Meet Ean Cuenca | Wedding + Destination Elopement Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ean Cuenca and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ean, do you have a favorite quote or affirmation?
Maya Angelou said “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

My business has always circulated around my passion for people. My desire has always been to create a safe space for others to feel cared for, loved, appreciated, cheered for, and championed in life.

Before photography, I chased jobs and careers that were heavily customer service based – whether it was a sales rep at a retail store, server at a restaurant, a student accounts call center agent for a University, or to being a college pastor for a handful of years – it didn’t take me long to realize how much I cared for the human interactions.

My vision for my business is to illuminate the beauty of authenticity in other peoples lives by creating spaces of intimacy and vulnerability. It’s to stay curious long enough to get to know someone without any agenda; to remind them that they can be fully seen and yet be fully loved.

What this looks like practically in my business is learning how to take every touchpoint I have with my couples and clients and reshape everything about the business to feel more familial than transactional. This means I’m obsessed with constantly learning new ways to make others feel seen, heard, and cared for in a way that feels extremely counter cultural and taboo. It’s giving all of my clients my personal cell to contact me when they need me. It’s going to dinner with my clients and spending 90% of it just getting to know them and the last 10% actually planning for their wedding / photoshoot. It’s getting to know the human before getting to know the client.

Some say that this kind of business crosses unreasonable boundaries between work / life balance. But like Will Guidara writes in his book ‘Unreasonable Hospitality’, “You need to be unreasonable to see a world that doesn’t yet exist.”

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
One of my favorite things about photography are the people I get to meet along the way and the stories I get to hear. When a person is in front of my camera, there’s a certain level of vulnerability the subject is under that is easily remedied by conversations and small talk. In a time where social anxiety feels like it’s taken over our culture, photography has been such an easy way of getting to connect. For many who aren’t used to being in front of the camera, looking into the barrel of my lens can be so intimidating that a “tell me a little bit about yourself!” or “so how did you guys meet?” can be an immediate relief and sense of comfort.

It becomes an easy opportunity to skip the small talk and ask more intentional conversations and it shows people that relationships don’t have to be so scary. One of my favorite things is watching the person on the other end of my camera loosen up as the shoot continues.

Vulnerability is a scary thing to step into, but it’s necessary for connection to take place. Relationships of all kinds are risks. Trust is required on both parties, but thats the beauty of taking a risk – it pushes both parties to be seen and known and it gives them an opportunity to be fully accepted as they are.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Whenever I’m in Atlanta with friends visiting town, my go to is always to check out all the different coffee shops in the area. I’d take them over to Chrome Yellow for a Bourbon Latte, then head over Midtown to walk around. For Dinner, we’d hit up O-Ku for some incredible sushi and the best dang cocktail out there – their Saketini. We might explore a little bit outside the perimeter in the Duluth area for some incredible Korean bakeries and grab some Boba over at Sweet Hut.

Getting to rent bikes at the Bicycle Barn and riding around the Beltline would also be a whole vibe, as well as hitting up a bar over at Ormsby’s for late night drinks and games or hit the rooftop vibes on top of the Clermont.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Oh man, there’s way too many people to thank – but the first person that comes to mind is my wife. She stood by my side from the very beginning. She was there when I our rent was more than what I was making per month. She was there when I had to pick up 2-3 jobs to make ends meet while investing money we didn’t have into camera equipment and gear. She championed me forward and I couldn’t be more in awe of her support, love, and encouragement through both the difficulties and the celebrations.

Secondly, I want to give a huge shoutout to my community. I was lucky enough to be surrounded by photographers who were not only friends, but mentors and tutors who never felt the need to gate-keep wisdom and knowledge from me. I was also surrounded by a community of friends and family of people who cheered me on and shared my business to others around them.

Lastly, I want to give thanks to all my past, present, and future couples who have taken a chance on me to be a part of their wedding / elopement; to invite me to walk alongside them on one of the most intimate days in their life, celebrate them, and capture the moments that will last a lifetime.

Website: www.cuencacreative.com

Instagram: instagram.com/cuenca.creative

Facebook: Facebook.com/cuenca.creative