Why we built Mar y Mas
Girona, the Costa Brava, and the Empordà have some of the most distinctive properties in Catalunya, photographed like they're worth a hundred euros a night. We started a studio because someone had to do this work properly.
We started looking at vacation rental listings the way most owners look at them, in passing, as customers. Then we started looking properly. We opened dozens of property listings across the Costa Brava, the Empordà, and Girona. Coastal villas in Begur and Cadaqués. Apartments above harbours in Palamós and Sant Feliu de Guíxols. Stone masias in the inland Empordà around Peratallada and Madremanya. Boutique stays in Pals, Calella de Palafrugell, Roses, L'Escala. Old Town apartments in Girona itself.
Most of the photography was bad. Not catastrophic, just unremarkable. Phone shots taken on a Tuesday afternoon. Light that flattens stone walls instead of revealing them. Wide-angle lenses that distort rooms into shapes the rooms do not actually have. Listings that show what an apartment contains without ever showing what it feels like to be inside it. Some properties had been photographed years ago and never refreshed. Others had clearly been built and furnished with real care, and then handed to a photographer who treated them as inventory. The pattern was the same whether the property sat on the Costa Brava coast or in an Empordà village.
The supply problem in the region
The Costa Brava and the Empordà have a real shortage of studios that do this work properly. There are photographers in most towns. There are a few drone operators, mostly scattered. There are agencies that handle social media, mostly for restaurants and brands. There are web designers who build templates. But almost nobody combines all of these capabilities under one roof, locally, with the technical certifications the work actually requires. Drone work in particular needs an AESA-certified commercial pilot with proper insurance and the ability to handle Spanish airspace authorization zones. Most of the people offering "drone shots" along this coast cannot legally fly the equipment they're advertising.
The other side of the supply problem is time. Property owners are running properties. They are managing bookings, cleanings, guest communications, repairs, restocking. The visual identity of their listing is the thing they always mean to update and never do. We met owners in Cadaqués, in Begur, in inland Empordà villages, who told us they had been intending to redo their photography for three years. The intent is there. The hours in the week are not.
Why we are the people to do this
Both of us have worked professionally inside hospitality. Dima worked at Guesty, one of the largest property management platforms in the world. We have managed properties end to end: bookings, cleanings, guest communications, pricing, operations, the calls at midnight when something goes wrong. We have been on the other side of the camera, looking at our own properties wondering why the photos never matched the place.
Nastya is a professional certified photographer with multiple certifications and years of editorial and architectural work behind her. She also runs Girona Connecta, the community of around seven thousand people who live in and around the region, which means she has spent years inside the local hospitality network from Cadaqués down to Palamós. Dima is an AESA-certified commercial drone operator, fully licensed and insured, flying a DJI Avata 2 for cinematic aerial work that most pilots on this coast cannot legally produce. He also brings the technical layer: properly engineered websites, PMS integration with platforms like Guesty, Lodgify, and Hostaway, guest communication automation, and the operational understanding that makes those systems actually work.
Between us, a decade in the region, professional careers inside hospitality, and the specific combination of creative and technical capabilities that this work demands.
What Mar y Mas offers
Mar y Mas is a creative studio for distinctive properties across the Costa Brava, the Empordà, and the wider Girona province. We work across five disciplines, configured to the property rather than sold as fixed packages.
Photography, starting from 190€. Editorial property photography, lifestyle photography with on-site styling, twilight and golden-hour sessions, architectural details, owner and host portraits. Natural light, slow craft.
Video and drone, starting from 390€. Property walkthrough videos for Instagram, Airbnb, and TikTok. Horizontal cinematic films for websites and YouTube. AESA-certified drone photography and aerial video, particularly suited to coastal villas, beachfront apartments, inland masias, and properties whose value is inseparable from their landscape. Golden-hour drone sessions. Lifestyle video with guests and hosts.
Brand and identity, starting from 290€. Property naming, logo and wordmark design, full visual identity systems, property taglines and brand voice, print collateral including door signage and guidebooks, branded merch coordination for embroidered towels, robes, and amenities.
Website and booking, starting from 690€. One-page direct booking sites, multi-page custom property websites, booking system setup with payment processing, PMS integration with Guesty and other major platforms, listing rewrites for Airbnb and Booking, local SEO setup.
Guest experience, starting from 290€. Welcome experience design, printed guidebooks, guest communication automation across WhatsApp and email, seasonal content refreshes, local partnership setup.
Where we work
We work across the Costa Brava, the Empordà, and the wider Girona province. The coastal villages including Begur, Cadaqués, Calella de Palafrugell, Pals, Palamós, Sant Feliu de Guíxols, Tossa de Mar, Roses, and L'Escala. The inland stone towns including Peratallada, Madremanya, and Torroella de Montgrí. Girona itself, where we are based. If a property is within ninety minutes of the studio, we travel. For destination projects further afield in Mallorca, the Pyrenees, or southern France, we accept select engagements on request.
The studio
Mar y Mas was born because this region has properties worth telling properly and a shortage of people who can tell them. We started because the work needed doing, because we know hospitality from the inside, and because we live here. That last part matters more than the first two. The studio is not a company that operates on the Costa Brava. It is a studio of this coast and these inland villages. That distinction shows up in every photograph we take.
If you own a property anywhere in the region, we'd be glad to talk.
Read next
- Hotel PMS and channel manager comparison: Mews, Lodgify, Avantio, Guesty and moreAn honest side-by-side of the property management systems and channel managers we integrate with — Mews, Lodgify, Avantio, Guesty, Smoobu, Hostaway, Hospitable — for boutique hotels, villas, and property management companies on the Costa Brava.
- Hotel website design that drives direct bookingsWhat separates a hotel website that converts direct bookings from one that only exists. A field guide for boutique hotels, villas, and property management companies on the Costa Brava.
- Morning Light at Bon DiaHow we photographed Bon Dia Residences in the half hour the sun belongs to Girona's stone walls.