Graffiti day

I was downtown today looking for photo ops, and this train came by just as I had parked and was getting my camera ready. Leaned against my truck fender to steady myself as I panned with the train as it passed.





Nikor 55-200mm w/rotating polarizer filter, & vibration stabilization on. ISO 400.

Tres cool!!!

Thank you

those people have some serious skill to do that with spray cans

I agree. I couldn't paint a toaster if I had to without having some runs in it, lol.

My son and I have spent many hours photographing graffiti. I think it is one of the coolest arts going. Most of these people aren't "trained" as artists in the traditional sense which makes it even cooler to me. The trick - and the hard part - of course is keeping it legal. My son was involved in an organization that did public murals with the permission of the property owners and with public contributions in paints and $. Usually the murals had a political theme but sometimes they just got to do their monikers (I believe in the language of the graff artists "burners"). It's really hard to separate the tagging and vandalism from the other more purposeful kinds of graffiti because ultimately if they don't have permission, it's all illegal. My apologies to the train companies but I love the graffiti train cars the most. I've seen a car in one part of the country and a few weeks while traveling seen the same car in another.

Cool project your son was involved in! Post some of your graffiti shots sometime when you get a chance.

Waterwings said:

Cool project your son was involved in! Post some of your graffiti shots sometime when you get a chance.

Click to expand...

Graffiti is almost by definition, the expression of the "have nots". The kids in my son's group were all between the ages of 13 and 17. Most were north-side kids who are surrounded by a way of life I don't know. Their lives are reflected in the images of this mural including a too-young sense of cynicism. What's really interesting to me is the lack of eyes on most of the people in the mural. In art school you are taught that the "life" in a human subject is reflected in their eyes. The missing eyes in the mural speak to a sense of hopelessness and isolation in these kids. Whether or not you agree with their politics or world-view, these kids are smart and talented. The program is a small rag-tag outfit but it's helping keep kids out of trouble. The mural was about 80' long and was painted on the side of an empty grocery in their community.







One of my son's people



and his moniker "sake"



Sorry man, I didn't mean to hijack your photo post.

Sorry man, I didn't mean to hijack your photo post.

Click to expand...

It's not hijacking to me, just adding to a discussion about graffiti . The mural was painted using spray cans? Very talented kids, and I agree about the eye thing. Even in photography it's all about getting the focus on the eyes, for both people and animals. Maybe that's why I stick with buildings and other objects, lol. Appreciate you posting the shot of the mural, and and son did well on the person he painted .