I Went to Antigua Guatemala and Photographed a Lot of Doors

If you saw my reel then you already know but I have a bit of a confession: for the last decade or so, I haven’t really been taking pictures on vacation. But then I went to Antigua Guatemala and fell in love with doors.

I know. A photographer who doesn’t take pictures on vacation. But honestly? After spending weekends hauling two camera bodies and three lenses around for other people’s most important days, the last thing I wanted to do on a trip was lug all that gear around for myself. So I just… stopped.

This year I finally did something about it. I got myself a Fujifilm X100VI — small enough to fit in my bag without a second thought, but the kind of camera that makes you actually want to use it. And then my husband and I went to Antigua Guatemala for a wedding.

I was not prepared for how much I’d fall back in love with just taking pictures.

Antigua is visually overwhelming in the best way. The colors are absurd — like someone turned the saturation up to a level that would get rejected in editing. And for reasons I can’t fully explain, I became completely fixated on doors. Old wooden doors with peeling paint. Bright blue doors with iron hardware. Doorways that opened onto staircases that disappeared into the dark. I don’t know why doors. I just kept seeing them and needing to photograph them.

My husband found this very funny. We’d be walking somewhere and I’d stop mid-sentence and say “hold on, I need to come back and get that door” and then add it to the mental list of things we needed to loop back to. By day three he was spotting them for me before I did.

The camera also died on me. A lot. At least five times. Which meant I missed some things, scrambled for a charge whenever I could find one, and learned very quickly to take the shot when you see it because you might not be back. Lesson thoroughly learned, Antigua.

Also, the city name is Antigua Guatemala – which felt silly but it’s an important distinction because you may accidentally book yourself something near Barbados instead of Guatemala.

While You’re There

We knew going in that we wouldn’t have nearly enough time to do everything Antigua, Guatemala had to offer — and we were right. But what we did manage was pretty special.

Santa Clara Ruins

The wedding itself was held at Santa Clara, a stunning historic ruin right in the heart of the city. If you’ve never seen an event in a space like that — open sky, crumbling stone walls, centuries of history underneath your feet — it’s something else entirely. We were there as guests, not vendors, which meant I got to just sit and take it all in. Highly recommend attending a wedding in these ruins if the opportunity ever presents itself.

Local Offerings

We also did a cooking class and coffee farm tour through a company that connects tourists with locals — and while our experience was genuinely wonderful, I’d encourage you to seek out a local farmer directly if you can so they get the full benefit of your visit. The coffee growing region around Antigua is incredible and the people behind it deserve to know you’re there specifically for them.

Where to Stay

We were at Posada del Angel and I can’t recommend it enough. Only seven rooms, adults only, and the kind of place that remembers your preferences without you having to ask. The fresh fruit at breakfast alone is worth it. It felt less like a hotel and more like staying at a really beautiful friend’s house — if your friend happened to have impeccable taste and a stunning courtyard.

Paradise Tattoo Antigua Guatemala

And then there were the tattoos. My husband and I have a tradition of getting tattooed when we travel — it works out sometimes (New Orleans ✓) and sometimes it doesn’t (Salem, MA — we’re still sad). I wasn’t sure Antigua would cooperate either. The artist I’d reached out to in advance was going to be out of town our entire trip, which felt like a sign to just let it go. But on our first day wandering the city I found myself deep in a local shop’s Instagram, looking for an artist whose style felt right. I found Kevin — an anime nerd with a clean, expressive style that felt like a perfect fit. We met up, talked through ideas and placement, and planned to tattoo the morning of the wedding. It worked out. It always feels better when it works out.

What I Brought Home

Honestly we barely scratched the surface. There were coffee farms we didn’t get to, neighborhoods we only walked through once, restaurants we bookmarked and never made it to. Antigua is one of those places that gives you just enough to make you absolutely certain you need to return. For the hike of the mountains alone, we’ll be back — probably sooner than is reasonable.

I came home with a full camera card, a new tattoo, and a genuine excitement about photography that had nothing to do with work. I’m already planning to bring the Fujifilm on smaller trips — a weekend in Michigan, my local farmers market, the stuff that doesn’t feel like an occasion but ends up being the photos you actually treasure.

Sometimes you need to shoot something just for yourself — no client, no timeline, no shot list — to remember why you picked up a camera in the first place.

---

If you somehow wound up here looking for a wedding or elopement photographer — hi, hello, welcome. I’m based in Chicago and I’d love to hear about what you’re planning. You can reach out here.