Backing up Andrea, this musically-talented Friend will assist in securing area on the board! Link to Album.

I FINALLY GOT EXPLORED!!! WOOHOOOOO!

 

Black backdrop , with two phottix DGS150 flash heads (and softboxes) 1 infront of subjects to the left at eye level, the second behind subjects facing outwards towards backbround and hair, high an pointing down. SB600 on camera flashing straight at subjects.

 

Edited slightly using photoshop! a slight skin blur , no colour enhancements at all! Have noticed though that the music sheets are upside down!!! must have been from when Elin & Llyr were chucking their music in the air on their fun shoot :)

 

f/10.0 - ISO 200 - 1/125 Nikon 35mm F1.8

It's another Low Key Lame Ass Thursday! This is also another Copy Cat shot, but I wanted a Low Key version so it's a little different then the original. The original is in the comments as well as a color version of mine.

 

Musically Challenged

Adele - Make You Feel My Love

 

(23 of 52)²

i love this city so fiercely. this is exactly where i want to be. for always.

 

making fun of Los Angeles will probably always be the trendy thing to do. but i am ever grateful for being able to see both the good and the bad of this town and knowing that the former vastly outweighs the latter.

 

i grew up here. in San Marino, a little suburb outside of Los Angeles. it was an idyllic little town with generations and generations spanning back through the years. i couldn't have asked for a better childhood or better hometown.

 

i lived in Brentwood for a time, just a few doors down from where O.J. murdered Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. one night as my date was walking me home, i noticed cars doing the inevitable slow down looky-loo thing as they drove past on Bundy Drive. a few would stop completely and crane their necks trying to see past the gates. i held an impromptu tour pointing out different aspects of the double murder site (though i think i was heavily embellishing since it shocked the tourists making it that much more inappropriate fun for me!).

 

i moved to Brooklyn for a while in the summer of 2002 and while i enjoy so much about NYC, LA is my home and i was itching to get back to everything and everyone i loved. aside from that brief stint, Hollywood has been my home for a decade now.

 

if i start talking about every way in which i love this place i'd never stop. and since i already used up my overly verbose description quota yesterday, i'll just end here.

  

_______

 

for Musically Challenged: "No One's Gonna Love You" by Band of Horses. i love Band of Horses. a lot. a lot.

she's inside me like a

  

secret and i've got no one to tell

wandering like a fool through the halls of a blue hotel.

 

so go on and rain down on us

cause i give up,

i give up.

 

- "Blue Hotel", by Ryan Adams

 

_____________

 

i think there might be some other mysterious algorithm at play here. the more busy i am and the less time i have to mess around on Flickr, the more photos i shoot.

 

you know how you feel when you realize you've left your cell behind on the kitchen counter at home? even if you don't need it, even if maybe you get zero reception wherever you're headed, it feels a bit like a phantom limb.

 

or maybe you don't feel any anxiety when without a phone and i just have issues. that's entirely possible, i assure you!

 

but that's that's the best way i can describe how i feel without my camera tucked into my purse. even if just going to the pharmacy or running some other equally mundane errand.

 

the first step is admitting you are powerless over your addiction. at least that's what they tell me.

 

_______

 

for Brad's list this week in Musically Challenged this week. great fucking song.

Created for The Hypothetical Awards' 4th Annual, Musically-Themed challenge..."Album Cover Design!"

 

The stunning and critically acclaimed debut album by Amoricide, Overdosed and D.O.A. left many wondering if Jeff Scott Baines and the boys could live up to the hype with the release of their sophomore effort. The first single released, Raining On My Parade broke only the smallest of sales records, stalling at #19 on Billboard's Top100. In an odd turn of fate, a relatively unknown Canadian musician, Jazlyn Shaw recorded a version of Shouldn't You Marry Him...Dumb Ass! which went totally viral on You Tube, bringing attention to her, as well as Amoricide. Months later, with record sales skyrocketing, Amoricide launched a world-wide, ten month tour...with Jazlyn as their opener...does it get any better than that?

 

This is what Amoricide would sound like: 'Paris in Flames' - Thursday

 

Amoricide's Scorched Earth Policy (Back cover) Here

Jazlyn Shaw's (Amoricide cover) of Shouldn't You Marry Him...Dumb Ass! Here

 

Explore Aug 1, 2012 #170

.

 

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” by Mahatma Gandhi

.

“Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.” by Mahatma Gandhi

.

“In the end we shall have had enough of cynicism, skepticism and humbug, and we shall want to live more musically.” by Vincent van Gogh

.

“Mathematics expresses values that reflect the cosmos, including orderliness, balance, harmony, logic, and abstract beauty.” by Deepak Chopra

  

If you asked me to give you a song that described my life as I see it this would be the one. When I started this challenge this was the song I couldn't wait to do.

 

I'm posting early due to the fact that next week is my birthday week...I have not idea what's in store for me this year..

 

A special thanks to my friends for help here. This is what I pictured in my head. (Lots of photoshop but I got it! :)

 

Song is: Love Story by Taylor Swift

 

We were both young when I first saw you

I close my eyes

And the flashback starts

I'm standing there

On a balcony of summer air

 

See the lights,

See the party, the ball gowns

I see you make your way through the crowd

You say hello

Little did I know

 

That you were Romeo you were throwing pebbles

And my daddy said stay away from Juliet

And I was crying on the staircase

Begging you please don't go, and I said:

 

Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone

I'll be waiting all there's left to do is run

You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess

It's a love story baby just say yes

 

So I sneak out to the garden to see you

We keep quiet cause we're dead if they knew

So close your eyes

Escape this town for a little while

 

Cause you were Romeo I was a scarlet letter

And my daddy said stay away from Juliet

But you were everything to me

I was begging you please don't go and I said:

 

Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone

I'll be waiting all there's left to do is run

You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess

It's a love story baby just say yes

 

Romeo save me, they try to tell me how to feel

This love is difficult, but it's real,

Don't be afraid

We'll make it out of this mess

It's a love story baby just say yes

 

I got tired of waiting

Wondering if you were ever coming around

My faith in you was fading

When I met you on the outskirts of town I said:

 

Romeo save me I've been feeling so alone

I keep waiting for you but you never come

Is this in my head, I don't know what to think

He knealt to the ground and pulled out a ring

 

And said:

 

Marry me Juliet you'll never have to be alone

I love you and that's all I really know

I talked to your dad go pick out a white dress

It's a love story baby just say yes

 

Filter~Take a Picture

Awake on my airplane

Awake on my airplane

My skin is bare

My skin is theirs

Awake on my airplane

Awake on my airplane

My skin is bare

My skin is theirs

I feel like a newborn

And I feel like a newborn

Awake on my airplane

Awake on my airplane

I feel so real

 

Chorus:

Could you take my picture?

Cuz I wont remember

Could you take my picture?

Cuz I wont remember

Could you take my picture?

Cuz I wont remember

Could you take my picture?

Cuz I wont remember

Yeah

 

I dont believe in

I dont believe in

In your sanctity

You privacy

I dont believe in

I dont believe in

Sanctity

A hypocrisy

Could everyone agree that

No one should be left alone

Could everyoone agree that

They should not be left alone yeah

And I feel like a newborn

And I feel like a newborn

Kicking and screaming

 

Chorus

 

Hey dad what do you think about your son now

Ah hey dad what do you think about your son now

- The Offspring, You're Gonna Go Far, Kid

 

Had a pretty good day at work despite the fact that I was fall-down exhausted all day. I think this weekend's festivities have finally caught up with me. Totally worth it.

 

This shot is for one of the weekly challenge song selections in Musically Challenged, picked by pikespice this week. I actually really like a bunch of the songs he picked. I love when that happens. :)

 

365 Days (self portraits): Day 245

Musically Challenged: The Offspring - You're Gonna Go Far, Kid

The Damn Truth have never aspired to be anything other than what they are, and they come by it naturally. Musically, they exist at the point at which band members’ abilities and interests intersect, “And the pieces just kind of fall where they fall,” says Tom. The very first piece fell into place when Lee-la and Tom met butt-naked at a hippie gathering. Lee-la was singing CSNY's "Almost Cut My Hair" and Tom immediately pulled out his guitar and they jammed all night. "And we never really stopped." adds Tom.

The Damn Truth - I WANT YOU (Live)

thedamntruthtube Published on Nov 18, 2012

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTLhs6v4FXU

!!WATCH IN HD - PLAY LOUD !!!!

 

I Want You (He's a Lightweight)

Recorded Live at Cabaret du Mile-End, Montreal

October 1st, 2012

 

Filmed by Costa Kalafatidis and Ryley Mahoney

Edited by The Damn Truth

Mixed by Freq Shop

 

I WANT YOU is off of our debut album "Dear in the Headlights" available internationally on October 2, 2012

 

 

295/365

 

"Baby I'll be your soldier.

Gladly, I'll do your bidding

Just a taste of what you're holding, for just a taste you could own me...me.

 

Save your sermons for someone thats afraid to love.

I'll be right here, lying in the hands of God.

 

Here it comes, dialing into me.

Now the floor is the ceiling.

If you never flew why would you, cut the wings off a butterfly? Fly.

 

Save your sermons for someone that's afraid to love.

You knew what I feel, then you couldn't be so sure.

I'll be right here lying in the hands of God.

If you feel angels in your hand, tear drops of joy runs down your face, you will rise.

 

Fillin' me up, now drain me

Skin begins to grow back slowly,

faster until I'm choking.

 

Really should call my mother, mother.

 

Save your sermons for someone that's afraid to love.

If you knew what I feel, then you couldn't be so sure.

I'll be right here lying in the hands of God.

 

I am in love with nothing less.

Tear drops of joy runs off my face,

I will rise for someone that's afraid to love.

If you knew what I feel, then you couldn't be so sure.

I'll be right here lying in the hands of God.

 

Now the floor is the ceiling.

If you never flew, why would you?

If you never flew, why would you? You.

Why would you?"

 

Awesome Dave Matthews song, I could have tributed it in so many other ways, but this photo resonates with the line "if you never flew why would you..."

 

Musically Challenged this week...what an amazing Dave song...

Last thing I remember I was running for the door

I had to find the passage back to the place I was before

"Relax," said the night man, "We are programmed to receive

You can check out any time you like but you can never leave"

 

- The Eagles "Hotel California"

  

Happy Thursday Everyone!

 

I challenged myself today to use my 365-SP for both the Musically Challenged group and Our Daily Challenge. So, here it is!

 

I absolutely over-processed this, I know it, but for some reason I couldn't help myself. I felt that it needed a slightly gritty feel, and for that I lost a lot of the focus in the eyelashes. Oh well. :)

 

Musically Challenged: Squeaky is about to have her Baby Week!

Week 70: January 30-February 5

 

2.3.11

Our Daily Challenge: Glimpse

Christina Perri - Jar of Hearts

For TOTW - Musically Inspired

 

This is like the opposite of how I feel lol. I do love the music video and had a different idea in mind for this, but I couldn't do it with my lack of cs4. But, it turned out alright still I think. I want to do another song inspired shot this week before the challenge is over, but It will be hard with what I want to do lol. I'll try tomorrow anyway, and just hope it works out.

 

HAPPY FRIDAY!

I ain't often right

but I've never been wrong

It seldom turns out the way

it does in the song

Once in a while

you get shown the light

in the strangest of places

if you look at it right

- The Grateful Dead, Scarlet Begonias

 

Got a really good phone call today. Keeping my fingers crossed that it leads to something even better. We could use some good news right about now.

 

I originally processed this in color, but on a whim tried a b&w conversion and I think I like this better. Anyway, it's my submission for this week's emulation challenge in My Face is My Canvas.

 

Musically Challenged: The Greatful Dead - Scarlet Begonias

My Face is My Canvas: Emulation Week 104

Oh, won't you please forgive me?

 

_________

 

it's my week in Musically Challenged (aka Best Group Ever). my week, my song selections.

  

i had a tough time deciding on only 10. i tried to strike a balance between lesser-known artists that could do with some brand new ears, some well loved songs that most would know or know of, as well as choosing songs that had lyrics that weren't too ambiguous and therefore hard to pair with a photo.

 

as is the case with the song for this shot.

 

my hands-down favorite of The Libertines is "Can't Stand Me Now". however it didn't offer up as much in terms of varied lyrics, so i left it on the cutting room floor.

 

the photo above (and below) was from a few months back, taken in Griffith Park in LA. i am dead smitten with carousels and i watched this one for hours on a lazy Sunday at the beginning of summer.

 

_______________

 

"Music When the Lights Go Out," by The Libertines

 

I no longer hear the music when the lights go out,

Love goes cold in the shades of doubt

The strange fate in my mind is all too clear.

 

Music when the lights come on

The girl I thought I knew has gone,

And with her my heart had disappeared...

  

Two weeks in NOLA for the mardi gras 2017

Founded in 1993, the Krewe of Orpheus takes its name from the musically-inclined son of Zeus and Calliope. Founding members included Harry Connick, both the junior and senior.

In New Orleans, the krewe established themselves as a superkrewe with their first parade in 1994, which rolled with 700 riders. They were the first super Krewe to allow both male and female riders.

The Krewe's throws include a number of popular items including emblem beads, stuffed animals, signature beads, light-up Orpheus medallion beads, cups, three different types of doubloons, and 4-foot-long stuffed dragons.

They have a number of notable floats including the Dolly Trolley, the horse-drawn bus that was used in the opening of Hello Dolly with Barbra Streisand, the Smoking Mary which is a six unit float that looks like a steam locomotive, a Trojan horse and the Orpheus Leviathan Float, which is a three unit, 139-foot float, and the first Carnival float to use extensive fiber optic lighting.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Fats Domino wass the honorary grand marshall for 2014. His eldest son, Antoine Domino III, rode in the parade and perform his 85 year old father's music.

In addition to Fats Domino, Quentin Tarantino reigned as the krewe's celebrity monarch.

all the better to see you with

 

ok, so the sky isn't black, exactly. it's actually sort of cerulean, which is my favorite color. the cerulean comes courtesy of Lightroom. however, the original (in comments) wouldn't have been entirely black either since i had it on a bit of long exposure.

 

this is Downtown Los Angeles, at night, seen from atop the parking structure at The Grove in Hollywood. i am smitten with nighttime cityscapes, particularly skylines. all sorts, too. the skylines don't have to be as iconic as New York City, nor does it have to have loads of massive skyscrapers to be all imposing and dramatic. i like them all. there's always a view from one angle or another that can make any skyline look magical, i've found.

 

ps, in the foreground is part of a baseball park. i was straightening the crooked horizon when i realized that in order to do so i'd be cutting off the Awesome Little Man down in the bottom left corner. and i'll take Awesome Little Men over straight horizons any day.

 

and finally, this is for one of pimpexposure's weekly song selections in Musically Challenged. love this song lots and lots.

  

"The Sky is Broken," by Moby

_____________

 

speak to me

in the middle of the night

pull your mouth

close to mine

i can see the wind coming down

like black night

 

so speak to me

like the winds outside

it's broken up, pushing us

hear the rain fall

see the wind come to my eyes

see the storm broken

via Instagram ift.tt/1YynVoK

Feelin' Love

 

You make me feel like I want to be dumb blonde

In a centerfold, the girl next door.

And I would open the door and I'd be all wet

With my tits soaking through this tiny little t-shirt

That I'm wearing and you would open the door

And tie me up to the bed.

 

You make me feel love~~~~~~~~~~~~Paula Cole

For this weeks Musically Challenged

 

- Lily Allen, Smile

 

**Explored**

 

First of all, thank you to everyone who took the time to write such heartfelt comments yesterday. You guys are very sweet and I feel very lucky to have so many voices of reason ready to jump in when I need it.

 

I'm not gonna say my issues are magically fixed, because of course they aren't. Wouldn't life be fabulous if that was the way it worked? But today was a pretty damn good day for me, and I'm feeling much happier and just generally positive. I got a handful of new matters to work on at work, including one that was previously being handled by another attorney, but was removed from him and given to me because my boss feels better with it in my hands. Which makes me feel pretty good. So I'm busier, which means I'm earning more money, which solves one of my major sources of anxiety right now. I also got my first paycheck from the new job today. Thank god! Funny how uplifting that can be.

 

Anyway, I'm in a good mood. I figured I'd express that as best I could in my shot today. I hope the rest of you had a great Thursday too. Big, virtual hugs all around.

 

365 Days (self portraits): Day 233

Musically Challenged: Lily Allen - Smile

I wanted to mess around with another night into day type photo last night. Since it was a full moon and crystal clear(damn cold though only 38) I knew there would be plenty of light.

 

This was taken at 7:46, the sun had set around 5:30. The only light sources for this was the full moon, the ambient light of the city behind me, and a small candle I was holding to illuminate me.

 

I think it's cool that when it's dark out we see mostly in B&W, but if you give your camera enough time to collect the light, it still sees in color.

 

30 sec. exposure, f/11, ISO 500.

 

Happy Low Key Lame Ass Thursday! Yeah, I am calling it low key.....come on, the only light source was a fricken candle ;-)

 

Musically Challenged

Never heard this cover before, but I like it: Simple Man - Deftones

 

(41 of 52)²

if there was a better way to go then it would find me

i can't help it, the road just rolls out behind me

be kind to me, or treat me mean

i'll make the most of it, i'm an extraordinary machine

- fiona apple, extraordinary machine

 

I've been feeling utterly uninspired in the selfie department lately. Luckily, that inspiration has just shifted over to my client shoots. It's not gone. Hopefully on this road trip, I'll manage to get some interesting stuff going on again. I can't imagine I'll be lacking in inspiration. Energy, maybe, but not inspiration. ;)

 

Musically Challenged: Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine

 

I lay down, I cant sleep

My mind drums on repeat

I stare at the ceiling from my side

I reach out you're right there

But you're lost in the details

I wait for the end of a long night

- Dashboard Confessional Blame it on the Changes

 

I had big plans for today, but I barely slept last night so everything got put on the back burner. Hello, Monday. You suck.

 

Have a planning meeting tomorrow morning for my Ann Arbor Art Fair dealio. Pretty excited to check out the shop where we'll be showcasing our work so I can make some final decisions in terms of size and format of my prints. If anyone has any strong opinions as far as what you think I should be displaying on the walls for this thing and haven't sent me a message yet, now's the time. I'll most likely be ordering up my prints and supplies this week.

 

And hey, total nonsequitor, but is anyone else watching Game of Thrones on HBO? I almost threw up at the end of last night's episode because I was so upset! I started reading the book, but I'm not caught up to current yet in terms of where the series is at on tv. I need to get some serious reading done so I don't get taken by surprise again. Ugh.

 

Musically Challenged: Dashboard Confessional - Blame it on the Changes

ift.tt/2hi0a2n

big

 

"Like a Star," by Corrine Bailey Rae, one of the weeks songs in Musically Challenged.

  

so, i had heaps of things to say, or rather, write, but i'm at a spectacular loss as to what they were.

 

right, then.

 

-----

  

*wait. PS? either i'm positively mental or ...

 

my previous post? the one with the hand and the Polaroid and the Holocaust starring my uncle Henry? that one?

 

i swear it had had been made a favorite by maybe 20-ish people on Friday, the day i posted it. but yesterday it only has favorite-ed by 4 people. the comment box went missing, as well.

 

neither is of much importance, but either i'm suffering from delusions or there's a glitch in the Matrix.

For the group Musically Challenged, Alibubba put up a list of 10 songs, of which The Dynamo of Volition by Jason Mraz best fit this photo.

 

A captured this puppy a few days ago during my travels of San Francisco. I was walking along a sidewalk and spotted some random graffiti hidden in the weeds. I hiked down through the shrubbery and caught a hiding place. It was way on top of a massive hill and on the other side were townhouses (as seen).

 

I thought the graffiti against the rich urban dwelling with the wires was neato. Someone was actually peeping out. Can you see them?

 

Jason Mraz : The Dynamo of Volition

I got the dynamo of volition the po-po-position automatic transmission with low-ow emissions. I'm a brand new addition to the old edition with the love unconditional.

 

And I'm a drama abolitionist damn no opposition to my proposition half of a man half magician half a politician holdin' the mic like ammunition and my vision is as simple as light.

 

Ain't no reason we should be in a fight no demolition get to vote, get to say what you like procreation compositions already written by itself. Singin' heck is for the people not believin' in gosh.

Thank you „Musically Inspired Artworks (Second Life)" for the group cover! 💕

🎯

www.flickr.com/groups/14807399@N24/pool/

 

This song speaks out to me lyrically and musically, talking about how close we always are to something incredible and beautiful. Where we see the darkness, there may be so very much beauty and light just on the other side of that door…

 

“We may be one day in a lifetime

One name in a bloodline

One word in a love song

Sung into oblivion

 

One deed shy of greatness

One G short of weightless

Torn apart with heavy hearts

Still we believe…”

 

Song: True Illusion

Album: The Lost Mile

 

Theme: 30 Vertical Degrees

Year Eleven Of My 365 Project

 

Day 275 Year 3

Musically Challenged

Baby, It's Cold Outside! -- Dean Martin and Martina McBride

Keith Charles Flint (17 September 1969 – 4 March 2019) was an English singer and a vocalist of the electronic dance act the Prodigy. Starting out as a dancer for the group, he became the lead vocalist and performed on the group's two UK number-one singles, "Firestarter" and "Breathe", both released in 1996. He was also the lead singer of his own band, Flint.

 

Flint owned a motorcycle racing team, Team Traction Control, which won four Isle of Man TT races in 2015 and 2016, and competed in the British Superbike Championship.

 

Flint was born in Redbridge, London, to Clive and Yvonne Flint, on 17 September 1969. Clive Flint worked as an engineering consultant. Keith Flint was initially raised in East London, but in the mid-1970s his parents moved out to a quiet suburban cul-de-sac in Springfield, in Chelmsford, Essex. His childhood was described as unhappy, and he feuded with his parents, who parted when he was young. He attended the Boswells School in Chelmsford and moved to Braintree after leaving school. Flint was described as being a "bright boy with dyslexia" and was disruptive in class. He was expelled from school at the age of 15. Flint then worked as a roofer and later enthusiastically embraced the acid house scene of the late 1980s. Musically, Flint was a childhood fan of The Jam, and in the late 1980s he listened to bands like Siouxsie and the Banshees.

 

Graffiti (plural; singular graffiti or graffito, the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings, and has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire (see also mural).

 

Graffiti is a controversial subject. In most countries, marking or painting property without permission is considered by property owners and civic authorities as defacement and vandalism, which is a punishable crime, citing the use of graffiti by street gangs to mark territory or to serve as an indicator of gang-related activities. Graffiti has become visualized as a growing urban "problem" for many cities in industrialized nations, spreading from the New York City subway system and Philadelphia in the early 1970s to the rest of the United States and Europe and other world regions

 

"Graffiti" (usually both singular and plural) and the rare singular form "graffito" are from the Italian word graffiato ("scratched"). The term "graffiti" is used in art history for works of art produced by scratching a design into a surface. A related term is "sgraffito", which involves scratching through one layer of pigment to reveal another beneath it. This technique was primarily used by potters who would glaze their wares and then scratch a design into them. In ancient times graffiti were carved on walls with a sharp object, although sometimes chalk or coal were used. The word originates from Greek γράφειν—graphein—meaning "to write".

 

The term graffiti originally referred to the inscriptions, figure drawings, and such, found on the walls of ancient sepulchres or ruins, as in the Catacombs of Rome or at Pompeii. Historically, these writings were not considered vanadlism, which today is considered part of the definition of graffiti.

 

The only known source of the Safaitic language, an ancient form of Arabic, is from graffiti: inscriptions scratched on to the surface of rocks and boulders in the predominantly basalt desert of southern Syria, eastern Jordan and northern Saudi Arabia. Safaitic dates from the first century BC to the fourth century AD.

 

Some of the oldest cave paintings in the world are 40,000 year old ones found in Australia. The oldest written graffiti was found in ancient Rome around 2500 years ago. Most graffiti from the time was boasts about sexual experiences Graffiti in Ancient Rome was a form of communication, and was not considered vandalism.

 

Ancient tourists visiting the 5th-century citadel at Sigiriya in Sri Lanka write their names and commentary over the "mirror wall", adding up to over 1800 individual graffiti produced there between the 6th and 18th centuries. Most of the graffiti refer to the frescoes of semi-nude females found there. One reads:

 

Wet with cool dew drops

fragrant with perfume from the flowers

came the gentle breeze

jasmine and water lily

dance in the spring sunshine

side-long glances

of the golden-hued ladies

stab into my thoughts

heaven itself cannot take my mind

as it has been captivated by one lass

among the five hundred I have seen here.

 

Among the ancient political graffiti examples were Arab satirist poems. Yazid al-Himyari, an Umayyad Arab and Persian poet, was most known for writing his political poetry on the walls between Sajistan and Basra, manifesting a strong hatred towards the Umayyad regime and its walis, and people used to read and circulate them very widely.

 

Graffiti, known as Tacherons, were frequently scratched on Romanesque Scandinavian church walls. When Renaissance artists such as Pinturicchio, Raphael, Michelangelo, Ghirlandaio, or Filippino Lippi descended into the ruins of Nero's Domus Aurea, they carved or painted their names and returned to initiate the grottesche style of decoration.

 

There are also examples of graffiti occurring in American history, such as Independence Rock, a national landmark along the Oregon Trail.

 

Later, French soldiers carved their names on monuments during the Napoleonic campaign of Egypt in the 1790s. Lord Byron's survives on one of the columns of the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion in Attica, Greece.

 

The oldest known example of graffiti "monikers" found on traincars created by hobos and railworkers since the late 1800s. The Bozo Texino monikers were documented by filmmaker Bill Daniel in his 2005 film, Who is Bozo Texino?.

 

In World War II, an inscription on a wall at the fortress of Verdun was seen as an illustration of the US response twice in a generation to the wrongs of the Old World:

 

During World War II and for decades after, the phrase "Kilroy was here" with an accompanying illustration was widespread throughout the world, due to its use by American troops and ultimately filtering into American popular culture. Shortly after the death of Charlie Parker (nicknamed "Yardbird" or "Bird"), graffiti began appearing around New York with the words "Bird Lives".

 

Modern graffiti art has its origins with young people in 1960s and 70s in New York City and Philadelphia. Tags were the first form of stylised contemporary graffiti. Eventually, throw-ups and pieces evolved with the desire to create larger art. Writers used spray paint and other kind of materials to leave tags or to create images on the sides subway trains. and eventually moved into the city after the NYC metro began to buy new trains and paint over graffiti.

 

While the art had many advocates and appreciators—including the cultural critic Norman Mailer—others, including New York City mayor Ed Koch, considered it to be defacement of public property, and saw it as a form of public blight. The ‘taggers’ called what they did ‘writing’—though an important 1974 essay by Mailer referred to it using the term ‘graffiti.’

 

Contemporary graffiti style has been heavily influenced by hip hop culture and the myriad international styles derived from Philadelphia and New York City Subway graffiti; however, there are many other traditions of notable graffiti in the twentieth century. Graffiti have long appeared on building walls, in latrines, railroad boxcars, subways, and bridges.

 

An early graffito outside of New York or Philadelphia was the inscription in London reading "Clapton is God" in reference to the guitarist Eric Clapton. Creating the cult of the guitar hero, the phrase was spray-painted by an admirer on a wall in an Islington, north London in the autumn of 1967. The graffito was captured in a photograph, in which a dog is urinating on the wall.

 

Films like Style Wars in the 80s depicting famous writers such as Skeme, Dondi, MinOne, and ZEPHYR reinforced graffiti's role within New York's emerging hip-hop culture. Although many officers of the New York City Police Department found this film to be controversial, Style Wars is still recognized as the most prolific film representation of what was going on within the young hip hop culture of the early 1980s. Fab 5 Freddy and Futura 2000 took hip hop graffiti to Paris and London as part of the New York City Rap Tour in 1983

 

Commercialization and entrance into mainstream pop culture

Main article: Commercial graffiti

With the popularity and legitimization of graffiti has come a level of commercialization. In 2001, computer giant IBM launched an advertising campaign in Chicago and San Francisco which involved people spray painting on sidewalks a peace symbol, a heart, and a penguin (Linux mascot), to represent "Peace, Love, and Linux." IBM paid Chicago and San Francisco collectively US$120,000 for punitive damages and clean-up costs.

 

In 2005, a similar ad campaign was launched by Sony and executed by its advertising agency in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Miami, to market its handheld PSP gaming system. In this campaign, taking notice of the legal problems of the IBM campaign, Sony paid building owners for the rights to paint on their buildings "a collection of dizzy-eyed urban kids playing with the PSP as if it were a skateboard, a paddle, or a rocking horse".

 

Tristan Manco wrote that Brazil "boasts a unique and particularly rich, graffiti scene ... [earning] it an international reputation as the place to go for artistic inspiration". Graffiti "flourishes in every conceivable space in Brazil's cities". Artistic parallels "are often drawn between the energy of São Paulo today and 1970s New York". The "sprawling metropolis", of São Paulo has "become the new shrine to graffiti"; Manco alludes to "poverty and unemployment ... [and] the epic struggles and conditions of the country's marginalised peoples", and to "Brazil's chronic poverty", as the main engines that "have fuelled a vibrant graffiti culture". In world terms, Brazil has "one of the most uneven distributions of income. Laws and taxes change frequently". Such factors, Manco argues, contribute to a very fluid society, riven with those economic divisions and social tensions that underpin and feed the "folkloric vandalism and an urban sport for the disenfranchised", that is South American graffiti art.

 

Prominent Brazilian writers include Os Gêmeos, Boleta, Nunca, Nina, Speto, Tikka, and T.Freak. Their artistic success and involvement in commercial design ventures has highlighted divisions within the Brazilian graffiti community between adherents of the cruder transgressive form of pichação and the more conventionally artistic values of the practitioners of grafite.

 

Graffiti in the Middle East has emerged slowly, with taggers operating in Egypt, Lebanon, the Gulf countries like Bahrain or the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and in Iran. The major Iranian newspaper Hamshahri has published two articles on illegal writers in the city with photographic coverage of Iranian artist A1one's works on Tehran walls. Tokyo-based design magazine, PingMag, has interviewed A1one and featured photographs of his work. The Israeli West Bank barrier has become a site for graffiti, reminiscent in this sense of the Berlin Wall. Many writers in Israel come from other places around the globe, such as JUIF from Los Angeles and DEVIONE from London. The religious reference "נ נח נחמ נחמן מאומן" ("Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman") is commonly seen in graffiti around Israel.

 

Graffiti has played an important role within the street art scene in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), especially following the events of the Arab Spring of 2011 or the Sudanese Revolution of 2018/19. Graffiti is a tool of expression in the context of conflict in the region, allowing people to raise their voices politically and socially. Famous street artist Banksy has had an important effect in the street art scene in the MENA area, especially in Palestine where some of his works are located in the West Bank barrier and Bethlehem.

 

There are also a large number of graffiti influences in Southeast Asian countries that mostly come from modern Western culture, such as Malaysia, where graffiti have long been a common sight in Malaysia's capital city, Kuala Lumpur. Since 2010, the country has begun hosting a street festival to encourage all generations and people from all walks of life to enjoy and encourage Malaysian street culture.

 

The modern-day graffitists can be found with an arsenal of various materials that allow for a successful production of a piece. This includes such techniques as scribing. However, spray paint in aerosol cans is the number one medium for graffiti. From this commodity comes different styles, technique, and abilities to form master works of graffiti. Spray paint can be found at hardware and art stores and comes in virtually every color.

 

Stencil graffiti is created by cutting out shapes and designs in a stiff material (such as cardboard or subject folders) to form an overall design or image. The stencil is then placed on the "canvas" gently and with quick, easy strokes of the aerosol can, the image begins to appear on the intended surface.

 

Some of the first examples were created in 1981 by artists Blek le Rat in Paris, in 1982 by Jef Aerosol in Tours (France); by 1985 stencils had appeared in other cities including New York City, Sydney, and Melbourne, where they were documented by American photographer Charles Gatewood and Australian photographer Rennie Ellis

 

Tagging is the practice of someone spray-painting "their name, initial or logo onto a public surface" in a handstyle unique to the writer. Tags were the first form of modern graffiti.

 

Modern graffiti art often incorporates additional arts and technologies. For example, Graffiti Research Lab has encouraged the use of projected images and magnetic light-emitting diodes (throwies) as new media for graffitists. yarnbombing is another recent form of graffiti. Yarnbombers occasionally target previous graffiti for modification, which had been avoided among the majority of graffitists.

 

Theories on the use of graffiti by avant-garde artists have a history dating back at least to the Asger Jorn, who in 1962 painting declared in a graffiti-like gesture "the avant-garde won't give up"

 

Many contemporary analysts and even art critics have begun to see artistic value in some graffiti and to recognize it as a form of public art. According to many art researchers, particularly in the Netherlands and in Los Angeles, that type of public art is, in fact an effective tool of social emancipation or, in the achievement of a political goal

 

In times of conflict, such murals have offered a means of communication and self-expression for members of these socially, ethnically, or racially divided communities, and have proven themselves as effective tools in establishing dialog and thus, of addressing cleavages in the long run. The Berlin Wall was also extensively covered by graffiti reflecting social pressures relating to the oppressive Soviet rule over the GDR.

 

Many artists involved with graffiti are also concerned with the similar activity of stenciling. Essentially, this entails stenciling a print of one or more colors using spray-paint. Recognized while exhibiting and publishing several of her coloured stencils and paintings portraying the Sri Lankan Civil War and urban Britain in the early 2000s, graffitists Mathangi Arulpragasam, aka M.I.A., has also become known for integrating her imagery of political violence into her music videos for singles "Galang" and "Bucky Done Gun", and her cover art. Stickers of her artwork also often appear around places such as London in Brick Lane, stuck to lamp posts and street signs, she having become a muse for other graffitists and painters worldwide in cities including Seville.

 

Graffitist believes that art should be on display for everyone in the public eye or in plain sight, not hidden away in a museum or a gallery. Art should color the streets, not the inside of some building. Graffiti is a form of art that cannot be owned or bought. It does not last forever, it is temporary, yet one of a kind. It is a form of self promotion for the artist that can be displayed anywhere form sidewalks, roofs, subways, building wall, etc. Art to them is for everyone and should be showed to everyone for free.

 

Graffiti is a way of communicating and a way of expressing what one feels in the moment. It is both art and a functional thing that can warn people of something or inform people of something. However, graffiti is to some people a form of art, but to some a form of vandalism. And many graffitists choose to protect their identities and remain anonymous or to hinder prosecution.

 

With the commercialization of graffiti (and hip hop in general), in most cases, even with legally painted "graffiti" art, graffitists tend to choose anonymity. This may be attributed to various reasons or a combination of reasons. Graffiti still remains the one of four hip hop elements that is not considered "performance art" despite the image of the "singing and dancing star" that sells hip hop culture to the mainstream. Being a graphic form of art, it might also be said that many graffitists still fall in the category of the introverted archetypal artist.

 

Banksy is one of the world's most notorious and popular street artists who continues to remain faceless in today's society. He is known for his political, anti-war stencil art mainly in Bristol, England, but his work may be seen anywhere from Los Angeles to Palestine. In the UK, Banksy is the most recognizable icon for this cultural artistic movement and keeps his identity a secret to avoid arrest. Much of Banksy's artwork may be seen around the streets of London and surrounding suburbs, although he has painted pictures throughout the world, including the Middle East, where he has painted on Israel's controversial West Bank barrier with satirical images of life on the other side. One depicted a hole in the wall with an idyllic beach, while another shows a mountain landscape on the other side. A number of exhibitions also have taken place since 2000, and recent works of art have fetched vast sums of money. Banksy's art is a prime example of the classic controversy: vandalism vs. art. Art supporters endorse his work distributed in urban areas as pieces of art and some councils, such as Bristol and Islington, have officially protected them, while officials of other areas have deemed his work to be vandalism and have removed it.

 

Pixnit is another artist who chooses to keep her identity from the general public. Her work focuses on beauty and design aspects of graffiti as opposed to Banksy's anti-government shock value. Her paintings are often of flower designs above shops and stores in her local urban area of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Some store owners endorse her work and encourage others to do similar work as well. "One of the pieces was left up above Steve's Kitchen, because it looks pretty awesome"- Erin Scott, the manager of New England Comics in Allston, Massachusetts.

 

Graffiti artists may become offended if photographs of their art are published in a commercial context without their permission. In March 2020, the Finnish graffiti artist Psyke expressed his displeasure at the newspaper Ilta-Sanomat publishing a photograph of a Peugeot 208 in an article about new cars, with his graffiti prominently shown on the background. The artist claims he does not want his art being used in commercial context, not even if he were to receive compensation.

 

Territorial graffiti marks urban neighborhoods with tags and logos to differentiate certain groups from others. These images are meant to show outsiders a stern look at whose turf is whose. The subject matter of gang-related graffiti consists of cryptic symbols and initials strictly fashioned with unique calligraphies. Gang members use graffiti to designate membership throughout the gang, to differentiate rivals and associates and, most commonly, to mark borders which are both territorial and ideological.

 

Graffiti has been used as a means of advertising both legally and illegally. Bronx-based TATS CRU has made a name for themselves doing legal advertising campaigns for companies such as Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Toyota, and MTV. In the UK, Covent Garden's Boxfresh used stencil images of a Zapatista revolutionary in the hopes that cross referencing would promote their store.

 

Smirnoff hired artists to use reverse graffiti (the use of high pressure hoses to clean dirty surfaces to leave a clean image in the surrounding dirt) to increase awareness of their product.

 

Graffiti often has a reputation as part of a subculture that rebels against authority, although the considerations of the practitioners often diverge and can relate to a wide range of attitudes. It can express a political practice and can form just one tool in an array of resistance techniques. One early example includes the anarcho-punk band Crass, who conducted a campaign of stenciling anti-war, anarchist, feminist, and anti-consumerist messages throughout the London Underground system during the late 1970s and early 1980s. In Amsterdam graffiti was a major part of the punk scene. The city was covered with names such as "De Zoot", "Vendex", and "Dr Rat". To document the graffiti a punk magazine was started that was called Gallery Anus. So when hip hop came to Europe in the early 1980s there was already a vibrant graffiti culture.

 

The student protests and general strike of May 1968 saw Paris bedecked in revolutionary, anarchistic, and situationist slogans such as L'ennui est contre-révolutionnaire ("Boredom is counterrevolutionary") and Lisez moins, vivez plus ("Read less, live more"). While not exhaustive, the graffiti gave a sense of the 'millenarian' and rebellious spirit, tempered with a good deal of verbal wit, of the strikers.

 

I think graffiti writing is a way of defining what our generation is like. Excuse the French, we're not a bunch of p---- artists. Traditionally artists have been considered soft and mellow people, a little bit kooky. Maybe we're a little bit more like pirates that way. We defend our territory, whatever space we steal to paint on, we defend it fiercely.

 

The developments of graffiti art which took place in art galleries and colleges as well as "on the street" or "underground", contributed to the resurfacing in the 1990s of a far more overtly politicized art form in the subvertising, culture jamming, or tactical media movements. These movements or styles tend to classify the artists by their relationship to their social and economic contexts, since, in most countries, graffiti art remains illegal in many forms except when using non-permanent paint. Since the 1990s with the rise of Street Art, a growing number of artists are switching to non-permanent paints and non-traditional forms of painting.

 

Contemporary practitioners, accordingly, have varied and often conflicting practices. Some individuals, such as Alexander Brener, have used the medium to politicize other art forms, and have used the prison sentences enforced on them as a means of further protest. The practices of anonymous groups and individuals also vary widely, and practitioners by no means always agree with each other's practices. For example, the anti-capitalist art group the Space Hijackers did a piece in 2004 about the contradiction between the capitalistic elements of Banksy and his use of political imagery.

 

Berlin human rights activist Irmela Mensah-Schramm has received global media attention and numerous awards for her 35-year campaign of effacing neo-Nazi and other right-wing extremist graffiti throughout Germany, often by altering hate speech in humorous ways.

 

In Serbian capital, Belgrade, the graffiti depicting a uniformed former general of Serb army and war criminal, convicted at ICTY for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide and ethnic cleansing in Bosnian War, Ratko Mladić, appeared in a military salute alongside the words "General, thank to your mother". Aleks Eror, Berlin-based journalist, explains how "veneration of historical and wartime figures" through street art is not a new phenomenon in the region of former Yugoslavia, and that "in most cases is firmly focused on the future, rather than retelling the past". Eror is not only analyst pointing to danger of such an expressions for the region's future. In a long expose on the subject of Bosnian genocide denial, at Balkan Diskurs magazine and multimedia platform website, Kristina Gadže and Taylor Whitsell referred to these experiences as a young generations' "cultural heritage", in which young are being exposed to celebration and affirmation of war-criminals as part of their "formal education" and "inheritance".

 

There are numerous examples of genocide denial through celebration and affirmation of war criminals throughout the region of Western Balkans inhabited by Serbs using this form of artistic expression. Several more of these graffiti are found in Serbian capital, and many more across Serbia and Bosnian and Herzegovinian administrative entity, Republika Srpska, which is the ethnic Serbian majority enclave. Critics point that Serbia as a state, is willing to defend the mural of convicted war criminal, and have no intention to react on cases of genocide denial, noting that Interior Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vulin decision to ban any gathering with an intent to remove the mural, with the deployment of riot police, sends the message of "tacit endorsement". Consequently, on 9 November 2021, Serbian heavy police in riot gear, with graffiti creators and their supporters, blocked the access to the mural to prevent human rights groups and other activists to paint over it and mark the International Day Against Fascism and Antisemitism in that way, and even arrested two civic activist for throwing eggs at the graffiti.

 

Graffiti may also be used as an offensive expression. This form of graffiti may be difficult to identify, as it is mostly removed by the local authority (as councils which have adopted strategies of criminalization also strive to remove graffiti quickly). Therefore, existing racist graffiti is mostly more subtle and at first sight, not easily recognized as "racist". It can then be understood only if one knows the relevant "local code" (social, historical, political, temporal, and spatial), which is seen as heteroglot and thus a 'unique set of conditions' in a cultural context.

 

A spatial code for example, could be that there is a certain youth group in an area that is engaging heavily in racist activities. So, for residents (knowing the local code), a graffiti containing only the name or abbreviation of this gang already is a racist expression, reminding the offended people of their gang activities. Also a graffiti is in most cases, the herald of more serious criminal activity to come. A person who does not know these gang activities would not be able to recognize the meaning of this graffiti. Also if a tag of this youth group or gang is placed on a building occupied by asylum seekers, for example, its racist character is even stronger.

By making the graffiti less explicit (as adapted to social and legal constraints), these drawings are less likely to be removed, but do not lose their threatening and offensive character.

 

Elsewhere, activists in Russia have used painted caricatures of local officials with their mouths as potholes, to show their anger about the poor state of the roads. In Manchester, England, a graffitists painted obscene images around potholes, which often resulted in them being repaired within 48 hours.

 

In the early 1980s, the first art galleries to show graffitists to the public were Fashion Moda in the Bronx, Now Gallery and Fun Gallery, both in the East Village, Manhattan.

 

A 2006 exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum displayed graffiti as an art form that began in New York's outer boroughs and reached great heights in the early 1980s with the work of Crash, Lee, Daze, Keith Haring, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. It displayed 22 works by New York graffitists, including Crash, Daze, and Lady Pink. In an article about the exhibition in the magazine Time Out, curator Charlotta Kotik said that she hoped the exhibition would cause viewers to rethink their assumptions about graffiti.

 

From the 1970s onwards, Burhan Doğançay photographed urban walls all over the world; these he then archived for use as sources of inspiration for his painterly works. The project today known as "Walls of the World" grew beyond even his own expectations and comprises about 30,000 individual images. It spans a period of 40 years across five continents and 114 countries. In 1982, photographs from this project comprised a one-man exhibition titled "Les murs murmurent, ils crient, ils chantent ..." (The walls whisper, shout and sing ...) at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.

 

In Australia, art historians have judged some local graffiti of sufficient creative merit to rank them firmly within the arts. Oxford University Press's art history text Australian Painting 1788–2000 concludes with a long discussion of graffiti's key place within contemporary visual culture, including the work of several Australian practitioners.

 

Between March and April 2009, 150 artists exhibited 300 pieces of graffiti at the Grand Palais in Paris.

 

Spray paint has many negative environmental effects. The paint contains toxic chemicals, and the can uses volatile hydrocarbon gases to spray the paint onto a surface.

 

Volatile organic compound (VOC) leads to ground level ozone formation and most of graffiti related emissions are VOCs. A 2010 paper estimates 4,862 tons of VOCs were released in the United States in activities related to graffiti.

  

In China, Mao Zedong in the 1920s used revolutionary slogans and paintings in public places to galvanize the country's communist movement.

 

Based on different national conditions, many people believe that China's attitude towards Graffiti is fierce, but in fact, according to Lance Crayon in his film Spray Paint Beijing: Graffiti in the Capital of China, Graffiti is generally accepted in Beijing, with artists not seeing much police interference. Political and religiously sensitive graffiti, however, is not allowed.

 

In Hong Kong, Tsang Tsou Choi was known as the King of Kowloon for his calligraphy graffiti over many years, in which he claimed ownership of the area. Now some of his work is preserved officially.

 

In Taiwan, the government has made some concessions to graffitists. Since 2005 they have been allowed to freely display their work along some sections of riverside retaining walls in designated "Graffiti Zones". From 2007, Taipei's department of cultural affairs also began permitting graffiti on fences around major public construction sites. Department head Yong-ping Lee (李永萍) stated, "We will promote graffiti starting with the public sector, and then later in the private sector too. It's our goal to beautify the city with graffiti". The government later helped organize a graffiti contest in Ximending, a popular shopping district. graffitists caught working outside of these designated areas still face fines up to NT$6,000 under a department of environmental protection regulation. However, Taiwanese authorities can be relatively lenient, one veteran police officer stating anonymously, "Unless someone complains about vandalism, we won't get involved. We don't go after it proactively."

 

In 1993, after several expensive cars in Singapore were spray-painted, the police arrested a student from the Singapore American School, Michael P. Fay, questioned him, and subsequently charged him with vandalism. Fay pleaded guilty to vandalizing a car in addition to stealing road signs. Under the 1966 Vandalism Act of Singapore, originally passed to curb the spread of communist graffiti in Singapore, the court sentenced him to four months in jail, a fine of S$3,500 (US$2,233), and a caning. The New York Times ran several editorials and op-eds that condemned the punishment and called on the American public to flood the Singaporean embassy with protests. Although the Singapore government received many calls for clemency, Fay's caning took place in Singapore on 5 May 1994. Fay had originally received a sentence of six strokes of the cane, but the presiding president of Singapore, Ong Teng Cheong, agreed to reduce his caning sentence to four lashes.

 

In South Korea, Park Jung-soo was fined two million South Korean won by the Seoul Central District Court for spray-painting a rat on posters of the G-20 Summit a few days before the event in November 2011. Park alleged that the initial in "G-20" sounds like the Korean word for "rat", but Korean government prosecutors alleged that Park was making a derogatory statement about the president of South Korea, Lee Myung-bak, the host of the summit. This case led to public outcry and debate on the lack of government tolerance and in support of freedom of expression. The court ruled that the painting, "an ominous creature like a rat" amounts to "an organized criminal activity" and upheld the fine while denying the prosecution's request for imprisonment for Park.

 

In Europe, community cleaning squads have responded to graffiti, in some cases with reckless abandon, as when in 1992 in France a local Scout group, attempting to remove modern graffiti, damaged two prehistoric paintings of bison in the Cave of Mayrière supérieure near the French village of Bruniquel in Tarn-et-Garonne, earning them the 1992 Ig Nobel Prize in archeology.

 

In September 2006, the European Parliament directed the European Commission to create urban environment policies to prevent and eliminate dirt, litter, graffiti, animal excrement, and excessive noise from domestic and vehicular music systems in European cities, along with other concerns over urban life.

 

In Budapest, Hungary, both a city-backed movement called I Love Budapest and a special police division tackle the problem, including the provision of approved areas.

 

The Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 became Britain's latest anti-graffiti legislation. In August 2004, the Keep Britain Tidy campaign issued a press release calling for zero tolerance of graffiti and supporting proposals such as issuing "on the spot" fines to graffiti offenders and banning the sale of aerosol paint to anyone under the age of 16. The press release also condemned the use of graffiti images in advertising and in music videos, arguing that real-world experience of graffiti stood far removed from its often-portrayed "cool" or "edgy'" image.

 

To back the campaign, 123 Members of Parliament (MPs) (including then Prime Minister Tony Blair), signed a charter which stated: "Graffiti is not art, it's crime. On behalf of my constituents, I will do all I can to rid our community of this problem."

 

In the UK, city councils have the power to take action against the owner of any property that has been defaced under the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 (as amended by the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005) or, in certain cases, the Highways Act. This is often used against owners of property that are complacent in allowing protective boards to be defaced so long as the property is not damaged.

 

In July 2008, a conspiracy charge was used to convict graffitists for the first time. After a three-month police surveillance operation, nine members of the DPM crew were convicted of conspiracy to commit criminal damage costing at least £1 million. Five of them received prison sentences, ranging from eighteen months to two years. The unprecedented scale of the investigation and the severity of the sentences rekindled public debate over whether graffiti should be considered art or crime.

 

Some councils, like those of Stroud and Loerrach, provide approved areas in the town where graffitists can showcase their talents, including underpasses, car parks, and walls that might otherwise prove a target for the "spray and run".

 

Graffiti Tunnel, University of Sydney at Camperdown (2009)

In an effort to reduce vandalism, many cities in Australia have designated walls or areas exclusively for use by graffitists. One early example is the "Graffiti Tunnel" located at the Camperdown Campus of the University of Sydney, which is available for use by any student at the university to tag, advertise, poster, and paint. Advocates of this idea suggest that this discourages petty vandalism yet encourages artists to take their time and produce great art, without worry of being caught or arrested for vandalism or trespassing.[108][109] Others disagree with this approach, arguing that the presence of legal graffiti walls does not demonstrably reduce illegal graffiti elsewhere. Some local government areas throughout Australia have introduced "anti-graffiti squads", who clean graffiti in the area, and such crews as BCW (Buffers Can't Win) have taken steps to keep one step ahead of local graffiti cleaners.

 

Many state governments have banned the sale or possession of spray paint to those under the age of 18 (age of majority). However, a number of local governments in Victoria have taken steps to recognize the cultural heritage value of some examples of graffiti, such as prominent political graffiti. Tough new graffiti laws have been introduced in Australia with fines of up to A$26,000 and two years in prison.

 

Melbourne is a prominent graffiti city of Australia with many of its lanes being tourist attractions, such as Hosier Lane in particular, a popular destination for photographers, wedding photography, and backdrops for corporate print advertising. The Lonely Planet travel guide cites Melbourne's street as a major attraction. All forms of graffiti, including sticker art, poster, stencil art, and wheatpasting, can be found in many places throughout the city. Prominent street art precincts include; Fitzroy, Collingwood, Northcote, Brunswick, St. Kilda, and the CBD, where stencil and sticker art is prominent. As one moves farther away from the city, mostly along suburban train lines, graffiti tags become more prominent. Many international artists such as Banksy have left their work in Melbourne and in early 2008 a perspex screen was installed to prevent a Banksy stencil art piece from being destroyed, it has survived since 2003 through the respect of local street artists avoiding posting over it, although it has recently had paint tipped over it.

 

In February 2008 Helen Clark, the New Zealand prime minister at that time, announced a government crackdown on tagging and other forms of graffiti vandalism, describing it as a destructive crime representing an invasion of public and private property. New legislation subsequently adopted included a ban on the sale of paint spray cans to persons under 18 and increases in maximum fines for the offence from NZ$200 to NZ$2,000 or extended community service. The issue of tagging become a widely debated one following an incident in Auckland during January 2008 in which a middle-aged property owner stabbed one of two teenage taggers to death and was subsequently convicted of manslaughter.

 

Graffiti databases have increased in the past decade because they allow vandalism incidents to be fully documented against an offender and help the police and prosecution charge and prosecute offenders for multiple counts of vandalism. They also provide law enforcement the ability to rapidly search for an offender's moniker or tag in a simple, effective, and comprehensive way. These systems can also help track costs of damage to a city to help allocate an anti-graffiti budget. The theory is that when an offender is caught putting up graffiti, they are not just charged with one count of vandalism; they can be held accountable for all the other damage for which they are responsible. This has two main benefits for law enforcement. One, it sends a signal to the offenders that their vandalism is being tracked. Two, a city can seek restitution from offenders for all the damage that they have committed, not merely a single incident. These systems give law enforcement personnel real-time, street-level intelligence that allows them not only to focus on the worst graffiti offenders and their damage, but also to monitor potential gang violence that is associated with the graffiti.

 

Many restrictions of civil gang injunctions are designed to help address and protect the physical environment and limit graffiti. Provisions of gang injunctions include things such as restricting the possession of marker pens, spray paint cans, or other sharp objects capable of defacing private or public property; spray painting, or marking with marker pens, scratching, applying stickers, or otherwise applying graffiti on any public or private property, including, but not limited to the street, alley, residences, block walls, and fences, vehicles or any other real or personal property. Some injunctions contain wording that restricts damaging or vandalizing both public and private property, including but not limited to any vehicle, light fixture, door, fence, wall, gate, window, building, street sign, utility box, telephone box, tree, or power pole.

 

To help address many of these issues, many local jurisdictions have set up graffiti abatement hotlines, where citizens can call in and report vandalism and have it removed. San Diego's hotline receives more than 5,000 calls per year, in addition to reporting the graffiti, callers can learn more about prevention. One of the complaints about these hotlines is the response time; there is often a lag time between a property owner calling about the graffiti and its removal. The length of delay should be a consideration for any jurisdiction planning on operating a hotline. Local jurisdictions must convince the callers that their complaint of vandalism will be a priority and cleaned off right away. If the jurisdiction does not have the resources to respond to complaints in a timely manner, the value of the hotline diminishes. Crews must be able to respond to individual service calls made to the graffiti hotline as well as focus on cleanup near schools, parks, and major intersections and transit routes to have the biggest impact. Some cities offer a reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of suspects for tagging or graffiti related vandalism. The amount of the reward is based on the information provided, and the action taken.

 

When police obtain search warrants in connection with a vandalism investigation, they are often seeking judicial approval to look for items such as cans of spray paint and nozzles from other kinds of aerosol sprays; etching tools, or other sharp or pointed objects, which could be used to etch or scratch glass and other hard surfaces; permanent marking pens, markers, or paint sticks; evidence of membership or affiliation with any gang or tagging crew; paraphernalia including any reference to "(tagger's name)"; any drawings, writing, objects, or graffiti depicting taggers' names, initials, logos, monikers, slogans, or any mention of tagging crew membership; and any newspaper clippings relating to graffiti crime.

I'm an animal. You're an animal, too.

  

It's my week to pick the songs for Musically Challenged and, in honor of the fact that in New York i can now marry a girl if i want to, i decided to go with all female performers. (You should play along--i'm worried nobody will!!) So here's a little Neko Case.

 

This is also my shamefully late entry for The Teleidoscope's "Animals" theme.

 

341/365

View On Black

 

**Explored**

 

You could buy me diamonds

You could buy me pearls

Take me on a cruise around the world

Baby you know I'm worth it

Dinner lit buy candles

Run my bubble bath

Make love tenderly to last and last

Baby you know I'm worth it.

 

Wanna please, wanna keep, wanna treat your woman right

Now just don't, better show that she is worth your time

You will lose if you choose to refuse to put her first

She will if she can't find a man who knows her worth.

 

Cause a real man knows a real woman when he sees her

And a real woman knows a real man ain't afraid to please her

And a real woman knows a real man always comes first

And a real man just can't deny a woman's worth

- Alicia Keys, A Woman's Worth

 

Our little Musically Challenged group is growing! Here I was thinking it would just be the four of us goofing around and lo and behold! We're up above forty members now! How fun! If you want to play along, come join us! Anyway, this is my second direct challenge. Tara challenged me to visually interpret A Woman's Worth by Alicia Keys and I couldn't have been more excited. I adore this song and I adore Alicia Keys. Maybe this could have been interpretted in a less superficial way, but as many of you know, I'm a sucker for accessories (and no, they don't all have to be from Tiffany).

 

And now you'll have to excuse me. It's a GORGEOUS fall day outside. 70 degrees, sunny, red, orange and yellow leaves....beautiful. And I'm going to go take my puppers for a walk in the park. :) Go enjoy the weather!!

 

365 Days (self portraits): Day 204

Musically Challenged: A Woman's Worth - Alicia Keys

TOTW: Face Art

In the attics of my life, full of cloudy dreams unreal.

Full of tastes no tongue can know, and lights no eyes can see.

When there was no ear to hear, you sang to me.

 

I have spent my life seeking all that's still unsung.

Bent my ear to hear the tune, and closed my eyes to see.

When there was no strings to play, you played to me.

 

In the book of love's own dream, where all the print is blood.

Where all the pages are my days, and all the lights grow old.

When I had no wings to fly, you flew to me, you flew to me.

 

In the secret space of dreams, where I dreaming lay amazed.

When the secrets all are told, and the petals all unfold.

When there was no dream of mine, you dreamed of me.~~~~~~~~Grateful Dead

Listen Here

For Musically Challenged! Thanks Marcie! xoxo

Staring at the bottom of your glass

Hoping one day you'll make a dream last

But dreams come slow and they go so fast

You see her when you close your eyes

Maybe one day you'll understand why

Everything you touch surely dies

 

But you only need the light when it's burning low

Only miss the sun when it starts to snow

Only know you love her when you let her go

Only know you've been high when you're feeling low

Only hate the road when you're missing home

Only know you love her when you let her go

 

A new favourite song

Loooooooooooove this song

Linkin Park - What I've Done

 

From the musically challenged group. It's little-m song choices this week and they rock!

So Blan borrowed one of mine of her, i'm doing the same, like a narcissist person :)) oh, and thnx for the tag :)

 

How to play:

1. Put your iTunes/ ipod (or any mp3 player) on shuffle.

2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.

3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!

4. Tag 10 or more friends who might enjoy doing this as well as the person you got it from.

 

1) WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?

Bryan Adams-here I am

 

2) WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?

Janis Joplin- Cry Baby

  

3) WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?

Coldplay -till Kingdom come

 

4) WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?

H.I.M. - Buried Alive by Love [lol]

 

5) WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?

Queen- Bohemian Rhapsody

 

6) WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT OFTEN?

Sophie B. Hawkins- Damn, I wish I was your lover [lol again]

 

7) WHAT IS 2+2?

Apocalyptica feat Nina Hagen - Seeman

 

8) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?

The Cure- close To Me

 

9) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?

Paul van Dyke - We're Alive

 

10) WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?

The Corrs- Toss the Feathers

 

11) WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?

Paramore- crushcrushcrush

 

12) WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?

Kate Nash- We Get On [ahaha, laughing my head off]

 

13) WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?

Hans Zimmer - Now We're Free [such an awesome sound, I'm inlove...sweet]

 

14) WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?

Dirty Dancing -Time of My Life [that would be nice]

 

15) WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?

Howard Shore- Bag End

 

16) WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?

Tegan and Sara -Underwater

 

17) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?

Tegan and Sara -Fix You Up

 

18) WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?

Coldplay -Yellow

 

19) HOW WILL YOU DIE?

Placebo - Blind

 

20) WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?

Where's your Head At [tomb rider tune-dunno the artist]

 

21) WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?

Limp Bizkit - My Way

 

22) WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?

Snow Patrol- Chocolate

 

23) WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?

Madonna - Take a Bow [ seems that no after this or it will end up with a divorce, silly :)) ]

 

24) WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?

Goo Goo Dolls- Better Days

 

25) DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?

Nightwish -Ever Dream

 

26) IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?

Faith hill -Cry

 

27) WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?

Paramore -Pressure

 

I tag:

alld...

SASHY

YrrYnah

kibsee

L0rant

       

View Large

 

You can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice

If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice

You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill

I will choose a path that's clear

I will choose freewill

 

There are those who think

That they were dealt a losing hand

The cards were stacked against them

They weren't born in Lotusland

 

All preordained

A prisoner in chains

A victim of venomous fate

Kicked in the face

You can't pray for a place

In heaven's unearthly estate

 

Freewill by Rush

 

I love my family, but not all of them were made to have an artistic touch or understanding. This gets frustrating when they consider my use of my body as art as "de-valuing" myself. They could not see pass me as the model. They just couldnt see pass that to the message that the photos were trying to portray - to express.

 

This frustrates me to no end, especially during arguments and discussions about a photo-journalistic approach to shooting weddings. I have defended myself and my sister's choice in photographer because my family could not see the artistic merit. They said and I quote: "It's just a snapshot anyone can do that! why pay for it!?"

 

*breathe in breathe out*

its not just a picture that anyone can take. Photography is not just picking up a camera and shooting willy nilly. I started this 365 to find myself, for a form of self-discovery and to push my personal boundaries.

 

It's taking risks to really find a way to make art. but like psychology, photography is most likely considered a "soft-art" but I dont care it's still a form of expression. Now that I cant EXPRESS MYSELF because of barriers known now to me, this kinda blows.

 

you'll notice a few photos are "gone" from my stream? they arent gone just on for friends and family. so that the "public" (meaning my family) doesnt get to see those photos that SO OFFENDED THEM.

 

It's barriers and walls such as these that make me want to give it up completely. well you know what. you can suck it.

 

project 365: day 237

Musically Challenged: Rush - Freewill (thanks Jason, this really made me a bit happy!)

 

Strobist Info: Shot Full Power bounced off wall, wirelessly triggered using the HSS function and the pop up flash.

I was a very musically inclined child. I had played violin since I could tie my shoes but it was the sound of the big band that always captivated me. I wanted a clarinet but my parents had already splurged on a violin purchase. I worked my butt off babysitting, and scooping ice cream until I could afford one of my own. I played throughout high school and even in a jazz band afterward. I've since passed it down to my daughter. Hearing her practice "jingle bells" over and over again has just made me remember what a painstaking joy it was. I only wish I passed on my love for music to her. Grrr I'm a better player than I am a teacher. Can you buy patience somewhere?