NicoleElizabethPhotography

I have been working with liquid emulsion for the past few months. I am currently using it on a handmade 100% cotton paper and printing portraits on it, the portraiture of tattoos. The word “tattoo” is derived from the Polynesian word “tatatau” or “tattau” (meaning to strike repeatedly) and that is where our western term came from. Tattooing is not a new phenomenon; in fact it has been practiced for around 5,000 years if not longer. Every culture seems to have a place for it, whether it is looked upon as beauty or if it is labeled with criminals.

In my photographs, I am focusing on the western culture of tattoos. These two are examples of my progress so far.

Here are three new photographs for my “Eye Contact” portrait series.

Here’s Kingston!

Below are a couple of highlight images from the session. The rest can be found in the baby bellies/baby portrait section of my gallery.

Here is the beginning of another series of portraits for one of my projects. The idea is to create a series of close-up portraits with a focus on the eyes. Most people find it uncomfortable to make eye contact with strangers. They hide behind sunglasses or pretend to be doing something on their cell phones, all to avoid the uncomfortable feeling of making that small connection with someone they do not know. The final images will be printed larger than life size to enhance the uncomfortable feeling I am trying to evoke in the viewer.

Here is a photograph I took this year when the blacksmith association of Louisiana came into town. It can be found in the Fine Art > Black & White section of my gallery.

My recent trip to New Orleans was very productive. I was able to see some old friends and have a rather successful photo shoot. Thanks to the folks at Uptown Tattoos for allowing me to to take their portraits and photograph their beautiful artwork. Tattoos can reveal a lot about a person by giving a greater insight into the owner. I think that is why I am so drawn to them.

Here are a couple of the photographs I made during the trip. I intend on making the close-ups of the tattoo art into digital negatives to print on canvas, so this is just the first step in my overall process.

The website is almost ready.  The gallery is the last thing to go up and hopefully that will be resolved soon!  What else is on my agenda?  Well, aside from learning how to create this website, I’ve been playing with my “Holga” camera, experimenting with the settings that will produce a roll of good images.  These two are examples from my second roll.

For my next project, I plan to go down to New Orleans to take portraits of some tattoo artists that I have worked with in order to start my tattoo series. The series will involve close-ups of the artists’ faces as well as their art work. I also plan to document one of them actually working on a client.