When we visited Prince Edward Island last year, I’d found a local photographer on Facebook who agreed to take family photos along one of the island’s most scenic beaches. It seemed like a fun opportunity to document the vacation with “official” photos beyond those we take on our camera and smartphones, and publish to this blog. Unfortunately, the photo shoot fell through as the weather didn’t cooperate, but the idea remained and was successfully executed during our visit to Lisbon.
The online service Flytographer was created with travelers in mind, giving them (and us) the opportunity to schedule time with a local photographer for a local photo shoot. Amanda chose Rita from among the half-dozen photographers based in Lisbon, and we set up our session to take place during our second full day in Lisbon, in the iconic, colorful, and historic Alfama neighborhood.
We’ve previously written about Lisbon being a hilly city, and we found the walk to the Alfama neighborhood to be the most challenging yet. The route to the meeting point took us through narrow “streets” which consisted of steep stairs, and the last two-thirds of the mile-long walk was uphill. The good news is we reached the high point to begin the photo shoot, and as we walked through Alfama finding new photo backdrops, we were going downhill en route to Lisbon’s Praça do Comércio square.
Some of Rita’s go-to backdrops were obscured, as the entire Alfama neighborhood was decorated for its annual party. Streamers hung between buildings and locals set up makeshift restaurants serving grilled sardines and bars retailing beer and homemade sangria in front of nearly every residence.
Rita kept suggesting we were nearing the “final stop” but we continued to walk and take photos all the way to the Lisbon main commercial square and riverfront. She was generous with her time, even offering to take a break so the kids could eat ice cream en route, and we were more than happy with the photo shoot results!
Co cool! I love the one of the big kids jumping off the bench 🙂