BRANDED - A Visual Essay on America's Most Controversial Tattoo

This section is the real bread-and-butter of the BRANDED project. Here you'll find big pictures of the tattoos, notes on what I've learned along the way, pieces of interviews and additional photos of the models who have generously given their time and images to the project. I'm hoping that with a little bit of looking, everyone might find something to take away from this "Visual Essay on America's Most Controversial Tattoo."

RC

My first CT shoot was with RC on Superbowl weekend just before the SnowPocalypse shut down the entire state for three days. With that dramatic event as a backdrop, I present some photos of RC.

Axhley

I shot with Axhley on September 11th, 2012, which had no significance to our shoot other than that I simply noticed it. Click through to see some more pictures of Axhley.

Axhley

NR

NR came by the studio with a friend on the day of our appointment, and the three of us got to talking so much that we almost forgot to get on with the shooting. That is to say that chatting with NR is a lot of fun. Shooting her is…

AY

Shooting with the girls of BRANDED is always a treat, and every time I do, I'm reminded that it's not just individuality that I'm here to celebrate, but strength and creativity, too. Everyone's decisions are different, everyone's motivations are different, and it's really an honor getting to hear everyone's stories. I…

KN

During a recent trip to New York, I met and shot with KN, who makes her living as a traveling nurse. It was a win for my "shooting out of hotels" practice, and a solid loss for "coming up with creative poses & ideas on the fly." I could blame…

CC

CC was my first model of 2012. She came by in early January after I'd struck out in Vegas with a couple of unfortunately-flakey girls. We set the perfect tone for the year with a successful shoot, easy, fast, great talk at the beginning, you name it.

CR

With CR what I feel like I had gotten my most complete photo set to date - it was great. We hit it off creatively right away and she really got the vibe of what I'm trying to do with the project. After shooting in the studio, we lit out…

AP

AP is a friend long moved away to Denver, and I was excited to have her in town and in the studio to shoot with me for BRANDED. Her tattoo is on the erudite side of what I've seen so far, although I'd expect nothing less from someone like AP.

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