CUBA, the amazing adventure

Dec 11, 2018TRAVEL

As a destination wedding photographer travel feeds my creativity and informs all aspects of my photography work which is one of the many reasons why I’m always excited to explore somewhere new or find ways of viewing familiar places under a different light.

Hi, I’m Manon – destination wedding photographer.

I create intimate wedding photographs filled with emotion for couples who follow their hearts. Exploring the world with my husband is one of the things that inspire me to create unique, beautiful photos for my couples.

Cuba had been on my travel list for over ten years. When my friends mentioned they were thinking of going there for their honeymoon, I jumped to the opportunity of joining them over there. As you do…

If you’re an adventurer, you have to go. Seriously. It would be a shame to miss out on all the incredible things it has to offer. What a trip it was! As far as my “best trips” list goes, it’s on the top 5. Make that top 3.

It’s a completely different world over there. It was the most interesting, enriching journey we’ve done. It was also a very strange (and nice!) feeling to feel so safe. Everywhere. At all times. If you make your way there you’ll appreciate that, especially if you’re a fellow photographer walking around with a camera (or two) in hand.

Cubans are so incredibly welcoming and genuinely open and friendly. You can feel how united they are as a community. We had a chat with as many different people as possible, asked all sorts of questions and met so many incredible people.

I wouldn’t be able to pick a favourite place but Santa Clara was definitely one of the highlights for us. Being from Argentina, el Che has always been an iconic figure and I couldn’t help but get quite emotional at the memorial site. Aside from all the historic sites related to el Che in Santa Clara, we found a lively and flamboyant vibe (there’s an in joke for our little exploring party). Like on the rest of the island, if you talk to locals and stay away from touristic sites you’ll unearth some quirky and interesting places.

So we drove around, explored, got lost, laughed (and laughed some more)… you get the picture! I tried diving for the first time, tasted as much of the food as possible and drank my own weight in rum. We had the time of our lives. Cheesy, I know, but there’s no better way to put it.

There was a couple of “near death” experiences on the road as well, but I won’t go into that because I wouldn’t want to put you off from going. Let’s just say if you plan on driving, and even if you don’t, make sure you’re eyes are wide open!

I could go on and on about all the awesome things you’ll find but I’m actually less of a words person (anyone who knows me will find that hilarious because the truth is I’m Little Miss Chatterbox) and more of a photos person, so I’ll leave you to it. Just scroll down.

PS. Get comfy, it’s a long one. I used a combination of cameras: Nikon FM, Canon 6D and a Sony compact point and shoot. I then used the Mastin Lab Portra 400 preset on the digital files so they would match-ish the film photos.