Margie Mastrangelo isn't the first Mississauga tourist who fell in love with Cuba, and she surely won't be the last. Not if a plan she is carefully hatching comes to fruition.
Mastrangelo is a professional photographer who went to Cuba on a trip to celebrate her 20th wedding anniversary earlier this year and was completely captivated by the look, sound and scenes of street life in Havana.
"Being a photographer, I was really taken by the contrast of light and shadow that you find in the bright sunny environment and the narrow streets," said the 42-year-old, who grew up in Mississauga and recently moved back into the City after establishing her career as a commercial photographer. "I was touched by it."
She took hundreds of images while in Cuba and even travelled back again for a long weekend, she was so captivated by the place.
It was while reading a book called The Heart of Europe: The Past in Poland's Present that the light went on about why the pull she felt was so strong.
The former Margie Witko grew up in Bratislava. Poland and Cuba were two Communist countries, "full of dilapidated buildings and unusual landscapes where the people are warm and friendly."
Whatever the reasons for Mastrangelo's affinity for Cuba, she's ploughing ahead with a plan to take a group of people interested in photography to Havana and environs next January or February. She would give them workshops combined with a few days at the beach and lots of chances to learn how to shoot the street life.
"It would be for anyone who has an interest in photography and travel," she said.
Meanwhile the photographer, who opened her own shop in Port Credit last June, is sifting through the images she shot down south and considering what to do with them.
She's contemplating one of those "publish-on-demand" books where people can go to a publisher's web site to sample the book and then order one. No big up-front costs for printing required.
"I'm thinking about doing it documentary style," she said. "It would be something bigger than I originally envisioned."
Amazing what a little vacation trip can lead to, eh?
Let's see: a trip to Havana to sample some of the sun and maybe an Ernest Hemingway grapefruit daiquiri or two in mid-winter, with a chance to learn more about photography, and a ready-made street studio teeming with colourful subjects at your beck and call.
Sounds like a winner to me.
You can check Mastrangelo's web site at www.portraitboutique.ca for future progress on her "little project."