I have loved taking photos for many years. It has just been a hobby, something to distract from the routine. But it has made me stop and view the world around me from a slightly different angle. I love the textures and small details, and it is only with a camera in hand that I slow down and look up!
In early 2007 I participated in a National Gallery of Victoria guided walk around my home city of Melbourne, down into the subways and past dumpsters into stinking alleys. I saw the street art around me of which I had previously been ignorant. So now as I walk around my local inner city streets I deliberately take detours down alleys and dead ends to seek out the art works – the ‘pieces, the paste-ups, the stencils that sometimes tell a story and other times are just appealing to look at; the walls and alleys that are ‘curated’ and collaborative artworks that are appearing all over my local streets. And I’ve found it is a great reason to get out and explore a new city or find new aspects of an old one.
Extraordinary woman. Unknown artist. Shoreditch, London, November 2007
Don’t misunderstand me, to those who tag my house periodically… pox on you! That’s just plain vandalism and it costs me a sweet fortune to get it cleaned off. But to those who pursue their craft with the right permissions, I think I envy you a little – your art enables me to feel a little anarchic and a little rebellious, but vicariously and without the heights!
Other objects I like are doors & gates. As eyes are like windows on the soul, doors are the ‘windows’ (oops, sorry) of the city… they tell you a little something about those who live there. Well, it’s a nice thought, and I have a few photos of doors. Well, it’s also a bit of an obsession really. No-one else gets it! You will also likely see some textured and abstract photos.
Anyway, as an exercise to nurture my soul a little, I decided to post a photo on Flickr each day this year – my #365photo challenge to myself. Will I succeed or not? No idea, but so far, so good – up to D13! My intention is to focus on finding some new street art and posting it, but the pressure of finding new stuff everyday is probably unsustainable, so will mix with a few photos that I have gathered over the last few years, mainly from time spent trawling East London in 2007 looking for the elusive artwork of Banksy, plus a few doors from my travels.
So, the Flickr photostream itself will hopefully evolve throughout the year and today I have added a few photos from it to this blog (in the right column) – each day they should change as I add another to my #365photo challenge.
Enjoy, or not – as you please. It just is.
Archetypical 
Amazing! I especially loved the rat.
It’s fun exploring strange places to find obscure bits of painting or stencil in odd places and has introduced me to a subculture that I hadn’t been aware of that is actively operating in the streets around my home. Banksy does quite a few rats, and I have quite a few more photos of them from London which I will eventually post. Rats in bling, rats with message placards etc. The parachute and radio rat posted so far are within 2 blocks of my home, just on shopfronts – they’re probably quite valuable. He has been heavily influenced by a French street artist, Blek le Rat who also has many of his ‘pieces featuring rats.