the muse and the final product
I have a strip of 35mm slide film tattooed on my left arm, it starts at my wrist and wraps around my arm up past my elbow. It's not finished yet, as eventually ...
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I have a strip of 35mm slide film tattooed on my left arm, it starts at my wrist and wraps around my arm up past my elbow. It's not finished yet, as eventually I want all the frames filled with my work - but this was the first frame I had done. It was copied directly from a slide of mine, so it is 100% to scale on my arm, which is awesome. I have an incredible tattoo artist in NH, Mat Clarke of Midnight Moon. I wouldn't let anyone else work on me - ever.
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May, 2014Views
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Awards
Contest Finalist in Orange Tones Photo Contest
Peer Award
Outstanding Creativity
All Star
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Absolute Masterpiece
Magnificent Capture
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Ultimate
SoulShooterPhotography
March 22, 2016
Totally unique, I like it. I look forward to seeing the finished work!
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
This is at the Japanese Garden in Portland, Oregon. It's famous for being called the most authentic garden outside of Japan, and perhaps exceeded by its own fame is the recognition of this particular tree.Time
Late afternoon, fall - you can see the golden color from the impending sunset.Lighting
Tricky here to expose the tree without it totally blowing out AND get the details of my arm. (Luckily I'm ghostly pale...?)Equipment
Oh boy this is an older shot - my old K20D (long retired), and a 16-50mm 2.8 lens. Shot at 16mm, f5.6, ISO 200, 1/60, on a tripod - with a shutter release. Took a few tries to get my arm sharp instead of the tree.Inspiration
This was one of the first spots where I fell in love with Portland and knew I would move here. It's been over 10 years now that I've lived here, and nearly 12 I've been enamored of it. So when I started my travel/photography 35mm slide film tattoo on my arm this was a shoo-in for a frame on my arm. My first little piece of Portland. The tattoo is 100% to scale - my artist used real film to make the template, and copied one of my slides of the same tree onto my arm. It's as close to real as it gets. I loved the idea of showing the tree AND my homage to it in the same image.Editing
I had to bring down some highlights and bring up some shadows. As I said above, tricky lighting, and I wasn't in a position to use a reflector on myself or anything. A strange off-center "selfie" like this is tough enough.In my camera bag
Currently it's a D800, 50mm 1.4 Sigma Art, 80-400 Nikon, 20mm 2.8 Nikon, flash trigger and SB900 flash, batteries, memory cards, protein bars, iPhone, tripod, lens cloth, 9 stop ND filter, and a really nice slim CPL, and stepping rings so I can use the filters on my 20mm, which is largely for landscapes. Also underwater housing made by CMT Water Housings often tags along, depending on my destination.Feedback
Shoot shoot shoot! It's really hard sometimes in the field to know if you got it right - especially at a location like this where people literally line up to take photos. So fire off a ton at different exposures to be sure you have something usable once you have your focus figured out. And for an off-center focus spot you want to be sure you've selected the right area in your field, and that you're where you want to be. Live focus tracking is really handy on a camera that offers it!
