Elishéva live@Faneuil Hall

Boston is an incredibly vibrant city and hosts many live events in theatres and outdoor venues. At Boston’s Faneuil Hall, I took some pictures of Elishéva, a soulful jazz singer, while she was rehearsing.

Boston in summer has its own rhythm—a blend of footsteps, street chatter, and, if you’re lucky, the pulse of live music spilling into the air. I took this photograph during one of those moments when the city seems to pause and listen. The singer, shaded under her cap and oversized sunglasses, leans into the microphone with an intimacy that draws you in, while her guitarist locks eyes with her, an unspoken conversation carried through chords.

From a compositional perspective, the pairing of the performers in the foreground against the soft blur of onlookers creates depth and narrative. The guitar’s diagonal line slices through the frame, guiding the eye from right to left, while the microphone cord snakes gently toward the bottom edge, grounding the scene. The American flag in the background—faint but noticeable—roots the image in place, without overwhelming it.

Technically, the mid-day light was both a blessing and a curse. Its abundance allowed me to capture crisp detail and colour, from the polished sheen of the guitar to the texture of the brick wall, but it also risked flattening the scene. I worked with a slightly open aperture to keep the focus tight on the performers, letting the background fall into a soft defocus that separates subject from distraction.

I resisted the urge to crop tightly. The space around them—the spectators leaning, arms folded, curious but relaxed—is part of the performance too. Street music isn’t only about the sound; it’s about the dialogue between those who play and those who pass by, some staying just long enough for one song before melting back into the city’s flow.

In the end, it’s a portrait not just of two musicians, but of an encounter—brief, unscripted, and entirely alive.