The Fruits Of An Unplanned Day
A day without a plan can be the worst and the best thing for a photographer. On this hot Boston day, it was the best.
A fact I will repeat time and time again is that carrying a camera at all times is the best way to improve your photography. (You should read this piece of mine discussing this if you haven’t How To Measure Photographic Success). This Boston day was the epitome of that lesson doing right by me. I brought my Fujifilm X100V along with me for the day. Let’s reflect on the photos and subjects I shot that day.
The Bentley
On my walk home from work, I noticed this stunning car – it was blue with bronze highlights and begging to be photographed. It’d been a fairly cloudy day and the light being diffused from the sun offered wonderful tones and shades reflected on the cars surface and in the streets around the subject. I framed up a few compositions – and took my shots.
The fun part of this exercise was the solidarity. Unlike the time I shot the supercars a few days ago (here), no one else noticed this car. As a result, I was able to walk around and freely frame up the compositions I saw fit.
The Harbor
Once I had finished taking photographs of PJ’s car I finished my walk home. Upon my arrival, I unboxed some frames I’d received and cleaned up the crib. Once that was done, Sophie came over and the question of what to have for dinner began to plague us. We had to figure out what we wanted to eat and fast. The idea of cooking was daunting and before long we both decided that it would be fun to go out.
I know you’re not here for this but the food and drinks were fantastic. But more importantly, we were able to sit outdoors. The view over the harbor from our table was exquisite and we enjoyed a great evening together.
To my right was the rope pictured below. It offered so much texture, it practically begged me to photograph it. The light as it hit the tips of the rope offered a warm and stark contrast to the cool under-shades of the building facing underside of the rope.
After dinner was over and paid for, we got up and began walking around the harbor by the locks. I snagged a photo of one of the MBTA busses as it entered Boston over the Charlestown bridge. From there we crossed the locks towards Charlestown to enjoy the view over there. After which we crossed back over and we went up to the Tip O’Neil Park outside of TD Garden.
The Bridge
This is one of the iconic Boston view’s I’ve shot many times before – and frankly the photos I’ve got prior I find to be more enjoyable to look at than the one I shot here. But hey, that’s part of the game. It’s always great to just get out and practice.
I hope you enjoyed this write-up of what was a great day in Boston. If you want to watch a YouTube video about this day, feel free to check out the footage I’ve uploaded here.
I have said before but making a photograph look stunningly simple takes artistic view and skill. The rope, simple, but stunning at the same time.