In Cuba, traditionally, when girls turn 15 years old, they have a party and take artistic or natural photographs in beautiful places to record the age of illusions.
Ugh, mine are already 25 years old but I love to look at them and remember the girl I was. I was studious, happy with the company of my parents, my brother, his wife and my little nephew.
At that stage I was in a school for boys with the best chances of going into the sciences as their academic achievement was high. I finally decided on a career in literature because what I like is culture and poetry.
The day of the photos I was very excited because it was the first time I applied makeup and also they put a lot of costumes on me and I looked like a princess. My photos are from the analog era, there are no filters and they are natural. I loved the 36 photos and I was proud to show them to everyone.
There I can see my parents who are no longer with me. How happy they were with their little girl. Also my brother and my nephew with his mother. I remember that when I took them to school my friends wanted me to give them some. But I didn't want to because it means a lot to me. It was also a sacrifice from my parents because I tell them that it is a tradition a little expensive. You have to rent costumes, photographer, makeup artist and venue. So I didn't think it was fair to give away the photos.
Nowadays technology takes amazing pictures although I prefer the natural ones of the past. Today's girls print magazines, big posters, but the colors are altered, they put themselves in places where you are not really there, even the face is very smooth as if you were a mannequin.
My photographer's name is Santiago Rodriguez, at that time he was learning the art of quinceañera glamour and although it's been more than 25 years since my photos were taken he is now an excellent party decorator with a lot of success living in the USA. If you are in that country and need to prepare a party or special photos, look him up.
My photos were taken in a beautiful house in my hometown in San Luis, Pinar del Río. Other friends with more economic power had their pictures taken in hotels such as Aguas Claras, Los Jazmines in Viñales and many other more expensive options. Mine are very dear and beautiful as a result of the effort of my parents and the talent of Santiago.
I hope you liked it especially my hive friend @mipiano and that I satisfied the challenge of uploading photos of my teenage years that I'm in love with. I wish I could go back to that age. Just to give my parents a hug and tell them I love them so much and thank them for everything they did for me. But I don't know, thanks to them I am the woman I am, I send them a kiss to the infinite place where they are.
If you are interested you can read here
The images used in the publication are my property taken with my Xiaomi Redmi 12C cell phone.
English translation by Deepl Translate.
