Story highlights Joan Alvado photographed Muslims in Cuba, where most of the people are Catholic

He says Cuban Muslims are constantly learning about their new religion

(CNN) Most of the images we see out of Cuba are similar -- classic cars here, vibrantly colored buildings there. But Joan Alvado shows us something different. His photo series, "Cuban Muslims," focuses on the lives of those who have converted to Islam.

"When I learned there was Islam and a Muslim community, I really liked it because I never heard of it," Alvado said. "It was breaking all the preconceived ideas that we have about Cuban society."

An estimated 85% of Cubans are Catholic. But only 0.1% of the population -- just a few thousand people -- are Muslim, according to a 2009 study by the Pew Research Center (PDF)

Alvado says almost all of them are converts.

Photographer Joan Alvado

"That applies to absolutely everybody in (my photo) series," he said. "Many of them were Christians before or some other religion, or a few of them were atheists as well."

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