Boston Shoot II – Beacon Hill

Boston Commons/Public Garden and Beacon Hill are two areas of Downtown Boston that are somewhat lesser known tourist attractions.  To me, Boston Commons is equivalent to Central Park in New York – a slice of nature in an otherwise bustling city.  Because of the potential greenery (not much left in the middle of November), it was a good place to take some pictures.

I also took some portraits on Acorn Street, a popular photo spot in Beacon Hill.  I visited the location at the start of my semester when I was exploring, but I haven’t been back since.  If you look closely in the background, you can see other people taking pictures as well.

This shoot was shot under completely overcast skies just like my last one.  And I think the soft light really came out great.  As for lens choice, everything was with Sigma 17-50mm f2.8.  Despite it’s narrower aperture, it’s still my go-to walk-around lens.  With it’s zoom range, I can get wide enough to shoot full body and also close enough for portraits with a softer background.  If I had the space and the time, my 50 mm would’ve been better.

This was also my first time shooting a male model, which proved to be challenging.  I think with more practice, I’ll get better at it.  But for a first round, I think the pictures came out well.

Another fun fact, Lena was just visiting from Toronto and I’ve only just met her the day before.  So this was also an exercise of photographing a “stranger” which has its own difficulties because we don’t necessarily know each other.  I haven’t gotten around to getting proficient at directing my models into poses yet.  Special thanks for Sean, Santye, and of course Lena for running around with me in the cold!

Here’s to trying to shoot new things.