Seattlest Q&A: SlightlyNorth Talks SoDo And Graffiti

One of our favorite Flickr pool contributors is Shawn "SlightlyNorth" McClung, a Denver transplant with an eye for graffiti and the wilds of SoDo. After ogling a whopping ten of his Flickr sets in SlightlyNorth's "Ephemeral Art" collection, we asked the man to tell us more about his photography, the tagging community, and his abiding love for an often-neglected neighborhood.

What's compelling about graffiti for you? How did you get into photographing it in particular?
The empowerment of knowing the city belongs to all of us, and that a small group chooses to convey that by customizing the city. I really like walking around a corner and seeing a painted piece or a sticker adding color to something that was boring and metal before. Finding little hidden stickers in nooks that not many people see is pretty special too. Above all, I love knowing that people are out there spending their time and risking their freedom for art, even very short-lived street art.

I love taking photos of Seattle's urban-ness. I love finding out-of-the-way places and even more so when they have free art for me to look at. I think I got into photographing graffiti walls after I started noticing stickers on the signs around town. I started taking pictures of them and soon started seeking out more and more of them, including spray and wheatpaste pieces.

Why Seattle and why SoDo?
I moved here back in 2001 for a job. I grew up in Denver so having a large body of water so close is a big plus. I hated Denver because it was always so brown and boring. Seattle just feels right to me. I guess I like SoDo so much because of the industrial-ness of it all. The neighborhood is real. I love it because no one else really takes pictures down here except for the trendy strip of Georgetown and events at the stadiums. It is almost like my own private photography playground. It is dirty, grimy, dusty, industrial, lonely... all the things I love seeing through the lens. I don't actually live in SoDo, but I do work here.

Have your photos ever put you in touch with the artists whose work you photograph? What has the response been like from the tagging world? Led to any friendships?
Oh yes, all the time. I think a lot of the people who put up stuff around the city do it to get their name out there. Others do it just because they feel blank spaces around the city deserve to have little gems of color and surprise. Most of the artists I know like seeing their stuff through someone else's lens. It is a good way to understand what works and what doesn't. I have new friends because of it too. The scene is pretty close-knit.

More Q&A after the jump!