I hit up another graffiti spot recently. This time it was in Atlanta’s Cabbagetown neighborhood. These particular photos were taken in and around Krog Street Tunnel, which I had heard was a top spot in Atlanta for graffiti. The tunnel was definately covered in graffiti, however most of the graffiti was tags instead of murals. Walking through the tunnel was a little creepy. It was dimly lit and we almost expected someone to be sleeping in the place but it was empty when we walked through it. Being an amateur photographer, it was hard for me to get a lot of pictures in the tunnel itself because the lighting was so bad. Near the tunnel there was a lot of other graffiti around. Anyway, I hope you enjoy these pictures.
Archive for the 'graffiti' Category
22
Apr
Sticker art and posters
For those of you who have been reading my blog, you will remember that I paid a visit to Little Five Points near downtown Atlanta. While Little Five Points was a great place to find graffiti, it’s also a great place to find cool sticker art and posters. Stiocker art ranges from the seemingly pointless to advertising to political statements. Posters are usually just advertising a local event, but sometimes contain interesting pictures and wording. While I didn’t spend as much time as I would have liked taking pictures, here are a few that I really enjoyed.
18
Apr
Atlanta graffiti
I’ve lived in Atlanta for most of my life, yet I don’t really know the city. Being a suburbanite, most of my recent experiences with the city itself consist of driving through it to get to the airport. Sad I know, but lately I’ve been determined to learn more about the city I call home. Now that my leg has healed and I can walk again, I decided to go to explore Little Five Points, not to be confused with Five Points, Five Points, 5 Pointz, or the Five Points.
The great thing about going to Little Five Points is that it’s a cool neighborhood, as well as a great spot to see some nice graffiti. So this past weekend, some friends and I decided to drive to Little Five Points and check things out. By the time we got there, we all happened to be starving.
We decided to eat at a burger place called The Vortex. On interesting thing about the restaurant (besides the giant skull that makes up the entrance) is that you have to be at least 18 years old to eat there. It has something to do with Georgia’s loony smoking ban in restaurants. Anyway, all of us decide to order a Coronary Bypass. It’s a burger with a half pound of beef, tomatoes lettuce, cheese, bacon, and a fried egg. It was quite good, although it was very hard to eat because it was so tall. Just trying to take a bite of the thing without the whole burger falling apart was an exact science. If you are ever in the area I highly recommend it.
After lunch we headed out with my camera to get some graffiti shots. We didn’t have to go far to find any. It was everywhere. This was somewhat unusual for me personally, since I live in a part of Atlanta where graffiti is nonexistent. I apologize for the angles on a few of these pictures. Some of the graffiti were in narrow alleys and it was hard to get a good shot.
03
Apr
Joke’s on you, bitch!
Am I wrong for liking this? Am I juvenile for getting a chuckle out of it? I do enjoy the witty banter and comical drawings the local restroom graffiti artists provide, so maybe that answers those questions. Whatever the answer may be, I feel compelled to share this.
I came across this on Jackie Clarke’s blog. She’s a comedian from New York and also a fan of graffiti. This photo was on her site and it gave me a chuckle.
Seriously, folks. Who could not love this devious little girl who decided to turn the tables on the very doctor who helped tend to her injured arm? I bet that doctor was pretty surprised when she saw that girl pull a gun out of the very sling she had just put on her.
18
Mar
Urban exploring
For a while now I’ve been extremely fascinated by abandoned buildings. I’m not exactly sure as to why I have this fascination, but perhaps it has something to do with what time, weather, and neglect will do to a structure. Unfortunately, I’m still recovering from a broken leg so my desire to begin any urban exploring adventures must be put on hold at the moment.
One thing I’ve noticed about where I live is that it isn’t exactly the greatest location for stumbling upon an irresistible abandoned structures. I live in Atlanta, where everything is new and the old and abandoned is generally torn down to make way for bigger and shinier buildings. Unlike places in the Northeast, Atlanta was never really an industrial city, so there aren’t a lot of factories to explore. Existing factories generally get torn down to make way for new neighborhoods. In cities like Detroit, you could throw a dead cat and hit an abandoned building. In Atlanta, not so much. I suppose I shouldn’t complain too much since the reason Detroit has so many abandoned buildings is because its economy sucks.
In the meantime, I’m researching some places where I can get some great graffiti pictures from around Atlanta. I’ve always loved street art, and after the overwhelming positive response to my graffiti pictures, I really want to get out and snap some pictures of some really great looking graffiti around Atlanta. I’ve already got some visits planned to some great locations so hopefully I’ll be posting some pictures once I get back on my feet in the next couple of weeks.
If anyone has any great urban exploration stories I’d love to hear about them here. Also, here are some links to some of my favorite UE sites:
Sleepy City - This guy goes all over the world and take pictures of abandoned and not-so-accessible places. His pictures are amazing.
Infiltration - A defunct zine that has a lot of resources about UE.
Urban Exploration Resource - A great UE forum where explorers from all over the world dispense advice and post great photos of their exploits.
In July 2006 my wife and I took a trip to New York City. She had to go to Philadelphia for a few days for something job-related. I met her there when she was finished and we spent a day in Philadelphia and took a train to New York.
I had never been to either Philadelphia or New York City before, so if was neat to see the landmarks that we all see on television and in movies. When it comes to sightseeing, I am somewhat of a dud, and I never really get that excited about seeing famous stuff. We went and saw the Liberty Bell while we were in Philadelphia. I looked at it for about two seconds and I was ready to move on to better things. There had to have been at least twenty people crowded around the bell, taking pictures of it, and a few people were even filming the bell with their camcorders. Seriously folks, what are you expecting the bell to do?
When we got to New York, we got in plenty of sightseeing. We did and saw all the important stuff: the Empire State Building, Times Square, Chinatown, Little Italy, Grand Central Station, bought fake designer bags in Battery Park. Yet none of that stuff really excited me. Throughout my life I’ve always been drawn to the weird and strange things that most people I know have no interest in. But on the last day of our trip, I got to see something I personally thought was very cool.
My wife knew someone in Queens, so we were lucky enough to be able to stay with them during our vacation. Every morning we would take the number 7 train from Flushing to Times Square and do our sightseeing until it got dark. Every morning on the train we would pass this large building that was totally covered with graffiti, and a lot of it looked really cool. I had to see it up close.
I got my wish on the last day of our trip. The building itself looked like a warehouse or factory of some kind. Unfortunately I didn’t take pictures of every side of the building because the neighborhood didn’t seem the nicest and there were a few shady looking characters around. I still managed to take a ton of pictures and I’m posting some of the best ones here for your enjoyment.
Continue reading ‘Incredible graffiti covered building — 5 Pointz in New York City’
