The Story of “Water Fight”

By Adam Docker

There’s a certain kind of chaos you can only find in Havana.

The streets hum with life, music drifting from doorways, kids chasing footballs and playing baseball in the streets, the smell of frying plantain mixing with the sea breeze. But on this particular afternoon, the air was alive with laughter for another reason: an impromptu water fight.

I was in Cuba filming Cuban Soul, a documentary following David Soul’s journey to restore Ernest Hemingway’s 1955 Chrysler New Yorker. The day had been long, and the crew and I were in the van heading back to the hotel. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a group of children at the side of the road where workmen had been digging. They had found a broken hosepipe, and were taking turns spraying each other with bursts of water.

I asked the driver to stop. Grabbing both my video camera and my stills camera, I jumped out and ran towards the scene. I began filming first, the kids silhouetted against the hot Havana sunlight, the water breaking into a spray of gold. Then I switched to my stills camera, instinct kicking in, and snapping away, capturing the joy and chaos.

The scene was raw and real, the laughter infectious, the street alive with colour and sound.

Why “Water Fight” Means So Much to Me

In photography, you can’t force moments like this. You can plan, you can wait, but sometimes magic just happens. “Water Fight” reminds me why I travel, why I shoot, it’s about catching life mid-breath, before it settles into a distant memory.

The image also captures something uniquely Cuban: the resilience, the playfulness, and the sense of community that thrives even when life isn’t easy. A broken hosepipe and a dusty street became a stage for pure joy, just life unfolding.

“Water Fight” is available as a limited edition print, meticulously produced on 285gsm Baryta Giclée paper with archival pigmented ink.

If you’d like to bring this moment into your home, you can order it here and own a piece of Havana’s joy.