Lisbon: Abandoned Beauty

First time in Portugal and consequently my first time in Lisbon. I decided to kill two birds with one stone, visit a friend and continue my photography project worldwide. After the first afternoon wandering around the city without a camera I had already figured out how to design this book.

Lisbon is a beautiful city and one of the oldest capital in Europe, difficult not to find something to photograph, but even more difficult is not to fall into shots seen and reviewed. A city with two faces, the first is the idyllic one, painted by the thousand and more photographers who venture through its streets, more like tourists than photographers; while the second represents the present Lisbon, scourged by poverty and abandonment, by graffiti and very low wages, by also the beauty of the unique and the ancient up to the little bit of modernity that almost disfigures it. In some ways, it reminded me of the Rome where I grew up, in the grip of the storm but about to embrace the sun's rays again.

My photos tell the shadowy face of the city, which is there, under everyone's eyes, but what does it matter to those who visit it for just 3 days because it's trendy or just because it's affordable for their pockets?

A beautiful, welcoming, slow city, where the days seem endless; unique, but at the same time similar to other European capitals, full of history like our continent is, but hides a veil of sadness. A week and a few stories of those who were born, raised, and still live there are not enough to fully understand and describe a place, but from my photos, you will understand how this second face is visible and predominant.

Shot with Canon AE1 on Portra 400.