Beginning with the Pope's historic visit in 1998 through Carnivale in 2000 I made six extended, self-financed trips to Cuba to document daily life.

With a film grant from Kodak - 2,000 rolls of Kodachrome - and a freelance photojournalist visa from The Village Voice, I photographed the Pope, the Castro brothers, teen prostitutes, dancers, mechanics, artists, athletes, fishermen, farmers, Ernest Hemingway's Captain, members of the Buena Vista Social Club.

I documented Saturday night keg parties, martyrs on their way to a leper colony, psychiatric hospitals and the first legal Christmas midnight mass in 40 years.

I traveled the length and breadth of the country many times, capturing Cuban life along the way.

My book of the resulting images contains 87 color photographs.

* Cuban Fire was selected for exhibition and acquisition by the Phoenix Art Museum and selected prints are also in the permanent collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.