I love the untraditional approach this couple took to their wedding planning. They decided to do a pop-up wedding on a bluff overlooking Montara State Beach, off of Highway 1.
I'd been to Montara Beach for hiking and beach-dwelling, but hadn't yet explored the bluffs. I scouted for an hour before the ceremony and that was that. We were all winging it together.
It was a gorgeous day - just enough haze to make the images look like a painting - and a slight breeze for some movement. The ice plants were bright green and blooming a sea of vibrant yellow and purple flowers.
A complement to the gorgeous setting was this beautiful couple, so clearly in love. You can tell by the way they look at one another, and not included here are outtakes of them bent over in laughter. Constant inside jokes have them smiling and cracking each other up, and I can't help but love their love.
My recent trip to Cuba was a deeply moving experience, unlike any I've had on other travels. When I visit another country, I like to get a feel for the culture by spending time away from touristy areas. I'm looking to learn something new and there's more value, to me, in spending time the way those who live in their own culture do. If it involves food, art, or daily rituals, I want a piece of it.
I went to Cuba by myself, and was nervous about not speaking Spanish, not having access to the outside world in the event of trouble (read: no wifi, phone service, or the ability to use American credit cards in a pickle) and mostly just the idea of being alone in a foreign country. I planned ahead as much as I could possibly think to do, which meant diving mentally into worst-case-scenarios. However, any worries I initially felt faded quickly.
I made friends in the first few hours of arriving and these people became the roots of what we now call our Cuba Family. We spent every day and night together, engaged in deep conversations, laughter, and affection that would normally come after months of time together, fast-tracking the getting-to-know-you process. My family members come from Lithuania, Austria, Ireland, Sweden, and the US - most of them also traveling alone. Each one of us was there seeking adventure or healing, or some of both.
The one experience I'll share on this platform is this. On our fourth day, none of us had a place to stay, so we decided to hitch a ride to Viñales, which is about two hours from Havana. Upon arrival, a local woman offered us rooms in her home - this is commonplace in Cuba, staying in what's referred to as a casa particular. We scoped it out and accepted, and she casually mentioned that her husband would take us on a tour of the valley. Little did we know at the time, this would be the best decision we'd make on our trip.
Let me begin painting this picture by saying that we were the only seven people around, other than those guiding us along the way, so this was in no way a touristy gimmick. We rode horses through the countryside to a tobacco farm, where we drank mojitos made with local honey and learned how Cuban cigars are made. They translated into English for us and picked flowers to put in the ladies' hair, and we soaked the moments up under the warm Caribbean sun. To follow was a dip in a nearby lake, where we ate grilled meat and drank from fresh coconuts. As the sun was setting, we toured a cave with narrow passageways inhabiting flying squirrels and snakes, surely among other creatures we didn't see. We continued on from there to tour a coffee plantation, where they were bleeding a pig as we sipped liqueur and tasted honey produced by bees that only gather nectar from the coffee tree flowers. {Fun fact - Cuba's bee population thrives because of the country's lack of pesticide use, and honey has become their fourth largest export.}
Our horses (mine, a little one named Mojito) waited patiently for us to return, and initially I was nervous about riding in the dark - this having been my first time riding a horse - but the stars and fireflies were enough to light the way. We couldn't stop talking about what a magical side-trip it was, and how spontaneously everything fell into place. My life in San Francisco is mapped out at least a week in advance and is always packed and rarely surprising. I'm happy with the way things are but this trip was refreshing for my soul in a way I didn't realize was so badly needed.
Havana is lovely. Go for three days and experience Old Havana but don't spend all of your time there. Stay in Vedado at a hostel or casa particular and walk the Malecón and get away from the touristy areas. Exist in Havana as the Cubans do and don't have your experiences fed to you. See the crumbling buildings adorned with artwork and buy fresh fruit from the cart on the corner. Eat strange food, drink cheap rum, have breakfast in a local's home. Their culture is warm, the people are friendly and curious but they also want to show travelers what is so wonderful about their country.
These photos are as raw as my experiences there, having spent most of my time away from the tourist traps, and I hope you enjoy this taste of Cuba. And if you have the desire for an adventure here, feel free to shoot me questions!
m.
These. Eyes.
Clearly she gets these doe eyes from her beautiful mama. Look out, world. This girl is going to grow up breaking hearts.
This babe originally contacted me for headshots back in 2015, and we've been close ever since. She's got a bangin' body and is up for anything I want to try when we shoot together - a combination that is a portrait photographer's dream come true. For this shoot, we played with the light, pattern, and texture throughout my apartment building.
In boudoir shoots, I always want to highlight the parts of a woman's body that I think are unconventionally sexy: a collarbone, the tone of a thigh muscle, the shadows her lashes cast on her cheek, or a delicate hand drawing attention to her chest.
My boudoir isn't excessively provocative. It's sensual, feminine, delicate. I, personally, present myself in a way that makes me feel attractive on a daily basis. I don't do it for anybody else and I photograph with the same mentality. When a woman sees how naturally sexy she is in simple ways, it impacts the way she will see herself every day.
Boudoir is often thought of as something to give as a gift. It is a thoughtful, personal gift for a loved-one, but it's also a gift to oneself.
Marshall's Beach in San Francisco is a small, secluded nude beach just on the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge. I brought A. here for some sun worship during the golden hour and it was glorious.
My focus when I'm shooting nudes is to draw attention to varying textures - her soft skin, the gold in her hair, the shine in her eyes - and not rely on the obviously sexy things about any woman. The curvature of her back, the shape of her shoulders, and her collarbone are also worthy of attention. Letting your imagination fill in the blanks is half the excitement of boudoir.
S. and I went to the redwood grove by the rose garden in Golden Gate Park to shoot around with some costumes and play with the light coming through the trees. I was instructing her to move around so I could find a sliver of light just big enough to catch the gold in her brown eyes, when I noticed something. A branch from above was casting a leafy shadow on her collarbone that looked similar to the print on her dress.
With this discovery unfolded an entire hour of experimenting with shadows. She wore a top that exposed a gorgeous blank canvas of soft skin across her back, and from there, we married nature with art.
