Tattoo You

Another model who goes by a variety of names, so I'll just call her Consuela for now. We've been talking about shooting for a long while, and finally made it happen a few weeks ago. She was really into the process, and I ended up "abusing" her a bit more than I usually do with models. Having her climb through the garbage to pose, nudes pretty much in full view of about half of my building, getting her dress soaking wet to find that it didn't really look any different than when it was dry, some tricky poses in a corset on skates (she's a roller derby queen who skates under the name "Carson O'Genic"), and even just putting on that sheer black top scraped her arm which was still tender from the extensive work done on her tattoo sleeve, so if one arm looks a bit puffy, that's why. But she was a trooper and content just to get a couple of cigarette breaks.

The first pictures I saw of her, she had longer hair, and it wasn't evident that she had such extensive tattooing. She's very proud of the recently completed chest piece, and excited by the start of new sleeve work. But I was equally intrigued by the scars, one down her stomach, and a c-section scar that intersects an older tattoo. She suggested that they could be easily retouched out, which they could have been, but I prefer leaving them in. Someone once described tattoos as something like a diary of the places you've been in your life, and who you become as life goes on. It's an attitude I like -- that there's no extra points for going to the funeral home with no scratches or dents, so why not mark the trail. But the scars are part of her, too. She's a mother of two, and I'm sure there's a story to go with the other scar, and her confidence revealing herself in front of the camera is part of who she is, and part of why I like the results of this shoot so much. Not quite the flawless figure of a goddess, but the beautiful figure of a real woman living a real life.