Photographer Chip Cooper may have Alabama roots, but his latest muse is a city almost 200 miles from the southern tip of Florida.

Cooper will speak in Room 205 of Gorgas Library about his time working in Cuba, followed by a book signing and reception at 3 p.m. today. His speech, “Dance of the Photographers,” will examine his most recent work, a collaborative project with Nestor Marti, Habana Vieja, Spanish for “Old Havana.”

Cooper graduated from Alabama with a degree in political science and a minor in history and returning the next few years for graduate work in photography. He was the director of photography for the University for 33 years and is now the Honors College artist-in-residence.

He has published a number of books that have received national attention while employed by the University. Fellow UA alumna Harper Lee, author of “To Kill a Mockingbird”, has praised him. “[Cooper is a] great American photographer plus Georgia O’ Keeffe rolled into one,” Lee said.

“You paint with film,” she told him, according to his website.

When asked what motivates him on a personal level as a photographer, Cooper simply replied, “The moment.”

His new book is a departure from his past work in that it focuses on the culture and style of the oldest quarter in the city of Havana, Cuba, instead of the American South.

Cooper said he was afforded the opportunity to photograph the people and places of Havana as part of his faculty research.

The Alabama-Cuba Initiative, a project that focuses on bringing together educators from Alabama and Cuba, encouraged Cooper to choose the island country and its people as his latest subject matter. The program, started in 2002, provides opportunities to graduate students to research and teach in Cuba and gives undergraduates the opportunity to do formal coursework at Cuban institutions.

Cooper said he was offered an opportunity in 2008 to work with Marti, of the Havana Historian’s Office, in documenting the oldest and most historically rich quarter of Havana, Habana Vieja.

“[In the discussion, you can look forward to] being shown images that will surprise you, about people we as Americans have no clue about,” Cooper said.

Cooper has received praise for his latest work from Cubans and Alabamians alike.

“With his latest book, “Old Havana,” it seems clear to me that Chip is working at the kind of world-class level we may not have seen since the days of Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange. He is that good,” said Mark Mayfield, associate director of the Office of Student Media.

[IF YOU GO]

What: Photographer Chip Cooper discussing his time working in Cuba

When: Today at 3 p.m.

Where: Room 205 of Gorgas Library