At the Crossroads: Lisbon Through My Lens

We’re standing at a junction, waiting for the light to turn green. It’s the perfect moment to pause, observe, and take it all in — both the bigger picture and the finer details. While my soulmate keeps an eagle eye on the traffic signals, I glance to my left, and suddenly, it feels like I’ve stumbled onto a movie set. Everything is in motion — vivid and cinematic. Though this initial impression of Lisbon may not seem extraordinary, it stirs something inside me, reminding me of the city I had imagined: a place of passion, love, simplicity, and connection.

Portugal, particularly Lisbon and Porto, had been on my radar for years. My brother often spoke about the sights, the food, and the warmth of the Portuguese people. “You have to go and experience it for yourself,” he’d insist. And he was right — Lisbon is an incredible city and a true playground for photographers like me.

Photo Nerd Talk: Gear and Experiments
For this trip, I traveled light with my Leica M10 paired with the Zeiss Distagon 35mm f/1.4 ZM lens. This is my go-to setup for travel and documentary photography. The focal length is versatile, and the lens produces stunning, film-like results — ideal for post-processing in Affinity Photo 2, which I made the switch to over two years ago now and haven’t looked back.

This trip also became a bit of an experiment. Normally, I’d edit photos on my laptop, but this time, I brought only my iPad. The goal? To see if I’d adapt to editing with a touchscreen and the Apple Pencil. Would I use brushes more? How well would Affinity Photo 2 perform on the iPad? Surprisingly, it exceeded my expectations. Once I organised my files and imported my LUTs on the plane, I was set. Affinity Photo 2 on iPad is nearly as full-featured as its desktop counterpart. Hats off to the team at Affinity!