123. Graffiti - October 18-24, 2015
Paul-
I liked this theme, and some feedback I received beforehand suggested some of you did, too. I decided (personally) to hold to my understanding that graffiti has been historically considered some kind of “defacement.” However, it’s hard to argue that what was once commentary or crude images has morphed into stunning artwork. I anticipate some of that will appear as a submission. Hell, why not…most everything else evolves.
I was out at Pawnee State Park last Sunday afternoon attending a potluck/practice session with my Tai Chi group. (No, we don’t do both at the same time.) Driving back from the Park I noticed an old concrete railroad trestle just outside the (very) small town of Emerald. It’s been my experience that these kinds of structures are prime candidates for high school kids wanting to tag, express their unrequited love, proclaim the superiority of their school, or just relay the sexual endowments of someone they know.
The trestle was in a fairly isolated spot, but I was able to find a narrow dirt track running off to the side of the road that would take me under one of the support columns. I was purposely looking for something simple, hastily drawn, and in B&W. I wasn’t disappointed.
This is the shot I opted to take with the lens stopped down a bit because I felt the background was interesting and wanted to integrate it into the primary subject. It could be detraction. I’ll be interest to know whether you feel something like a mid-range f/stop might have been better.
Our story so far: 1/40 sec.; f/16; aperture priority; ISO 500; metering set for center-weighted averaging; -1/3 EV bracketing; 18-55mm lens set at 27mm; white-balanced at automatic; camera was handheld (and remarkably steady considering the excessive amount Diet Coke I had imbibed about an hour beforehand). I didn’t stay on-site too long: it was clear one or more people had made that spot a temporary “home” and I would probably be considered an unwanted visitor if they came back.
I liked this theme, and some feedback I received beforehand suggested some of you did, too. I decided (personally) to hold to my understanding that graffiti has been historically considered some kind of “defacement.” However, it’s hard to argue that what was once commentary or crude images has morphed into stunning artwork. I anticipate some of that will appear as a submission. Hell, why not…most everything else evolves.
I was out at Pawnee State Park last Sunday afternoon attending a potluck/practice session with my Tai Chi group. (No, we don’t do both at the same time.) Driving back from the Park I noticed an old concrete railroad trestle just outside the (very) small town of Emerald. It’s been my experience that these kinds of structures are prime candidates for high school kids wanting to tag, express their unrequited love, proclaim the superiority of their school, or just relay the sexual endowments of someone they know.
The trestle was in a fairly isolated spot, but I was able to find a narrow dirt track running off to the side of the road that would take me under one of the support columns. I was purposely looking for something simple, hastily drawn, and in B&W. I wasn’t disappointed.
This is the shot I opted to take with the lens stopped down a bit because I felt the background was interesting and wanted to integrate it into the primary subject. It could be detraction. I’ll be interest to know whether you feel something like a mid-range f/stop might have been better.
Our story so far: 1/40 sec.; f/16; aperture priority; ISO 500; metering set for center-weighted averaging; -1/3 EV bracketing; 18-55mm lens set at 27mm; white-balanced at automatic; camera was handheld (and remarkably steady considering the excessive amount Diet Coke I had imbibed about an hour beforehand). I didn’t stay on-site too long: it was clear one or more people had made that spot a temporary “home” and I would probably be considered an unwanted visitor if they came back.
Jerry-
Back when we were doing the "dilapidated" photos, I found this neat spot near the U of M campus. So I returned there and got this shot which I am submitting for our graffiti photos. This area was fenced off as it looks like they are finally going to do some demolition and build something new and fancy. Lots of fun with this subject!
D750 with 24-85 at 85mm. F11 @ 1/250, ISO 800.
Back when we were doing the "dilapidated" photos, I found this neat spot near the U of M campus. So I returned there and got this shot which I am submitting for our graffiti photos. This area was fenced off as it looks like they are finally going to do some demolition and build something new and fancy. Lots of fun with this subject!
D750 with 24-85 at 85mm. F11 @ 1/250, ISO 800.
Don-
As you enter Farmington from the south this can be seen from HWY 371. This was not my favorite of the two
pictures I had chosen but it is the favorite of my wife's so its pretty much my favorite. Shot with my D810.
ISO 200, F/2.8, 1/2500 sec, 62mm and with Aperture Priority.
As you enter Farmington from the south this can be seen from HWY 371. This was not my favorite of the two
pictures I had chosen but it is the favorite of my wife's so its pretty much my favorite. Shot with my D810.
ISO 200, F/2.8, 1/2500 sec, 62mm and with Aperture Priority.
Byron-
This is a technique I really enjoy. I'm just not very accomplished with it yet but here is my submission. American Graffiti is my favorite movie. This is a scene NOT from the movie but interesting anyway. The hardnosed Bob Falfa is driving his hot 55 Chevy through town when it happens to break down in front of my house. His nemesis, John Milnor, stops by to check on him and is leaving to get parts for him. I see this happening in my front yard so I ran out there to take a look under the hood.
White Balance set to cloudy, ISO 200, 24mm, f/25 at 1/8 sec. The camera was on a tripod.
This is a technique I really enjoy. I'm just not very accomplished with it yet but here is my submission. American Graffiti is my favorite movie. This is a scene NOT from the movie but interesting anyway. The hardnosed Bob Falfa is driving his hot 55 Chevy through town when it happens to break down in front of my house. His nemesis, John Milnor, stops by to check on him and is leaving to get parts for him. I see this happening in my front yard so I ran out there to take a look under the hood.
White Balance set to cloudy, ISO 200, 24mm, f/25 at 1/8 sec. The camera was on a tripod.
Deron-
Graffiti is the urban art form of choice in the big city. Driving around Los Angeles today, I found a neighborhood of rundown buildings covered in murals and graffiti. The funny thing is, there was a lot of construction going on- renovating these buildings into apartments and calling it an artist's colony. These graffiti-covered buildings were here way before someone even had the thought of turning them into living spaces. Kinda cool!
Graffiti is the urban art form of choice in the big city. Driving around Los Angeles today, I found a neighborhood of rundown buildings covered in murals and graffiti. The funny thing is, there was a lot of construction going on- renovating these buildings into apartments and calling it an artist's colony. These graffiti-covered buildings were here way before someone even had the thought of turning them into living spaces. Kinda cool!
Kevin-
Graffiti. Wonderful I thought. There’s plenty of that everywhere! Yeah right. Not so much. Sure nearly every rail car is covered with spray-painted words. But I didn’t feel like photographing a train this week. Perhaps because Byron just did such a magnificent shot of a train for Parallel Lines, or because I had tried photographing trains for that as wee, but my photos were blah. Or perhaps I didn’t know where to find a big rail yard, a place to park, and then care to schlepp my gear across tracks of moving trains. But no problem I thought, there is plenty of graffiti under bridges, on dumpsters, etc! Ah, not so much. I drove and scouted, but didn’t come up with much. I did online searches and found that in most cases the places listed had since been repaired to remove the graffiti. Finally I found a place in the Uptown area of Minneapolis where the entire building was painted in graffiti style. Now one of the things that can frustrate me about graffiti is that the words tend to be unreadable, screwed up or painted in odd sorts of non-fonts. And that was true of this building as well. But it also had Underdog!
There’s no need to fear, Underdog is here!
I liked the colors, I like the art. But wondered if art like this could truly be called graffiti? Well, no matter I decided, because the handicap parking sign was definitely covered in graffiti (or something). So either way it works for me. Now ideally I would have had a person or a car passing in front of the structure, with a longer shutter speed so that the graffiti was sharp, but the person or object was blurred a bit. And I did a couple of rough shots like that on the side of the building that was parallel to the sidewalk. But that’s not the side that Underdog was on (instead it was the parking lot side), and I couldn’t resist the character.
When Polly’s in trouble I am not slow. It’s hip, hip, hip and away I go!
Nikon D4s, handheld, 24-70mm f/2.8 Nikkor lens set to 55mm. ISO 400, f/8 @ 1/125th of a second.
And if anyone can read the large graffiti text above Underdog, or the small graffiti text on the handicap sign, well you can read or translate something I can’t!
Speed of lightning
Roar of thunder
Fighting all who rob or plunder
Underdog, Underdog
Graffiti. Wonderful I thought. There’s plenty of that everywhere! Yeah right. Not so much. Sure nearly every rail car is covered with spray-painted words. But I didn’t feel like photographing a train this week. Perhaps because Byron just did such a magnificent shot of a train for Parallel Lines, or because I had tried photographing trains for that as wee, but my photos were blah. Or perhaps I didn’t know where to find a big rail yard, a place to park, and then care to schlepp my gear across tracks of moving trains. But no problem I thought, there is plenty of graffiti under bridges, on dumpsters, etc! Ah, not so much. I drove and scouted, but didn’t come up with much. I did online searches and found that in most cases the places listed had since been repaired to remove the graffiti. Finally I found a place in the Uptown area of Minneapolis where the entire building was painted in graffiti style. Now one of the things that can frustrate me about graffiti is that the words tend to be unreadable, screwed up or painted in odd sorts of non-fonts. And that was true of this building as well. But it also had Underdog!
There’s no need to fear, Underdog is here!
I liked the colors, I like the art. But wondered if art like this could truly be called graffiti? Well, no matter I decided, because the handicap parking sign was definitely covered in graffiti (or something). So either way it works for me. Now ideally I would have had a person or a car passing in front of the structure, with a longer shutter speed so that the graffiti was sharp, but the person or object was blurred a bit. And I did a couple of rough shots like that on the side of the building that was parallel to the sidewalk. But that’s not the side that Underdog was on (instead it was the parking lot side), and I couldn’t resist the character.
When Polly’s in trouble I am not slow. It’s hip, hip, hip and away I go!
Nikon D4s, handheld, 24-70mm f/2.8 Nikkor lens set to 55mm. ISO 400, f/8 @ 1/125th of a second.
And if anyone can read the large graffiti text above Underdog, or the small graffiti text on the handicap sign, well you can read or translate something I can’t!
Speed of lightning
Roar of thunder
Fighting all who rob or plunder
Underdog, Underdog