CubaPLUS Magazine

Born in the USA (Chicago, Illinois, September 1949) from Cuban parents, Jorge lives in Havana since 1950. Graduated in 1972 from the Biology Faculty of Havana University, Jorge has a PhD in Biological Sciences, and has worked in the field of cancer research for 44 years as project leader in the National Institute of Oncology (1972-1986), and the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (1986-2015). He is now a retired consultant. For the period 1999-2002 he was the President of the Latin American Immunology Association.

Jorgersquo;s passion for photography started in the mid 60rsquo;s when as an adolescent he became interested in street and documentary photography using his fatherrsquo;s Leica IIIB and black and white film. In 2001, with the advent of high resolution digital photography, he started to share his time between science and professional freelance photography. Thematically, Jorge Gavilondo is interested in casual (street) photography, natural and urban landscapes, out-of-studio portrait, ballet and dance, architecture, events, and nature. An important part of his street photography production has Cuba and specifically Havana as center subject, with his art being part of private collections in Cuba, Mexico, the USA, Argentina, England, France, Singapore, Hong Kong, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Colombia. As a freelancer, he has also produced high end commercial photos for city and beach hotels in Cuba, destined to brochures, other printed materials, and websites.

He is a member of the Cuban Photographic Library (Fototeca de Cuba) and of the Cuban Association of Social Communicators. Since 2002 Jorge is an invited professor of the José Martí" International Institute of Journalism in Havana, and also contributes with periodical digital photography courses in the Fototeca de Cuba, the Cuban Association of Social Communicators, and the Cuban Cinematographic Arts and Industry Institute. His first book on the subject (Digital Photography: Theory and Practice, in Spanish) is in final edition, to be published this year in Mexico.

Jorge has worked as teaching assistant in Havana for USA photographers, as Stella Johnson (Boston, MS), Ron Herman (San Francisco, CA), Nevada Weir (Santa Fe, NM), and Charles Anselmo (Redwood City, CA). Starting in November 2014, Jorge acts as on-site coordinator and photographer for the activities organized in Cuba by the Santa Fe (NM) Photographic Workshops School in Cuba.