Last week, a writer whose work I greatly admire emailed to ask what motivates me to go out shooting graffiti. Since that's a question I've been getting a lot lately, I thought I'd share my response:

Why do I document graf?

Short answer: for the love of it. I'm as addicted to going out, finding spots, working my camera and honing my craft as you are to painting.

Long answer: because I'm constantly amazed by the beautiful things people create with aerosol paint, because graffiti inspires me, because it takes me to parts of the city I would otherwise never see, because I love the tranquility of off-the-beaten-track spots and the rush of knowing I'm not supposed to be there, because I'm never bored, because it's my way of tuning out all the day-to-day bullshit of my job, because I meet all kinds of interesting people from all walks of life, because I feel it's a race against time to document walls before everything gets knocked down and replaced with soulless condos, because it makes me feel I'm part of something larger, because I want to contribute to the history of this period of graffiti, because it's the last thing I think of before I go to sleep, and because I can't think of a better way to spend my free time than to wander around some random, rundown part of Brooklyn and come across pieces of art in unexpected places.

What can I say? I'm hooked.