ROXY
I bumped into my friend Jamie outside of The Charmery, our great neighborhood ice cream shop. She had a friend hanging with her that I didn’t know. Something came up about me being a photographer which led to me asking if they had any tattoos. They did not. However, this question sparked Jamie to mention a woman she works out with at CrossFit who has a bunch of tattoos who might be up for posing for my series. Also, Jamie’s husband Todd chimed in and said he has some tattoos and would be up for it.
Roxy was quick to get in touch with me and amenable to set up a get-to-know-you meeting. We both live in the Hampden neighborhood so we got together at a fun bar, Rocket to Venus. We connected easily and she wore an outfit that allowed me to see many of her tattoos. Several of them are centered around TV shows she loves from growing up.
I grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, so I started thinking about a period vibe from that era. Instead of wall paper, I bought some cheap wrapping paper that gave that old school 1970s den look. I already had the cool mid-century modern lamp and side table. The chair came from the side of the road years ago that an ex girlfriend reupholstered for me. But I really wanted to have an old school mini TV that mimicked the ones I remember being in people’s kitchen. I went on eBay and found a working television. The plan was to use a light that would imitate the cool glow from the screen to hit a spot on her leg to emphasize one of the tatts.
I taped up the wallpaper the day before the shoot. Sadly, the next day when I entered my studio, it had all fallen off and gotten wrinkled. I did my best to re-tape and hang it, but it looked pretty janky. I had done some test shots with me in the chair and thought it looked alright. But after trying a couple of outfits and positions with Roxy, it just didn't work.
We pivoted to a new outfit and background and created a mermaid in the water motif instead. The blue-green vibe of the outfit and space matched her eyes and the shoot went well from there.
