"Sketch", the tattoo artist...

Nee7x7

I recently took a natural portrait class thru Betterphoto. Assignments were challenging because the first thing we were told is that we couldn't use any close family members or friends for our subjects, so we had to go outside our comfort zones to find subjects to shoot...yikes!

Sketch owns the tattoo parlor where my hubby got a tattoo recently, so I got brave and asked Sketch to pose (keep in mind I'm a fairly conservative, over 50 Grandmother here!). What was most surprising was his willingness and openness to try different poses for me, even tho he was initially not very enthusiastic when he first agreed to do it. Even more surprising, Sketch and his wife Donna are decent, clean and sober, good hearted people beneath their odd looking (dare i say, almost scary) exteriors. Getting to know them better was a real treat...they are now our friends and I'm even actually considering getting a tattoo from Sketch myself!

Anyhow, here are some pics from the shoot. We were asked to try different lighting and also environmental shots.

For this one I asked him to look angry (his artwork is what's behind him in this and the next shot)...



For this one, he was talking to my husband and he actually almost smiled (he doesn't like to smile because he's embarassed about his teeth...



And for this one, I had him hold a small, goose neck halogen lamp in his lap with the light pointed toward his face.



Thanks for looking!
~Nee :wave

DoctorIt

#3

Nee7x7

Thanks, Erik! I had a lot of fun doing this shoot~

mr peas

hey those came out really well. i like the first one's bg. it goes with his tattoos. very cool!

Nee7x7

Thanks, Joel!
ps. can u believe i STILL haven't got out to shoot with the 55mm mk2? Arrrggghhh!!!!

edit: oops, I meant 50mm mk2...my brain wasn't awake just yet when I wrote this, !

mr peas

Nee7x7 wrote:

Thanks, Joel!
ps. can u believe i STILL haven't got out to shoot with the 55mm mk2? Arrrggghhh!!!!

I see you typing while you should be shooting!

Dee

My, My...
That is brave of you!

Remember a tatoo is forever! (Unless you save money for a laser treatment)

Seneca

That bluish thing in the background in pic#1 was a little distracting...but nonetheless my favorite. Good for you for going out of your "comfort zone". :ivar

Jeff Fillmore

Love the last one!

Nee7x7

Thanks Dee, Seneca and Jeff for your comments. I seem to be getting "braver" (or is it more foolhardy, ?) in my old age!

Dee, if I ever do get a tattoo, it most likely wouldn't show with regular clothes on (I'm thinking on my back around the shoulder area) and it wouldn't be very big and it would most likely be something in remembrance of my (deceased) mother or done as an expression of my love for my grandson (I was thinking one of Curious George perhaps!). But I'm still dragging my feet on the tattoo thing...it's only at 50-50 odds over whether I'll get one or not~

Cheers!
~Nee

David_S85

The first has the best expression. That background has to go though since it looks like something is growing out of his head. Can you replace it with something else?

Kudos to you for shooting this series and posting the results for us to see. He's quite the subject for portraiture.

photogmomma

Seneca wrote:

That bluish thing in the background in pic#1 was a little distracting...but nonetheless my favorite. Good for you for going out of your "comfort zone". :ivar

I'm with Seneca about the first one. Best shot, but distracting background.

Great series, though! Love 'em!

Art Scott

A really good series and # 3 is also my favorite...thee is something about ghoul lighting that I have always liked....but with Sketch those shadows and highlights are perfect....

Are you sure you didn't paint those in afterwards:D just kiddin'.

imax

It's a small world Nee, if I'm not mistaken, Sketch did my Wolf tattoo about 15 years ago. Is he a fantastic artist who does alot of work with skulls, demons and such? Ask him if he ever lived in Hollywood Fl, a small apartment by the golf course around the time Hurricane Andrew payed us a visit. This is almost exactly how he looked back then. If it's not the same guy he is a dead ringer for another guy named Sketch who also does tattoos and draws. The below picture is the one though.....

DavidS

Nice shots.

Nee7x7

Thanks, all! I understand the comments about the background being a bit of a distraction in the first pic, but I rather like it for the very reason that it looks like something shooting out of his tattooed head! As a straight portrait, I can agree with you all that it would be improved if I simply made the background all black. I may rework it to get rid of the artwork behind him in order to satisfy that omnipresent need for perfection in us all, !

Imax (sorry, don't know your "real" name offhand), I will definitely ask Sketch if he lived in Hollywood Florida around the time of Hurricane Andrew (that would be hard to forget, I'm sure!). Better yet, if you can get a shot of your tattoo and include your face, the chances of him remembering you would be even greater.

I don't know about his tattoos, but his artwork is full of skulls and demons. He's had a pretty checkered past, but he's cleaned up his life in recent and gotten rid of his personal demons (though he still depicts them in his art).

Cheers,
~Nee

imax

Imax (sorry, don't know your "real" name offhand),

Bond, James Bond.


I will definitely ask Sketch if he lived in Hollywood Florida around the time of Hurricane Andrew (that would be hard to forget, I'm sure!). Better yet, if you can get a shot of your tattoo and include your face, the chances of him remembering you would be even greater.

No but seriously my name is Joe and he might remember living next to Joe and Mary. The guy with the Akita. Sorry but I can't send you a picture of the tattoo. I wasn't real happy with it and about three years ago I had it redone into a Tiger. Maybe he'd remember my daughter Tara



I don't know about his tattoos, but his artwork is full of skulls and demons. He's had a pretty checkered past, but he's cleaned up his life in recent and gotten rid of his personal demons (though he still depicts them in his art).

gotten rid of his personal demons

Haven't we all. I still chase mine sometimes. Anyway your post made me reflect back on the past 15 or so years of my life and it made me realize just how lucky I am. I thank you for that. Have a great night.

Joe

Nee7x7

Hi all, tried the dark background. Does this work a bit better?
Cheers!
~Nee

Nee7x7

Hello Joe!

Your daughter is lovely. Sorry the tattoo didn't work out. I haven't seen any of Sketch's recent artwork (another tattoo artist did my hubby's tat), but I'm sure he's improved some in the last 15 years. I will tell him you said hello!
Cheers,
~Nee

fotodojo

Nee7x7 wrote:

Sketch owns the tattoo parlor where my hubby got a tattoo recently, so I got brave and asked Sketch to pose (keep in mind I'm a fairly conservative, over 50 Grandmother here!). What was most surprising was his willingness and openness to try different poses for me, even tho he was initially not very enthusiastic when he first agreed to do it. Even more surprising, Sketch and his wife Donna are decent, clean and sober, good hearted people beneath their odd looking (dare i say, almost scary) exteriors. Getting to know them better was a real treat...they are now our friends and I'm even actually considering getting a tattoo from Sketch myself!
~Nee

I always love these sort of things. I hang out at the airbrush(.com) forums as well (lots of skulls and dragons there too ) I keep being reminded that tatooists, photographers and airbrush guys etc are artists first and foremost so they aren't all bad .

ehughes

#3 is Great

mr peas

Nee7x7 wrote:

Hi all, tried the dark background. Does this work a bit better?
Cheers!
~Nee

Boring! I like it the way before.

Nee7x7

Yup, that's what I thought, too...the background makes the photo just offbeat enough to fit the Sketch's personality. Otherwise, it's just a regular old head shot...yup, boring all right, !

(see, I told ya!)
~Nee

photogmomma

mr peas wrote:

Boring! I like it the way before.

To each their own... I love the redone one! I think he has enough character not to need the background. But after Nee explained her vision, I do like the original more!

Either way, awesome shot!