Street Photography in Baltimore

Fells Point was founded in 1763 as a shipbuilding port, and Visit Baltimore notes its Belgian block streets have barely changed. Thames Street and Broadway Square fill with drinkers and diners at night, and the waterfront promenade has runners and dog walkers in the morning. Shoot along the cobbles at dusk when bar light hits the stones. The pastel rowhouses on South Ann Street make a clean backdrop for passers-by. Weekend nights get loud, so stay alert around the bars.

Lexington Market calls itself the longest continually operating public market in America, and it reopened in a new building with old favourites alongside new merchants. Weekday lunch is the peak, when office workers and regulars queue at the crab cake and deli counters. The plaza outside hosts free evening events like Party on the Plaza. Work the queues from the side and wait for gestures at the counters. The market is private property, so ask stallholders before close portraits and step back if staff object.

Station North is the arts district near Penn Station and the Maryland Institute College of Art. Local blogger Allie Marie explains that Graffiti Alley is a tiny alley where graffiti has been made legal. It changes constantly. It is popular for portrait shoots, so wait for someone to walk through the colour rather than posing people. Late afternoon keeps the alley evenly lit. Go in daylight and keep your bag close in the side streets.

Hampden is the quirky neighbourhood north of downtown, and West 36th Street, known as The Avenue, is its main strip. Allie Marie, who lives there, points to the murals and the huge flamingo on Cafe Hon. It is at its best on a Saturday afternoon, when the sidewalks fill. An Arabber route even stops here to water the horse, according to UMBC's student paper. In December the Miracle on 34th Street lights, a few blocks south, draw big evening crowds.

Mount Vernon Place is four park squares laid out in a cross around the Washington Monument, lined with brownstones and the Peabody Institute. It is calm and elegant, with students and dog walkers crossing the paths. Use the monument and the fountains as anchors and wait for a figure to cross the paths. Morning and late afternoon light rakes across the squares. It is a good place to slow down and practise composition before heading into busier streets.

The Inner Harbor is Baltimore's tourist waterfront, a wide brick promenade around the water with the aquarium and old ships moored along it. It is not the city's most authentic scene, but it gives you a lot of people in open space. Street performers and families gather on summer evenings, and the paddle boats make bright shapes on the water. Shoot from the Light Street pavilions into the evening light. It is well patrolled but keep gear close around the busiest points.

Cross Street Market is a market hall in Federal Hill, a neighbourhood of rowhouses and bars just south of the harbour. On weekend evenings and Orioles game days the streets around it fill with groups heading out in team colours. Stand at a corner near the market and let the crowds come to you. The hill in Federal Hill Park, a short walk away, looks back across the harbour at the skyline. Late nights here are rowdy, so leave before closing time if you want to work calmly.

The Arabbers are Baltimore street vendors who sell fruit from horse-drawn carts, a tradition in Black Baltimore since the late 1800s. According to UMBC's student paper, Baltimore had 25 Arabber stables in the 1960s and only three main ones today, including one on Carleton Street near Hollins Market, whose wall carries an Arabber mosaic. If you meet a cart on its route, buy some fruit and ask before you shoot. This is a working tradition in a struggling area, so treat it with respect.