It was late summer in 2016 when I found myself traveling to New England for my brothers wedding. It was a beautiful seaside wedding in the quant harbour town of Newport Rhode Island. But we had a few days to spend in Boston prior to the wedding .

While the family was still asleep I snuck out with my camera gear for a dawn shoot along the Boston waterfront. I was carrying just my newly acquired Leica X with its fixed 35mm equivalent f1.7 lens. It didn’t take me long to go through and understand the cameras settings. With ISO, shutter speed dials on the top plate and with aperture control on the lens it is extremely institutive to control the Exposure triangle.

The optional various flex EVF is also pretty good and make shooting in bright conditions easier. Also the live view through the EVF gives a fairly accurate rendition of the how the scene will appear in the image. All this means I was free to focus on things like composition and perspective rather than on exposure.Read more about this camera in my gear reviews.

The Sun was just beginning to rise as I reached the harbour. It was a clear morning and the sun had an intense orange glow while it hung at the horizon. I shot in colour first to capture the intense colours. 

As the sun rose higher creating more contrast between the highlights reflecting of the water and the shadows created by the boats in the harbour I shifted to shooting in Monochrome to capture the drama created by the light.

Boston Harbour Info

Since its discovery to Europeans by John Smith in 1614, Boston Harbor has been an important port in American history. It was the site of the Boston Tea Party as well as almost continuous backfilling of the harbor until the 19th century. By 1660 almost all imports came to the greater Boston area and the New England coast through the waters of Boston Harbor. A rapid influx of people transformed Boston into a booming city.

Boston Harbor is a large harbor which constitutes the western extremity of Massachusetts Bay. The harbor is sheltered from Massachusetts Bay and the open Atlantic Ocean by a combination of the Winthrop Peninsula and Deer Island to the north, the hooked Nantasket Peninsula and Point Allerton to the south, and the harbor islands in the middle. The harbor is often described as being split into an inner harbor and an outer harbor. The harbor itself comprises fifty square miles with 180 miles (290 km) of shoreline and 34 harbor islands.

The inner harbor was historically the main port of Boston and is still the site of most of its port facilities as well as the Boston waterfront, which has been redeveloped for residential and recreational uses. The inner harbor extends from the mouths of the Charles River and the Mystic River, both of which empty into the harbor, to Logan International Airport and Castle Island, where the inner harbor meets the outer harbor.

The Custom House in Boston, Massachusetts, was established in the 17th century and stood near the waterfront in several successive locations through the years. In 1849 the U.S. federal government constructed a neoclassical building on State Street; it remains the "Custom House" known to Bostonians today. A tower was added in 1915; the building joined the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and was designated a Boston Landmark by the Boston Landmarks Commission in 1986.

The Cristopher Columbus Waterfront park is one of my favourite places in Boston. It sits right between Long Wharf and Commercial Wharf. I had the opportunity to work at an office at Commercial wharf a long way back at the start of my career. I have fond memories of sitting at the park bench and enjoying a bagged lunch from Faneuil Hall. I try to visit the place whenever i visit Boston. If you haven’t been there make sure to go next time you are at Boston.

My favourite things to see and do near the Boston Waterfront

Christopher Colombus Park

New England Aquarium

Boston Children’s Museum

Faneuil Hall

Harbour and Whale Watching Cruises

The Institute of Contemporary Art

Boston tea Party Ships and Museum

Dining at the selection of restaurants near the waterfront ranging from High End Tasting Menus to food courts at Faneuil Hall and Food Trucks

Where to Stay to make the most of the Boston Waterfront

Luxury

Oakwood at One India Street, Boston

Intercontinental Boston

Hilton Boston Downtown Faneuil Hall

Budget

YOTEL BOSTON

PIER BOULEVARD APARTMENTS

BOSTON YACHT HAVEN

A Short Video Clip from Christopher Colombus Park