Beautiful San Juan, Puerto Rico

I have a horrible problem. Whenever someone mentions a vacation or a new place to visit, I immediately think of all the photographic opportunities that are possible. What equipment should I bring? Tripod or no tripod…maybe just the gorillapod? Camera backpack or shoulder bag? Will I be doing any long exposures, should I bring along some ND filters? Can I take a zoom lens for the entire trip and be fine or should I throw some primes in the bag? Maybe I could do this whole trip with just the iPhone…

It can be exhausting, but this is what goes through every photographer’s mind before a trip to a new place. In this situation, I brought more than I needed, and wound up mostly relying on the Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8 lens on my OM-D E-M5 and a B+W polarizing filter, a really great combo for walking around all day.

That was a roundabout way to say that I was super excited when my friends, Will and Nada, decided to get married in San Juan, Puerto Rico and invited my fiancé and I down to join in the festivities. I was really happy for them, and simultaneously excited to go to a completely new place, full of fresh and interesting sights.

We stayed at the San Juan Marriot in the Condado area of San Juan, a bit of an upscale more touristy area of the city, which was situated perfectly in between the airport and Old San Juan. Having a pool, beach, bar and your hotel room within steps of one another really spoils you. It also didn’t hurt that a number excellent restaurants that we ate at were all within a few minutes walk from the hotel.

Our hotel, from the beach and from our balcony

The groom – relaxing on the big day

Other than spending time on the beach, and an awesome night kayaking trip out to a bioluminescent bay (which I highly recommend), we spent the rest of our time walking around in old San Juan — eating, drinking, and taking in the history of the area. The colors and facades of the homes on the backstreets were beautiful, as were the two forts that we visited, El Morro and San Cristóbal.