Costs of photography

Just take twice what you think you're going to spend. You'll probably go through at least half of the "extra" if not all.

And/or apply for a Stonegate Bank credit card so you have a way to get a cash advance. (otherwise not much opportunity to use a cc.) Make sure you sign their OFAC declaration so the card works in Cuba.

Thanks Ana. It is my first time to Cuba but I have been around the traps a little bit - 8 months in Sth. America, two years in Asia, two years in Africa, a year in Europe, seen just about everything there is to see in my Australian homeland, and now I live in the USA, much of which I've seen. Walking the Appalachian trail next year. :)

TimW: Sorry I can't be specific even though I have done a lot of photography in Cuba since 2009. but I simply do not photograph anything inside anyplace that charges admission. Just not my style.

But I would say that I cannot imagine that the extra cost of photographing inside museums and things like that just cannot add up to too much in relation to all your other expenses. I wouldn't worry about it.

AnaGarcia gives you some good advice. You will end up spending more than you ever anticipated. And never, ever come close to running out of money in Cuba. That can make the best trip of your life into the trip from hell.

As far as not doing photography inside places that charge for the privilege I'm with you philosophically. It's a practice I find very annoying in that it's essentially a way of double-dipping on the visitor, because after all, how many tourists and travelers don't walk in with some sort of camera at the ready?

As for the worry, no, it's not a big deal, but like everything it's simply handy to have a reasonable idea of what to expect.With all the museums, galleries and whatever that my wife wants to visit the extra for photographic gear could well add up to a couple of hundred or so if they charge each of us for our respective equipment - something to factor in. At least I can go in now essentially expecting it, rather than cursing and muttering and feeling like I'm being screwed!

Finally, there are answers and there answers. When people ask a specific question they want a specific answer. Unfortunately, and it applies to just about any forum you care to name, they always attract a select few who like to lurk and take a proprietary attitude, like it's their private little club where they can pal about and dispense their 'wisdom' in the most patronizing terms, frequently by offering up sweeping generalizations that have little to do with the subject matter at hand - the questions simply provide an appropriate platform for the resident expert to leap on their soapbox and wax rhapsodic to the supplicant silly enough to pose the question. Forums for the arts are appalling for it, not least photography. The amount of utterly pretentious and delusional people you come across on sites like that are staggering.

Example from here? I have been perusing countless pages on various sites, gone from one travel site to another, sites for tobacco aficionados, etc, trying to nail down a specific plantation in Vinales that would be appropriate in regard to my wife's physical limitations. With few exceptions the information offered up has been generalized material revolving around simply turning up and wandering the fields at random either by foot or on horseback, neither of which really seemed suitable for my wife. So I asked a very specific question, and what do I get in return? 'Just wander the fields at random or go on horseback'. Yep, really helpful.

I touched on the matter of the costs for photography, and I receive a treatise on how much to budget for visiting a third world country (never mind I've been to about a hundred of them in my time, some that make Cuba look like an economic and political paradise) and the matter of getting a particular credit card. Gee, really? The only relatively unique set of circumstances Cuba has are it's double currency, the penalty on the American dollar, and the issues with using American-issued credit cards there, though in all honesty there are many countries in the world where CC cards and ATM's might as well be in use on the planet Mars as far as the general population is concerned. I had in fact, all on my little lonesome, come across references to Stonegate some time ago, but I guess like everything else I should have mentioned it. In essence it seems at times that the only way you can get a straight and basic answer that cuts through all the rubbish and preening is to preface the question with a 10 page bio that essentially screams "Just answer the damn question and spare me the rest!'. It's one of the chief reasons that, despite all my years of extensive travel, I very rarely hang about sites like this to offer any advice or help because it simply gets wearying dealing with the other crap - the territoriality, the proprietary and patronizing attitudes, and the overt travel snobbery underpinning most of the behaviour and assumptions of ignorance. Go to a forum on Greece (my family is of Greek background even though I'm from Australia) and I guarantee you that 99% of the people providing the answers aren't Greeks, but all the 'Grecophiles' who've been to tourist horde islands like Mykonos and Santorini and think they know it all.

Thanks and over and out!

PS - and no, I'm not lumping you in with the people I described. From what I've seen on this forum over the last month or so of quiet research you're unfailingly polite, to the point, and very helpful. The pity is that more of the resident experts aren't like that.

PS - and no, I'm not lumping you in with the people I described. From what I've seen on this forum over the last month or so of quiet research you're unfailingly polite, to the point, and very helpful. The pity is that more of the resident experts aren't like that.

TimW: don't be overly gracious as I can be a real *ss at times. And, I have been know to do my own pontification.

I cannot envision any situation where you would pay an extra 3 CUC charge for photographing more than 12 times. And you would have to focus your trip on museum and similar visits to do that. You do not have to pay that simply because you carry a camera, just tell them you are not going to photograph while inside.

I would not classify myself as a traditional tourist but more as a part time resident and documentary photographer. You can see what I photograph at www.bobmichaels.org

So I asked a very specific question, and what do I get in return? 'Just wander the fields at random or go on horseback'. Yep, really helpful.
I touched on the matter of the costs for photography, and I receive a treatise on how much to budget for visiting a third world country (never mind I've been to about a hundred of them in my time, some that make Cuba look like an economic and political paradise) and the matter of getting a particular credit card. Gee, really?

Yeah, really.
Do you think anyone wastes time posting here, trying to be helpful, just to have some @$$h0le bash them for it? Your attitude, if displayed in Cuba, is not likely to get you very far.

I gave a good answer based on my own experience in Vinales. Sorry you didn't think it was good enough for you.
You can go into the fields to visit the barns, anywhere in town. If you can't walk well or far, and can't get on a horse (the way most every tourist gets around), the horse carts might give the most similar type of experience of the views of the mountains, different around each corner, and the big feature of the area IMO, which you might not get just driving up to a farmhouse to visit their barn, as well as being transportation that is common enough to arrange easily. That kind of ride you'd have to arrange on arrival, as many things in Cuba. I just don't seem to have the name and email of a cart owner in my back pocket at the moment.

And as far as the money, although you wrote:
"Trying to factor in all the costs for the trip so we have a rough idea of how much to take, plus the usual 50% extra for emergencies and usual unseen costs."
my own experience is that I actually did spend not just 50% more but about twice what I had anticipated (and I thought I budgeted well based on considerable travel to a lot of off the path places in the world). Particularly the price of transport may be surprisingly more than anticipated, and hard to budget exactly for, especially considering the exhausting heat/humidity and a physical problem walking,

Good luck and happy travels.

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