Vicky Ruszala
This reader goes mad for graffiti art in an effective shot
Vicky says: I took this at Up fest 2015, which is Europe’s largest street art and graffiti festival.
My aim for the day was to capture some of the colourful work that was being created by the graffiti artists. It was very busy and therefore tricky to get good angles as there were so many people and objects in front of the artwork that couldn’t be moved
I wanted to capture the colours and the ‘coolness’ of the event. It was shot on my Canon EOS 7D and 24-70mm lens (at 24mm), with an exposure of 1/250 sec at f/8 and ISO 400.
Andrew says: Well you certainly can’t miss your image, Vicky – it is really powerful, and the magenta used by the artist is very bold against the grey.
Talking shots like this is always tough, especially when there are lots of people getting in the way.
I actually quite like the fact the artist isn’t in the frame and that you’ve only included his or her raw materials in the bottom left-hand corner. The uneven path, splattered with excess paint at the bottom of the image, also helps to provide a sense of the work being done without including the actual human element. I’d be tempted to crop it a fraction tighter as I don’t like the bush that’s visible at the top, but conversely I wish there was a little more of the old paint cans included at the bottom.
My guess is you were shooting in a hurry, between other visitors ruining your empty canvas! In these circumstances, I’ll actually just stop and wait there for as long as it takes to get the exact framing I want – or be bold enough to ask people to move and give me a few moments to get my shot. You’d be surprised how often people will oblige!