I've been taking photos since my mom handed me a plastic Fisher Price camera, and I've never really stopped. The cameras got better, the studios came and went, and somewhere along the way I figured out what I actually wanted to be doing. Not stiff family portraits where everyone is told to smile on three. Not retouched until nobody is recognizable. The real version. The one that captures the real moment, not a staged version that doesn't feel like you.

I'm Jo, a lifestyle photographer based in Madrid, trained at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, where I built a strong technical foundation to use in the studio and on location. I work in English and Spanish, and a few times a year I'm back in the States, photographing in New York and Massachusetts, where I get to see my nieces near the shore. They've become my favorite and definitely silliest models.

Most of what I've been doing lately is family related. Parents and kids, couples, expecting mothers, newborns, and the in between moments that make up the years you'll want to remember. I also love photographing people building something of their own, so personal branding sessions have become a natural extension of the same work. The intimacy is the same. So is the way I shoot it. The same goes for headshots, creative portraits, and the occasional session out in the city if you're visiting Madrid and want photos that don't look like every other tourist shot.

A session with me starts long before the day of the shoot. You'll get a questionnaire so I can actually get to know you, a guide if you want help feeling prepared, and a video call so we can meet properly. By the time I show up with a camera, we're two people who already know a bit about each other. That's how the photos end up feeling like you, and how you arrive to the day with total confidence.

On the day, I'll guide where it helps and play with prompts instead of barking poses. Mostly we just spend time together. The best sessions never feel like sessions. They feel like a good afternoon that happens to include a camera.

I'm witty in real life, which is probably why kids and I get along. I'm calm on shoot days, which is probably why everyone else relaxes too.

If any of this sounds like the photographer you've been looking for, write me. I'd love to hear what you have in mind.