My First Trip to the Fabrication Yard

As a photographer, I’m always looking for a new, exciting location for photo shoots, the perfect lighting, and the perfect pop of color or interest for photos.

Searching for an unusual looking tree or plant, a unique doorway or staircase, or anything to make a picture “pop” is what I do! All the time. At the Fabrication Yard in Dallas, finding those things was not difficult.

Every inch of that place popped with very interesting and vivid colors splashed onto some old, dilapidated buildings and fences, that without all the amazing graffiti, would not have been much to look at.

I thought I had seen graffiti before, because the train tracks near my house (no longer running) are covered in what I thought was graffiti. Well…it’s an entirely different story down at the Fabrication Yard.

This is not a bunch of teenagers with cans of spray paint. This is a place where some very talented artists gather to showcase their amazing work. It’s also a very popular spot for photo sessions.

When we first pulled up to the Fabrication Yard entrance, I was awestruck. I was amazed! I was speechless, and I had no idea where to begin or what to photograph. There was so much graffiti. It was everywhere.

If you have a chance to go see it, I highly recommend it. I also recommend taking a friend with you just to be safe. I’m not familiar with the area, and I don’t think going alone is a good idea. I took my bodyguard, a.k.a. husband with me, and he enjoyed it just as much as I did.

We both agree that we need to make another trip down there at some point. We feel like we missed so much because there was just so much to see, and so much going on. This place definitely needs to be revisited!

While we there, we met one of the artists who was working on a design on the outside of one of the buildings. I asked him if I could take some photos of him working, and he happily obliged, introduced himself to us, and told us a little bit about the graffiti and some of the “rules” for the Fabrication Yard.

I was intrigued by all the graffiti etiquette he talked about. And I was hoping to be there long enough to see his finished product. Unfortunately, we had to head home, so we missed it. But the good news is, I was able to see his final product on Instagram, because we are now Instagram buddies.

You should check out his work. You can find him on Instagram at smokdbeanz. Very nice guy, who has been a graffiti artist for only a few months, and is clearly very talented. It will be fun to follow his journey through his Instagram account.

Mark and I both found it all very interesting. We found everyone down there to be quite friendly, and happy to talk with us about their work. Only one artist asked me not to take photos of him working.

I’m not sure what he was painting – some phrase in very fancy letters. We couldn’t tell what it said, so we just moved on without asking… He seemed to want to be alone.

There were several photographers there as well. Some doing some very “interesting” photo shoots (that I won’t blog about), and some doing some very artsy, fun shoots with clients.

I not only made friends with a couple of the graffiti artists, but I also got the card of one of the photographers doing a photoshoot down there. Very interesting stuff on his website as well.

All in all, it was a very fun, exciting morning. So much to photograph, so much to look at, and so fun to be seeing something that I’ve never seen before. What an amazing place. A place that can never be totally enjoyed from just seeing photos.

So if you get the chance, check it out. Or at least check out the Fabrication Yard Facebook page. It has a lot of interesting photos and announces activities that are happening at the Fabrication Yard that you might be interested in.

As for me, I plan to head down there again sometime soon to explore a little more and to take more time to look carefully at all of the art. Let me know what you think if you make it down there. Until next time…

P.S. Below are a view (terrible) videos we took while down there. Sorry if they make you dizzy, but I’m not a videographer (as you can tell)! Enjoy!