The Family

5 comments

1. Of your new pictures, i like 513, 649, and the blue sky sunlight ones, in that order. Of the graffiti and buildings ones, i like the way you look thru an opening to get the shot on 546 and there is something i like about 520. I am not sure what… I think it is the dog…. a slice of life… And 541, 551 and 562 make me smile.

2. why graffiti?

3. Why Graffiti?

   quick: It is interesting and makes a good subject for a photo.

   long: I find it interesting how much effort people put into defacing property. Buying or otherwise acquiring the paint, finding a secluded spot (for more involved work), and spraying out something that might have had real artistic value elsewhere.

   Here’s something interesting about those graffiti shots, and a test to see if anyone reads longer posts: The lady in shot 520 is the owner of the building I shot. She thought I might be out there casing the joint or getting pictures of scores or something. Told her I was out looking for graffiti as it made an interesting photo subject. She talked about how the graffiti out there really makes her made because the building is 100+ years old and she can’t clean the brick because cleaning it is too destructive.

   Also, the gray paint along the side of the building… was /not/ done by her or anyone sanctioned by her. She doesn’t know who did it and is even more mad at them… because if she ever does clean the brick again, they just way more than doubled the work/cost/destruction required to clean the brick. Makes you wonder about the ‘clean up’ groups that go around and paint over graffiti… are they really doing people a favor?

   And the last tidbit: She also said that if the taggers/sprayers would stick to marking up her metal covered windows/ large metal doors… she wouldn’t care about it one bit. It is all about messing up her old brick.

4. 513 – I think everyone does a train track picture. Bonus points if I can do it with a low standing tripod so I can put the camera between the tracks. Or do one at night with a full moon reflecting off the track.

   649 – I like that just the wire is in focus. Making the letter ‘A’ is a great bonus.

   Sky pictures – (639/641/642?) – I like the effect and about 4 minutes later the sun had fallen enough that the shot was gone. Kinda cool how many shots are in a short time frame. (and this is just landscaping!)

   520 – I took it just to get a picture of the lady that came out to talk to me. The guy she was talking to was somebody else out taking pictures. But he wasn’t dressed as nice and was using a camera phone. Wonder what he used as an excuse.

   541 – I figure those figures are great for posing, so why not do pictures? Still trying to figure out how to get a really great shot from them though.

   551 – I title that one ‘construction trash’.

   562 – I wish I could get a shot of that guy really sticking his head out. He’s more than a foot long.

   And no love for 548? I liked the framing of that shot. 550 is best if cropped down as in the tiny thumbnail when browsing the gallery 6 shots at a time. Otherwise, it’s just not that interesting.

   Note: the gallery is now sorted by title name (img_xxx name) so new entries will always be on the last pages.

5. I can certainly understand why the lady is upset by the gray paint on her bricks. Likely it was done by someone who was trying to cover graffiti with no thought that they were defacing property in the same way and on a bigger scale. Obviously it was done by someone with no appreciation of old bricks.

   In Houston, and now in Rosenberg, there is a graffiti law which requires the owner of the building to clean up or paint over graffiti within 2 weeks. If they do not they are fined ($500 i think) and the city paints over it for them, making no effort to match paint color. Or they are given the option of arranging for the city to paint over it within that 2 weeks and not paying the fine. There is, however, a fee if you want the city to match paint color. (I could be off on the details) It is a hardship on small business owners in graffiti prone areas and is not fair. They are punishing the victim instead of the vandals. Some businesses get hit almost daily and cleaning up is a losing battle.

   It’s a difficult problem… I can understand the graffiti “artist’s” urge to paint, and, as you say, it’s obviously important to them because they put time, money, and risk into it. Some graffiti is just a matter of signing your name or your group’s name, saying i was here (or making a joke or social comment) with no effort to make it attractive, but some is painted by people who are trying to produce art.

   I am afraid i consider it vandalism, no matter how carefully done. If you are painting someone else’s property without their permission (even if you are painting a coat is gray) it is vandalism in my book.

   In San Diego years ago, they built a wall or gave an existing wall, a huge very visible wall, to graffiti artists to paint as they wanted. The idea was that if they are going to paint no matter what, give them a place to do it and they will leave other places alone. I don’t know how well that worked, but at least they tried to address the problem in a way that gave those with the urge to paint an outlet… and the graffiti wall was interesting. It was amazing what they could do with spray paint when they had no time restrictions. Of course, there were, as i recall, problems with hard feelings when one painting over another’s work; no plan is perfect.
   —

   So you particularly like 548 🙂 It is interesting what one sees beauty in. You cold do many like it and call it a study in brick.