I call this image Flyin’ Fido

The story behind this was I was out scouting for a photo walk.  And that day, I didn’t bring my camera. Ironically, I just brought my cell phone because I was focused on finding the route, not taking photos. But it was like Lisbon opened up for me. Everywhere I looked, there were photos, photo opportunities happening.

And I couldn’t stop snapping pictures with my cell phone.  It was truly an amazing day.

But as I kind of crested over this hill, I saw this little boy looking over the view, and I saw,him doing something, and I didn’t know what it was.  And as I came over the hill, I saw that, he and his father were playing with their dog.  And the dog was just jumping huge leaps into the air, kind of right under the aqueducts.

And so I found myself feeling comfortable enough with my Portuguese to approach and talk to them and have a small conversation and ask them if I could take their picture. And they welcomed me. And it just was this really great moment where I got to interact with them. The dog was jumping over and over again. They were so proud of the way their dog was performing, and I got to share the photos with them.

So it was really, a moment in my photography where I felt like I actually did belong in this city. I could interact with the locals and capture something that was real, and not staged and kind of document the moment in time.