One of my most challenging assignments was a story about “Love in Cuba,” for the German magazine Stern, which was running a series about “love” in various countries, from Japan and Russia to the USA.

The project may sound romantic at first, but when working on an assignment for a big story, one has to first break down all the possible content, see how many pages might one get (usually such stories run over 15 pages), and then plan for how to cover all the aspects related to the story and how to spread them through the pages. That is the first task at hand before shooting even a single frame.

Young cubans Odette and Alberto get married

Young cubans kiss and hug each other in the water of Mi Cayito beach, one of Havana's beaches at the Playas del Este.

Sex education in the beauty salon AFRODITA, carried out by members of Cuba's Centro de Prevencion VIH/SIDA (AIDS und HIV Prevention) various times during a week, showing among other, how to put on a condom (on a dummy).

Quince, one of the most improtant events in a cuba woma's life, the photos on occasion of the 15th birthday.

When Maritza learned that her lover was cheating on her, she poured alcohol over him and set him on fire. Realizing what she had done she put out the flames embracing him, catching the fire herself too. After the 'accident' they got married and have been together for 14 years, more time than they were together before.

The value of one USD in Cuba buys aprox. 500 condoms (made in China).

Cubans flirt as they dance to rumba and son in the open air dance floor La Tropical.

Cuban couples hug and kiss each other after sunset on the wall of Havana's waterfront boulevard Malecon.

All images in this gallery © Sven Creutzmann

While breaking down the meaning of “love,” the list of the possible subjects kept growing. A focus is warranted given that there is only a limited amount of space, while attempting to showcase multiple facets to the topic, which I defined to include religion, sex, flirting, bodies, prostitution, passion, even crime, homosexuality, sex education, juvenile dreams, marriages that lasted decades, and relationships that turned disastrous, just to name a few.

The next critical step lies in anticipating upfront how the magazine might run the story. There is always the danger that the story gets altered and tweaked (in simple words “screwed up”) during the editing process. As it sometimes does happen, you can shoot and deliver a well-balanced story that covers all or the most important aspects of your story in fair way, yet a magazine may choose to go for the more sensational photos, putting weight on certain aspects and omitting others.

A cuban woman brings her husbands underwear and her bra to a Santero, an Afrocuban priest for him to perform a ceremony to stop her husband from cheating on her.

Cuban couple romancing at the Malecon, classic car in the foreground.

The body of a prostitute

Odette's wedding dress

Love motel Posada Vi el Sueno (I saw the Dream), discontinued

Wedding of Marisol and Yolexis

Young cubans dance in the Macumba disco, La Lisa, Havana

Gay couple Alain and Lester. Alain works as a volunteer for the Centro de Prevencion del VIH (HIV und AIDS prevention) in Havana

While that may not seem as important when shooting a travel story on assignment, it is very important when covering something socially and “politically” significant, especially in a country like Cuba. Back then, in 2007, I had been collaborating with Stern magazine for decades already, and I knew that my writer colleague Joachim Rienhardt had much experience in covering Cuba stories, so there was a trust that they would handle the story responsibly. And they did. The story on “Love in Cuba” ran on 19 pages and was well-balanced with both text and pictures.

Facets of Love in Cuba

The Balsero Crisis

The Sugarcane Millionaires