We're a small team of local photographers and filmmakers. We started taking pictures of the city we know by heart, and we never really stopped.
In 2017, Manuel was a film student in Havana with a Canon 6D 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 from South Carolina. The second was a couple from Mexico. From there it kept going: the good reviews started coming, and an influx of visitors without precedent in the city made the timing perfect.
Nine years later, we're a small team, all 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The unedited version, posted as we go. Follow @cubansoulpics for the daily feed.
Two hours, half a day, or a full week — pick whichever shape fits the trip. We'll meet you somewhere with good light.
