This theme was a lot of fun. Boston has a great mix of old historic signs as well as a lot of neon, art deco and other signs left over from the 60s and 70s. They combine to make for some very visual landmarks along the streets, and bring color to some otherwise plain brick facades.

This is a case where I knew most of the signs I wanted to photograph in advance and went out specifically to those locations. Only a couple of these were ones I stumbled upon along the way. Or for instance, I went to Fenway Park knowing there would be something great there, and ended up photographing the sign painted on a wall that’s kind of off the beaten track, rather than right out front at one of the gates. But the Paramount marquee, piano store, liquor store, Coca Cola ad and Beacon Street sign were all ones I picked out in my head while thinking about this theme.

The main challenge was similar to that with the streetlights, of not shooting everything from below looking up. That’s how most of these signs look their best, which is logical since they were specifically designed to be viewed this way. But I tried to mix it up as much as possible, and I did end up with angles or viewpoints apart from what I planned on for a few, once I got there and saw the best angle (or found there was a truck parked where I was going to stand).

Finally, I included at the bottom one of my favorite photos of Boston that features the inspiration for this theme: the Citgo sign. I thought about including the Citgo sign in this theme, but ideally would like to take the photo from somewhere at the same level, rather than from below, and couldn’t figure out the best way to do it in time. And why try to out-do a photo I like so much anyway?

Sunset over Citgo, from the Top of the Hub viewing level