Hosier Lane, Melbourne

Never wait until the last day of vacation to take a photography tour. That is what happened to us in Melbourne, Australia. We met up with photographer Jamie Murcia on our last day in Melbourne, and also in Australia as we would be leaving for the United States the very next day. Jamie's photography tour, which focused on Melbourne's laneways and street art, is when we saw a lot more that the city had to offer.

Street art, not to be confused with graffiti art, is so prevalent in Melbourne that there are multiple tours to showcase it, and websites directing tourists to the streets where the art is located. Melbourne's street art in created with the city's permission, and uses primarily stencil, sometimes paint. Graffiti, or tagging, is illegal.

Our photography teacher posed in front of a blues musician mural in order to see the depth of the scene. (Left)

In those laneways, we saw the artistic magic that happens which is pretty much unnoticed by the greater tourist population. We also caught a glimpse of the shopping and café hotspots that we had missed throughout our entire stay. Unlike alleys, these laneways are not the dark, dirty, derelict-filled places where "you may venture into but might not come out alive." These images are either from scary movies, or real, unsafe cities. On the other hand, the Melbourne laneways are clean, lively, filled with cafes, sandwich and donut shops, glass-covered promenades filled with boutiques of linens, handbags, loose leaf tea, and yes, street art.

Some alleys have even maintained the history of old Australia, in which horse-pulled carriages traveled the city. They even have the old hitching posts to prove it. Hitching posts were common in Melbourne during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The hitching posts primarily served as a place for private and commercial drivers to secure horses while conducting business. By the early 1950s, the number of horses in Australian cities had plummeted.

We continued on to additional lanes and photographed more artwork. One noticeable issue is that graffiti artists are tagging the beautiful street art, sometimes done outside of the art, other times the tagging is embedded within the art. While some local council have made efforts to preserve street art, it has not gone far enough. One Banksy stencil and painting was destroyed.

There are two distinct areas where you can see street art in Melbourne: the Melbourne Central Business District (CBD), which is considered the downtown area of the city, and the Fitzroy area, which is a densely populated suburb of Melbourne. All of our photos were taken in the CBD.

Street art is one of Melbourne's biggest tourist attractions, and the last street that we visited is the most prominent for street art, Hosier Lane. What makes this street so magnificent is that art is everywhere, on building walls, doors, windows, garbage cans, even fire hydrants.

Though Hosier Lane and Union Lane had some great art, there are many other laneways in the CBD to see amazing street art.

Stencil art is not the only expression. There is also shoe art, which hangs from an overhead wire.

Some of the artwork serves to highlight political or social issues.

Melbourne may be the capital of Australia, but it is also the capital of great street art.