[Shane Kroeker]

What are your thoughts on graffiti? I'm not talking about the "artistic" side of it, but rather the tagging/vandalism aspects. How bad is graffiti in your city? and what are the motivations behind spraypainting random buildings?

[Zenith]

I don't really see the point of 'tagging' to be honest, but that's not to say it's completely without merit. In certain parts of London there are run-down areas which are covered in graffiti, and from a photographers point of view this can add a whole new element to a shot.

I'm a big fan of the street at stuff, and I'm very fortunate that there are a load of Banksy stencils around my office, and even some letters by a guy called Eine (I think) which have only been added in the last few weeks which was exciting!

[MattyM]

I'm with BEn on this one, the street 'art' stuff is great, but random graffiti, which thankfully isn't very common in Portsmouth, is just a mess.

[chris]

Tagging is useless, and sadly it is a growing issue here in Toronto. There are some incredible street artists in this city, and we even have an event each summer that showcases their talent - Matt, I'll show you the highlights.

But whether it is art, or a tag, if it is on private property and the owner does not want it, I don't like it.

[Zenith]

I'd love to see some of the Toronto street art stuff, Chris. In Brighton a couple of years back, there was a major new development being constructed, which meant a lot of hoardings along the side of the road. The Brighton and Hove council (I think) appealed to street artists to decorate it - The results were amazing! I *think* I have some photos somewhere...

[MattyM]

Ben, I'll get shots of the Toronto stuff, and Chris, thanks, that sounds cool!

[VioletlightHeron]

When I was living in Milwaukee, WI some douchebags tagged the new Calvatravos (sp?) art building and caused quite a ruckus. Everybody was assuming it was a black gang thing and the perpetrators turned out to be a bunch of clueless white wanna-be gangers who couldnt spell worth shit. That said, I've taken many a train in Cleveland and been pretty impressed with the graffitti on the overpasses. It's a pain in the ass for the property owner or the city to clean up but some of those kids had some talent.

[j-monster]

I agree with most of what's been said here. Random graffiti tagging is ugly and has no place in society, and people who do that should be brought to justice, in part by cleaning up their work. That said I can remember going in on the GO train to work in Toronto and seeing on one railway underpass the most dramatic and larger-than-life rendition of a crow (at least I think it was a crow) everyday and thinking, man whoever did that has "mad skills" as kids like to say.