i.
Local hands, every step.
Every photographer on this site was born and raised in Cuba. Every driver, every paladar owner, every fixer in our address book — same. When you book with us, your money stays here.
Issue Nº 09 · Folio TwoFive photographers, one city, nine yearsAbout / The Studio
Folio IIAbout the studio
The people
behind the
picture.
We're five photographers and filmmakers who all live within twenty minutes of each other in Havana. None of us set out to start a company. We started taking pictures of the city we already knew by heart, and the company kind of made itself.
Habana ViejaThe team on assignment, Tuesday morning
Read on
01Origin
It started with
one camera and a
hunch.
In 2017, Manuel was a film student in Havana with a borrowed Canon and a notebook full of addresses. He'd been showing visiting friends around the city for years — the courtyards behind the courtyards, the bar that's only open when the owner feels like it, the rooftop where the light at six o'clock makes everyone look like they're in love.
At some point a friend said, you know you should be charging for this. He didn't know how. He started anyway. The first session was Melissa, a solo traveler. The second was a couple from Mexico. From there it kept going — one session at a time, mostly word of mouth.
Nine years later, we're a team of five photographers and filmmakers, all from here, all still excited every time someone sees this city for the first time. The bar is still only open when the owner feels like it. The rooftop still works.
“We don't take pictures of Havana. We take pictures of the people we like in the place we love. The city happens to be in the frame.”
02What we believe
Three rules
we keep.
ii.
Pictures that look like a Tuesday.
We don't pose you against the prettiest wall and call it a day. We walk, we wait, we let the city behave. The photographs that survive are the ones that look like real life, slightly improved.
iii.
Slow is the whole point.
Two hours minimum. Three or four if you'll let us. The good frames almost never happen in the first twenty minutes — they happen after you stop thinking about the camera.
03Meet the team
Five people,
one city they
know by heart.
01Photographer · with the studio since 2018
Bryan
Bryan has spent years working in film and photography, and along the way he's gotten to know Havana in a way most people never do — the quiet streets, the hidden spots, the places that don't make it onto any map. He loves bringing people into that world, finding the right light, and making real connections along the way.
Home turf
Habana Vieja
Studio since
2018
02Photographer · Art Director · with the studio since 2019
Osmara
Osmara came up through the film industry, where she worked as an art director before photography took over. She has a natural instinct for composition and light, and Havana — with all its color and texture — is the kind of place that keeps her busy. Whether she's on a set or wandering the streets with a camera, she brings the same focused, unhurried attention to her work.
Home turf
Centro Habana
Studio since
2019
03Photographer · Musician · with the studio since 2020
Leo
Leo sees Havana through two lenses: his camera and his music. He's been playing guitar and taking photographs for as long as he can remember, and for him the two have always felt like the same thing — a way of paying attention to the world and sharing what he finds.
Home turf
Cayo Hueso
Studio since
2020
04Trip Lead · Cuba beyond Havana · with the studio since 2021
Chris
Chris spent years working as a doctor before trading it all in for something harder to explain. Now he plans and leads the trips that take us outside Havana — into the countryside, the smaller towns, the places where a different side of Cuba opens up. He has a gift for weaving together history, culture, and photography in a way that makes every destination feel like it was worth the journey.
Home turf
Viñales · the road
Studio since
2021
05Founder · Filmmaker · with the studio since 2017
Manuel
Manuel is the founder of Cuban Soul in Pictures and the filmmaker behind its vision. He started the project because he wanted to show Cuba the way he actually knows it — not the surface, but the deeper, quieter truth underneath. What began as a personal project has turned into something much bigger: a community of people who come here as visitors and leave with something that feels a lot more like belonging.
Home turf
Vedado
Studio since
2017
01 / 05
0
years in Havana
0
photographers on staff
0+
sessions and counting
0
countries our travelers come from
04On Cuban TV
Three local filmmakers
showed up with cameras.
A handful of travel YouTubers have come to film a session and ended up making pieces about us. They've sent more travelers our way than any ad we've ever run. The videos are in Spanish — that's the whole point, really — but the visuals tell most of the story.
CC · Subtítulos en españolYouTube auto-translate works fine
05Live feed
What we're shooting right now.
The unedited version, posted as we go. Follow @cubansoulpics for the daily feed.
—Come find us
The next picture
might be yours.
Two hours, half a day, or a full week — pick whichever shape fits the trip. We'll meet you somewhere with good light.