Snapshots by Susan

07/26/2026

I was hired by the Hingham Historical Society to photograph their voyage to see the tall ships as part of Sail Boston's Parade of Sail on July 11th. Thousands of images have been posted by photographers who witnessed this great event, both pros and amateurs, and many are amazing. So, the challenge is to make images that stand out in some way.

There are lots of ways to do that. You can take action shots, have some interesting and unusual background, be technically outstanding etc. I have posted two very different images here that I hope distinguish themselves among the myriad of images that simply document a tall ship sailing in the parade.

Processing an image in black and white can set it apart from the crowd right away. I didn't see a lot of black and white images of the tall ships, probably because they were very colorful. But in this case, I zoomed in on the sailors hanging off of the masts. The interest lies in the repeating triangular shapes of the sails, dotted by the people doing a wide variety of actions.

In the other image, I have tried to tell the story of people on the cruise observing the tall ships, showing the scene from their point of view. I framed the parade between the boat railing and the scallop of the overhead tarp.

I was using a mid-range zoom lens, which allowed me to get fairly close to the action while also including enough of the scene to put it in perspective. Some of the challenges of photographing this event included bright sunlight, shooting on a moving ship and staying out of the way of the other passengers. Not to mention that after 5 hours of being at sea, I was a bit seasick. However, given those obstacles and the challenge of being creative, it was quite a sight to behold and it was truly amazing to be part of history.

(Click each photo to see it in its entirety)

Canon R5 hand held, 70-200 lens
ISO 100
f/5
ss 1/1600th of a second

info for both images

07/23/2026

Photographers are always happy to have some luck while shooting but most would agree that you make your own luck by putting yourself in position to make a great image. Since the Sox were on a hot streak, I decided to do some shooting outside Fenway Park. The Sox were actually out of town and Noah Kahan was appearing for four nights at Fenway.

As I approached the park, I saw people lined up outside, waiting to get in. I asked a park employee what was going on and he told me that people were waiting in line for Noah Kahan merchandise. Now, keep in mind, the doors weren't open yet and the temperature was in the upper 90's! As I walked down Landsdowne Street, I was amazed to see the line stretching all the way to the end of the street and around the corner. This was a great opportunity to make interesting images, as there was a wide variety of people in line and they were a captive audience!

When I arrived at this sculpture, "The Teammates," my eye landed on the two girls in the middle of the shot, framed by the two center figures, so I snapped away. It wasn't until later, when I was editing, that I realized every single gap had a person in between! A lone bottle is between two legs and there's even a tiny portion of a head between the feet on the far right. I find this image to be pretty compelling. I like that each person is doing something different.

Now, you can say this was lucky, and I wouldn't disagree. But I had to put myself at this location and at this time, and I had to "see" something interesting in order to make this image.

Leica Q 28mm lens, hand held no flash
ISO 100
f/8
ss 1/125th of a second

07/19/2026

I have been posting twice a week here for several years and have never discussed the use of AI in photography. Until now, I have mostly stayed away from using AI, especially for my portrait work. The truth is, anyone who uses Photoshop probably uses AI, so to that extent, I have used removal and enhancement tools in Photoshop. If anything, I have made a concerted effort in my street photography to use even less cropping and editing, going for a more organic and unpolished look. However....

My friend and fellow photographer Richard Green said he uses Chat GPT to do some fun editing and I wanted to give it a try. This image was taken with an iPhone 17 Pro. I wanted to make a nostalgic-looking post card from the beach. The carnival was in town and I thought that would make the perfect backdrop. I just uploaded the image to the app and prompted it to make a post card from the image, adding that I wanted it to look nostalgic and showing summertime fun. It added all of the text, adjusted the colors and gave it a very vintage look. It's exactly what I envisioned. Except better.

It really was a fun exercise and I imagine I'll experiment with using the tool to do fun projects like this. I haven't used it enough or know enough about it to give an educated opinion about how AI is affecting photographers and other creatives but for me, I will not be using it for my paying jobs, like senior and family portraits. I consider myself to be a bit of a "wordsmith" and I don't use it for my photo captions.

I'd love to hear from photographers and photography lovers on this topic.

07/16/2026

Last month we traveled to the tiny town of Cassopolis, Michigan to gather with a large group of family. Our house was located on a small lake and we had access to this pontoon boat, to be used for "cruising" and more so for fishing.

I brought my Leica Q, a small camera with a fixed 28mm lens, ideal for traveling and doing street photography. This image was made on a rainy morning, near the end of the week, when my twin nieces were determined to catch a fish. Here they are with their father, who is VERY into fishing, at the stern of the boat.

There's a lot that I love about this image. I love that the people are framed by the roof and seats of the boat. I love that one girl is facing one way and the other two are facing the other way. I love that you can see the fishing rod so that you immediately understand what's going on in the image. I love that no one is actually catching a fish here! It's a quiet moment that at once shows both togetherness but also separateness.

There's no special equipment needed to make an image like this. I hope you take your camera along on your summer adventures and in addition to making images of the loud, grand events, you remember to record the quiet moments spent together.

Oh by the way, one of them DID catch a fish!

Leica Q 28mm lens, no flash, hand held
ISO 200
f/10
ss 1/125th of a second

07/12/2026

Doesn't this image say "summer" to you? I was hired to shoot an 11 year-old's birthday party at Nantasket Beach while the birthday girl and her friends took a surfing lesson. This shoot was very fun and I love this image but it wasn't without its challenges.

I was prepared to be in the water and lucky for me, it was an absolutely beautiful summer day and the water was warm. I wanted to get a good perspective of everyone surfing so I was in up to nearly my waist. I had to be careful not to have saltwater splashing my camera and to be constantly aware of surfers gliding toward me from every direction.

I wanted to get a nice group shot after the lesson. I had this idea of lining the girls up with their boards and placing them in between the boards. I think having two girls together in between the boards in a couple of spots adds to the overall interest of the image. Add the brightly colored boards and bright blue sky and I think the result is a different kind of group photo that captures the moment.

Canon R5 24-70mm lens hand held with flash
ISO 100
f/6.3
ss 1/400th of a second

07/09/2026

If you live in Hingham, the July edition of Greet Hingham should be arriving soon, showcasing the efforts of the town's Beautification Committee. These volunteers were fun to photograph. I asked them to bring some props and they definitely understood the assignment!. I think using props can help to enhance an image and put the subjects clearly in their environment.

Many thanks to this group who put up with my requests and who donate so much of their time to the town. Check out the local islands for which they care. At this time of the year, they look spectacular!

Canon R5 24-70mm lens, held with flash
ISO 100
f/13
ss 1/60th of a second

07/05/2026

I photographed June's full Strawberry Moon and here's some information about how I made this image.

I was hoping to shoot it from my nearby seawall in order to have something interesting in the foreground. I use a very simple app called "Sky Guide" to show me the location of the moonrise and once I got to the location, I realized the moon was going to rise in a completely different location. Not wanting to drive to another location, I thought I might be able to compose an interesting image right from my own backyard.

Once back home, I used the app again and could see that the moon would rise over the houses across the pond from me. This was ok but I walked around my deck to see if I could compose something more interesting. As the moon began to rise, I saw this little open area, framed by trees across the pond and trees in my own backyard.

I was using my longest lens, a 100-400mm and manual focus, so I could get the moon in sharp focus, blurring the trees in the foreground. With a bit of the pond still in the lower part of the frame, I was satisfied with this composition. The moon rises at a surprisingly fast speed so remember to use a fairly fast shutter speed when photographing it and use a tripod.

Canon R5 100-400mm lens, on a tripod, no flash
ISO 2000
f/5.6
ss 1/250th of a second

07/02/2026

06/28/2026

Today’s tip is about taking photographs as a guest at a wedding. In general, I would not suggest bringing a camera to a wedding. Most professional photographers have a clause in their contract that says no one else will be taking photographs at the wedding. Of course, everyone has a cell phone these days and unless the bride and groom collects cell phones prior to the ceremony, it’s almost impossible to keep guests from taking cell phone pictures.

I was recently a guest at a wedding and the bride’s mother (my cousin) asked me to bring my camera to take a few shots. Now, in this case, I did bring my camera but only took photos from my seat and was careful to never get in the way of the hired photographer.

I recommend using a long lens in this situation and be sure to silence the “beep” of your shutter. I made this image during the ceremony and processed it in black and white for added drama.

Leica V Lux 5 hand held no flash
ISO 200
F/11
ss 1/125.th of a second

06/25/2026

Today's tip is to always pay close attention to your images when editing. I made this image during a sailing race in Hingham Bay. I was trying to feature images of "Cool Breeze" and thought this image of the two boats was a nice composition. Until I took a closer during editing, I had no idea that I had caught one of the sailors directly in the sail window of "Cool Breeze!" It took an even closer look for me to see that the person in the window is a good friend!

Of course, catching this exact moment is total luck BUT the part that isn't luck is taking the sailing photos from the vantage point of also being out on the water. I was lucky enough to be on a boat captained by the Hingham Yacht Club Commodore, putting me up close to the race action. I used a 70-200mm zoom lens, and a fast shutter speed to freeze the action. Also paying special attention while editing allowed me to see the moment I had captured.

I enjoy sharing images with friends and got special satisfaction from sharing this with the man in the window.

Canon R5 70-200mm lens hand held no flash
ISO 200
f/7.1
ss 1/500th of a second