Jaya Healed

This past summer whilst guesting at This Time Tomorrow in Brooklyn, I had the absolute honor of tattooing Jaya @jayaism via ig and website link here www.Jayaism.com Jaya is a Tattooer whom I am hugely inspired by.

He very kindly sent over some healed photographs, this is about 4 months healed and settled.

This piece is inspired by bamboo ornament motifs from Borneo and Timor, which was to connect with Jaya’s Indonesian heritage.

Thank you Jaya.

4 x 5 Film shots of Ryan’s Back

My posts on this blog are sporadic to say the least…..

In an attempt to share some photographs of my work and keep posting…….

Here is Ryan’s back photographed on Ilford 4×5 hp5 film, using my Graflex Speed Graphic with a Schneider Xenar 210mm f3 Lens, taken last month whilst in Texas.

Thank you for looking, and thank you Ryan for getting this work done and sitting through all of it.

Abstract moments carved into time like wood carved with memories.

Collin is a wonderful human being and I am extremely grateful to have not only met him, but to have accompanied him on his journey over the last five years getting his two sleeves.

To call Collin a master craftsman would be an understatement, he is a timber frame carpenter who uses traditional methods and combines them with modern functional homes, it really is something you have to see to appreciate, his new website is at this link-

http://www.collinbeggs.com

He has travelled from Sandpoint Idaho to visit and get tattooed by me in Austin multiple times each year and the photographs below are of the finished project, though I doubt we are finished as I think there maybe a few more tattoos on the horizon.

Since the beginning of the year, I have been fully immersing myself in capturing my tattoos on film and decided to take full advantage of photographing Collins sleeves.

We set up a little back drop outside at my home on an overcast Sunday with a few reflectors for fill light and to reduce some shadows, I used a Calamut 4×5 mono rail camera with a old 20/30’s compur Lens and a Hasselblad 500cm with a 150mm lens.

The first image above and images below were shot on a Hasselblad 500cm with a 150mm lens.

Thank you Collin for making all the trips and following through to see this project to its completion.

A slow crawl through chaos to find order.

Creating art is something that I have found to be a necessary way to feel at peace and ease with myself and my surroundings, creating art and ornamental decoration for the human body is a complete privilege and a total honor. It is something I constantly marvel at, it feels magical and is a totally surreal occupation for both the artist and canvas. Ted has been coming to get tattooed by me since 2012, we started at Saved tattoo in Brooklyn and continued in Austin Texas, at Rock of Ages, he is one of only a few customers who only get tattooed by me, a stoic and kind man who has constantly followed through, completing each stage of his body suit with a keen integrity. His level of commitment traveling from Port Perry in Canada to get tattooed is nothing short of incredible. As we round the corner to the final stages with only one session left on his legs and his sleeves to start and complete, I wanted to take a moment to thank him and share some images of our last two sessions that we just finished up this week whilst I was guesting at Saved Tattoo.

Thank you Ted for sticking with it on this journey, I really can’t put into words how grateful I am.