There must be money to be made from supplying beautified hoardings. Wherever I go I come across boards and fences surrounding building sites that have been elevated by artwork of one kind or another. It wasn't always so. In the past such structures were usually unadorned plywood, chipboard or somesuch material, frequently showing the scuffs, cracks and splinters of re-use. Now, however, developers often use their perimeter fence to provide advertisements or a visual experience for passers-by. I've seen graffiti artists employed to liven them up, photographs linked with the locality displayed on them, abstract paintwork designed to catch the eye etc. On a recent visit to London we came across this example near King's Cross railway station - simplified climbing plants spray painted onto the hoarding providing a leafy backdrop to the bicycle parking stands. It was a simple expedient to brighten up what otherwise would have been an eye-sore in a rapidly improving area.
photograph and text © Tony Boughen
Photo Title: Painted Hoardings and Bicycles, King's Cross, London
Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 17mm (34mm - 35mm equiv.) crop
F No: f3.5
Shutter Speed: 1/80 sec
ISO:2500
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On
