Instructors

Our team of seasoned professional artists and teachers are there to teach new ways of seeing and give individual instruction specific to your needs.

Trina Koster: Workshop leader, street inspired portrait photographer and educator since 1995.
Scott Mooney: Photo retoucher, designer, illustrator, comic book artist.
German Portuondo: Surrealist Painter and professor of art and sociology at University of Santiago, director of community gallery

Trina Koster

When Trina first came to Cuba in 2005 to attend a workshop on “Developing Your Intuition”, she knew she was in a special place. After a chance meeting with Carlos Caballero Reyes, a local from Chivirico, Trina’s life was never the same! Carlos gave her and Scott a great introduction to the off-the-resort Cuba. “I was captivated by the sensuality of Cuba... the natural rhythms of movement and gestures, the connectedness to nature, the warmth of the people and the powerful presence of music and dance. There is a beautiful sense of humanity Cubans show to each other and visitors to their country. I have never been to a place where the people are so friendly and open to having their photos taken. Life in Cuba is challenging, Cubans are SO creative and resilient because of it! Every trip to Cuba has been a life lesson- which has truly been inspiring to me!”

As a workshop instructor, it is Trina’s intention to offer a positive cultural experience. She shares her love of image-making and acute insight to introduce students to new ways of seeing and understanding the world through photography.

Trina has been teaching and shooting since 1995. She graduated from the University of Guelph with a BA focused in Fine Art Photography. 19 years later...Trina is still very passionate and dedicated to her life as a photographer.

To view Trina's studio site please visit www.trinakoster.com


German Portuondo

German (pronounced “Hair-man”) Portuondo is a surrealistic painter, professor of art and sociology at the University of Santiago.  He's also the director of the Guillermo Collazo Galeria de Arte in Chivirico.

German will be delivering lectures in contemporary Cuban culture, Cuban musical rhythms and dance and Cuban Art History.
During the photo feedback sessions German offers great insight and a truly unique perspective to the photographers understanding of their images.
To view German's art visit http://germanportuondo.blogspot.ca/


Scott Mooney

Scott Mooney is a visual artist specializing in illustration and photo retouching. Scott and Trina met while studying Fine Art at the University of Guelph. They are married and live happily in the artistic community of Guelph, Ontario.

Photographically, Scott is intuitively feeling for light, texture, and story slices, seeking a sense of place and implied narrative. Scott also brings to the class a focus on taking your images to the next level in Photoshop.

“Cuba is the perfect place to shoot for me. The place is made of texture and colour and a creative mixing of materials resulting in a patchwork world of stone, stucco, concrete, wood and tin. It’s also a patchwork of time and place. Roads are cluttered with horse drawn carts, Chinese bicycles and scooter trucks, old russian motorcycles, Ladas, vintage American roadsters, modern Asian buses and hatchbacks. All of it weather worn. The passage of time is visibly marked on everything.”

To view Scott's art visit www.moon-man.com and www.scottmooney.me