I wasn’t able to attend Sail Boston this year, but I did get to Charlestown to photograph some of the tall ships berthed there. It was a warm and windy night, but not as warm as the following nights, thankfully.

I missed seeing a number of the ships and was not able to go aboard any of them, but I am glad I got out. There were numerous people around when I got there after 9pm, but by the time I left after midnight, many had left. It was a lovely night by the harbor.

I really didn’t go there with a plan, though I knew I should bring my tripod, which worked wonderfully. I photographed several of the biggest ships. The SV Mircea is seen lit up in the photos below.

I tried various low shutter speeds and made EV adjustments of between -2 and -3 stops. I pretty much settled on -2.33. It lent an atmospheric quality to the photos with the flapping flags and moderated waves.

At the end of the pier the SV Mircea was on, I got a wide vista of the ships along the Sea Port side of Boston Harbor.

The SV Dar Młodzieży, seen in the photo at the top and below, was berthed next to the SV Mircea:

The USCGC Eagle had a fuel truck parked next to it about amidships. Photos from the stern didn’t look right with it, but changing the angle and a bit of cropping worked better.

Finally, the primary residents of the Charlestown Naval Yard, the USS Constitution and the USS Cassin Young:

I took multiple photos of the Cassin Young/Eagle/Constitution with different shutter speeds. I liked a photo with a long shutter speed that made the water more even. Alas, I missed focus on the Cassin Young in that picture. Best to set focus and then adjust settings when on a tripod. Lesson learned.

You can find more photos on Flickr at this album: