Last year I purchased a Pacemaker Crown Graphic 4 x 5 press camera, this camera was made in the early 1950’s so it has been a steep learning curve getting to know how to use this machine and not waste the expensive film! One main intention when picking up this camera was to use it to photograph large tattoos in an interesting, archival and non digital format.
With the constant need for tattoos to be digitally photographed and posted on the Internet within seconds of them being finished, I wanted to use a medium that slowed my actions and the entire process down to a crawl, removing the instant validation and disposable nature that the modern day smart phone photographs have created through social media.
Having had an interest in photography since my mother gave me my first 35mm Pentax ME SLR camera in 1997, learning to use this old and very mechanical camera has been a challenge and a lot of fun, I couldn’t have done it with out the invaluable guidance of Sandy Carson, an amazing photographer and friend. – http://www.sandycarson.com
Michael Waters has been getting Tattooed at Rock of Ages for the last 10 + years, its been an honor getting to work on his body suit, adding to a collection of only Tony Hundahl, Steve Byrne and myself’s work, his back is by me and his arms and front torso ( in progress) are by Steve and Tony. These images where shot using the above camera on Fuji Provia 100f slide film, there is something about these sheets of file that seems almost magical to look at, almost like a little part of the tattoo has been captured on the sheet of film and recorded in a tangible way.
Thank you for looking !
- Thomas
Hoopers Electric 
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