My name is Yandy Santana, I am 37 years old, I am a graduate of Health Information Management, I live in Cuba and it is here where I develop my photographic work. Photography was always something that I was passionate about as a child, but it remained somewhat distant until in 2014 when I participated in the third edition of the Foto Fest 2014 International Self-taught Photography Festival and obtained second place. This was very special for me, since from that moment I told myself that it was photography that I wanted to dedicate myself to full time.

In 2014 I was able to apply for a TV cameraman course that was taught on the channel of my city Cienfuegos and at the end of this course I started working on said TV channel due to the good results obtained. It was a stage of much learning that gave me important tools to understand photography much more. In 2015 I directed the photography of a short film entitled: ¨Sin capitán de barcos¨ which won first place in the Best Drama Program category at the Caribbean Broadcasting Union 2015. In 2017 I decided to leave the channel and start a new stage working in a studio photography covering social events. In 2021 I am a semifinalist in the Portrait category in the first edition of the Alicia Alonso International Dance Photography Contest 2021.

The portrait is present in almost all my photography, I always try to get the most out of the people who pass in front of my lens and to achieve this I try to create a good atmosphere between them. Documentary photography is something that I am passionate about because I have always liked meeting people, knowing their stories and conversing with them. I believe that giving voice to these stories through photography is a challenge that I want to take on. I recently made my first documentary photographic work entitled "The art that runs through my veins", which takes an artist from my City as a reference, but it is a work that is not finished and I want to develop it with several painters who are in similar situations.

Thanks to Social Documentary for allowing me to show them to you.