Pip: Robert’s Snap Spot is where a camera — or in today’s case, an iPhone 4 — becomes a way of reading people, places, and the stories they carry on their skin.
Mara: Robert J Jr. brings us into tattoo culture this episode, exploring how ink on the body becomes a form of personal history. Let’s start with what it means to photograph something that was never meant to be decoration.
Tattoo Photography: Written on the Skin
Pip: The premise of this segment is a real question: what does it take to photograph a tattoo and have the image carry the same weight as the art itself — not just document it, but honor it?
Mara: The post frames tattoo culture as something layered and intentional, and it opens with a quote from Walter Curlewis Photography: “Your body is a canvas, and your tattoos are the story painted on it.”
Pip: That framing shifts the whole project. If the body is a canvas, then photographing a tattoo isn’t portraiture and it isn’t product photography — it’s something closer to documenting a living artwork with its own biography.
Mara: The New Orleans back tattoo captured here is the concrete example. Shot on an iPhone 4, it’s a reminder that the gear is almost beside the point when the subject has that kind of presence.
Pip: An iPhone 4, for the record, is old enough to have its own origin story — which feels appropriate given the subject matter.
Mara: The post pairs that image with a second line: “Ink runs deeper than skin — it tells the story of the soul.” That’s the emotional argument the whole series is building toward. Tattoo Photography: Written on my Heart (and) Back isn’t treating ink as aesthetic. It’s treating it as autobiography.
Pip: And photographing autobiography requires a different kind of attention — you’re not just composing a shot, you’re being trusted with someone’s history.
Mara: That’s what the Tattoo Series as a whole seems to be after: not a catalog of designs, but a record of why people choose to write on themselves permanently.
Pip: Which makes New Orleans a fitting place to start — a city that has never been shy about wearing its own story out loud.
Mara: The images and the quotes together make the case that the camera, whatever camera, is just the tool. The subject is always the meaning underneath.
Pip: Skin as autobiography, New Orleans as backdrop — there’s a whole archive of untold stories in a single frame.
Mara: Next time, more of what the city and the people in it choose to show.
tattoo culture—Arm tattoos most commonly symbolize strength, resilience, and personal protection. Because the arm offers a great mix of visibility and space, it is one of the best canvases for tattoos.
“Our arms are the primary tools we use to interact with, shape, and navigate the world, arm tattoos visually communicate a wearer’s values, life experiences, and identity”
“Amber happily shared her: Lucky Lobster Claw, Lilo and Stitch, Bubbles – Powerpuff Girls. Also her horror arm – Scary!
Surprise, Surprise! Thanksgiving morning this year Neal placed a small gift on the desk beside me as I was working and nursing my coffee. “Here you are.” Neal said. “Something a little special, but should already know what it is”
How lovely! A gift while I’m still in my PJ’s.
He was right! I remember walking in a store at the mall. Neal spotted the pin and said, “I should buy that for you but it’s not Christmas.” Then buy it I proclaimed.
How lovely! These “gilded” are stepping out in style! I need to introduce ya’ll the public and know just where to go. “Honey” we be going to “Church” kitties!
Asbury Memorial, Gay men and their jewelry! New sweater, new pin. Wow, these guys deserve their own name tag!
