Before breakfast some of us headed over to a busy nearby street around the old Capital buildings (pre-revolution)  to practise our panning techniques.  Because of all of the colour in Cuba it is such a great place to photograph the old cars and motorcycles since you get great backgrounds.

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 El Capitolio or National Capital Building in Havana was the seat of the government of Cuba until after the Cuban Revolution in 1959.  Now the building is the home to the Cuban Academy of Sciences.  The Cuban Revolution (1953-1959) was an armed revolt conducted by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement and its allies against the government of Cuban President Fulgencio Batista.  The revolution finally ousted Batista on January 1, 1959 replacing his government with a revolutionary socialist state.  The organization later reformed along communist lines becoming the Communist Party in October 1965.  The party is now headed  by Castro's brother Raul and continues to govern Cuba.  The Cuban revolution had huge domestic and international repercussions, in particular it reshaped Cuba's relations with the United States which continues an embargo against Cuba.  Castro's government began a program of nationalization and political consolidation that transformed Cuba's economy and civil society.  It should be added that Batista antagonized the population by forming lucrative links to organized crime and allowing American companies to dominate the Cuban economy.  Basically the Cuban government was a complete police state under Batista.  

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It was a lot of fun watching all of the colourful, old cars in the streets.  What made it especially fun to photograph was the colour of the old cars and the background buildings.   This was one of my favourite shots.  

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You can see what a nice selection of old cars there were on the streets.

20140125_cuba_0228 These guys were happy to have their picture taken.

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I also had fun capturing motorcycles in action.  

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20140125_cuba_0188 Bicycle taxis in Havana are also very popular.

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Finally it was time for breakfast but I really didn't want to go.