Tag Archives: tattoo models

Tattoos and Hot Rod Magazines!

By Ed Selby | Published October 31, 2011

October 2011 was a great month for me! I have a fully booked calendar of paying clients for the holiday season and this month two magazines have featured my work on their covers and in features.

Ink Atlanta is a publication featuring tattoo studios, artists, and culture in the Atlanta area. It is a localized version of Prick magazine (mentioned in earlier posts). The November 2011 issue of Ink Atlanta features the beautiful Tara Villavalzo (also mentioned in earlier posts) as the cover and featured tattooed model. My relationship with Tara and her tattoo artist husband Vince Villavalzo – owner of Mystic Owl Tattoo Studio in Marietta, GA –  has been one of the professional and personal highlights of my 2011! Pick up a copy of Ink Atlanta when you visit your local tattoo studio.

The motorcycle culture magazine Biker 101 has been transformed into a new publication called Grease, Inc. featuring bikes, trucks, hot rods, rat rods, and other items of interest to the gear head and grease jockey. Each month the magazine will feature a Rag Doll, and I am the photographer for that feature. The premier issue of Grease, Inc. came out on Oct. 30 at the annual Hell On Wheels Beer Fest, and I was very proud to see my photos of Mary Frances in that magazine as well. You can pick up copies of Grease, Inc. at your local motorcycle or hot-rod shop.

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Tattooed Girls FTW!

By Ed Selby | Published July 19, 2011

Tara VillavalzoAfter a too-long “pretty girl photography” drought, I have been fortunate to work with a few absolutely lovely non-model subjects.

My affinity for tattooed girls is deep seated and became more prevalent with my involvement with the Atlanta Roller Girls roller derby team. Where I used to think that models with a lot of ink were undesirable as photographic subjects, I now look for and prefer them to the blank skin canvases of most of the other pretty girl models I see.

For me, girls with tattoos just seem prettier and more attractive than those without. I know this preference isn’t for everyone, and that’s okay. If all photographers preferred girls with tattoos then they wouldn’t be special.

A girl I have photographed a number of times, Jennifer Jordan, suggested that I might like working with a friend of hers, Tara Villavalzo. So Tara and I made contact, had a great shoot, and by the next day I had connected with two more of Tara’s tattooed girl friends – one of which I have shot with already and one more coming up soon! On top of that, I have been friended on Facebook by a half-dozen more tattooed non-model girls who look like they’d be fun and interesting subjects to shoot.

So forget those “models”, and give me women with lots of ink!

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