Illegal Art in Hollywood

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Archive 2010 · Illegal Art in Hollywood

jimmyhickey
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p.1 #1 · Illegal Art in Hollywood

Went out a few nights ago with a few pretty well known urban artists from around LA. We left at 2 A.M. and when we were finally heading home, the early morning commuters were already on the streets drinking their coffee. We hit up Melrose Ave in Hollywood, one of the streets known for it's urban art, especially with Obey. I photographed them wheat pasting and tagging certain signs and buildings...I even climbed to the top of a building to get one of these shots...one of my cameras took a pretty nasty fall off of a railing while climbing but luckily it survived. It's amazing how much etiquette goes in to illegal art. As far as the photography only two rules I must follow: No complete faces, no identity
1
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8 And the Artists
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Thanks for looking, stay tuned for a full project on illegal art!

Jul 27, 2010 at 05:31 AM

platscha
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p.1 #2 · Illegal Art in Hollywood

How great an experience for you, I would love to be able to do that, I love graffiti and street art, would love to photograph the in action part, I live near LA guess I should go up sometime really late and try to catch some at it.
Love the shot with the cop car in bg and will watching for more on your work with this.

Jul 27, 2010 at 06:18 AM

phatnev
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p.1 #3 · Illegal Art in Hollywood

This is awesome. What incredible work. 6 is my favorite.

Jul 27, 2010 at 06:40 AM

juicer
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p.1 #4 · Illegal Art in Hollywood

I recently moved back to LA and live right near there. I was bummed to leave behind photographing backcountry of central Oregon but I have been falling in love with the streets of LA at night. The emptiness coupled with the street art is beautiful. It makes roaming the streets at night with the dog and the camera worthwhile.

The wheat pastings are awesome and these guys add a lot of character to a city that really seems to be famous for mostly the wrong things.

Are you posting the full project here? Thanks for sharing this-

Jul 27, 2010 at 06:41 AM

Cherokee Kid
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p.1 #5 · Illegal Art in Hollywood

Great concept, can't wait to see more.

Jul 27, 2010 at 11:44 AM

jimmyhickey
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p.1 #6 · Illegal Art in Hollywood

Thanks for the comments guys, yeah this really is a fun project and I can't wait to expand on it more

Jul 27, 2010 at 05:54 PM

canerino
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p.1 #7 · Illegal Art in Hollywood

one man's artist is another man's vandal.

Jul 27, 2010 at 07:17 PM

jimmyhickey
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p.1 #8 · Illegal Art in Hollywood

One man's vandal helps open the worlds eyes and reawaken a sense of wonder about one’s environment.

Jul 29, 2010 at 01:30 AM

DavidJBurger
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p.1 #9 · Illegal Art in Hollywood

canerino wrote:
one man's artist is another man's vandal.
+100

Jul 29, 2010 at 03:03 AM

Micky Bill
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p.1 #10 · Illegal Art in Hollywood

Visually most of the LA graffiti is just garbage, usually gang related tagging. OTOH there are some true artists who are doing their work sometime with owners permission / blessing but mostly illegally. Sometimes it's more interesting to look at than a wall of 200 posters for "Knight and Day"...

Every once in a while the high brow galleries rediscover urban street art and promote it, show it, sell it and praise the "wonderful expression of angst" or whatever. So it goes both ways, "one man's vandal is another man's artist"

Jul 29, 2010 at 04:01 AM

yaphoto
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p.1 #11 · Illegal Art in Hollywood

love this set, for all you haters jump off your high horse for a moment an see this objectively: great subject matter whether you think it is morally right or wrong, a story has been told in this set with a high degree of technical difficulty (lowest of light) - let alone thinking about what it takes to gain the graffiti artists trust and respect in the first place.

reminds me of war photojournalism. Great work Jimmy - most interesting "people" post I have seen here yet.

Jul 29, 2010 at 06:51 AM

Langran
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p.1 #12 · Illegal Art in Hollywood

Love the set. Really brilliant work. IMO you've portrayed them well as artists, not vandals.
My only comment would be that in image 8 it doesn't seem to quite fit the set, maybe because it's inside but sort of doesn't fit in as well with the style. Still like it though, good setting for the shot so can't really complain!

Jul 29, 2010 at 10:43 AM

merv.carr
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p.1 #13 · Illegal Art in Hollywood

It is quite a simple distinction, if you have permission, it's art. If you don't have permission, it is vandalism!

Jul 29, 2010 at 04:36 PM

munim
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p.1 #14 · Illegal Art in Hollywood

I like 3, although it would be more visually interesting ( to me) if you cropped starting from the left of the artist. I think it would be more powerful due to the simplicity of the photo.

Jul 29, 2010 at 04:40 PM

jeremy_clay
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p.1 #15 · Illegal Art in Hollywood

The subject matter may be interesting, but the image quality leaves a lot to be desired. What lenses were you using to shoot these?

Jul 29, 2010 at 05:29 PM

jimmyhickey
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p.1 #16 · Illegal Art in Hollywood

Thanks for the comments everyone, this was an incredibly difficult thing to shoot considering the limitations and obstacles...like climbing a 3 story building and hiding from the cops...not to mention the safety or the legal trouble I could have got in for accompanying them. Even though its legal to photograph an illegal activity, I've heard some pretty bad things happen to photographers following urban artists around. But in my opinion it was all worth the risk, I got some photos that in my opinion capture the feel of what its like out there and show the world whats going on during the streets from 2-6 A.M.

Jeremy these were shot on a 1d Iv with the 24L, all @ ISO 12800. The low IQ if anything de-glamorizes what they are doing and captures the gritty, dark and grungy feel that surrounds them at night. I could have made these images pop and have a real commercial feel to them, creating "desirable" image quality. But that wouldn't capture reality.

Jul 29, 2010 at 06:54 PM

listchristee
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p.1 #17 · Illegal Art in Hollywood

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Their subculture is really fascinating and these images give a special glimpse inside. I would love to see more.

Jul 30, 2010 at 05:22 AM

jimmyhickey
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p.1 #18 · Illegal Art in Hollywood

Thanks for that, here are a few more images highlighting their work

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Jul 30, 2010 at 08:46 AM

millerguy
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p.1 #19 · Illegal Art in Hollywood

yaphoto wrote:
love this set, for all you haters jump off your high horse for a moment an see this objectively:

Then offer them your house and car to tag...............

Jul 31, 2010 at 12:03 AM

jimmyhickey
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p.1 #20 · Illegal Art in Hollywood

Do you see them tagging houses or cars?

Jul 31, 2010 at 02:01 AM

DavidJBurger
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p.1 #21 · Illegal Art in Hollywood

jimmyhickey wrote:
Do you see them tagging houses or cars?
I have in the past. It doesn't just happen in L.A. either. It happens in Riverside, Santa Ana, San Bernardino, Long Beach, I could go on and on.

Jul 31, 2010 at 02:16 AM

TommyTuong
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p.1 #22 · Illegal Art in Hollywood

dude these are hard, i want some of these pieces for my room.

great photos and captures as well! i really like this set.

Edited on Jul 31, 2010 at 02:34 AM · View previous versions

Jul 31, 2010 at 02:32 AM

juicer
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p.1 #23 · Illegal Art in Hollywood

yaphoto wrote:
love this set, for all you haters jump off your high horse for a moment an see this objectively:

Then offer them your house and car to tag...............

It doesn't make sense to categorize all graffiti as vandalism. Spraying a house or car is vandalism. Putting up wheat pastings on neglected rusty boxes on the street is quite different, especially when it has abstract meaning (as opposed to 'dude was here').

It's obvious Jimmy is portraying the graffiti artists as opposed to vandals. There is no defacing of storefronts or homes. Much of what is streetside are pastings which are no more permanent than the ads stapled all over telephone poles. And this isn't Beverly Hills or the Palisades, it truly adds character and a message to what is already urban decay in these areas.

(edited to remove double quote)

Jul 31, 2010 at 02:32 AM

juicer
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p.1 #24 · Illegal Art in Hollywood

jimmyhickey wrote:

Jeremy these were shot on a 1d Iv with the 24L, all @ ISO 12800. The low IQ if anything de-glamorizes what they are doing and captures the gritty, dark and grungy feel that surrounds them at night. I could have made these images pop and have a real commercial feel to them, creating "desirable" image quality. But that wouldn't capture reality.

I've been surprised that shooting similar streets in LA at night, I can get away with f/1.4 1/30-1/50 at ISO 800 on my 5D. ISO 1600 in dark areas. For what it's worth, I find desaturating a bit and cooling off the white balance a ton (RAW) lets the textures (grit?) show through better.

I did however like the pop in your other set, even though you took the other route here.

Jul 31, 2010 at 02:39 AM

Harry T
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p.1 #25 · Illegal Art in Hollywood

I like how a thread like this isn't just about capturing some images but instead stirring up conversation about the subject in the images.

The OBEY wall is BA!

Jul 31, 2010 at 04:19 AM


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