besides being a friend and an extremely talented artist, lucky olelo is my tattooist.  he hasn’t done my only tattoo work, but really he’s done the piece that mattered.  i can’t describe the relationship that you have with someone who spent hours marking your skin permanently, but its a bond that’s different from any other.

when contrast magazine asked me to take a few profile images of lucky for his writeup in the creativity issue, i was happy that in my own way, i was getting the chance to leave a permanent mark on him…or of him at least.  unfortunately, taking these photos wasn’t really going to give me a chance to sling some of the pain he sent my way back onto him, but it would be kind of wrong if i wanted to hurt him with a needle anyway.

the images were simple and quick, i wanted to highlight lucky’s talents as an artist who tattoos. so i captured him in his workspace at his home in kaimuki.  the shot looks simply but it took several strobes to properly fill and light this image.

the best photos are those that look simple, and all that jazz.  included in this writeup are a few b-roll images that didn’t make the issue.

-a

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