Tag: Things and Ink magazine

Posted on

Edward Bishop: Knuckles

Edward Bishop is a 41-year-old photographer from Brighton and author of Knuckles. The book houses a collection of photographs  depicting hundreds of knuckle tattoos. We chatted with Edward to find out where he got his inspiration and what he would have tattooed on his knuckles…

Where did you get the idea for the book from? What inspired you? The idea for the book came out of a small exhibition of the project that I put on last year in Brighton. The project was five years old and I felt that the time was right to take stock of the body of work and to do something with it. I started selecting prints for the exhibtion and the construction of the book happened organically alongside this.

Did it start out as a small project or did you set out to create a book? Five years ago my photography didn’t really involve people that much. I wanted to start shooting people’s knuckles and purely by chance the first person I approached had a couple of musical notes tattooed on his knuckles. As soon as I looked at the photo I realised that the project was going to be about documenting knuckle tattoos.

The book became a natural part of the whole project. I knew in my mind as my collection grew that at some point there would be a book, but I didn’t know what form it would take until I started bringing all the photos together.

I worked with a fantastic designer called Lucy Davidson who helped me design the layout of the book and the logo. I had another friend Sak who made the Tattoo Generator on the website where people can go and make their own knuckle tattoos and post them online.

Do you have a background in photography?  My background is in the film industry, but I moved over to become a full-time photographer about 8 years ago. I work mainly in the music industry as a portrait and documentary photographer, I also shoot small documentary films from time to time.

What drew you to knuckle tattoos? As I mentioned it was that first set that drew me in. I was hooked as soon as I took that first shot.

Do you have tattoos? People always ask when I take their photo and I say that I live vicariously through the tattoos of others. I don’t have any tattoos, but every year I visit the Brighton and London Tattoo Conventions I come a little closer to getting something done. Knuckle tattoos have a nickname of ‘jobstoppers’  for obvious reasons, but I’m fortunate enough to work in an industry where this wouldn’t count against me, so who knows, maybe next year…

Where do you find people to photograph? On the first day of the project I managed to get 5 or 6 sets just within a couple of streets in Brighton. So at the end of that that I returned home and already had a small body of work for the project.

I spent the next few months wandering around Brighton and London collecting knuckles,  and then the Brighton Tattoo Convention happened and I realised that this was a much better way of building a collection of tattoos.

I continue to shoot knuckle tattoos for a second edition of the book.  The love and support for the book has been amazing. I’m quite blown away with the reception it gets.

Which knuckles have been your favourites? Having shot 450+ sets, I tend to see the same ones come up quite often. Ones that stand out for me are usually ones that make me smile, like BADA BING, SOMERSET and SANDWICH. I saw MOUNTAIN this year at BTC, which really resonated with me. My all time favourite, and this one I don’t mind how many times I see it is STAY GOLD from the Robert Frost poem ‘Nothing Gold Can Stay’, quoted in film The Outsiders – “Stay gold Ponyboy, stay gold”. ‘Stay gold’ meaning holding on to the innocence of youth.

Is their a particular phrase you’d have on your own knuckles? WIDE OPEN is an expression used in the film and photographic industries to mean that a lens is at it widest aperture. I guess that would be suitable for me, given my background.

Get your hands on a copy of Knuckles by Edward Bishop here and see more inspirational knuckle tattoos, you never know you may even see your own! 

Posted on

Royal College of Art graduate develops a personal tattoo machine 

Jakub Pollág, a Royal College of Art graduate has developed the Personal Tattoo Machine which allows users to create markings on their skin to be associated with memories and meanings, rather than art. “Personal Tattoo Machine democratises the tattoo industry,” he said. “It puts a tool used only by a limited group of people into the hands of enthusiasts, who are seeking an alternative and unique way to permanently mark their meaningful memories onto their skin.”

Pollág has some homemade tattoos on his own skin that he executed with a needle and ink, but he wanted to try and make this diy experience more “user friendly” and accessible. The same way that prisoners fashion tattoo machines out of found objects is what influenced Pollág’s design for his own machine.

Pollág allows only one thickness of needle and a much slower speed within the machine so that it allows the user to focus on what they are drawing…hopefully enabling more precision.

 So far the machine prototype has been used to create 30 tattoos on 20 different subjects. However, Pollág still recommends visiting a professional parlour for more accurate designs. “This machine is not aiming to replace tattoo parlours,” he said. “It’s there to offer a more personal option. If you want a realistic portrait of your, let’s say, cat, you should still go to a tattoo parlour and not use this machine.”
Pollág is presenting his project at this years RCA graduate show in London which ends today, July 5th.

 

Posted on

Music Review: Brand New

Our guest blogger is inventory buyer, freelance writer and creator of Typewriter Teeth blog,  Amber Carnegie. This is the first in a series of music review posts in which Amber will be documenting her experiences at various music shows. First up is her review of the band Brand New who played at The Glee Club, Birmingham earlier this month… 

Earlier this year Brand New announced a small amount of intimate dates across the UK, in the minutes that they sold out, we were held in a sort of  limbo. Were we about to experience something that you can never find in an arena or witness knee deep in mud at a festival?

Mic-stands wrapped in flowers stood patiently waiting on the stage in a nod to The Smiths, before the band shook them as they opened with ‘Mene’, Brand New’s first recording in five years. Taking the lyrics ‘we don’t feel anything’ as our own before progressing into ‘Sink’ as if working back through their discography. In a raw instant the crowd was exposed and swept together into a close moment that could only be embraced in a venue like this. ‘Gasoline’ then followed the same fervent route, the distorted end constructed the quieter moments into ‘Millstone’.

For everyone in the room there is a track or an album that has pulled them through something or become a soundtrack to a period in their life. ‘The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me’ illustrates something to me and that is what is so perfect about this set, to everyone in the crowd there was a meaning. But the moment that Brand New continued with ‘You Won’t Know’ is one that as fans we could share.

‘Sic Transit Gloria… Gloria Fades’ erupted into ‘Deja Entendu’, these favourite songs that still generate the same responsive passion that we all felt the first time we heard them more than a decade ago. Tracks that now stir emotional drunk sing-alongs at club nights and never fail to draw a crowd. ‘I Will Play My Game Beneath The Spin Light’ and ‘Okay I Believe You, But My Tommy Gun Don’t’ fittingly continued the teenage angst choir that had taken over the crowd with:

‘The kind of song that makes people glad to be where they are, with whomever they’re there with.’

Brand New persistently deliver incomparable shows, no matter where they play. With such a tight discography it is impossible to find a set list that doesn’t ensue an ardent atmosphere between the band and crowd. We were treated to an incredible full band version of ‘Brothers’ or ‘Untitled 03’ which is something I had never witnessed live before. Hearing a tracks like live for the first time really enhanced the night, making it stand out against all the other live shows I have been to.

‘Jesus Christ’ marks the final track to be performed by the entire band, winding down from an impassioned and perfect set, filled with everything that gets missed in a recording studio. Stirring every sentiment of nostalgia and of being in the moment.

Closing the show saw Jesse Lacey take the stage and lay every emotion out there for ‘Soco Amaretto Lime’. Usually at this moment the audience take the track for themselves,but in this close-knit venue Lacey clutched onto his words in an emotive and pained repetition with altered lyrics and a room silent in awe.

‘I’m just jealous cause you’re young and in love.’

Posted on

You Won’t Regret That Tattoo

Australian director Angie Bird has created a short yet heart-warming documentary, ‘You Won’t Regret That Tattoo’, that shows the stories and memories connected to the tattoos of an older generation. The film seeks to challenge the idea that ink is something that people will come to regret. The tattoos are there to commemorate occasions, whether good or bad, show love for those in their lives both past and present, and some of the tattoos are simply for fun, to make people laugh.

To hear more tattoo stories watch the documentary below:

If you’re anything like this group of interesting people you certainly won’t regret your tattoos later on in life…