The beauty before your eyes is Chucha.  She lives and works in Havana, Cuba and I had the pleasure of working with her on this editorial back in January during my visit there with Amanda Bjorn.  This shoot was a lot of fun and even a little bit challenging as Chucha doesn’t speak English and my Spanish is very, very limited.  It is really something not to be able to fully communicate with your model due to language barriers, but it’s rewarding when you can work together to produce images you both love.

At certain points there were even people stopping in the street to watch as we shot!  While Chucha saw images on the back of my camera during and after our shoot, she may not see all of the finished photos as she has limited access to internet in Cuba.  It is hard to remember how disconnected some people in other parts of the world can be when we can literally access the world from our fingertips.  I couldn’t imagine not having continuous access to the information and resources that I do now with the internet.  Today I’m reminded of how lucky me and so many others are and I’m thankful for the opportunities and ability to see the world from other people’s perspectives.

Dress: Cathy Ebrada Bridal