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IN 1955 a clean-shaven young man in a spiffy suit came to New York with the wild notion of raising money to finance a revolution in his homeland, Cuba. Even then Fidel Castro knew the value of a good photo-op, so he was glad to meet a countryman, Osvaldo Salas, who lived with his family in the Bronx and made a living as a photographer.

Four years later, when the revolution had become the Revolution, Mr. Castro sent a message to Salas: "Tell him to come back, we need him." Salas went, and with his son, Roberto, 18, documented the unfolding Cuban saga for 23 years. Osvaldo, who died in 1992, became the chief of the photo department of the newspaper Revolución, while Roberto was one of Mr. Castro's personal photographers.

Now Roberto Salas is back in town (he can travel here at will because he kept his American citizenship) for an exhibition of 40 to 50 pictures from the father-and-son archives, at the Cuban Art Space in Chelsea, through June 30. The Sierra Maestra mountain hideouts, Che Guevara, Raul Castro, Ernest Hemingway, Fidel Castro playing baseball, laborers in a sugarcane field, the Bay of Pigs - it's all there in black and white.

One recent morning Mr. Salas, who is now 65 and silver-haired, sat down with a group of pictures and downloaded some of his memories

Roberto Salas' comments on the photos, from top to bottom

CHE GUEVARA AND FIDEL CASTRO, JANUARY 1959
This is very dear to me because it's the first picture I took of Che. It was at the Palace of the Revolution in Havana, about the second week. The picture has a strange atmosphere because it's a time exposure, two or three seconds. The whole illumination is from the match when Fidel lit the cigar. - Comments by Roberto Salas

CASTRO IN NEW YORK, APRIL 1959
Fidel stayed at the Statler Hilton, the old Hotel Pennsylvania, right across from Penn Station. He went out onto a balcony to wave to the cheering Cuban- American crowd assembled below. That balcony is still there and the flagpole is still there. He was 31, and he looks so young and enthusiastic. It makes you think how differently things might have turned out

CASTRO PORTRAIT, 2002
This is going to be the cover of my new book, "Fidel," which is being published in England. I took it at the airport in Havana while he was waiting for some visiting official. I have pictures of him from when he was very young right up to the present. He's 78 now, and you can watch him age through the images

MOUNT VERNON, APRIL 1959
We came to the United States with an entourage of about 50 people. Fidel saw Vice President Richard Nixon and, before taking the train from Washington to New York, we went to Mount Vernon. He started looking at the books - he was interested in everything about United States history. This is a vintage print, the only one I have. The negative doesn't exist any more.

CASTRO IN HIS OFFICE, 2002
This is in his private office in the Palace of the Revolution. It was taken about 2:30 in the morning. He likes to walk back and forth, thinking about this and that. He was waiting for Oliver Stone, who was doing a documentary, "Commandante," for HBO. He was supposed to come at 3 a.m., and he did, though he did ask "what kind of hours are these?" Fidel still goes for 18, 20 hours a day. He's one of those people who can sleep for a couple of hours and look as fresh as a lettuce, and everyone else is just dead.