Havana Cuba Weathered Window | Urban Decay Photography
Peeling Paint and a Boarded Window on the Streets of Havana
Havana is full of surfaces that seem to carry their history openly. I found this one while walking the city—a battered old window surrounded by cracked plaster, exposed masonry, peeling paint and years of improvised repairs.
It was the color that first pulled me in. The faded yellow wall is interrupted by remnants of turquoise paint and the deep red of the original window frame. Then the details begin to take over. Broken panes have been covered with mismatched pieces of wood. Sections of the wall have fallen away completely, exposing bricks and rough construction underneath. Nothing quite lines up anymore.
I photographed the wall straight on because I didn't want perspective to distract from those textures. The entire frame becomes a collection of surfaces: old glass, splintered boards, crumbling plaster, brick, faded paint and weathered wood.
There is something about Havana's aging architecture that I find endlessly photographic. I don't see decay simply as deterioration. I see layers. Repairs are made, paint is added and disappears, windows are patched rather than replaced, and the building continues to change.
I made this photograph in 2005. Looking at it years later, what interests me most is that I didn't need a grand Cuban landmark to make a photograph that felt unmistakably connected to the place.
Sometimes a single damaged window and a few square feet of wall can tell me far more about a city than the postcard view.
© Dan Kosmayer, 2005
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About My Fine Art Photography
Every photograph in my collection comes from my own travels, explorations, and years behind the camera.
I create my work as photographic art rather than mass-produced decoration. From street portraits and abandoned places to landscapes, architecture, and the unusual subjects I discover along the way, each image begins with something that made me stop and look.
My photographs are available in multiple sizes so the same image can work in anything from an intimate wall space to a large statement installation.
