Undercover art
This is an alternative London tourist attraction, which you can find in a dank, badly-lit tunnel which snakes underneath Waterloo rail station.
The Leake Street tunnel is a place where spray paint art is permitted, and has a strong association with renowned street artist Banksy.
It’s plastered in a colourful explosion of graffiti and is living, breathing street art gallery. On the afternoon I ventured down there, several people were busy creating work with spray cans. The tunnel smarts with the tang of solvents and urine – not an environment for the delicate.
For the photographer, it’s a moody, atmospheric place with both light and shadows. You can create some vibrant abstract frames with the colours and textures that bleed off the walls, while it responds well to some HDR editing. This is quite literally the city’s underbelly.
Click first image for the full gallery experience
mikeosbornphoto 
I love graffiti, Mike, and you have captured it so beautifully. Your compositions tell stories of the places and the art. Great work!
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Thank you very much! This was a far cry from the nature and gardens I’m often drawn to :)
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Nice collection Mike. I always find it slightly unnerving getting my camera out in places like these – preconceptions and prejudices!!
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Thank you Noeline. Oh, I know what you mean. This spot is quite a tourist haunt, so there were cameras galore all down the tunnel. But you couldn’t help be caught by a little uneasiness.
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Love street art. Great set, Mike.
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Thanks so much, Jane, I appreciate that. It’s forever changing there with cans of spray paint…
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I think how many times I have been to Waterloo and didn’t know that this was there – great capture.
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Thank you Diana. Yes, you have to know where you’re going. But it’s quite a little tourist hotspot.
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A great montage of colour, and somewhere else to add to my list of London photographic locations! :D
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Thanks Richard! Yes, it’s well worth a stroll and I thought of your penchant for graffiti as I was down there! It’s a double bill today and the next one – on a comparable theme – is coming shortly.
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I love these…so vivid and full of character.
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Thank you very much for coming by, Abhi. Much appreciated. It was full of atmosphere, sometimes a little bit threatening?!
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Threatening…I could see some of that. Maybe one of those stimulating type of anxiety, the experience of which one has no immediate desire to escape from.
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Yes, a little bit. But that doesn’t apply to the smell of solvents and pee!
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Three years last month (May) since I was here and as with all street art a totally different scene. Your images brought back great memories of being taken there by an Ozzie photographer friend living in London and my first camera movement shots. Thank you for posting.
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Lee, I’m impressed – you got there long before I did! Glad this revived some memories. I’m not sure I liked the place much, but it was full of elements to make good photographs.
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I wasn’t going to say this (but obviously am now) – I found the street art I saw was much more refined/classy? than those I saw in your images. I’m not decrying your images just that I felt the art was lacking something three years later.
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Oh sure! I’m sure it doesn’t help when the “canvas” is totally changing. I didn’t watch the guys at work but also spotted some younger kids who were just tagging. Imagine having a free-for-all exhibition space – nightmare! I think I was more interested in the vibe of the place and the light coming through from the outside world into the shadows.
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It is an amazing area, and come to think of it now that you mention tagging there had been some big names doing a special art thing on just the week before down there and there wasn’t much over spraying at all.
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Perhaps it’s just much more fast and loose now. I still have the enduring aromas of solvent and urine in my nostrils. Ew!
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Only a faint smell of urine. I was there at night and have just looked at your galley of 50 and really like the image with the light along the wall in daytime. So yes a much different place.
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Thanks Lee. So the tang of piddle has got worse too! Oh dear.
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:)
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