the milestone marker, the cheeky and the self-expressionist

hey peps. sorry for the late post as it can get rather tough to get contacts and then arrange for meetings and stuff. but anyhow, here's some photos that i selected.

Tattoo #1 - milestone marker

i forgot the name of this guy (he's a friend's friend. i'll find it out soon. sorry!).
anyways, he tattooed his last chinese name, 'xu4', on his back.

According to him, he had been toying with the idea of tattooing for quite some time and he decided to do it on his 21st birthday as a marker of him entering adulthood. He chose to tattoo his name as he won't want to have regrets later (as compared to tattooing his girlfriend's name or something like that) as his name will stick with him forever. Besides, as a marker of him entering adulthood, something very personal like his name will make good sense as well.

to bring out this 'story' and to accomodate the fact that the tattoo is on his back, i decided to picture him 'looking into the long distance' to signify his first step into a whole new future. i played with shadows to allow the sun to illuminate on the tattoo by asking him to stand in between a shelter and the outdoors.

Tattoo #2 - cheekiness
this is han beng. he's a really cheeky guy and tattooing to him is purely 'just for fun'. he currently has 2 tattoos. chewy and i went down together for this shoot and she had the shot of his other tattoo (on his hips) while i had the shot of his arms.

apparently, a girl he's interested in wanted to shoot some videos on the process of tattooing and she got him to help. hence, in order to get to know her, he went for it.
this 'story' behind him getting his tattoo is actually a rather interesting one. in a sense, it did debunk the negative connotation that tattoos are involved with the bad guys through the display of the 'fun' and 'practical' side to it.

this shot of him is actually an attempt to show him strumming his guitar to impress. i wanted to use the guitar as a metonym of 'soap opera love' (recall men on their knees, strumming on their guitars and impressing some girl that's staying in some tall buildings). his expression? well, it reflects his personality - the main motivation behind his tattooing.

Tattoo #3- self-expressionistic
the tattoo on this girl was actually designed by herself. the tattoo in the picture is actually her name and it was designed in such a way that whether you are reading from above (face down) or below (waist up), you can still read her name in the exact same design. she always had a passion for body art and tattooing is a perfect way for her to flaunt her talents and designs.

this is, however, not going to be the final shot as it was rather blurred as the lights in her salon were rather dim and i didn't have my tripod with me. i also didn't really like the effect of the photo. hence, i'm arranging for another session with her to get something better.

i did manage to take another shot of another girl. however, they weren't satisfying due to (once again) bad lighting and the lack of tripod. hence, i'm also meeting up with her again to re-shoot everything.
her story is also interesting as she's the vice-principal of a tuition center. hence, she has to cover up her tattoos with plasters every single day due to the nature of her job. however, she still insists on keeping her tattoos as it's her passion. this strong passion also became the driving force behind her determination to keep her tattoos despite having to go through the trouble of plastering them up every day.