Session Locations · Boston, MA
Boston Family Photographer
The Public Garden, the Commonwealth Avenue Mall, Beacon Hill and the Back Bay — four backgrounds inside a fifteen-minute walk.
Boston is the only location on my list where the walls are the scenery. Brownstone, cobblestone, wrought iron, and a twenty-four-acre garden in the middle of it that has been there since 1837. It is also the only one where people assume there is paperwork, and mostly there is not: you do not need a permit to photograph in the Public Garden with a camera in your hands. This page covers what a session here actually involves — where we walk, where you park, what the rules really say, and what each season gives you.
Boston at a glance
Everything you need before booking a session here.
- Where we meet
- 4 Charles StreetBoston Public Garden · Boston, MA 02116
- From the studio
- About an hourChelmsford to Charles Street, traffic depending
- Permit
- Not for a portraitNone needed on the Common, the Garden or the Mall with handheld gear or a tripod
- Parking
- Zero Charles StreetBoston Common Garage, 1,350 cars, directly under the Common
- Hours
- 6:30 am – 11:00 pmPedestrian access 24 hours a day
- Season
- Year roundSwan Boats April to September · the beds are replanted from mid spring to early autumn
- Dogs
- Leashed, alwaysOff leash only in two marked areas on the Common
- Drones
- Not permittedIn the Garden, the Common or the Mall — no exceptions
Why this location
Four backgrounds, one walk.
Most of my locations are one place: a field, a beach, a garden. Boston is four, and they are close enough together that a single session moves through them on foot. You start under the elms on the Mall, cross Arlington Street into the Garden, and finish on a Beacon Hill doorstep with the gas lamps coming on. Nobody gets back in the car, nobody changes shoes, and the pictures look like they came from four different days. We pick the order together during your Design Consultation, built around the light and around how far the youngest person in your group is willing to walk.
The Public Garden
Twenty-four acres, opened in 1837 as the first public botanical garden in America. The lagoon, the weeping willows, the 1867 footbridge and beds that are replanted by season. The most photographed ground in the city and still the best.
The Commonwealth Avenue Mall
A tree tunnel running from Arlington Street to Charlesgate East with nine sculptures down the middle of it. Churchill called it the grandest boulevard in North America. It gives you depth no park can — a quarter mile of receding light behind your family.
Beacon Hill
Cobblestones, brick, black shutters and gas lamps. Acorn Street is the famous one and we are in and out of it quickly — it is a private residential street, not a set. The side streets around it are quieter and just as good.
The Back Bay brownstones
Stone stoops, iron railings, window boxes and a magnolia over your head if the date lands right in May. The one setting here that looks like nowhere else in New England, and the reason people book Boston instead of a park closer to home.
The work
Sessions photographed in the city.
Families, maternity, engagements and high school seniors, across four years and every season including February. Every frame below was made in Boston or, where it says so, across the river in Cambridge. Nothing here is stock and nothing is another city dressed up to look like this one.
Families & maternity
The Public Garden · early spring
Engagements & couples
Public Garden · Commonwealth Avenue Mall · Back Bay · Beacon Hill
High school seniors
Public Garden · Newbury Street · the waterfront at blue hour · Harvard Yard
Every frame that says Boston was made in Boston, and the two that say Harvard Yard were made in Cambridge. Different city, different rules, and the page tells you which is which.
A little history
Twenty-four acres of made ground.
None of this was land. The Public Garden sits on filled tidal flats at the edge of what was once the Back Bay, and it opened in 1837 as the first public botanical garden in the country. George F. Meacham laid out the design in 1859; the lagoon was dug the same year and has never been more than about three feet deep at its deepest point.
The footbridge went up in 1867, engineered by Clemens Herschel with William G. Preston as architect, and for a while it was the shortest working suspension bridge in the world. It was rebuilt as a girder bridge in 1921 and kept its looks. The whole garden became a National Historic Landmark in 1987. That is the ground you are standing on when we make the picture, and it is worth a sentence when your children ask about it later.
- 24 acres
- Opened 1837
- Footbridge built 1867
- National Historic Landmark
Planning your session
Six things worth knowing before the day.
You almost certainly do not need a permit
Friends of the Public Garden puts it plainly: you do not need a permit to photograph on the Common, in the Garden or on the Mall if you are using handheld equipment or a tripod. The City does ask for a permit for commercial production, and those two lines sit oddly together — but a family with one photographer and one camera is the first case, not the second. If certainty matters to you, Boston Parks permitting is 617-635-4505.
Park at Zero Charles Street
The Boston Common Garage is literally underneath the Common — 1,350 spaces, and you come up the stairs across the street from the Garden. Weekday rates start around $14 for the first hour. It is the difference between arriving relaxed and arriving having circled the Back Bay for twenty minutes.
A wedding is the one thing that does need paperwork
Ceremonies in these parks need a Parks permit: $50 for a Boston resident, $100 otherwise, April 1 to December 1, sixty minutes, fifty people maximum, and no tents, chairs, music, food, decorations or animals. Portrait sessions are not ceremonies, but people mix the two up, so it is worth knowing which one you are booking.
Harvard Yard is Cambridge, and it has its own rule
The Yard is beautiful and it is not Boston. Harvard's published policy is that anyone photographing on Harvard property for commercial use needs advance permission — the request goes to Harvard Public Affairs and Communications. If Harvard is on your list, tell me early so there is time to ask properly.
Acorn Street: short, quiet, and grateful
It is the most photographed street in the city and it is also somebody's front door. We work fast, we do not block doorways, and we do not treat it like a studio. Fifteen minutes there is plenty, and the quieter lanes either side of it photograph just as well with none of the guilt.
Wear the shoes you can actually walk in
A Boston session covers real distance on cobblestone and gravel. Bring the shoes you love for the pictures and the shoes you can walk in for between them — nobody photographs well while wincing. You get a wardrobe guide after booking; cream, sand, soft blue and deep jewel tones sit well against brick and stone, and small busy patterns do not.
Questions about Boston
Before you book.
Do we need a permit for family photos in the Boston Public Garden?
No, not for a normal portrait session. Friends of the Public Garden states that you do not need a permit to photograph on Boston Common, in the Public Garden or on the Commonwealth Avenue Mall if you are using handheld equipment or a tripod. The City separately asks for a permit for commercial film and photography production, which is aimed at crews, lighting and vehicles rather than one photographer with a camera. Drones are not permitted in any of the three parks. If you want it confirmed for your date, Boston Parks permitting is 617-635-4505.
Where do we park for a Public Garden session?
The Boston Common Garage at Zero Charles Street — 1,350 spaces directly under Boston Common, and you surface a short walk from the Garden gates. Weekday rates start around $14 for the first hour. Street parking in the Back Bay exists in theory. I would not plan a session around finding it.
Can we bring our dog?
Yes. Leashed dogs are welcome on the Common, in the Public Garden and on the Mall, year round. Off-leash is allowed only in two designated areas on the Common, which rotate and are marked with signs, so plan on the leash staying on. Tell me in advance and I plan the route with the dog in mind.
When is the best time of year for photos in Boston?
All of it, and each season gives you something different. May brings magnolia and the Back Bay at its best. Summer puts the Swan Boats on the lagoon — they run April through September — and the seasonal beds are replanted from mid spring to early autumn. Late September and October give you the elms on the Mall turning and the softest light of the year. Winter strips the trees back to brick, iron and gas lamps, which is when Beacon Hill looks most like itself. The frames on this page were made in February, May, August and September.
Can you photograph us at Harvard Yard?
Sometimes, with notice. Harvard Yard is in Cambridge, not Boston, and Harvard's policy is that photography on Harvard property for commercial use requires advance permission from Harvard Public Affairs and Communications. Personal photography in the Yard is a different matter and people do it every day, but a paid session is not that. Raise it early and we handle it properly rather than hopefully.
Is Acorn Street worth it?
For fifteen minutes, yes. It is genuinely the most photographed street in the city and it looks like nothing else in America. It is also a private residential street where people live, and in high season there is a queue. We go early or late, we work quickly, and we keep the doorways clear. The lanes around it — and the Beacon Hill side streets generally — give you ninety percent of the look with none of the crowd.
Is it manageable with strollers, grandparents or a wheelchair?
The Public Garden and the Mall are flat, paved and easy. Beacon Hill is not — cobblestone and brick sidewalks that heave, plus a real slope. If someone in your group needs level ground, we build the session around the Garden and the Mall and skip the Hill, and you lose almost nothing. Tell me who I am planning around and it stops being a problem.
What is the investment for a session in Boston?
Portrait commissions begin at $1,450. Most families invest between $1,500 and $4,000 depending on the artwork selected. Every commission results in finished wall art or an album — digital-file-only packages are not offered. Request the full experience guide for pricing detail.
How far is Boston from Chelmsford?
About an hour door to door, traffic depending, and considerably less if we book outside the evening rush. It is a straightforward run for families in Chelmsford, Westford, Acton, Concord, Lexington, Lowell, Andover and Greater Boston generally — and if the drive is the objection, Larz Anderson Park in Brookline gives you a skyline without the downtown.
Other session locations
Boston is one of several.
Larz Anderson Park
The skyline from a hilltop lawn, with parking you can actually find. The right answer when you want the city in the frame but not underfoot.
Concord, MAConcord & the North Bridge
Stone walls, the Buttrick Gardens and the river. Historic in a quieter register, twenty-five minutes from the studio instead of an hour.
Salisbury, MASalisbury Beach
Open Atlantic on one side, salt marsh on the other. The opposite of a city session, and the easiest place on the list to bring a dog.
Limited sessions each season
Four backgrounds, one walk, and no paperwork.
A Boston session is planned around the light and around the walk, not around a permit office. Book the evening and we handle the rest. Serving families across Chelmsford, Westford, Acton, Concord, Lexington, Lowell, Andover, Brookline and Greater Boston, Massachusetts.