Luis Pierce Byers

Better known as Luis Korda. Famous Cuban photographer of the twentieth century. He is celebrated for having taken the photo that is today the emblem of the Cuban Revolution featuring Fidel and Camilo at the head of the Caravan of Freedom and for having founded the "Korda" photography studios in Ciudad de La Habana together with Alberto Díaz Gutiérrez.

He was born in Manzanillo, now in the province of Granma. His parents were Virginia Byers, a Jamaican mulatta who lived in that eastern city, and Edward Pierce, an American, who were married in Cuba.

Edward Pierce worked in mining and came to own shares in a mine in the mountains of Oriente, in a place called El Infierno.

Luis was fond of photography almost since childhood. He first worked in a dry cleaner's on San Miguel 105. He had a box camera and there he set up a rented darkroom where he took photos of children on the street, and also "shot" birthdays and quinceañera parties, all on his own account.

Everything began when one day Luis and Alberto "Korda" Díaz Gutiérrez decided to join forces in a photography business at the Lonja del Comercio. That was their first site of joint work. There they took their first steps of mutual exchange, united with cameras on their shoulders, as hunters of beauty and events.

There they began to look for a place to grow a bit more in clientele and they made their new studio on calle 21 number 15, between N and O, across from the Capri hotel. Right away they thought about what they were going to name their new joint enterprise.

The two artists of the lens tried out many names, but they agreed to call it Korda in the end for several reasons: it was a short, sonorous, resounding, charismatic term, easily pronounceable and memorable; to take advantage of the similarity with the Kodak photography brand, and above all as a tribute to the famous British film director and producer sir Alexander Korda.

Both Alberto Díaz and Luis Pierce —Korda, the elder— signed as Korda and so it appeared in the works they published in Carteles magazine and later in the Farándula and Radio and Television sections of Bohemia magazine.

Many do not know that the two photographers supposedly surnamed Korda—Alberto and Luis—were not even relatives. There were no differences between one and the other; they were more than partners, they were brothers.

Luis married Margarita Sánchez Treto, originally from Placetas, province of Las Villas, who had moved to the capital and lived in her sister's house. Margarita participated in clandestine actions with some young people from the Directorio Revolucionario 13 de Marzo. Her role was like a kind of liaison, a messenger, and also consisted of ensuring that they could shelter there safely.

One day Margarita and Luis met in the elevator of the building, greeted each other out of basic courtesy, and afterward they gradually became friends, until Luis asked her to take "some remembrance photos" in his studio. That's how that love began.

They married in a notary's office that was in the Someillán building at the end of 1958. From this marriage two children were born: José Luis and Yamilé.

Luis Pierce Byers or Hemingway, as they also called him because of his resemblance to the famous novelist, was the true photographer of the emblematic photo of the Cuban Revolution, and he took to the grave the pain of the widespread confusion about the authorship of that image.

Many have believed that it was Alberto who took that photo of Fidel Castro with his telescopic rifle on his shoulder and Camilo Cienfuegos with his Thompson submachine gun, caliber 45. But in truth it was Luis who captured it.

Fortunately, in the book One Hundred Images of the Cuban Revolution (1953-1996), edited by the Publications Office of the Council of State and the Cuban Book Institute in La Habana in 1996, it is confirmed that this emblematic image of triumph is the work of Luis.

The book includes an introductory essay written by Abel Prieto, Minister of Culture in Cuba, and a photographic selection carried out by Pedro Álvarez Tabío.

On page 39, where the photo of Fidel and Camilo is seen very clearly and large, it states:

"Another of the emblematic images of the Cuban Revolution: Fidel and Camilo Cienfuegos on the vehicle in which they triumphantly enter the city of La Habana, at the head of the forces of the Rebel Army, on January 8, 1959"

Death

Garbanzo—a nickname Luis received for his taste for that dish—died in La Habana, at midday, very ill, from cardiorespiratory arrest. Very few found out about it and only a small group of friends attended his funeral, almost no one.