Puerto Rico | Explore Travel Series
Why Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico is one of those rare places that keeps drawing me back. I travel a great deal for work and simply because I love travel and there are so many places on my “to-see” list that only a few become frequent stops, this is one of those. Every time I come, I try to explore as much as possible but always leave, already planning my next visit. Plus, I can only go so long without a fix of Puerto Rican Mofongo.
After it’s more secret spots, which are hidden in lush jungle and white canyons, and include countless waterfalls and caves; Puerto Rico boasts the only Tropical Rainforest in the United States National Forest System, the second largest cave system in the world, the second longest zipline in the world, several renown surfing communities, bioluminescent lagoons, and it’s capital San Juan is the oldest colonial city in the Americas. It celebrates its native Tiano heritage and pirate stories, boasts incredible Caribbean food, world class beaches, and several dreamy, smaller day-trip islands.
Puerto Rico is less geared toward tourism than many other Caribbean islands and I absolutely love that, it’s less done up, pretentious or pandering. It’s real, its culture is magnetic and warm but authentic. I kind of hate to rave about it because the worst thing that could happen is that everyone would suddenly realize how amazing this place is and it would cease to be the underrated, low key, adventure haven it is and become chalk full of resorts.
Our Models: Both of our models are local Puerto Rican women.
Our model for the first shoot was so much fun, her dimples were what snagged me when I was casting, but their cuteness is deceptive, she is a bit of a power woman. She is the regional manager for four coffee shop locations on the island (amazing coffee by the way) which keep her constantly on the move all while planning her wedding for end of the year, and she has her own entrepreneurial aspirations, she hopes to open up her own brick and mortar cake shop someday. Her name if there is need for model credits is: Ashley Perales. Insta handle: @Ashleyperales. (model credits were not mandatory or part of model compensation)
For this set we hit one of Puerto Rico’s magical palm lined beaches. Puerto Rico has this amazing unique yellow-gold colored sand, with a soft consistency almost like play dough, and I love how the sand and skin and nude toned Branwyn product create a gorgeous monochrome pallet. I was surprised how well the product holds up transitioning from underwear to swimwear, staying up, staying on in the waves and even the lightest colored product did not become transparent when wet.
Our model for the second shoot had a mellow personality but was super adventurous, down to drive into the jungle, climb up, through or into canyons and waterfalls for our shoot. She is a student and cinematography major so we connected in the artistic sense. We had an amazing time exploring together with a small crew, for this set. I particularly enjoyed her fiery and intellectual conversation. Her name if there is need for model credits is: Soraya Franceschi. Insta handle: @Sorayafranceschi (model credits were not mandatory or part of model compensation)
For this set we ventured a bit deeper into the island. I wanted to shoot in El Yunque because of its significance to the island. HERE is a link about this incredible place because I may not be able to do it justice myself. There is an incredible natural water playground in the jungle behind a private home, you can pay a few bucks to the owners to park and after a brief hike down, you find natural waterslides, multiple waterfalls, and swimming pools. After some time here we hit the surf at Luquillo, not 20 minutes away. One of my favorite things to find while traveling are “leave one take one” libraries and we stumbled upon one here, in Luquillo, which was so cool!
Puerto Rico remains one of my favorite adventure destinations, it’s a magical island that keeps it secrets close, you have to know locals to even be aware of many of its hidden gems. There’s always more calling me back, it is not a common photoshoot location, so it was a highlight for me to shoot here and showcase a glimpse of it.
Shoot 2 : Previews
