iPhone Photo Diary | Athens, Greece

Every time we go on vacation, I tell myself that this time, I won’t rely on my iPhone as my primary camera. But then, in the moment, I find myself taking snap after snap with it. Never mind that we almost always carry our Nikon DSLR and the two film cameras. My iPhone is the lightest and most easily accessible camera I have at any given moment. If I want a quick snapshot that is easily shareable, I always reach for it.

The camera on my two-plus-year-old iPhone 7 is, admittedly, not what it used to be. The images frequently turn out blurry, especially if I don’t spend some time ensuring I’ve got my focus point set right. I usually have to take five to get one right. But it doesn’t really matter, because the best camera is the one you have. And the camera I always have is my iPhone.

This is a collection of my favourite quickly snapped photos from our time in Athens. From the National Archeological Museum to the streets of Plaka to afternoons spent on our patio, my iPhone came on all our adventures. I insisted on taking it to Hadrian’s Gate on our last night in the city. And pulled it out countless times during our stops at Ergon House. (I lost count of how often we visited, whether it was to eat in the restaurant, pick up some of their amazing dips to snack on or grab a bottle of local wine.) I even, somewhat daringly, whipped it out on the platform at Omonia metro station. This was not, probably, the wisest choice. But I just love the vintage vibe of the rundown station. And there was a chance no one would steal my phone if I took a photo. So I risked it.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

Pickpocketing and theft are as real in Athens as anywhere else. Locals and tourists have an equal chance of being victims. Especially at busy tourist attractions and in certain neighbourhoods. … but all’s well that ends well. I got the shot.

The nice thing about iPhone photography is that it does allow for shots that our camera lenses just can’t capture. Or that we would never take. I wouldn’t have asked to take a DSLR photo in the Ancient Greek boutique, but I happily snapped about twelve shots on my phone while we shopped. We tried to get a good photo of the door on the big church near Syntagma Square. It was an ordeal that involved crossing a busy street. And still not getting all of the door in the frame.

With my iPhone, all I did was lean back and aim up. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

So these are my imperfect, in the moment snapshots of the Greek city I love so much – an iPhone photo diary, if you will. And let’s face it, any photo diary assembled with their DSLR counterparts, if they existed, would be imperfect, too. The best camera really is the one you have. And it’s so much more interesting to consider how much the places and things that attract my attention for photos has changed since 2017 than to worry about what camera I used to take those photos.