College. They did not pay taxes, Money, or the word dollar, is in every paragraph an America speaks can you imagine what the local Savannahians said about SCAD. Therefore, as a Professor and single I was not invited to local's dinner parties until I left the college employment. From September to November 1999 I attended old Money dinner parties. Boy the stories I heard concerning the inner circles of that Town..Savannah / Havana both Gossip Towns.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil indeed !

 However, in 1996 I wanted out of their teaching system, it was too traditional, them and us. I treated my students as equals. 

The Chair of the photography department gave me the Documentary course : I feckin freaked. I started to run projects on the annual events in Savannah : ie MLK parade, The Jazz festival, in Savannah and Jacksonville, Daytona Bike week etc. 1996 saw the Olympics in town. The sailing Olympics came to Savannah. The College  talked to Savannah's Historic Society and they gave me total access to the Olympic Marina site. I gathered 3 best Students Jon Holloway, Russ Bryant and Aran Alexander who had graduated on the MA course and had the variety of skills. Portraiture and Landscape we needed for the book and exhibit. Now on permanent display @ Savannah Court House.

Jon x Lori Holloway and there dear family are still great friends and live, work in Greenwood, South Carolina.

These group sessions, on my documentary course, meant we could make Catalogues with an exhibit that could not only promote the college through touring shows but help students get work published : ready for interviews, after they had graduated. Learning is a fantastic process, but after acquiring skills students need to place their work in the  public domain. This was ideal for that purpose. The selection was democratic.

I also started a solo project on the Atlanta Ballet.

The five hour drives from Savannah to Atlanta were cushioned by my student assistant Richard Burthart, who was good company and great technician.

* Backstage,* was an amazing show at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. ... They were producing an Alice Ballet : Right up my street.

Opening the system up was not what the Photography Department wanted. I sensed my work and ideas were seen as making the department vunerable to the administration.

It is important to realise that the Professors in Photography did not interview me in London for the job. Paula Rowan and Judith Van Baron had given me the Professorship in the Photography Department. So, because I was given the post by senior management, the staff / Professors, thought I was a spy placed in their department. I also taught two classes on the history of painting, in the Art History Dept. Judith Van Baron, whom I rented a house in her garden for 6 months, had placed me there, and again. I was told later ...... .. They thought me a spy for the administration. To say the least the blunt end of this college, ie the teaching staff were feckin Paranoid. The bottom line,  they were fearful of their employment. The litigation with the School of Visual x Performing Arts, who had opened a small school is Savannah was ongoing.

 The energy I had for Photography was boundless and I sensed fellow Professors did not like this. The photo~ department was self contained and kept a paws length between the administration and everyday function as a Department. (re : Orwell's Animal Farm, where all the animals are proclaimed equal, but the birds always kept a paws length away from the cats) I was also connected to the Communications Dept, which was run by Pam Afifi, ( Paula Rowan's sister) a professional who I greatly admired.

The joy to work with Betsey Braiton and Pam Afifi was a real highlight of my time in Savannah. These women were strong and articulate as Editors of the Guardian / Observer newspapers I had worked with.

 The students either loved or hated my way of teaching. Some of them just didn't get it ! The Provost was the answer, but Paula Rowan was right up there in the clouds. I had to get this show on the road ..... The enthusiasm was catching and Korda loved, and trusted me, .You see, I know how Photographers think I have been one for 35 years.  We sat in the heat of Cuban nights, drinking rum, talking of the Revolutionary days, good looking Cuban women, and his experiences with Fidel.

one story of many :

 Korda was told to be at the arirport at around 6am. We are flying to Mexico city then on to Latin America proper ... he was told.

So Korda packed bags ... 20 rolls of film 2 cameras 4 lenes and lightweight clothing. He arrived early and boarded the plane.

Of course they were off to Moscow ... 

Alberto being the only photographer in the delegation was allowed to embark first. So they wrapped him up in gathered clothing from others in the party and he left the plane. Fidel wanted pictures of himself walking down the embarkation stairsas he knew they would be seen in the US the following days. So out walked Korda to the Moscow winter ... for a Cuba, Hell on Earth.

The Russian Newspapers the following day spoke of

* Hippies arriving with Fidel. *

I HAVE THE PHOTOGRAPH, IT IS SO FUNNY

That trip was the negotiation for missiles to be based in Cuba in exchange for the purchase of Sugar.

JFK had cancelled his purchase order for sugar from Cuba and announced an Blockage against the Island. Fidel immediately said that *other arrangements were being made.*

There is a Korda photograph of Fidel making a Polaroid photograph of the Kruschev family @ a break during the talks: Korda started to laugh : 

Fidel asked Why ..?... and Alberto pointed to the make of the camera : Polaroid Mass / USA.

 I used savings to support visits to Cuba to negotiatea deal with Korda. Intially, I had taken the job in Savannah to be near the Island. I started to make real friends in Savannah and my dreams were to be an Exhibition Coordinator in Photography. The College had little or no trust in my abilities to organise this show, they had no conception of the loyalty that was applied during these negotiations.  It is not that I was tired of making photographs it was a need to show others how people work and how the world is seen through the personality of the individual. Further, there were lies on both sides of the Miami straights and the photographs of Alberto Korda would project the truth to North Americans. The events photographed as they happened. As for the promoting of Individuals, these ideas are in conflict with the Communists : Fidel's ideas are a mixture of Communist and Community. He is a Nationalist through and through. Having Irish blood flowing through my body I totally understand in idea of Family and Community. That has been the core of my life as a Photographer/Teacher.

The next photograph in this section:

The Photograph of Fidel on a March morning standing at the Washington DC Lincoln Memorial looking up admiringly, Hat in hand .... Photograph : Korda

Keith Cardwell Collection.

The Cuban establishment were not cooperative either. I asked Korda if it was possible not to inform the Minister until the exhibit was up and running as I feared he would block it. Alberto agreed and we went on with the selection. You see I wanted to organise a Cuban Festival with Music , Dance and Visual Arts. This would have to be placed on hold until after the Korda show. Somehow I pulled it off and the show was glorious :

 Thanks to Korda's generosity of spirit.

I had asked the college for an invitation letter and this was in process during the later part of the organisation. Alberto Korda had the virus Hepatitus b, something I have never told anyone before now. His liver was completely shot and relied on painkillers to keep going. At the time of the show he had a bad attack, therefore impossible to travel to Savannah. I had told the college he was ill, never telling them of the virus.

He actually went to Spain for a show around one month after ours opened. He was ill .... KingJuan Carlos sent his private jet for him with two doctors aboard. Can you believe how important these pictures are ........... NOW!

Savannah show :

An Intimate Portrait of the Cuban Revolution

 This contained 45 pieces from the Korda portfolio, further, as he was Fidel's Official photographer, it showed the ongoingpolitical changes in Cuba, as Korda was in the very makeup of the administration. However, Korda , although in full support of Fidel was no communist. His Fashion work was at the core of his photography. In fact, you could say he photographed the Revolution as a Fashion Shoot. That is not to degrade the work as he had Style and loved women. Much to the annoyance ofRaul Corrales. After the Che photograph had gained fame Korda begun to Photograph Fidel again..

Running simultaniously I had a time show called * Flamenco de Cuba* which ran @ The café Metropole next door to the Korda exhibit. Alberto on seeing the dance pictures insisted I show alongside of his work. He explained that these dancers, all in their early 20s, were a reflection of Fidel administration. The reason they exist he said. I decided to keep them separate : the Café Met was a great venue.

The Korda exhibitbecame the centre of the Royal National Theatre show Cuba Si in 2000 , containing over 500 prints from 10 Cuban photographers and myself.

50 years of Cuban Photography. Cuba Siwent on to 6 venues around the UK.

While in London  Alberto, with finance from Cuban Solidarity, also won the copyright to the Che icon Photograph ... something he had waited for some 40 years.

The photograph of Che was made 5th March 1960 @ 11:20am. on 23rd Street, Vedado, Havana. Cuba. Leica 3f with 73mm lens.

We projected the Che Image for all to see on the Royal National Theatre to celebrate winning the Copyright for the Photographer.

Backstage @ The Fox Theatre Atlanta.
 

I talked to Korda and friends about this Negative and persueded Korda to place it in the government office, knowing the family.
 

This photograph was used by The Guardian for Alberto's obituary.

The first meeting was a great moment in time for both of us. I had taken the Professorship in Georgia just to make this photograph and others like it.

I went on to curate two major shows of his work one in Savannah and the other with Nicky Akehurst in London @ The Royal National Theatre. Cuba Si. 2000. He came to London and won his copyright for the Icon Photograph of Ernesto Che Guevara Lynch. Yes, Che's  grandmother was Irish.

Korda was 72 years old, while visiting London, on the 14th September 2000. Nicky Akehurst gave him his party in  a restaurant in Portobello Road. Nicky had been so generous with the Cubans. They disappointed us with their behavouir in London. Korda's son came from Norway ... what a piece of work he was.

 It was to be his last birthday. Korda died 25th May 2001 in Paris.

The next photograph was made from Waterloo Bridge during Korda's stay in London. He loved seeing the image 30'x40' projected onto the Royal National Theatre.

Che's image projected on the Royal National Theatre South Bank London ... Tony Benn said you could see it from the House of Commons Bar. September 16th 2000 : for three nights.

"That would have never happened in Margret's time." he said. ha ha.

The Award was given for organising the The National Theatre exhibition in 2000.

Korda won copyright to the Che Picture here.

The sculpture was made by the Ovido Brothers Havana .... good  friends and great sculptors. It is a Russian Leica.

On the film set of BVS Club : Korda Handsome as ever.

One of my favourite photographs of the Man.

I have this shirt signed by the Photographers from Cuba Si
 

I was the first living British Photographer to exhibit in Cuba. (There had been a Bill Brandt show @ Fototeca after his death, organised by the British Council) 

My exhibit took place in December 1999 @ The Biblateca Gallery Plaza de Armas, Havana. Korda opened my reception alongside The Flamenco dancers : Edvardo Veita group and Tom Waits. Morgan Freeman came later.

On the right of Frame the photograph of the Twins .... now owned by Santa Barbara Museum of Photography. The curator of that Museum came to the show.

The eye of Che looking over the roof of the chevie .... In fact the first three letters from Chevrolet are Che.

Baracoa, being on the far east of Cuba, is were Columbus landed : Discovering the Americas. Columbus is special to the Cubans. The Monument on the Plaza de Amas still exists, however, they  returned his ashes to Genoa in 1998.
 

This is the character from the Noble prize Hemingway Book.

I have photographed many famous individuals ... this Guy is at the top of my list : Gregorio was 104years old here.

That day we went to lunch at the Terrasa Bar, the bar in the book.  Hemmingway drunk there too before driving home to his house some 12 miles away.

Gregorio was quite a celebrity at the restaurant and many people mostly Europeans wished him well. His 78 year old son however, managed to down a bottle of Rum in just under an hour. Then started another.

I also took him the cigar, an esplendidos from Pina del Rio.

Given to me by the Great Tobacco Farmer : Robana

You will notice in the photograph I have chosen, Gregorio is looking at the cigar. He is checking on the ash to see how long he can talk before he takes another draw. My picture of Compay Segundo has the same moment.

The Great Robaina.

This picture speaks for itself ..... A great environmental Portrait.

The night we auctioned his Hat for child medication. Viva Compay.

He would not part with the Hat so he was accompanied home  The Hat was then given .

Compay would not be seen in public without his Hats. 

I had to send Korda to get drinks as he kept grining at camera from the chair on the left of frame.

A truly Beautiful photograph. I made this picture with a Mojita in one hand and my Leica in the other...  ha ha

This was @ The John Lennon Memorial.

So many stories, my head hurts concerning this day. I was so near to him ... perhaps needing to touch his shirt. ha ha.

Korda telephoned my Hotel on that evening to inform me that I, like Fidel, had made Cuban 10pm TV News .

Fidel unvailing the John Lennon Memorial on the 20th Anniversary of John's death. The reason for the Lennon statue in the park is I think unclear. My family, in part are from Liverpool. Before the statue there is the sign,

* you say that I'm a dreamer I'm not the only one* 

Of course Fidel is the other.

The Beatles are very well respected in Cuba and were allowed to be played after the Revolution. The links with Lennon again are firstly The Music and the song content but most of all the link is Subversion.

I 've heard a Government Minister say,

*You can't kill a Scouser and get away with it.*

The truth is that Fidel and his Government have been reaching out, but other  western countries will not interfere because of the North America Blockade.

Fidel just off left of centre ... the entire Cuba Government are here to remind the world that twenty years had passed since John's death.

 Jose Marti died here fighting the spainish, in 1898 towards Cuba's independence.

Most importantly is Columbus landed here discovering the Americas. The image is miraculous and a symbol for the Cuban people ... Boy on a Horse with no shoes. To a Cuban this is a Flag.

This was a December day and shows the richness of the Cuban landscape.

A symbol of crossing the river, a memory for this child that makes Cuba's miraculous childhood.

One day it is hoped that this print will be seen in the National Gallery of Cuba.

Checking the Paperwork for the London show. Cuba Si, this picture was made at the Fototeca de Cuba August 2000, just 12 days before the opening reception @  The Royal National Theatre London.

Corrales was not keen on playing second fiddle to Alberto and the young photographers. He thought he had no respect from his fellow exhibitors. He had given 10x8 silverprints for the catalogue however, when I came for the prints just a few days after giving him £1000 to exhibit  ... he refused to give the work. Contracts had been signed but he was, as he said  *Not going to be Humiliated in London.*  It was a blow ... I convinced Nicky to frame the 10x8 prints and exhibit them , knowing it would really get to him.

Alberto was very amused at the reception at the National Theatre.

Corrales and Korda were great friends and Raul had taught Alberto the very fundamentals of making a great Photograph. Korda however, was hungry for great images and the  Che icon picture confirmed , together with the Don Quixote image that Korda was more than a Fashion photographer. Korda was a great stylist and loved women: Corrales was at the core a communist and family man, trusted by Fidel.

Corrales was the greatest Cuban Photographer. He had the ear of Fidel and worked in the inner circles of the Cuban Government.He had visited London in the 1960s to buy spy cameras for Fidel.

 He taught Korda to understand photography .... in return Alberto Korda said, "When there is no more poverty in Cuba, Corrales will be out of a job"

This little Porch in Cojimar, a subarb of Havana, had seen some great visitors. Henri Cartier Bresson, Gary Cooper, Robert Cappa, Birt Glinn, Gregorio Fuentas ( The old man of the Sea) and Fidel Castro x Family. 

I visited Raulmore than 30 times, over some 6 years as I stayed in Villa Panamericana just half a mile from Cojimar where he lived with his wife Norma. The Corrales family was large with 5 grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

He had been near to Fidel. He would say in conversation you must remember I am a communist almost spitting as he said it. It worked with visiting Americans but not with me. Raul was a people photographer. We discussed his work most of the time and I have all the Books. One image on the page is of a group of women working in the fields. A young cuban girl spits water out of her mouth. I guess she thought something had to happen during the making of a Photograph.

We talked about this image for two hours and its relationship to the Cuban people. However, in the background just in frame is an old Land Rover.

At the end of the session of chats and great coffee from Norma and JB whiskey , which I bought him from the States I asked Raul,

 *The Car Raul, who does that belong to? *

It was mine he answered. You see this picture is the end of my independence. My son Saul took over as head of the family. I sold that car within that month and things changed forever. I am stuck here now looking at the past. When they ask me to exhibit it is always stuff I made 20 years ago.

Great Photography is not made for money, this I have learned from the greatest photographers I have met. Of course we need to be paid and the business end has to be dealt with. Raul knew this but his family did not.

The stories Corrales told about Fidel .... visits to his girlfriends house and Fruit treesis is a great one next. ha ha

I talked extensively to Korda x Corrales during the Buena Vista Years.

Their personal stories confirm the closeness they had with their government and leaders. Photographers, in general love to tell the events around their great photographs. These two men had total access and trust of Fidel.

A Cold War image indeed. The Karl Marx Teatro and the American Chevie. The placing in this image is a summery of Cuba.

I have a beautiful Nick Jones  20 x 16 print of this £1200

This print was exhibited in my first Cuba show in Havana.

It now hangs in the Santa Barbara Museum of Photography, USA.
 

My night work in Havana, with 10 minuite exposures on the Rolleiflex.

This was a Motorcycle dodging potholes, not drunk as most people think. The tape on the windows is for protection during Hurricanes an Havana experience from August to October.

This is one of my greatest Photographs.

In Photography you have to let go, and the control is only in the, choice of subject, film, the environment and the camera.

The balance between what you want and what the camera sees is now complete. I can remember knowing this would make the Compostela Street  majestic .... I subverted the glory for the natural : Music taught me this. Not Photography.

After all Greene had placed * Our Man in Havana* on this Street.

One exposure was OK then the second @  10 minutes worked because after 8 minutes someone put the light on : the right hand side of the frame.            A  Complete image was made.

The Frame is filled with engima .... especially the clock with no hands... the guy that stood still as in the first street photograph ever made in Paris , when a man has his shoes polished and is recorded.

Initially I called the series* Ghosts of Havana.* However, their *Sense of Place * was forthcoming.

Check out the light source of this photo it is simply amazing.

So why is it not at the top of my projected list .... My idea is that you have to * discover in photography* for yourself.

The sign is above on the Left of frame ..Compostela Street.. I have a sign for sale from that street. Our Man in Havana takes centre stage there .
 

Sundays in Havana are the craziest time of the week.
 

Made for a south American STEAK HOUSE .....

Showing Jose @ the Catheral Bar Havana .

Jack @ The Santa Isobella Hotel Plaza de Armas Havana.

I first exhibited this photograph in Georgia were people were shocked at the thinness of the horse.

The occasion was the 20th anniversary of the Savannah College of Art and Design. Photographs for me are reflections of the way Things are

This image is European in concept .... But when seen in well-fed societies has a moment.

It was also an anniversary of a Cuban embargo by the US.

A photograph so near to a John Cage experience.

At uni I had made a Thesis on Music and Performance : Cage was right up there with Stockhausen x Co.

Silence according to Cage.

There is no silence in the world just a state of Non~intention.

As human beings our perceptions and concentration move from the quiet to the noise thru a state of Non~intention.

I looked for Zen for a very long time: It eventually found me.

KC

* I have nothing to say, and I am saying it. * John Cage.
 

On the set of Buena Vista Social Club Movie.

Again from a Taxi 284 miles from Havana to Trinidad de Cuba.

Paid $5 to the horse rider for a greatjob.
 

This was after they had won Grammies ... playing the Catheral Bar.

After a Dog Fight in Compostela Street. The guy on the right looks like Maca .... he is the local Drunk x
 

I chased this guy in a  Minibus Taxi with 3 students who were  on my Photo~workshops. Such Fun , and a good photographs. Cuba rarely let me down!
 

They used to play in The Egyptian Café. I went there , mainly for breakfast. however, Mary, the Base player was the cute one. This girl always reminded me of Eartha Kitt.
 

Trinidad de Cuba.
 

Perfecto was in the mountains with Che pre~revolution in 1958. He later became Che's official photographer and there are prints for sale on this site that were taken and made by Romero. Perfecto is a generous character who has talked and presented his Photography and life experience to many groups of photographers I have taken to Cuba for  Photographic WORKSHOPS.
 

Inside the Capitolo Building, Havana

She is looking at the teacher and he is in the Mirror behind her.
 

Ballet National Cuba

This was my last trip to Cuba and the restrictions on entry to Ballet National were getting to me. I had letters from the Cuban Embassy but this was not the ticket I needed .... can you guess what was ?

The Buena Vista Social Club @The Karl Marx Teatro.

This was the very last time Ruben would perform with them.

The curtains are coming down|!

Elvis managed the riding stable in Trinidad de Cuba. This is mid April, during the dry season in Cuba. While riding with a group of Dutch tourists one rider came off his horse and died. No enquiry, however, Elvis did 4 years in prison for neglect. The stories on how the rider, a Dutch Farmer, had committed sucide as his insurance was 1 million Euros. His wife later confessed that he was only supposed to break limbs.

Poor Elvis lost everything he had worked for.
 

More time needed more Night work.
 

Photography~Workshops www.cubawelcome.com
 

This beautiful Print~image is Mother Nature holding the island of Cuba Blowing the furtility across the island ... The joy and spirit of this island is one of the finest experiences known on our Planet.
 

In Late October 1997 Che's remains were returned from South America. In mid December my first visit to the Island and I made a Taxi~cab ride pilgrimage from Havana to Santa Clara (180 miles) and the Che Monument.

The foral display had been placed there just weeks before.

This image, among 5 others, were publish in the Savannah Morning News on my return to Savannah. The occasion of John Paul's visit to Cuba, January 1998.
 

This was the reconisance work .... as my method of working through the years has been to visit a place, a country , make slides, then look carefully in on the ideas selected by intuition.
 

Look close at this work as it is the last 15 years of Fidel’s life. It reinforces his dreams on this Magical island. Each time I open the book the memories flood out of its pages. Cubana viva.

121 clicks.com

They have placed this in the top 50 photographs ever made.

Thus projecting Master Photographer on my name, thank you 121 clicks.

Limited editioned prints of this come in 12x16 and 20x16

 Green based the character for * Our Man in Havana * here.

The enigma of this street in Havana, seems to be of another time. It is the heart of Havana and runs through the city East to West. Green gave it its Moment in Time. The Book is funny, and very English  .... The street is latino and has its roots in South America.

The Publishers however, misspell the street name *Compostella.*

whereas the real name is ............... Compostela 

The guy drinking his run, after the dog fight is a Paul McCartney look e like .... Yep : The Local Drunk!

I have photographed many well known people for Newspapers, Magazines : To be in the same room as this man, @ 104 years old, the Gregorio experience was so special to me.

The Noble prize in 1954 was given to Hemingway for this book. It remains very special in Cuban Hearts. When asked about the Old Man, Hemingway replied, "Gregorio, now 58 has always been an old man."

I have made a limited edition of 50 silver Fibre based 10x12 prints.

£750 +postage

The Black and White work only for this book .

This is a Shanghia Bicycle in Cuba. A Forever Bicycle.

I was having Breakfast @ The Castillo Bar, sheltering from the rain, waiting to go to the Grande Teatro in the centre of this Photograph.

With its Asian composition, isolating the figure in a landscape the image becomes timeless. 

The first three letters of Chevronlet are Che.

Che's grandmother was Irish and of course Che having Spanish parents kept his mothers maiden name Lynch.

Enernesto Che Guevara Lynch 

Yes Americans can now visit Cuba ..... read more...

The new Cuban Photographic and Art Tour of Cuba from November 2015/16 ... Join us in this amazing experience and feel the vibrations .... Keith

www.cubawelcome.com

Flamenco group making a Ballet Class: It is like the children in JM Barrie's story Peter Pan as they fly out the window. The finest image I ever made.

Cuba is Never Never land.

Her head in the mirror and she is looking at Manual behind her in the mirror.

The entire Cuban Government is here as well as writers, Musicians, Poets, Painters. etc etc

In front of the sculpture there is a plack which states .

* You say that I'm a Dreamer, I'm not the only one *

The other is Fidel Castro.

Sundays are crazy in Havana and Dominos are apart of that crazy atmosphere. This is community @ best. It is the way Cuba works.

Sundays again. The Cubans are a motivated people whose energy is to be admired. The young need to win if only at Dominos.

Equal rights were fort for after the Revolution. Some intellectuals in the US and Cuba have stated that it was Fidel who inspired the Civil Rights movement in the US in the early 1960s.

Bravo Fidel.

 Alberto Korda made a photograph of Fidel standing,looking up, Hat in hand @ the Washington Memorial to Lincoln. The stories are numerous at this period. I talked for hours with Korda , concerning these events.

On seeing the picture the Cubans said,

* It is one indignant Lawyer, looking at another indignant Lawyer.*

The link is first admiration and second Civil Rights.

you see photography can say everything ....... you cannot hide

Santa Barbara Museum of Photography. USA.

Started this project in 1998

Collection of this work is in the Santa Barbara Museum of Photography  USA.

This is the place where Columbus landed and found the Americas.

Ballet National Cuba

Kaisar Garcia.

Trinidad de Cuba

Although the Tobacco Farmer is a great cover for the forthcoming Cuba Book the Jumping Ballerinas is a Landscape Photograph and the content of the Book is mainly Landscape. So I will remove the Tobacco Farmer this time and leave for something more suitable. 

The East Enders are now in print. 

You can now purchase a signed,editioned, embossed book.in archival dark green Box.

+ 3 fine art fiber based 8x10 prints in a 12x16 mount ready to frame or keep for investment purposes.

One signed Book :

 3 fine art Mounted prints       £450     +postage overseas

contact: cardie46@hotmail.com

November 16th visited Bacon Street first time in 20 years.

I found ythere a Homage to Charlie painted on the wall. Shutters replaced the Iron sliding doors. Met his son x daughter and told them about my book.

Charlie RIP.

Gypsy Sef …. I knew him from the Gypsy fair @Stow on the Wold. Here before the sliding doors of Charlie Burns warehouse Bacon Street.

The core of the series:

A story: John Lennon saw people in the street , on TV, on a bus and in book characters : then went on to make a parallel life for them. He found, in a graveyard in Liverpool, while having a lazy July afternoon with Paul, a grave marked Elenor Rigby.

This is exactly the way good photographers work. This reactional process gets more sophisticated with experience. As John created a parallel so does the Photographer and by doing creates a new meaning to mundane situations.

 While in Cheshire Street London EI  I saw a woman sitting in a café. At once I knew I had been looking for this person for some 30 years. Alone, and yet with others, she sits and waits. There is a gap between drinking her tea and moving on, a kind of silence, a state of non~intention as John Cage called it. This is a story of  loss, sorrow..waiting.... even death. This was right @ the heart of the Thatcher era ...

The grid pattern to the composition suggests quietness and the ghost figure leaves the café before her. The process of creating as been reversed.

What was written, then spoken is now seen!

I found a woman I hadn't been looking for, that day ... Sweet Elenor Rigby.

 Series of photographs made for the Museum of London on London communities ...

" Wedding Arrangements "

Bob Dylan lyrics :

Old men with Broken teeth stranded without Love.
 

Bacon Street :

This will be the title of the Book .... East Enders is too broad and 80% of the work is made in this street. A street of villans , fetches, and people trying to be those things.

                                         Friday Prayers

I worked in this church for 8 months and exhibited samples of this work in Whitechapel library having won the people of London Competition. Fond memories of these gentle human beings going about their daily lives.

However the Saudi leaders were not so keen on me photographing.

I later won the portfolio section of the South Bank Competition with 6 x16x20 images.... They were beautiful. Still more to come folks.

The following photographs are produced in the Bacon Street Book

Mother x Daughter

Giving comfort to his grandson at the loss of his father and the grandfathers son

The Sidcup Cowboys aims for February 2018

From a forthcoming Book The Sidcup Cowboys

George Washington look a Like Marrys his Bride x

Bream Sands Weston~Super~Mare

Drummer Boy
 

The  Blue coats made friends withy Confederates. Fantasy stuff.
 

St Mary Cray Kent xxxx

Probably the finest photograph I have made. Flamenco group making a Ballet Class. It appears that they are the children in Peter Pan flying through the window.

The last 15 years of Fidel’s Life : Only 3 left in edition of 10

WITH 3 9X12 FINE ART PRINTS , OF YOUR SELECTION.

£ 550 + postage

The Book has 228 pages. 47 visits to Cuba, covers 15 years.

Tried to expose FLOOR AS LAKE X

The three Best Dancers in Cuba

Part of  double page in Portfolio Book

Ballet National Cuba.

Kaisar Garcia

The very first image of these special Dancers I made.

Ballet National Cuba.

Kaisar Garcia

Acosta and Garcia

On the roof of the Grande Teatro

Ballet National Cuba

centre figure is Elizabeth  .... great dancer and unique person.
 

Only 10 available.

One of my favorite dancers @ Ballet National

Mike is the managing Director of Cuba Welcome and we have worked together for 10 years now.

www.cubawelcome.com

Check out the site for other activities, Cigar and fishing tours.

This is for the rear of my Morgan Book.  I will add an image of a three wheeler pulling away from camera.

O Flinn's gateway to Scotland.