Grumpy Old Men
September 14th, 2020 marks the 94th birth anniversary of legendary Cuban photographer, Alberto Korda. Korda is well-known amongst us fellow Jibaro photographers and also worldwide because of what is, arguably the most iconic portrait made in photographic history (and the most reproduced photo of all time) — his image of the “Guerrillero Heróico,” Ernesto Che Guevara.
I first met Korda in 1991 (that meeting is worth a separate post later) followed by frequent meetings ever since. While my first meeting as a young, 29-year old photographer with the legend himself was quite remarkable, it is another encounter that comes to my mind first whenever I think of him.
In May 2000, my dear friend and writer, Uschi Entenmann (we both worked for the same agency, Zeitenspiegel Reportagen) and I were on an assignment for German magazine Merian, to do a story on the three living photographer legends who had captured the early years of the Revolution so impressively and personally — Alberto Korda, Raul Corrales, and Roberto Salas. For the uninitiated, this is the equivalent of an aspiring business leader sitting down with Warren Buffet, Steve Jobs, and Bill Gates or a tennis athlete having the opportunity to converse with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic at the same time.
All images in this gallery © Sven Creutzmann | Jibaro Photos
We met at the Raul Corrales residence located in a neighboring outskirt of Havana called Cojimar, well-known as the locations where Hemingway penned his famous, “Old Man and the Sea.” It was a great day and we sat together for many, many hours. The “boys” were in a perfect mood as we discussed photography, talked about the Revolution, including Fidel, Che, and much more. We drank café, had lunch, drank rum, and café again, followed by more rum as the stories got better and better. The mood of the trio got even better through the day, and of course, it helped that Uschi, the writer, was a strikingly beautiful, tall, blue-eyed, German woman.
All images © Sven Creutzmann | Jibaro Photos
Left: Alberto Korda. Right: Raul Corrales.
We started our meeting in the morning and talked through late in the afternoon, when we finally left. I had shot enough pictures of them the entire day but just before stepping into the car, I had an idea for one last image — I requested them to pose, with what they considered to be their favorite photograph they had made. Admittedly, an entire day of rum and conversations with three seasoned Cuban legends did not make for an optimal composition but I would have taken them three greats posing for me all day long. No routine posing at that — Roberto Salas with his photo of Fidel Castro in a hammock in the Sierra Maestra, Raul Corrales with “La Caballeria” (The Cavalry), and Alberto Korda, of course, with his photo of Che Guevara.
All images in this gallery © Sven Creutzmann | Jibaro Photos
As I was struggling just a bit to focus the image, the three men started jokingly arguing about their photos, each one saying that their photo was not as good as the other two, and that those were better. I finally took my photo and couldn’t help but think of that great movie with Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon, “Grumpy Old Men.”
Alberto Korda died less than a year after this meeting, at the age of 72. Raul Corrales passed away in 2006 at age 81. Roberto Salas is still alive … and, kicking.
