2023-05-02 19:22:13
“When I’m taking photos, what I’m really doing is looking for answers to things”– Wynn Bullock
Bold, restless, punctual lens. Behind the news and the daily life of Cuba and its people, as he himself says. Present in the official newspaper and also on social networks. Difficult to see it in front of another camera that is not yours. Mind, eye and heart attentive in search of what is invisible to others: Roberto Suárez, photojournalist for rebel youth for twenty years.
Volver, the tango popularized by the legendary Carlos Gardel says in one of its stanzas… “that life is a breath, that twenty years is nothing”. However, for this artist with the lens, twenty years in the Cuban youth newspaper have been a long time, the photographs of him in Cuba and in various countries such as Brazil, Pakistan, Haiti, China, Russia and Peru, support it.
Roberto Suárez does not get close, his creative concerns do not allow it. For this reason, he carries his camera all the time to leave us his visual imprint. On Facebook, Twitter and Instagram we can see moments captured by his lens among other content and in the Juventud Rebelde newspaper and other media, photographs that move, while transmitting information, messages and feelings.
—Before being a photographer, what did you do? Why did you dedicate yourself body and soul to photography with that passion with which you do it?
—Since I was a child I had a little bug inside but I didn’t realize it. I took family photos with a Russian camera that my dad had bought before I was born. He wanted to have proof of everything, not lose anything and photography was the means he found for that. That’s how I grew up. From time to time he would lend me his camera so that I could take photos of family outings. I enjoyed it a lot. Even at times when my father was not at home, I would start to invent with her. He would notice once he sent the roll to develop and see how many frames I had messed up. What a pity!
“In 1993 I started working in one of the large locomotive repair shops in western Cuba here in Havana. For four years of my life, at the age of twenty-five, I directed a group of approximately 50 workers of those who are in the concrete, tied up in production. It was a group of simple and hard-working people. They were years of challenges and learning. I was also wearing overalls and full of fat from head to toe like the workers. Due to the economic crisis that was looming in the Cuban Railways, I decided to change my professional life and started in photojournalism. It was a change from night to day, nothing to do one thing with the other. My greatest encouragement was that I gained the support of many of those who surrounded me in those years.
“I take this opportunity to thank those who supported me in my beginnings in photojournalism. I cannot fail to mention three colleagues: Guillermo Cabrera Álvarez, who in 2003 was the director of the José Martí International Institute of Journalism; Juvenal Balán, head of the photography department of the Granma newspaper and Juan Moreno, head of the photography department of the Juventud Rebelde newspaper. Thanks to them, I was able to move into this profession that has become the center of my life.
“I have always been motivated to take photographs, to leave a visual trace of life, which is something magical. And that was even more noticeable when we had to develop and print the photographs in the darkroom. It was fascinating to see the result of capturing an instant and putting it in view of countless people. The camera makes history. This is precisely our contribution not only to the present, but also to the future. I love that others see the same thing that I saw, and if they enjoy it, even better.
—How have these twenty years of work as a photojournalist in the Juventud Rebelde newspaper been, the most exciting moments, the most difficult coverage?
—It has been twenty years of learning, knowing an infinite number of places and people and being present at important moments in our history, moments that make any country vibrate with emotion. It has been twenty years of experience, challenges, overcoming technical difficulties, sometimes not having the right equipment and accessories to carry out our work on the roofs. Even so, sometimes I don’t even know how, we always achieve the ideal image, the one that visualizes the news.
“The most difficult coverages are those in which they demand photos that you have to rack your brains to find the way to achieve them. Imagining a photo is not the same as having to take it. Because it doesn’t always depend on the photojournalist, but on what you find on the ground. I like spontaneity, capturing reality, what happens before my eyes. While I take photos I walk in silence, looking and looking for the best angle, the gesture, what communicates and summarizes the event. Sometimes it becomes difficult, sometimes better than others, but it is always achieved. For that we are.
“It has been exciting to be an eyewitness to crucial events of our time as a photojournalist for the Juventud Rebelde newspaper. It is wonderful to be able to be in privileged places, to meet from a simple factory worker, a student, a farmer, to personalities of national and international connotation: artists, athletes, scientists, political leaders, among others. Cyclones, congresses, summits, cultural and sporting events, popular mobilizations, in short, recording all this and more with the camera has been exciting, and has taught me to live, to grow.
“Among the most important moments of my life, the times I was close to Fidel stand out, the same in massive acts, appearances at the Round Table, meetings with young people at the Convention Center, and many other occasions when I was close to him, in two of which he spoke to us journalists, once before we left for Pakistan after the January 2005 earthquake and another time after a student event.
“Difficult moments? When the technique fails, say, a camera that won’t turn on, a lens that doesn’t focus, a card that suddenly loses data, any luck? When you find a solution to the problem and you get at least one photo to break the news. Scares typical of the profession that we sometimes go through, which are stressful, because time is an arrow and the photo must be achieved.
“My most shocking coverage was Pakistan. We spent six months in that distant country devastated by an earthquake, where our doctors and paramedics went to treat the injured and sick and save lives. That was a great challenge, an experience that taught us all how different we are in culture, in idiosyncrasies, and above all, how much can be done for a country that suffers. Perpetuating those moments, showing them through my lens, changed the way I look at the world we live in.”
—Among all your images, choose one of those many that bring you unforgettable memories or experiences and tell us what is behind it.
—It is difficult, but I will choose one among many that I took in Pakistan and the harsh realities that I found there in six months of stay in that country. A child who fell into a well and his spine was shattered; an old man who underwent knee surgery and the next day was already walking without realizing the danger of his action. Some of those photos are among the ones I sent for this article, of which in the end we chose only two because there were other topics to deal with.
“There is an image that seems simple, but it is not. The look of a father overwhelmed by the state of health of his son. A message of pain and suffering. This man was waiting for his son to be treated by the Cuban doctors, he had been outside the field hospital for hours, his anguish and hope were placed on our people. Sometimes we don’t realize how important it is for our doctors to reach intricate places where they have never seen a doctor. There are many people in the world who need to be helped, this father and his son are an example of this. His looks are a call for compassion ”.
—You post frequently on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. What do you express on social networks? What matters more to you, showing your images, or simply and simply, saying what you think with words?
—For me social networks are very important. I take them very seriously. Sometimes too much for the time I dedicate to them and the frequency with which I publish. But in the networks I feel accompanied. For me they are a great virtual gallery, visited by thousands of people. I keep this in mind at all times, many Internet users contact me, the range of possibilities becomes infinite. People like to interact with the human behind the camera and that’s significant. Some don’t get it. Through social networks I communicate with photographers from important publications from all over the world and we stay connected. I do the same thing that my followers do; ask, inquire, find out. If we do it with noble purposes, it helps us to be better every day.
“Sometimes I have many ideas and experiences to share, which is why I have created various platforms on different social networks (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) which help me express what I want. Photos are a main element that I rely on. I started on social networks with the purpose of showing the reality of Cuba, manipulated and subjugated by disinformation, which sometimes brings me criticism and misunderstanding, but fortunately the praise is more.
“It is valid to accompany the photos with a text, which facilitates the understanding of the message, and the intention that one has. The photos can have several readings, and a coherent text undoubtedly helps greatly to channel the purpose”.
—Everyone who expresses himself freely, like you do, has followers and detractors. What would you say to each other?
—Yes, it is complicated, especially when one tries to show the daily life of the Cuban, which leads to misunderstandings, diverse readings, misrepresentations. Although he feels free to me, sometimes I am bound by prejudices about the reaction that a publication will generate. I criticize what is badly done. The photos I post on social networks allow me to express my disagreements. In the end, what I aspire to is a better country, which is what millions of Cubans want. We are not perfect. I am a realist, I cannot show one part of Cuba and hide the other. I would feel very bad if I did. Acting in this way makes us more credible, doing the opposite is harmful and would do harm instead of good.
“I tell some and others that everything I do is for the good of all. That is what I think. I would like there to be a little more of Cuba on social networks. There is great ignorance of our reality and something needs to be done to better understand what is happening in our country and how hard or pleasant some individual and collective experiences can be.
“I tell my followers that I will not disappoint them, because I will not stop. I tell my detractors that I am not going to renounce those truths that I try to show with my photographs and my reflections. Fortunately my detractors are the least. The ones that do the most damage are the silent ones, the passive ones.
“Everything I do is to feel good about myself and for my followers, who are already thousands, to identify with my posts. Some intercept me in the streets and urge me to continue, they tell me not to stop. I am infinitely grateful for that support because it encourages me. For those who express themselves, there will always be opinions for and against, what counts is to be active and not feel alone”.
ROBERTO SUÁREZ PHOTO GALLERY
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