1 Year Hardgraff39ing (Project break down PT1)

So Steemies its Sunday and I've finally decided to sit back and reflect on what a great year I have had since I started up Hardgraff39 on Instagram.

It has now been a year and I'd like to give some background on the projects I carried out last year so you may hopfully understand the project a little bit better 😁

(Very first uploaded photo on Hardgraff39)

What is Hardgraff39?

Well Hardgraff39 is my passion! My out let! My opportunity to bring Art and specifically street art to the masses, with a hope of influencing people to want to keep what we have on the streets around us but add where needed to our towns and cities!

This whole concept started out after being injured and being unable to partake in BJJ which is a sport that allows me release my stresses of the day.

I need to find something else that would allow me to appreciate life as much as BJJ does ( trust me when you are getting choked out and you can stop it by just tapping you can appreciate how furtunate you really are)
Art can do this and Street art/Graffiti just so happens to do it for me!

I had always wanted to get in to photography so after I had been introduced to Steemit and relised I did'nt have enough interesting content in my eyes to add to it, it got me thinking as to what can I offer and what would I want to do long term that would keep me interested let alone interest others on the platform.

I picked my poision and bought my Camera!

I knew portaits and landscapes would just not keep me interested even though I do love looking at them myself.

My first outting was down at the world famous Leak Street Tunnel near Waterloo.

This was a great experience as I had no clue how I'd go about this in regards to format. I just went down there and let the kid take over! I was snapping away, talking to artist and just soaking up the vibe! It was amazing to do and see.
Being someone who has never been good at arts and crafts I was surrounded by magicians who could turn paint in to art with the spray of their cans! It was like being in a playground with all the things you love the most.

It was great to talk to some of the artist and get their view on the what they thought about Graffiti and some of the more publicly known artist such as Bansky and one of my fave artist Dank. One guy had said he did not rate Bansky as he used stencils and did not class what he did as real graff!!
https://www.instagram.com/banksy/
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Another guy had mentioned that commisions were not the actions of a real graffer in regards to me mentioning Dank so didnt rate him as such!
https://www.instagram.com/dankitchener/

I met some Graffers who did not mind me taking pics and others who were cautious as they had Illegal tags and did not want their faces on record!

All in all that first day was a truly amazing day they I could not have imagined a few months before.

Beofore I had made my decision on what I wanted to do I had a good long think and graffiti had been something I had shown interest in since I was a kid!
I would take the alley way to school so I could see the graff on the walls and I had pictures of me possing by graff or taking pics in various Cities such as Rio , Amsterdam and Berlin when I was in my 20s and early 30s. I'm a also big on travel fan so this idea made perfect sense!
Rio 2003

Amsterdam 2015

Berlin 2015

Who'd thought with in less than a year I would be working with Newbies and legends in the game and that Hardgraff39 would be shooting on the other side of the world!

Keep your eyes out for the review on the second shoot that brought me back in touch with an old student.

They have cool stuff on there 👌🏽😎👊🏽

#Hardgraff39oninstagram #Graffabout #Graffiti #Streetart #oneyearhardgraffing