Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

Street Photography is a strange genre, that normally shows people because the subject (which is not people) is the relationship between people and their environment. Sometimes though, Street Photography does not include any people...

Barrow Alaska has a fairly high percentage of practicing artists. In the spring we see art etched in the snow and frost on building and fences, not to mention on vehicles. In the summer it's scratched into the dust! Any surface is fair game.

But the best art is almost always of Bowhead Whales, which are the center of local Inupiat Eskimo culture.

mrova Loc: Chesterfield, VA

That is cool! Very unique!

djtravels Loc: Georgia boy now

Thanks so much for a peek into the local culture of Barrow. Doubt many of us will get there.

Lenf Loc: Strasburg,PA

Thank you for posting this.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

Thank you to mrova, djtravels, and Lenf for comments!

I also thought it was unique, and an opportunity to show something that few ever get a chance to see.

I had lunch at the Senior Center yesterday and was headed home when I saw it. I had to turn around and come back to take a few shots. It was a little daunting, because what can't be seen is the fairly bright sun shining directly into the lens, just above the building. So that wall is in "deep shade". It worked though.

But when I actually saw the picture I decided it would be something for UHH. I don't generally post images just because they are pretty. It has to be significant in some other way. To me at least, that image is just that!

jkatpc Loc: Virginia Beach

Very cool and imaginative! The best kind of graffiti--appreciate it then let it melt.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

Ain't that true!

Several years ago someone did a very nice bit of work on a frosted up section of chain link fence at the end of our runway, maybe 100 or 150 yards long. But alas, it was in January when there is no sunlight. I tried to photograph it using lights from my truck, but it didn't turn out well. And by two or three weeks later when there was more light the wind and new snow had taken the edge off of the original, quite literally.

Another one that was really cool, but much different in scope, had to do with painting a dumpster. For a dozen years now each summer a few dumpsters get painted, though the program to do that has changed directions over the years. But, essentially, any unpainted dumpster is fair game for anyone and the North Slope Borough will probably provide the paint if you want to provide talent. Mostly it's kids, but some professional artists have done a few too, so there is some real quality. Last year I saw one that really bowled me over. The fellow who did it is a pro and extremely good... he's from Tonga in the South Pacific. And he painted a really cool sunny beach scene with palm trees and all, on a dumpster sitting next to the Arctic Ocean.

Hmmm... I should find that dumpster now (age and mud will have taken a huge toll) and get of picture of it today in the snow, and post it along with the bright crisp colorful picture of it when it was new in the summer time.

jkatpc Loc: Virginia Beach

Nice way to get things done and let the artistic juices flow.

ediesaul

Thanks for sharing.

At MASSMOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) one year, there was a lovely painting on the wall. When I asked the docent if it was going to be part of its permanent collection, she replied that no, this was "ephemeral art." I guess that's what you captured in this photo. I hope that the town has someone documenting this street art for historical purposes.

One thing that I like about your photo, besides the art work itself, is that we can see the utility lines. Normally, one would erase those lines but, in this case, I think they're important to show the context of this art work.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

To a large degree, I be the "someone" who does that... :-)

What I do, for the most part, is photograph Barrow Alaska.


That is an interesting point. Basically this and many others like it are Street Photography it would rob the image of context and ambiance to remove power lines or poles.

However, on many images I do just that, when it doesn't provide context and just serves as a distraction. If it's meant to be a portrait (of anything specific, whether it's a person or otherwise) I'm much more likely to change a few things. I've shot pictures of things like an Eskimo blanket toss (Nalukataq, see the Wikipedia article which uses my picture) where I didn't,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nalukataq

but sold it otherwise as a "gallery" print for local use where power lines are removed. For pictures of birds, I'll do that too.

But for a picture of a "scene", I want to show how it is "seen".

Tresed47 Loc: Pennsylvania USA

Thanks for sharing this interesting image and commentary