"A lot of people try to be somebody else, something that they're not. You go to prison and a lot of white guys try to act like they're black, try to fit in with all the black guys. They pretty much got power in most penitentiaries. I just kind of put it out there that I ain't on that shit." – Steven Hipps

These images are from my final project I photographed for the Fashion & Portraiture Commercial Photography course I took this past semester. For the final project, we were allowed to photograph anything of our choosing as long as it resulted in a consistent fashion or portraiture series of up to six images. I thought of doing this sort of series while I was working on another project at the SEPTA Correctional Facility in Nelsonville, Ohio. I photographed a man who had a tattoo on his neck of his daughter's footprints when she was born. He explained to me that he grew up without a father, and he didn't want the same to happen for his daughter. In the context of incarceration, tattoos often show glimpses into the lives of the wearers outside of a facility and helps create connections with their lives when not behind bars. Incarceration is a topic that always piques my interest, and I was happy to explore it in a new way with a portrait series. I've always thought of a portrait series as a way to look at a cross section of a topic and gather quick perspectives that speak to a larger idea or experience. In this series, I found that people most deeply identified with where they were from, their faith, and their family. These were the things that the men photographed held most dearly, and made me think of how those factors will likely be the most important facets in their successful reintegration once they're released from the correctional facility. 

I used a three-light setup to create this series: a beauty dish, a strip box, and a grid spot. The beauty dish acted as my facial key light, the strip box put some light on the men's backs or sides so that they stood out from the background a bit more, and the grid spot popped some highly-directional light onto the main tattoo. This was my first experience working with a grid spot and the series allowed me to experiment with the strobe and two studio flashes that I own. I posed all the men in the correctional facility's recreational yard against the same brick wall. Considering it was a chilly day in December and many of these men were shirtless for a bit while I got each portrait just right, they were all real troopers and easy with which to work. Once I got a few portraits done, I had no shortage of residents eager to be photographed with their tattoos or to get their friends who had extensive art in their skin. I rarely make images back and white, but I chose to with these images to make the series more consistent and to reinforce the gritty nature of incarceration. Doing so somewhat standardized skin tones and allowed the eye to go to the brightest part of the frame quicker - the tattoo and the face. All the tattoos I photographed were conveniently also created with only black ink.

It was a pleasure hearing varied stories from all these men. They were kind to lend me their personal stories and stand for me to photograph their most meaningful tattoos. I look forward to expanding series such as this and exploring topics in different ways from standard photographic reportage in the future.

"My tattoos are my way of expressing myself. I was never that great at expressing myself verbally, that’s why I chose the art of tattooing. They represent my personality traits, my beliefs, my loves and how I view the world. Basically, they are me." – Brandon Masters

"That's what the Columbus skyline looks like anywhere from the hilltops on the west side. When I was in prison everyone was talking about where they were from and what home was like. I got it to always remind myself of my home." – Eric Broughton

"The reason why I got my daughter on my left chest is because it's closer to my heart, and that's where I want to keep her. The reason I got Jesus on the right is so he can watch over her. She's 4-years old now and she was 18 months when I got the tattoo. I did two years in prison, and that's when I got the tattoo. I got all my tattoos in prison." – Joshua Gibson

"Being from Chicago, the Cubs are one of my favorite baseball teams. I just wanted to represent from where I’m from." – Tamarcus Steele

(The Tattoo reads "Death" and also reads "Life" if flipped over)  "The wage of sin is Death. The gift of GOD is eternal Life.” – Paul Lousey

"It's just where I'm from." (Chillicothe, Ohio) – Dustin Welch