Street Art in Subject-Background Interaction

Be it a strikingly controversial picture or a unique cultural peisage, it is always really enjoyable to stumble upon well-done street art. Passing by as someone is hanging around it can be even better.

Graffiti (or Street Art, if we are being politically correct) has such a strong impact not only on its place of illustration, but on the photographs taken of it. Graffiti has the power to make people in such photos look like they are part of it art itself, causing the subject and the background to melt into one artistic canvas.

One of my personal favourites is culturally symbolic art, adding originality to the photographic end result.

Girl walking by and not paying attention to graffiti that says: "Try not to forget." in Portugal.

In addition, it's always fun to find a common theme in some of these street art inspired subject-background interactions. My theme in Istanbul, for example, was eyes because it felt like they were everywhere.

This panda looks like he is about to mug this girl, and I love how this adds personality to the shot.

Here's the thing about graffiti: it is unique and makes for great composition, but has a short lifespan. The next time I returned to Istanbul, every single piece photographed above was gone. That's why it's rewarding to capture it, for both the photographer and the street artist (as this prolongs the life of their art and its message). 

Photographs of people with street art backgrounds combine to create so much flair and originality by: 

a) being photographs: in themselves capturing a unique moment,

b) having original street art pieces in them, that mark a certain time (because they are short-lived), thought and/or comment on society, and

c) capturing a person interacting with the street art in such a way that may never be repeated again.

All these elements combine to create one-of-a-kind photographic treasure!