When Cuban girls reach 15 they are dressed up and photographed and/or videod looking their best. This girl was posing for the photographer in the cathedral square in downtown Havana and not wanting to miss an opportunity, I took some shots for myself.
Some people don’t like the idea of her not having direct eye contact with me but, for me, this is part of the charm of this shot – she has her head turned to one side showing the full shape of her face and the tilt of the head forms a pleasing diagonal portrayal. Why do so many people assess an image by a rigid set of ‘rules’? If a picture looks pleasing and natural then that’s good enough – rules or no rules.
I’m not sure whether Aymara is her name. It’s the name that the ‘official’ photographer wrote on a piece of paper when he requested that I e-mail him copies of the images. Maybe it was the photographer’s name… No matter, it suits the image.
