Bruno Lopes

I trained as a gardener before I became a guide, so the Ajuda Botanical Garden's terraces are where I feel most useful with a camera, naming trees most visitors walk straight past. On camera I show the garden's rare species first, then walk up to the unfinished Ajuda Palace nearby, explaining why a royal residence begun after the earthquake was never properly completed. I keep the garden sessions slower than the palace ones, since the plants reward more patience than the architecture does. Twelve years of guiding later, I still learn something new about that collection most seasons.