A Visit to Hemingway's Home

Overlooking Havana, Hemingway made a home Cuba

Looking towards Havana and the Cuban capital building from Finca Vigía

In 1940, Ernest Hemingway bought an estate, Finca Vigía, just outside Havana. He lived there until 1960, when he returned to the United States. When I visited Cuba in early 2024, the estate was a must-visit. Overlooking Havana, Finca Vigía is now a preserved part of Cuban history and it is clear they are proud of his time there. Strolling the grounds, you’ll see bookshelves, hunting trophies, and his prized boat, Pilar, from which he not only fished, but also hunted U-boats during the second world war.

Here are a few photos from my visit there, all captured with the OM System OM-1 and Olympus 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens (a favorite travel lens of mine). Enjoy!

Photos from Hemingway's home in Havana

On the value of an all-purpose zoom lens

On this trip, I didn’t want to carry too much gear. Not only was flexibility key, but if you travel to Cuba from the US on a humanitarian visa (pink card), you certainly don’t want to come across as a photojournalist. For this trip, the Olympus/OM System 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens was perfect. It’s compact, weather sealed, and has an equivalent range of 24-200mm in 35mm format (micro 4/3rds cameras have a 2x crop factor). It also has fantastic image stabilization, which when paired with the OM-1 body delivers up to 7-stops of stabilization. That makes hand-held shooting an absolute breeze; I can hand-hold this lens easily down to 1/4s with wide-angle shots. This combo delivers sharp photos at lower ISOs than if I’d been using a system without stabilization.