Street Photography in Boston

Haymarket is an open-air produce market on Blackstone Street, run by pushcart vendors whose association traces back to 1820. It runs every Friday and Saturday from about 6:00 to 19:00. Nick Gunn says it's not really touristy, even though it sits between the North End and Government Center. You get vendors shouting prices and bargain hunters with full bags. Come early for setup or late on Saturday, when vendors sell off stock cheap and the energy peaks. Stand at the end of a stall row and shoot along the awnings. Buy something and don't block the aisle.

Beacon Hill looks like old Boston: brick sidewalks, gas lamps, narrow streets and a few cobbled lanes like Acorn Street. It is quieter than downtown, so it rewards patience over reflexes. Charles Street at the bottom has shops and cafés and the most foot traffic. Come in the early morning or late afternoon, when low light rakes across the brick. Pick a doorway or a lamp as your stage and wait for one walker to pass through the light. This is a residential neighborhood, and people live behind those doors, so don't shoot into windows or crowd the front steps.

Fenway Park opened in 1912, and on game days the streets around it fill with fans in red and ticket scalpers. Nick Gunn has a Fenway set in his Boston portfolio. The best time is the two hours before the first pitch, when crowds pour out of Kenmore station and along Lansdowne Street and Jersey Street. Stand on a corner facing the flow and use a 28mm or 35mm close in. Improve Photography notes that you'll want a telephoto if you go inside. Game days are crowded but friendly, so keep your bag close and your elbows in.

Downtown Crossing is the pedestrian shopping zone around Washington and Summer Streets. It has shops and street preachers, buskers and office workers on lunch. The mix is the point: office suits next to students. Come at lunchtime or the evening rush. Tall buildings create canyons of shade, and at certain hours a slice of sun cuts across Washington Street. Wait at the edge of that light for someone to step into it. Boston Common is a two minute walk away if you want green space. Stay aware of your surroundings after dark.

The North End is Boston's Italian neighborhood and its oldest, with narrow streets and cafés on Hanover Street. Improve Photography suggests eating first and shooting after. It's at its best in summer, when the feast season brings religious processions on Sunday and street fairs on weekends. Saint Anthony's Feast in late August is the largest. Stand at a corner on Hanover or Salem Street and shoot down the narrow street with café tables in the foreground. During processions, stay out of the path of the statue bearers.

Boston's Chinatown is small and dense, entered through the paifang gate on Beach Street. You get bilingual signs, bakeries, dim sum crowds on weekend mornings and grocery shoppers. A commenter on Improve Photography recommends Chinatown and the Financial District for street work over the skyline spots. Come on a weekend morning for crowds, or at dusk when the signs light up. Use the gate as a frame and wait for a figure to walk under it. Many residents are older and prefer not to be photographed, so shoot scenes and ask before a close portrait.