Shorthorn photographer Richard Hoang wrote,

Architecture juniors Bernabe Longoria, center, and Samantha Richardson, right, peel off tape from a wooden bench after spray-painting it as architecture  assistant professor Wanda Dye supervises Monday outside of the Fine Arts Building. Students from the School of Urban and Public Affairs and the School of Architecture are working together to provide benches and structures for the Downtown Front and Center event, which will take place on Saturday.

Color is a seductively powerful way to grab the viewer’s attention and capture it.  This is the very reason that Richard Hoang’s wildart of these students with spray-paint is such an impactful image.  The vibrant spray-paint immediately snares the attention of anyone walking by the newspaper rack (which, yes, this is the front page photograph of Wednesday’s issue).

When asked how he found the photograph Hoang said, “After walking around campus I decided to go into the wood shop in the Fine Arts Building and as I was looking around I saw these stools they were making.  I kept searching outside and found these guys spray-painting and I saw it as an opportunity for color.  I was reminded of fruit rollups when I saw the tape covered in paint.”

The same pop of color that drew Hoang to the site in the first place is a very useful compositional element to draw viewers to the final image.