HAVANA: Intimations of Departure is John Comino-James' third book of photographs relating to his experience of that city, first visited in 2002 and many times since. Yet the city still surprises; he writes: Just when I think I know parts of the city well, I catch myself walking in streets made unfamiliar by my photographs.' Arranged in six sequences, the book contemplates the visual experiences and emotional connections the photographer might lose were he unable to walk through its streets again. We imagine moments in the history of buildings, find ourselves led towards and almost overwhelmed by the energy of the street, and observe moments of individual preoccupation and solitude. In the final section, through text and colour, he responds to the blandishments of a tourist industry which all too often proposes that 'Cuba is on the verge of change - now is the perfect time to visit before its distinctive character is altered forever', countering the proposition that the Havana landscape simply presents an opportunity 'for great dramatic photos for competitions and portfolios', pointing to a wider culture of art and politics beyond the Che Guevara T-shirts and other souvenirs.

John Comino-James has photographed the streets, shops and shopkeepers in the centre of Thame, an historic market town some 45 miles from London. Portraits, texts and candid photographs are contained in a sequence representing a meandering walk through the town, during which we encounter not only the shops and shopkeepers but also the last cattle market operating in the area, travelling showmen at one of the two annual fairs, and the weekly street market. The accompanying interviews reveal pride in the continuation of family businesses, as well as small enterprises both challenged by and benefiting from the increasing impact of the internet. While the presence of supermarkets and services such as banks, travel agents and estate agents is acknowledged, in choosing subjects for portraits Comino-James was drawn to those shopkeepers whose aim might be summed up in the words of one of them: to keep the character of Thame as a Market Town and not a Supermarket town.

In "Our Man in Havana", Graham Greene wrote that 'to each man a city consists of no more than a few streets, a few houses, a few people. Remove those few and the city no longer exists except as a pain in the memory, like the pain of an amputated leg no longer there.' In this, his third book, John Comino-James shows us the world that is contained within just a few streets in the very ordinary neighbourhood of Cayo Hueso in Havana, Cuba. Through portraits and candid observation, he builds an honest and intimate record of a small and tight-knit community. This is not the Havana of the tourist, but a city in which people go about their daily lives, dealing with the everyday realities that have resulted from decades of political isolation. In a powerful and beautifully written afterword, Comino-James intersperses his experiences of several vists to the area, with fascinating information on the history of Cuba and the city of Havana.