Lisbon, Portugal | Europe 2018 Part One | Flytographer meetup
What is Flytographer?
At the beginning of October 2018, my friend (and fellow Flytographer) Lyndsay Greenwood and I travelled to Lisbon, Portugal for the annual Flytographer meetup. Now some of you may be wondering, what exactly is Flytographer? Flytographer is a company designed to match travelers around the world with a photographer for their adventures. Travelling to Florida with your family? Planning a surprise proposal in Paris? Maternity photos in Germany on your babymoon? There are professional Flytographers all over the world to capture your memories better than your selfies ever could! Each year, Flytographer hosts a meetup in a different location. Lisbon was chosen for 2018, so Lyndsay and I packed up our bags and travelled to Portugal for three days of fun, food and education!
Day ONE
To say our first day was hectic would be a massive understatement. I left Edmonton after 13 consecutive wedding weekends, the morning after my last wedding of the season. I met up with Lyndsay in Toronto, and we continued on to Portugal. We landed in Lisbon in the afternoon (after a night of little to no sleep on my part) and immediately hit the ground running. We dropped our bags at our (fantastic) Airbnb and ran to meet up with the rest of the group for the first of many photo walks in São Domingos square.
I was running on a travelling high and was experiencing a full sensory overload, but I was so glad to be on that photo walk! Flytographer arranged for models for us, as well as a Flytographer that lives and works in Lisbon as our guide to show us the best spots. Aren’t Marta and Tiago’s smiles just so contagious? We concluded the photo walk by sharing Portugal’s drink of choice together: ginjinha, a sour cherry liqueur.
The evening was spent visiting and playing icebreaker games over wine and cheese at a local art gallery. Photos from every Flytographer in attendance was on display for everyone to see, and even though it had been more than 24 hours straight on no sleep, we stayed as late as we could.
Day TWO
Our second day was an intensive workshop day. Fellow Flytographer Marian presented an inspiring workshop on expressing creativity every single day. It was followed by a presentation by the Director of Photography for the National Geographic Traveler magazine, Anne Farrar. She spoke to us about the importance of telling a visual story. I was so happy she was able to take the time to speak to us! In the early evening, we set out on a golden hour photo walk. We ended up at Praça do Comércio, by the water, and it was a beautiful end to a beautiful day. The sun set over the boats sailing in and out of the harbour.
After the photo walk, we reconvened at Café Fabulas for a big group dinner. It was a beautiful spot that I’m sure would normally be very romantic, if it wasn’t for the 40 chatty photographers stretched along the courtyard! Their risotto was to die for, and I loved the chocolate cake they served for dessert. After many sangrias, Lyndsay and I made our way to our Airbnb for the night.
Day THREE
Words cannot describe how tight my calves were at this point from walking up and down all of the hills. Back down the hill at the workshop space, we put our heads together for business brainstorming and social media success. In the afternoon, I thoroughly enjoyed the PechaKucha presentations, put on by a few Flytographers – Lyndsay included! PechaKuchas are short presentations made up of 20 slides, talked about for 20 seconds each. It made for concise overviews on various topics from equality in photography to minimalist living, and other creative endeavours.
This night’s festivities were for the books, given that it was our last night in Lisbon! We started the evening off on a rooftop bar, and after a few hours of drinks and visiting, we were eager to explore the city a little more (the nightlife, that is). We popped into the bathroom for the annual bathroom dance party before sneaking out and heading to one of Lisbon’s party districts. I don’t think I’ve been so sweaty in my life! We danced in the tiniest bar I’ve ever seen, making use of all of the possible space (including on top of the tables). I’ll remember this night always, dancing and singing with new friends from Santorini, New York, Cancun, London, Dublin and more. It was so hard to say goodbye to these friends, even after only a few days. Lyndsay and I had only two hours of sleep before we needed to wake up again and to catch our next plane – onto Spain!
What were my favourite parts?
- The overlook up the alley from our Airbnb offered one of the best views of the city. There was also the cutest little lemonade truck (that would be quite generous with the rum).
- Our Airbnb: the loft we were staying in had windows that opened right out onto the roof so you could climb up and admire the view!
- The food: everything we ate was so delicious. Brick Cafe was a particular favourite of mine. I also came back hooked on espresso. Colton bought me an espresso machine for Christmas because I wouldn’t shut up about it.
- The education: Learning about travel photography from Anne Farrar was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. There are so many parts about travel photography that translate to every genre of photography, and I came back home more experienced and even more excited to serve my clients even better.
- The people: I honestly couldn’t be more proud to be a part of such an amazing team. Every photographer I met was unbelievably kind, funny, thoughtful, accepting and open-minded. You couldn’t ask to be around a better group of people. I was able to meet photographers I had followed on social media for years in person, without even realizing they worked as a Flytographer too!
- The architecture – nothing beats the tiled buildings! I could stare at them forever.
What would I do if I went back?
Three days in Lisbon wasn’t quite enough and I’d be happy to go back! Here’s what I would make sure to do on my second trip:
- A visit to LX Factory – a more trendy district with a lot of street art, bars and cafes
- A visit to Ler Devagar (meaning ‘read slowly’) – this bookshop is located in the LX Factory district and is the entire reason I’d go back to Portugal. I love visiting local, world-famous bookstores!
- Take a tile painting class – Lisbon is famous for its beautiful tiles!
- A day trip to Sintra – a small hilltop town a short travel from Lisbon. We couldn’t make the timing work for a day trip out, but it’s still on my bucket list! Just Google pictures of Sintra – you’ll want to visit too!
- Climb to the top of St George’s Castle for the view.
Check out my Instagram highlights to see photos of our amazing Airbnb (among other things)
Stay tuned for the follow up blog post detailing our travels in Seville, Spain!
