Boston Faces

I love faces and I love street photography, all of the above having been greatly enhanced via my return to using an older - and for years all-but-forgotten - 50mm/1.4 lens, the speed of which, when combined with the amazing 5D, is everything I ever dreamed of back in my SpotmaticF/Tri-x/darkroom days (days of antiquity). Back then, all I wanted was longer lenses and all the latest technology, and now that I've got all that I am realizing that I actually had everything I needed, lo those forty years ago. I'm also now blatantly and unabashedly shooting almost all of my personal stuff in BW, BW being pure drop, as far as I'm concerned.

Not only am I enjoying the shooting in the near-dark capabilities of this combo, but I love the smaller size of the 50, which is minimally off-putting and easier to keep always-ready on my shoulder, but the short focal length forces me up a little closer to my subject - an edgier way of shooting, to be sure - and the wide open apertures make for wicked awesome out-of-focus backgrounds. I feel as though I'm home again, following a long and circuitous (and very educational) journey.

These are from a recent foray into downtown Boston; from Quincy Market and Haymarket, all ultimately on my way to play a little Irish music with my friends at the Littlest Bar.

Walk to Haymarket via Fenway, Opening Day

On Friday, a pleasant April day - not too hot, not too cold - desperately needing to get my head out of my computer, also badly in need of some physical exercise - I decided to just head down Beacon Street and keep walking. I had Haymarket in mind - Boston's historic, open-air market that runs every Friday and Saturday - but was not sure whether I would walk the whole thing or jump on the T for part of it. I did end up walking - down Beacon, with a stopover at Fenway park (with opening day festivities in full swing); continuing down Commonwealth, through the public gardens and over to Charles Street, where I stopped for a slice of pizza at The Upper Crust. From Charles Street, I worked my way past MGH, the Old West Church, and through Government Center to Haymarket. Kind of a long walk for my first day out, but I loved it. On my way home, I made it as far as the Arlington Street T stop, where I hopped on and rode the rest of the way. This was a great day - just what the doctor ordered (and a major element of this walk/shoot therapy, of course, involved my being plugged into my iPod for the majority of the afternoon, providing myself with my own soundtrack - a shuffled mix - and tuning out the garbage.

Here are a few favorites from yesterday (with more here).