Hi! My name is Mercedes Estevez, also known as Elora. I’m a full-of-illusions kind of girl coming from Barcelona (Spain) who discovered her hobby of photography could be more than just a hobby. The gorgeous state of Oregon inspired me to get more into photography. Like every amateur, I started taking pictures of landscapes, beaches, woods, flowers, and an infinite list of possibilities, but my passion was to capture the emotions of people’s faces, the moments of something special happening, pictures that can bring you to tears. I wish to create and capture beautiful memories.

I love to travel, I love animals, I love food, I love to sing, and I am in love with the man of my life, Frank.

When I was a child, back in Spain, we used to spend Saturday afternoons with family after lunch. One of our favorite activities was to close the curtains and watch a movie. We would have all kinds of different snacks. In my eyes, it was the perfect party every single Saturday. One day, the movie playing on TV was “Willow”. I fell in love with the fantasy of the movie and every single character on it, but one of them caught my attention, which was the baby Elora Danan. She looked like the most beautiful baby girl I have ever seen. After watching such an amazing movie, I started to fantasize with the idea of one day I will have a baby girl, and I will name her Elora. Well, fate had a different plan for me. I never found the right moment to have a child, so I decided to name my photography business Elora because it is my baby after all. The good thing, unlike a child, my darling Elora will never leave home.

This is Michita, which is my sweet and beautiful cat. My muse.

Right after I moved to Oregon, I discovered the Quinceañeras. A quinceañera party is like a Sweet Sixteen celebration for the Latin community, but they do the celebration at the age of fifteen instead. The birthday is celebrated differently from any other as it marks the transition from childhood to young womanhood.

I fell in love, not just with the interesting idea of this kind of celebration, but the fact we don’t celebrate this tradition in Spain. I love the beauty of these girls who become princesses for one day. They look full of joy, happiness and illusion, which makes me feel full of life when I capture every single moment.

LOVE is what it moves me to make this job happen. Like Carrie Bradshaw said once “I’m looking for love. Real love. Ridiculous, inconvenient, consuming, can’t-live-without-each-other love.”

When I see the emotions between a couple, I feel their butterflies, their hopes, their dreams, and most of all, their love. My own emotions want me to capture every moment, every second, of this beautiful event between two people. It inspires me to do the best job that can be done.

It can be very addictive when it comes to working with “crazy-in-love” kind of couples. Of course, I just want to make them feel that love whenever they look back at the pictures. I will keep the moments true and real. I will show the love they have on that day in pictures which will last forever.

And, with no doubt, there is no celebration without a perfect invitation. One of my big passions is to create gorgeous invitations for all different occasions. Invitations will be created based on your needs and theme of your event. All of them are custom handmade for you.