The strong scent of spray paint settled around us like a cloud in the Leake Street tunnel last weekend. We went down to check out the event Writers-Pictures In A Tunnel. I’d been down there loads of times with my camera including way back when the Cans festivals were happening and just at random on my way to Scootercaffe like here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here, for example…
Here’s a YouTube video from one of the organizers.
(You can see me in my red coat around 1.02 taking a photo of a spray painted piece of rope tied around a fence…)
And, of course, some photos from such a visual event.
I absolutely love seeing street artists and graffiti artists at work. It fascinated me to no end. In fact, I’ve got an interview with one of these guys for you pretty soon so stay tuned!
Little London Observationist 
Beautiful pix — I can almost smell the paint spray fumes just by LOOKING at these … I can’t imagine being there!
🙂
Hehe, yea, it gets all trapped in the tunnel so it’s pretty strong. A lot of the artists wore masks.
Really nice stuff! Check out photography and videos from Sydney and Down Under as well =)
Absolutely love that shot with the reflections in the puddle. Good stuff.
Thanks Cheri!
yeah…eye catching…would love to visit that place in real
Lovely sharp images. What were you using? Love the colours. Thanks for sharing 😉
Thanks DoF. Mix of Canon DSLR Rebel xsi with a 50mm lens and iPhoto on Mac.
I love this!!
Very cool shots! That’s amazing artwork and incredible colors! Thanks for sharing and congrats on being freshly pressed!
Thanks Dounica 🙂
I found this pretty fascinating and a good look at underground art. Thanks!
I love these pictures! I am an artist but compared to these guys I am completely and utterly conservative. I need to let go and let my colors take control!
Congrats on being Fresh Pressed!
Thanks Karen. Everyone’s style is different 🙂
Cool!! I repressed it! 🙂
loved ur art, nd i like diff art since i also made “abstract drip art” wch is diff from conventional
Thank you for posting this. Some of them are pretty awesome!
Wow, fantastic. Such talent.
http://valentinedefrancis.wordpress.com
like the colors
Haha these is pretty dope, it reminds me of my old days.
Shame there is no Mega-Like button, would be all over it like white on rice 🙂
Love the pics anyway, I have lots of graffiti pics from various places on my travels too, just need to get my act together and post them. Where in London is Leake Street?
Hehe 🙂 Mega Like would be awesome. Do you have your up on Flickr or anything? Leake Street is the tunnel that runs under the old Waterloo station. It is nearly directly south – like a minute walk – of the London Eye.
So cool!
Gotta love street art. Thanks!
graffiti is cool but not when it is spray painted on the wall of our shop or in the entrance foyer on our billboard sign….very expensive to remove this stuff…however, if I must choose removing graffiti or removing someone’s spit on our shop window, I choose graffitti.
Hopefully you have neither… 😦 This tunnel is actually a designated graffiti area so it’s allowed here.
nice graffiti designs
Wow, these are all amazing! 🙂
The art is impressive. 😀
And really it’s as simple as that. Cheers.
LOVE STREET ART! THANK YOU THANK YOU FOR SHARING!!
I love this ever-evolving landscape! Wonderful use of color and great photography as well! ‘Isn’t He Cute?’ and the first photo with the reflection off the puddle are brilliant! Thanks for sharing this and congrats on being FP’d too!
I’m not an artist, but i love and appreciate artwork. They give me a sense of satisfaction just by seeing them
I love the little person thing holding the F circle! Thanks for sharing.
wow that looks so good
I like it, I appreciate that it is a beautiful art.
Love the photo with the reflection in the water
It was too good to pass that one up, the water was full of spray paint too!
awesome 😀
Awesome! I love street art. 🙂
Me too!
Great photos…interesting subject.. Love the grey face with the Hollywood white teeth… 🙂
That’s one of my favorites too.
Great pictures of another side of London!
Thanks 🙂
Good stuff. Whenever I see art, and especially street artist/graffiti I am enlivened. And I am forever reminded of Marcel Duchamp and his quote, “All in all, the creative act is not performed by the artist alone… the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifications and thus adds his contribution to the creative act.”
Perfect quote, Derrick. Thanks for sharing. I believe that as well.
In 2008 I had the good fortune to walk through the tunnel that leads from the “Eye” to a yarn shop called “I Knit”. London graffiti rocks. What I really liked was that the canvas extended to the sidewalk – it was just cool. I think they should give lessons! Thanks for a trip back to that day!
Yup, that’s the same tunnel 🙂 And it leads down to I Knit London. You were probably there around the time of the Cans Festival.
great street art! the photographs are so vivid.
-carina http://peaceloveandgirlythings.com/
Great blog.
UM
Toronto
Thanks UM.
Hi from Deptford South East London!
Hi! *waves*
Oh how beautiful. I could look at them for hours. We don’t have much grafitti where I live.
Where do you live?
Love the images! It seems like you’ve captured a cross section of styles and writers. Thanks for posting.
Urban life rules, right?
Certainly makes for an interesting life 🙂
Our small town in West Virginia recently closed a street that goes under the railroad tracks while an art project was underway. I wish I had thought to take picstures!!! Thanks
Yea, you should have! Sounds interesting. Was it graffiti style stuff?
WOOOOOW amazing pieces!
I love how people can come together through street art, truly a magical, beautiful thing.
I know. Me too. When I left London for a while, that was one of the aspects of life here I missed the most.
The “reflection in the pool” artist did a terrific job.
Wow what beautiful scenes and wonderful artists/artwork!
I enjoy street art, especially murals. However, spray paint is extremely toxic and contributes to air pollution. Perhaps a more sustainable version of mural painting exists. Now I’d find that a fascinating topic.
KOOL!!
love love love this! It is so exciting to see the artists at work! I get excited everytime I catch one in the midst of work. Check out my blog, I mainly focus on graffiti in Toronto, but have a few from London and other places too.
http://www.streetinspiredtoronto.wordpress.com
Thanks! I definitely will 🙂
These are great! like underground soul coming out to colour the streets. Definite tourist attraction ; )
This makes me wish I knew how to actually spray paint
Me too 🙂
Thanks for sharing your blog. Interesting art work. Connie
http://ablog4souls.wordpress.com/
What fantastic street art!! Thanks for sharing!
I would really have to say that those graffiti were artistically done. And your shots are cool. I love the one with the reflection in the water. Thumbs up!
wow its really nice i am presently photographing street art in bamako mali, i think you would like it there is an article on my blog and an other one coming soon. also id like to know if you can give e some advise for my blog diffusion yours seems to go pretty well. like how do you do the flag counter blogger like this widget. thank you
Hi Guillaume, Thanks for your comments. Feel free to email me if you have blog questions – stephanie.sadler@hotmail.co.uk. If you want a flag widget, just click on mine and it should take you to their website.
Beautiful!
So nice, you’ve really captured the true atmosphere of the Leake Street tunnel beautifully! Love the 2 guys’ teamwork to complete the high-level areas…!
I know – they were pretty impressive. The one on the bottom was munching on some chocolate or something :p
Brilliantly surreal. No wonder kept underground as most cant handle it
Great photos, especially ones w/painters in action . . . Nice to see places dedicated to street art. Good stuff!
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I love the little stick figures playing instruments.
Love seeing photos hidden in the nooks and crannies of the city.
I love street art, and you’ve got some great shots of some impressive work! I agree with you that it’s such a treat to see the artists working. Looking forward to the interview.
Love these! I found London to be a great spot for photography.
Cheers!
Very cool! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Beatiful pictures… Greetings from Mexico =)
Greetings! I haven’t been to Mexico yet, but loved the 6 months I spent in Colombia this year where I got to learn some Spanish so hopefully I won’t lose it by the time I get to Mexico one of these days :p
Thanks a lot. I like what are your doing because is very interesting and I always had a dream to know London; To me England is the Mother of Invention and the exemple of a free culture, we need learn and inviroment to grow like a human beign who wont be free. Thanks again.
Where are you from Rene? You should visit for sure. London is an amazing city for so many reasons.
That is some seriously amazing art!!
what a great creativity ideas. it’s so cool 🙂
Bravo !!!! Whatever medium that an artist uses, its their expression and passion, that make it irresistible. Congrats on being freshly pressed.
Great comment Giovanni. I definitely agree. Thanks!
Beautiful!
I enjoy street art, especially murals. However, spray paint is extremely toxic and contributes to air pollution. Perhaps a more sustainable version of mural painting exists. Now I’d find that a fascinating topic.
I would really have to say that those graffiti were artistically done. And your shots are cool. I love the one with the reflection in the water. Thumbs up!
Fantastic art! This is such a unique blog. I love the one with the reflection in the puddle. Props to you from http://www.everythingbutkimchi.wordpress.com !
awesome!!!!
WOW…..amazing pictures!!!!
Thanks for sharing!
Wow nice pictures, I really love it. It’s truly a work of art. A amazing display of talent and skills.
Great video and pics. Thank you for the inspiration.
Nice
That’s so amazing!!!
Beautiful photos. The first is my favorite.
I would love to add to it!
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the colors are so vibrant. i love street art! wish we had more here in des moines. thanks for sharing!
Is it street art or graffiti? Definitely street art for me. Colour can brighten up our lives and this does the job!
Generally tags are more graffiti and pictures more street art, but they’re just labels. it’s all art if it’s artfully done, which these guys have done a great job of.
Art. Love the colors!
Street art is great, I love Oil paint though.
loved the pics…
lovin’ these photos! Im always inspired by new kinds of art, glad to have found you!!
Love the picture of the art reflected in the puddle…
wow! nice graffiti ! Maybe i can post Hong Kong’s graffiti next time!thanks for your inspiration !
You definitely should. If you do, leave a link here. I’d love to see it!
sure! whereismyfingerprint is my blog ^^ I will post it when I finished my photo taking.thanks
WOW…i absolutely loved this photo series!!!! i am just a huge fan of street art…but sadly its not much practiced in my country.
Its great you can actually see and shoot these artists…love the post….def coming back for more!!
Thanks! Where are you from that it’s not practiced?
fantastic display of art! Love each of of them!
First off i am in love with the pictures ! And i was also wondering if you could help me with something, i am wanting to insert a video from vimeo and saw you have one from youtube, how did you get it into your post becuase i cant figure it out! would be so thankful for help 🙂
Hi Jamie, I’ve never tried one from Vimeo, but if you google vimeo and wordpress.com there’s probably some advice. For youtube vids, you just insert the URL in the post, so it may be similar. There’s a media button in the editing screen of new posts as well where you can upload video.
Neat pictures!
Amazing pics 🙂
I really like the colors on some of those walls. The greens and blues look like they could be oil pastels.
How fantastic that this s an ‘event’! Great photos! Have you heard of 5 Pointz in Queens, NY? A place where global graffiti artists paint street art legally, though the building may be torn down to develop condominiums. I have some photos here:
http://wp.me/p1YdU5-bH
Would love your support so we can send the comments as part of the petition to stop this demolition!!
Thanks Marina. I didn’t know about that. Thanks for the link. I just left you a comment over there!
Thanks for looking at 5 Pointz! I didn’t receive your comment though 😦
Way Cool!!!
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Amazing. Vibrant. Imagination is overflowing through this work!
Where did this take place? Seems like a haven for graffiti artists!
Amazing!
It’s a permanent designated graffiti area so it’s constantly changing. It’s called Leake Street which is a tunnel near Waterloo Station.
woderful pics my art blog-http://arrttt.wordpress.com/
These are wicked! I’d be interested in knowing where in London they were taken 🙂
Hiya, they are from Leake Street near Waterloo.
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the first photo with the reflection of the art in the puddle, that photograph is breath taking. I’m from Detroit, and I don’t know if being so near graffiti art has made me a tough critique of, or immune to its beauty. Either way, this is really something.
Beautiful images. Love the viid colors. Congrats on the FP!
awesome!
That is such a great series, I love the one of the paint cans. The colours are so vibrant. Great work.
love the fact that the street artists are working from photographs .. brings a new light to how they create thanks for sharing!
These pictures are so alive, so colorful and in the location that they are end seems to bring that particular area to life!
These are really great! fascinating indeed ! The tottenham court tube station also an interesting place to see some abstract wall paintings.
Great job, man! Love it! 🙂
These are great! you should post a graffiti tour on http://guidehop.com! (disclosure: I am a founder) 🙂
Haha 🙂 Come back to me in a few weeks and I probably will. I’ve got loads of shots of graffiti from all over London. Just in the middle of job hunting and flat hunting right now but once that settles down, I’ll have a bit more time!
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awesome pics. what kind of camera do u own? do u guest blog
Hi Jabbar, I use a Canon Rebel xsi and these were taken with a 50mm lens. I occasionally guest blog when I have time…
Love the vivid use of color! Great photography too!
I always love to see the artwork of creative people! It’s somewhat comforting to know that there are many ways to express yourself and taht sometimes someone else draws a picture that makes you think “oh wow!”.
http://dressupforme.wordpress.com/2011/12/06/bloody-mary/
Incredible artwork. Loved it.
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that is REAL ART!!!!! pure inspiration
the colors so VIVID and the photo is awesome too
“there so many ways to express yourself in this world”
These pictures are wonderful!
the art is so impressive
Dope Dope Dope! Love from Houston!!
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London Grafitti