Self Shot Series: Puerto Rico

As requested, this is the first of many from my self shooting adventures.

If you've known me awhile, you've probably noticed that I favor the tripod shots over mirror selfies. I've been self shooting sets of photos for about 8 years now and practice as often as I can. Selfies are great & much easier to get, but I enjoy a challenge.

Thank you, sincerely, to those who've financially supported me in this over the years. Countless tripods, shutter buttons, lighting setups and the sweetheart who gifted me a new Nikon I've been learning to use! Those who've tipped me or sent giftcards & those who've booked me based on some photos they saw that were likely shot by me or with a helping hand to push the button.

I almost always keep a small tripod and a bluetooth shutter button on me & I'll dart off to grab a pic or two almost anywhere if I see an awesome opportunity. For this trip, I knew I'd need to do some scouting, some hiking and have patience. I decided at Christmas to go to Puerto Rico a couple of days ahead of my client arriving to see what I could get. I had my giftcards, some travel points and he was sweet enough to let me rent the car for 6 days to include it for my time and ours together (total game changer for real).

I got to San Juan on the 26th of December and looked around. It's lovely, but beyond seeing a yacht (The Dragon Fly owned by Sergey Brin of Google) and no photos allowed of that, I wasn't feeling the crowded places and usual photo ops. I had already reserved myself an apartment in Luquillo, so I headed down the interstate to see what was out there.

Luquillo is known for it's wild, natural wonders. It's a haven for surfers, home to El Yunque rainforest and has seemingly endless stretches of beach that ranges from the polished and posh resorts to some areas that are only viewed from a boat. I knew it would be a field day for me shooting wise. What I love, is that is has so many elements you'd find in Bali, Mexico, Hawaii and Costa Rica without being very far from home. It was truly an exotic oasis.

I checked into my apartment and tried to see what I could get my body to do (very much retaining a lot of water as I always do when I fly and I need days to depuff but didn't have days). I wasn't satisfied with these shots but I did use it as an opportunity to stretch, pose and get comfortable before going out to scout water locations.

If you follow me on Bluesky (@OriginalAR) you maybe saw the video of the water I first got to. It was stunning, but with the rocks and the roughness of the surf, I could tell it wouldn't be safe or ideal to set up and shoot there. I included a still from that video.

I did see that there was a lot more beach on either side so I decided to drive down in the direction I saw had more open sand with plenty of trees. I drove down as far as I could until there didn't seem to be any parking areas, parked my car and decided to do my makeup just in case I needed to setup and shoot fast. I used the front facing camera on my phone and quickly did some concealer and the smudged, uneven smoky eye mess you see in my images. I blended occasionally with ocean water on my fingers and wet my hair in the ocean then used gel I bought from the local bodega to hold some more neat and tidy island girl waves since otherwise it was a curly frizzy heap haha.

I put on my hiking sandals and put my towel and gear into my backpack and started walking down the beach. I passed the rentals, the food trucks and all the families. There were no signs that had any danger warnings and it seemed fine enough so I kept going. I went through this grove of trees and saw some abandoned buildings that I assume used to be rental shops that were knocked in during a hurricane and rebuilt down the beach where it was populated

I decided to stop here and see what I could snap and of course couldn't resist there being coconuts all around.

After I shot about 50 and got these 2 shots (if you shoot a lot, you know how this goes), I rounded the corner and saw the perfect location. It was secluded, lighter sand, full on nature scene and not a soul around over there. I knew I would have to be quick though because as soon as you think you are alone, surely there's always a group of teenagers bopping into frame with a Bluetooth speaker blaring and gawking at you while you roll all around to get your images. I'm shameless, but I do like to take my time and have some peace.

Literally paradise. Luckily nobody came to disturb me and it was an hour of photography bliss.

Eventually some people hiking did come around in the distance back toward where I was but I was finished at this location and satisfied with what I had gotten.

I packed up, toweled off and went back to my SUV. Flicked through the roll of images and felt good enough about it to go back to my apartment. I made a map of my stops when I got back after reading a local magazine and decided to find some jungle.

I wanted to preview what it would take for my client to do the hike since he wanted something not too dangerous or difficult and I'm glad I got to give him a general idea of what to expect because it was a bit tough and mostly seen by car.

The next morning I went to a portion of El Yunque rainforest to see what I could get without too many people in the shots to remove (the whole place was pretty popular even in the super early morning but I made it work eventually).

There were some obstacles but if you want to get away from people, you have to work for it sometimes.

I did struggle a bit and got bit by a few mosquitoes but so far I don't think I've got malaria so the end result was worth it!

I'm still working on sorting through some of the images now that I'm back at my desk in Atlanta, but so far I'm really pleased with this round of self shooting. I'll be sure to do more of these from either past locations or my future ones. Now you guys know the efforts and lengths I go to for some of the content that I make (some locations are exotic but some times it could be an overgrown parking lot or something haha you never know with me)!

If you enjoy and support these missions, creators including myself are always thankful. With the great rise of AI, it can feel daunting or even thankless at times to do so much to get the shots. If you want art and beauty to exist, funding someone's ability to make that goes a long way. Ai is cheap, but costs the planet. Hiking into a bush full of the unknown is risky, but sometimes it pays off visually while also getting my fat ass more into shape to pull it off haha. Enjoy the views!

Xoxo

Your bruised & bitten redhead gfe from Atlanta who used a whole bottle of sunscreen.