Chris Messner

From early in his life, fine art photographer Chris Messner has had a strong visual relationship with the world around him.

His artistic curiosity led him to Cuba, an unlikely destination, where he has traveled extensively. He was struck by the raw reality of Cuba, and its unique beauty was an unexpected surprise. Looking through his lens with a human eye rather than a political one, Messner found Cuba to be different from what he originally expected. Messner encountered centuries of Cuban history, its artistic culture, unpretentious people, and the daunting grandeur of the human environment on full display. These multi-faceted elements presented him with a visual experience that he found artistically stimulating and inspired him to capture the grace and mystery of the Cuban nation with his first narrative nonfiction book, "Cuba Open from the Inside."

Messner currently resides in Santa Barbara, California, with his wife and children.