As we look forward to seeing fellow LHSA members in Boston, we wanted to pass along a few tips from our most recent trip to Boston when we attended another conference in June. We asked our fellow conference attendees for their tips as well.

Arriving in Boston: You can take a taxi, Uber or Lyft from the airport (depending on the time of day and traffic, it will likely be about $20), or you can travel to the hotel for free using public transportation. For that option, take the free Silver Line bus leaving from every terminal at Logan to South Station. At South Stationyou can either get a taxi or Uber/Lyft or use a free transfer to the Red Line T in the direction of Alewife. Three stops later, get off at the Charles/MGH stop and it’s about a seven minute walk to the Wyndham Beacon Hill. (The reverse trip to Logan is not free.) If you’re truly adventurous, you can take the ferry, though the weather may not cooperate for that option.

Photo tips:

For inspiration, Keith recommends the MIT Museum, and can’t wait to check out the exhibit that opened last week, The Polaroid Project: At the Intersection of Art and Technology. The MIT Museum sits a block from where instant film was invented, and the exhibit itself “tells the fascinating and instructive story of the Polaroid company, and presents all aspects of Polaroid photography, including the technology that made it possible.” It includes works byartists such as Ansel Adams, Chuck Close, Barbara Crane, Harold Edgerton, Walker Evans, Hans Hansen, David Hockney, Dennis Hopper, Gyorgy Kepes, Robert Mapplethorpe, Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol, and William Wegman. For the camera buffs among us, the exhibition also includes cameras, prototypes, and experimental films from the MIT Museum’s own historic Polaroid collection.

The Museum of Fine Arts is one of Amy’s favorite places in Boston. Current exhibitions LHSA members may want to check out include “Viewpoints: Photographs from the Howard Greenberg Collection,” a collection of 150 photographs that “celebrates photography both as an art form and as a social, cultural, and political force.”

If you want to shoot outdoors and the weather cooperates, the fall foliage at the Boston Common (created in 1634 as America’s first public park) and Public Garden https://www.boston.gov/parks/public-garden (created in 1837 as the first public botanical garden in America) should be particularly good this weekend.

(Not that any LHSA members would ever want to, but if you do want to visit the original Cheers bar, it’s just off the Boston Public Garden.)

You of course can’t visit Boston without taking in at least a little of the Freedom Trail, a 2.5 mile trail of indoor and outdoor sites nationally significant historic sites. Maps of the sites are here and you can follow an organized tour or just keep your eyes open for the markers as you travel around Boston.

Keith recommends the Faneuil Hall area for both indoor and outdoor photography, and restaurant options. (It’s open until 9 pm Friday and Saturday.) It’s close to the waterfront and earned the name “the Cradle of Liberty” thanks to its status as the site of speeches by Samuel Adams and other revolutionaries who encouraged their neighbors to rise up and demand independence from Great Britain.

One of our favorite places to visit (and photograph) in Boston is the Boston Public Library’s McKim Building, located on Copley Square across from Trinity Church. As we suggested in this great post about 25 things not to miss in Boston, “when you enter the McKim Building, opened in 1895 and a National Historic Landmark, go up the grand staircase (say hello to the lions on the way) and past the murals representing different scholarly topics. At the top of the stairs you’ll find Bates Hall with its 50-foot-high barrel vault ceiling and oak bookcases and tables.”

If your schedule allows, you can take a free, hour-long tour (check the schedule here) to learn about the art and architecture of the building, or just get a coffee or snack at the Newsfeed Cafe or the Map Room Tea Lounge (featuring tea cocktails) and relax in the courtyard if the weather is good. The library is a great place to enjoy some peace and quiet surrounded by incredible architecture – and interesting things to photograph.

While you’re at Copley Square, you of course should visit Trinity Church, designated by the American Institute of Architects as one of the ten most important buildings in America. Free guided tours are offered Sundays, and paid tours are offered Tuesday-Sunday. Tour details are here, though a self-guided tour can be easier for photography. (Amy actually prefers photographing Trinity’s architecture from the outside at night.)

Charlotte Tweed, Travel Writer & Photographer from A Wandering Web notes, “Boston has all kinds of photo opportunities from street to architecture to nature. My tip would be to head out and walk the streets, look up and admire the architecture. The old and the new together make for a cool contrast. Watch for creative angles and reflections. The parks are also beautiful at sunset.” (Charlotte also captured the shot below.)

Photo Credit: Charlotte Tweed, Travel Writer & Photographer from A Wandering Web

Melissa Nance from the Penny Pinching Globetrotter blog recommends exploring the Acorn Street/Beacon Hill area, which she calls “the most instagrammable street.” She says:

Some say it is the most photographed street in America or the most instagrammable. Made famous by row houses and a narrow cobblestone street, it is actually one of the last places to still have actual cobblestones as paving material.
Here you can feel as if you have stepped into a time machine back to colonial Boston. It was on this very street that 19th century artisans and trades people lived. Today the row houses are prestigious addresses in Beacon Hill. The Acorn/Beacon Hill area is one of the most interesting and historic parts of Boston.
To get the best photos arrive early in the morning or right after rain. The wet cobblestones and lack of people make for a great photo.

Restaurants:

If you attended the spring shoot in Asheville or last year’s meeting in Wetzlar, you may be surprised to find that it can be much harder to get a table at Boston restaurants, particularly on a Friday night. (You’ll of course be attending the banquet Saturday night!)

For lunch options, Melissa Nance from the Penny Pinching Globetrotter blog suggests:

An affordable and healthy meal in Boston can easily be found at by CHLOE at one of three Boston locations-Seaport, Fenway and Back Bay. If you didn’t know better you would never guess everything is vegan!! Even the pickiest eaters will find something on the menu which offers things like spicy seitan “chorizo” tacos, fresh delicious pesto “meatballs”, and creamy macaroni and cashew “cheese” with smoked shiitakes that are surprisingly a great bacon substitute.

For those on a budget the combo meal is the best deal. For just $13.95 you get your choice of burger, fries and a drink. You can add a cookie for $1.50 more or you add soup for $2.50.

If you want to try something different than what you can find everywhere else then add by CHLOE to the list. I highly recommend the guacamole burger and fries dipped in their yummy beet ketchup.

One of Amy’s favorites in Boston for another fast and healthy lunch option is CAVA, a mainly East Coast Mediterranean fast casual chain with several Boston locations. The closest location to the meeting is the one in the Kendall Square area across the Longfellow Bridge from the Wyndham. (If you’re near Copley Square, there’s a CAVA location there as well.) The greens + grains bowl is a safe bet if you want vegetables but also don’t want to find yourself hungry midway through afternoon sessions. A meal and a seasonal sparkling water or soda will come in at about $15. If the line is long – it can be – you can also order online and pick up your meal.

Another option close to the hotel is the popular Tatte Bakery and Café. (The Beacon Hill location is a ten minute walk from the Wyndham.)

And of course if you want seafood, Boston has a wealth of options. For a less expensive (but by no means cheap) option, Luke’s Lobster is great if you’d like a lobster roll for lunch, while Legal Sea Foods is a delicious – though expensive – option for lunch or dinner. (Yes, these are both chains – and Luke’s is based in Maine! – but both are good and are always full of Bostonites. And Legal Sea Foods was started in Cambridge.) The closest Luke’s location is the Downtown Crossing location about a mile walk away, and Legal Sea Foods has several locations within a similar walk from the Wyndham. (The chain also has other restaurants that serve seafood but can be less expensive, including Legal Crossing and Legal Fish Bowl which are reasonably close to the hotel.)

One of our favorite areas in Boston is the North End. There you’ll find great Italian options, including one of the locations of Mike’s Pastry and competitor Modern Pastry down the street. For more restaurant suggestions, this post at To & Fro Fam has 21 suggestions for breakfast, lunch and dinner in Boston. In it, we discussed Scopa, an Italian restaurant in the North End we ended up at one night when Carmelina’s – where we had eaten on a previous trip -- had a 52 person wait list and Scopa had no wait. We ended up really liking Scopa, where entrees are $22-32 and pizzas are $12-15.

We also love Carmelina’s. To give you a sense of Carmelina’s popularity, on our first visit there, we were waiting to get in when one of Amy’s brothers called her. When she told him where we were, he reported that Carmelina’s is where he and his wife went for wedding anniversaries when they lived an hour away in New Hampshire. It’s worth the drive – or planning ahead to get a reservation.)

If you’re in the North End, it’s practically required that you try out the cannoli at Mike’s Pastry or Modern Pastry. Just be sure to bring cash and to wait awhile. We’ve been to both when the wait was less than a minute, and when the wait was 15+ minutes. You won’t complain either way when you taste the cannoli.

When it comes time for dessert, according to Boston Magazine, “No one loves ice cream as much as New Englanders do.” While we haven’t (yet) made our way through their entire list of 30 best Boston ice cream shops, we did enjoy J.P. Licks, which has 17 locations in and around Boston. The one nearest to the Wyndham is at 150 Charles Street. They have seasonal specials as well as old standbys.

We hope you enjoy your time at LHSA, and that our Boston tips help you make the most of it. See you soon!

Boston Tips for LHSA Annual Meeting Attendees