Leaving the Camera Behind: A Portugal Photo Diary

A deliberate break from the pressure to constantly create, captured entirely on a phone—plus a few curated stops along the way.

May 03, 2026

As a photographer, it’s easy to fall into a loop of telling yourself you need to shoot more. For a while, I’d been meaning to take myself on more artist dates, get out on photo walks with friends, and be more disciplined about daily documentation, so when the opportunity for a week in Portugal came up, it felt like the obvious moment to pack the gear and do the work. Instead, I went the exact opposite direction.
I wanted the archiving of this trip to be about quick, instinctual moments rather than managing equipment or overthinking a frame. I left the camera behind and shot everything on my iPhone 17 Pro Max using the Leica Lux app.

The constraint was a welcome reset, and I’m still impressed by what the phone can do. Did I wish I’d packed something like a Pentax 67? Sure—but my back says otherwise. Did I miss my Leica Q2? At times. Mostly it just made me wish it were the newer Q3 with the 43mm lens. (Champagne problems…)

I’ve previously traveled with small 35mm point-and-shoots that force a slower rhythm, but stripping it back to just the phone was a clean reminder of how good it is to travel light. For this trip, no regrets.

Andi also ditched a device on the trip, and wrote about it beautifully, here.

What follows is my brief visual diary of the trip, alongside a handful of standout recommendations for where to eat, drink, and wander.

Lisbon

Our hotel, Brown's Downtown, located in the Baixa neighborhood.

We stayed at… Brown’s Downtown in the Baixa neighborhood.

We ate… Turkish eggs and banana bread with espresso butter at Neighborhood, outstanding Neapolitan pizzas at Forno d’Oro (🤤), spicy piri piri dumplings at Madam Bo, all of the things at , and finished with repeat helpings at Giola Gelato in the Príncipe Real.