It is all about the light

Wide Open Walls has transformed Sacramento into one of the most vibrant open-air art galleries in the United States. Each year, the festival invites internationally recognized muralists and local artists to paint large-scale works across building facades, warehouses, and alleyways throughout Sacramento. The resulting collection, often referred to as Sacramento’s “open walls”, turns ordinary streets into spaces of public storytelling, where themes of culture, identity, nature, and social change unfold in color across the city. Rather than confining art to museums, these murals place it directly in daily life, allowing residents and visitors to encounter contemporary art while walking, biking, or simply moving through the urban landscape

Yesterday, my friend Teila and I set out to appreciate Sacramento’s Open Walls. We do this once in a great while. Since we didn’t have a solid plan, we wandered aimlessly in midtown towards the Capitol along R street. Initially, it was a group activity but very quickly we got separated from the group.

When I photograph murals, I like to isolate portions of them instead of photographing the whole thing. This makes me feel like I’m interpreting parts of the art and making it somewhat more personal. I also like interacting with them, as in one of the pictures below, where I’m petting a dog…

Another thing you can do is to compose several photos into an abstract by superimposing layers in Photoshop and changing the blending mode of the layers. Like the example below. If you like the idea, I suggest that yo visit Howard Grill’s blog since he has become quite a master of this type of abstract.

Tips: Several websites document and map Wide Open Walls and the growing collection of street art scattered across Sacramento. But the best way to experience it is simply on foot. If you walk along J, K, and I streets, including the alleys, from about 15th Street toward 33rd Street, you will inevitably encounter walls bursting with color: towering portraits, abstract compositions, and playful visual surprises tucked between storefronts and parking lots. This is exactly what my friend and I did, wandering block by block and stopping whenever a wall demanded attention. Photographing these murals requires little more than a cell phone and a good pair of walking shoes, though a DSLR with a wide-angle lens can help capture the full scale of the larger works. Sunday mornings tend to be ideal, when fewer cars are parked in the lots and alleys, leaving many murals unobstructed. It is also worth remembering that street art, even when publicly visible, remains protected by copyright; photographs of the murals are generally fine for personal use but should not be used for commercial purposes without permission from the artists.

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Wall Art Botanical Images

Wall Art Photography projects

Wall Art landscapes and miscellaneous

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