1. ALBERTO KORDA "Forget the camera, forget the lens, forget all of that.
With any four-dollar camera, you can capture the best picture."
— Alberto Korda's advice to aspiring photographers

2. BACKGROUND – EARLY LIFE
Born as Alberto Diaz Gutierrez on 14th September 1928 in Havana, Cuba and later died on 25th May 2001 (Aged 82). He got his first taste of photography at a very young age when he took his father’s 35mm Kodak camera and began taking photos of his girlfriend at the time. He was a son of a railway worker and did a few different odd jobs before he started to become a photographer’s assistant. In 1953 he opened up his first photography studio with another photography Luis Pierce. At first he was interested in fashion photography because it brought his to favourite passions together, photography and women. Korda disliked artificial lighting and called it “travesty of reality” and only used natural lighting in his studio. He mastered the art of black and white photography and always looked for perfect composition and framing.

3. CUBA REVOLUTION
After the revolution, Korda became Fidel Castro's personal photographer for 10 years, accompanying Castro on trips and in meetings with foreign personalities.
Korda was a photographer for the Cuban newspaper Revolución when he produced on March 5, 1960 the iconic image of Che Guevara that became a worldwide symbol of revolution and rebellion.
Other less-known Fidel Castro images by Korda include shots of Castro staring warily at a tiger in a New York zoo, playing golf and fishing with Che Guevara, skiing and hunting in Russia, and with Ernest Hemingway.
Korda took many pictures for the newspaper and called the series “Fidel Returns to the Sierra. ” Fidel always liked Korda’s photos and never stopped him when he attempted to take his picture.
Where ever the revolution took Castro Korda followed.
The truth is that Korda gave the picture for free to Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, an Italian publisher who had published Doctor Zhivago and went on to publish Castro's diaries.

4. NOTABLE IMAGES BY KORDA
Entrada de Fidel a La Habana (1959)
La Nina De La Muneca De Palo (1958)
El Quijote de la farola (1959)

5. Fidel in Washington (1959)
Guerrillero Heroico (1960)
Miliciana (1960)

6. EXHIBITIONS
Solo exhibitions of his works have been held in Helsinki, Finland, 1962; the Galleria H. Diafragma Canon, Milan, Italy, 1985; Galería Servando Cabrera, Havana, 1986; Roy Boyd Gallery, Chicago, 2000; COEX, Seoul, Korea, 2011.
Group exhibitions of his works include: in 1962, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana; 1967, Expo’67, Pabellón Cubano, Montreal; 1980, Consejo Mexicano de Fotografía, Mexico City; 1980, Centro de Arte Internacional, Havana; 1983, Westbeth Gallery, New York; 1999, Centro de Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales, Havana; 2000, C. Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland; 2002, Museum of Art, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

7. AWARDS AND COLLECTIONS
He was awarded the Cuban "Palma de Plata" in 1959; named Best Photoreporter of the year, Revolución Journal, Havana, 1960–1963; awarded the 5th International Award of Submarine Photografie "Maurizio Sana”, Italy; awarded National Culture Distinction, Ministry of Culture, Cuba; 1994.
His works are in the collections of Casa de las Américas, Havana, Cuba; Center for Cuban Studies, New York, NY; Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione, Parma University, Parma, Italy; Fototeca de Cuba, Havana, Cuba; Galleria IF, Milan, Italy; Galleria Il Diafragma Kodak, Milan, Italy; Maison de la Culture de la Seine Saint-Denis, Paris, France; Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba.

8. REFRENCES
Arthistoryarchive.com  Alberto Korda - The Photographer behind the Face of Ernesto Che Guevara - The Art History Archive. [online] Available at: [Accessed: 13 Sep 2013].
HD WALLPAPERS Untitled. [online] Available at: Wallpaper.jpg [Accessed: 13 Sep 2013].
Jornada, L  Fotos inéditas de Korda se exhiben en Madrid - La Jornada. [online] Available at: [Accessed: 13 Sep 2013].
Jositomontez.blogspot.com.au  Josito Montez: [online] Available at: [Accessed: 13 Sep 2013].
Mixedmeters.com  May 2009 | Mixed Meters. [online] Available at: [Accessed: 13 Sep 2013].
Museumsyndicate.com  Miliciana (Female Revolutionary) by Alberto Korda. [online] Available at: [Accessed: 13 Sep 2013].
Socialist Party  Socialist Party. [online] Available at: [Accessed: 13 Sep 2013].
The Guardian  The man who gave Che to the world. [online] Available at: [Accessed: 13 Sep 2013].
The Mafu Cage (Monochrome Sets) Untitled. [online] Available at: [Accessed: 13 Sep 2013].