Birthday portraits are my favorite!
Why? because birthdays are my favorite days of the year.
You have twenty-four hours to celebrate you.... none else... YOU.
How magical is that?
Today is my birthday, and I am so grateful to celebrate one more year, even if that means more gray hair and a few wrinkles.
That's the price we pay for being alive and enjoying this Earth.
Today, like every day, I like to count my blessings to remind myself how fortunate I am.
And I have so many blessings:
- Even though my family lives far, we are very close and love each other very much.
- I finally traveled to Cuba; seeing my family after almost three years was the greatest feeling.
- My sister has become an incredible woman, mother, daughter, and entrepreneur.
- My mom is learning English and doing an incredible job with it!
- Ilen Maria has grown so much, but I finally got to photograph her! YAY
- I have great friends that have become my family away from home. I don't know what I would do without your support and love.
- I am a portrait photographer, and I love being able to pour happiness into people's lives by giving them photos they love or helping them create a brand legacy.
- I also started doing photo restorations and have brought vintage images that were almost beyond repair to life. The look on people's faces when I deliver those portraits they thought lost is priceless.
- Coral Gables, the city beautiful, is my home now.
- My wanderlust dreams are going to come true soon.
There is so much more I am thankful for, but these are on the top of my list.
I have lived and learned so much this year.
Thirty-eight was, indeed, a great age for me.
I can't wait to see what thirty-nine will bring.
Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.

Birthday Portraits for my 39th Birthday
I am a portrait photographer, and I believe in the power of documenting life as it unfolds.
I got these fabulous photos done to celebrate my last year in the thirties, and I am OBSESSED!
My hair and makeup artist made me look like a queen, and we found a beautiful spot nearby. The light was almost gone, but we did our magic anyways.
Once again, being photographed made me feel like a goddess.
We all need this feeling.
This is 39, folks.
I AM water.










Hair, makeup, and photos by Collage HairStudio Miami
Edited by Odette Fernandez Lopez
And if you want to check my birthday photos from 2019, check these fun birthday portraits of myself