There are a lot of people who stroll the streets of New York City and take pictures. Teeming with interesting people, places and things, the NYC landscape lends it self to being photographed by enterprising professional and amateur lensmen (and women). One such photog is Jake Dobkin, street art enthusiast and founder of the four-year old site, Streetsy.com.

Call him the Sartorialist of street art, Dobkin walks the streets of the city capturing the work of artists who'd rather display their work on surfaces outdoors instead galleries. Born in Brooklyn, Dobkin currently lives in Lower Manhattan with his wife, and in addition to Streetsy.com, he's also the co-founder and publisher of Gothamist.com. When Dobkin looks for street art, he usually stalks around lower Manhattan and Brooklyn.

An alumna of Columbia and New York Universities, Dobkin swears that he's never been away from New York City for more than ten weeks in the last 30 years. And since we here at StreetLevel have a healthy appreciation for art and photography, we spoke with the image maker about his passion for this form of expression, it's direction and why the genre spits in the face of American commercialism.

How did you get started photographing street art?

I did graffiti in high school and I've been interested in it since then, which was the early 1990s. When I got to college, I became interested in photography and street art, which I saw for the first time on a trip to Europe in 1997.

How would you define street art?

Art put in public places, often without permission.

What direction do you think street art is going in?

I think street art is mutating and fragmenting into many different sub-movements. You've got the various city and national flavors, and then the scenes that define themselves by medium: sticker, stencil, poster, sculpture, projection, etc.

What are the greatest cities and areas to see ground breaking street art?

I like Bushwick in New York and Downtown and Melrose in Los Angeles. I'm told London, Sao Paolo, Brazil and Paris also have strong scenes.

How do you characterize the mood of the contemporary street art scene?

All art is ultimately hopeful, because it's about creation.

You've said you don't like to pick favorites in the scene, why not?

It's like picking the most beautiful woman in New York-- it's pointless and misleading because the word "beauty" is subjective and the definition changes over time and as you move through space. But there are a few artists that I'm unusually interested in-- right now, I'm following Specter, Elbow Toe and Imminent Disaster pretty closely.

But you have a section on Streetsy.com called "40+ Street artists You Should Know Besides Banksy" – those aren't favorites?

That list was just a starting point for conversation last year. I'm going to update it again pretty soon.

Are there any artists that we should look out for?

Booker, Deuce Seven, and Bast have all caught my attention with recent work.

With fall fashion upon us, do you see street art tying into fashion?

Street art is the opposite of fashion. Fashion tries to sell people shit they don't need and make them feel bad if they don't buy it. It's all about superficial appearances and a mob-mentality. Street art is free and doesn't try to sell you anything. It's all about making beauty where there wasn't any before. Most street artists that I know dress in rags and paint splashed jeans, and look about fifty times more authentic than the models I see in fashion magazines.

Do you think the economic recession has affected street art?

It's inspired some artists to make pieces that address the materialistic values of our country-- and take some well-deserved shots at Wall Street and the government. But paint hasn't gotten any more expensive, and artists haven't gotten any richer, so on the whole, it hasn't been that important.