I would never call myself a graffiti documentarian, but I always seem to end up documenting it somehow. The truth is I am in love with the act of the graffiti writer. When I walk around the city shooting and come upon tags and pieces, I think about the person that wrote it. I think about what they went through to get up. They believe in what they are doing, and they go out and make it happen. It’s inspiring.

The other day I linked up with a friend and we headed out to shoot, we came to this spot near the tracks. There was this old warehouse I had shot from the outside before, but had never been in. We found way to enter and went in - below is some of what we found.

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Imagine my surprise today when I came upon some of Swoon’s work while doing my rounds in the Mission.

I have to say I have been digging Swoon since my days living in Brooklyn. So seeing anything in San Francisco of hers excites the eyes.

Swoon’s work is striking no matter how you look at it. Even these pieces that have been torn, weathered, and faded still have their visual appeal.

Swoon’s work can be seen in various city streets around the world. Recently, Swoon’s work has moved into the gallery context. Check out deitch projects website for a recent NYC show with photos and more info on the artist.

I have been asking myself that question for months. What is Oakland and what does it mean to be in Oakland? You tell someone in San Francisco that you live in Oakland and they are like oh… must be the cheap rent… it is true that rents are cheaper and you might actually be able to afford to buy a house here. But since I have been here I have wanted to feel something for this place.

Where is the soul of Oakland?

Having lived in Brooklyn, I have wanted so much for Oakland to be like Brooklyn, but unfortunately it is not. So what is Oakland? Who knows? What makes this place tic? Why does BART stop at midnight? Who are the movers and shakers here? Why are people so into sideshows? These are just a few of the questions on my mind.
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This was my first time in Paris and I was eager to walk the streets and take as many photos as possible. The moment we landed and got settled into our hotel we headed out to explore the city. Everything of course was new and my eye was exploring every detail. The city is much older than anything in the states, so history leaves many visual layers to explore.

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MESS NOISE is our featured tag of the month. And this one is right on, we are definitely living in some MESS NOISE these days. Keep up the good work MESS. We love it!

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Over the past year I’ve had the honor to edit a project called “Zambian Forge”. The project was shot and produced by globetrotter David Mallin and his company Cloudchaser Films LLC. We started on post production in Jan. of 2005 and finished up this past March. Being able to edit the film was an experience of a life time. It was challenging, enlightening, and full of lessons on life.

“Zambian Forge” is a feature-length documentary exploring the lives of refugees living in Meheba Refugee Settlement. Meheba is located in the northwestern province of Zambia, Africa and hosts refugees from many countries including Angola, Rwanda,
the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Sudan. Refugee life is viewed through the eyes of young Americans volunteering in the settlement with FORGE, a startup NGO they founded.

The film is now entering the stages of distribution and viewing by the world. The trailer can be seen at cloudchaserfilms.com or here at the dvdell.com video section. The trailer will also be shown in a special showcase at this years NAB conference in Las Vegas. Zambian Forge is featured on the cover of the April issue of DV magazine and on DV.com, with an article on tapeless telecine to high definition written by David Mallin.

For more info on “Zambian Forge” visit cloudchaserfilms.com

It will take dvdell many years to document all of Paris. Below is just a portion of the graf we were able to capture on this recent trip. Also check the links below for other sites featuring more Paris street documentation.

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B-boy battles instead of nukes, sounds good to me!

Nice work by Benson Lee (Mondo Paradiso Productions) & Charlie Shin (Weeping Buddha Productions & Cartel Creative). Thanks for putting together this dope video and posting it for the world to see - video below.

Korean B-boy Battle Video Here <<<

8 days, more than 1,000 photos - time for dvdell to edit… these are a few of the selects I pulled from the pile.
more to come>>>

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