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Here is another recent session I did with yet another tattoo artist while visiting my best friend in Kankakee Illinois. I actually photographed three different tattoo artists from the same shop in exchange for tattoos during this trip. The first images I shared of a different artist from the shop are here: Jack Rattlebones in The Abandoned Warehouse , and I intend to make another thread for the third artist once I have enough of those photos ready to share.
For this particular session, we started in the alleyway behind the tattoo shop in Kankakee Illinois, and then we drove out to Gary, Indiana. Once a booming steel town, Gary is now largely abandoned. The city’s population peaked at around 180,000 in 1960 but has dropped to just 66,000 as of 2025. With the collapse of the local steel industry in the 1970s due to automation, outsourcing, and global competition, in a city that was initially designed for a large population based around this single industry, Gary has struggled to maintain its infrastructure, leaving behind an eerie, decayed, and mostly abandoned city. One of the most iconic examples is the City Methodist Church. Abandoned since October 5th, 1975, it has become a magnet for photographers, urban explorers, and graffiti artists.
Dave, the subject of this shoot, is not just a tattoo artist, he’s also a guitarist, and he wanted that to be the visual focus of the session. We kept the styling raw and simple: his red Charvel V-shaped guitar, his tattoos, and the decaying gothic architecture did most of the heavy lifting. I’ll admit, I wasn’t particularly inventive with the posing. Locations like this can be overwhelming for me for a number of reasons. I’m always excited to shoot here, but I’m also a bit on edge, maybe irrationally, maybe not. Between the adrenaline and the sensory overload, I tend to default to safer choices with posing. That said, this session reminded me how important it is to slow down and push past the obvious. Next time I photograph a musician, I plan to bring a little more variety and intention to the posing. On the other hand, Dave is very happy with the photos, and I'm very happy with the new ink I received in exchange. I would also like to give my appreciation for Dave and the rest of the artists at this particular tattoo shop: despite all of them being straight and located in a small Midwest town, they are all fiercely protective of LGBTQ people. It's a good feeling to know I am safe around these people and don't need to worry about judgment from them. They were all so happy to be in front of my lens, and each of them told me that it made them feel attractive in a way they had never felt before. On my end of this, it was an honor to have them in front of my camera. I typically only visit the area to see my best friend Vinnie a few times a year, but I have since built a strong circle of friends in the area as well, who are also quickly becoming good friends with Vinnie as well. I keep referencing Vinnie; I've posted photos of him here before, for anyone curious: My Best Friend in Chicago
All photos were lit using natural light. Camera, settings, and lens info should all be listed underneath each photo. If you have trouble viewing the entire image on your screen, you should be able to just click on the image to enable the site's gallery mode, which will show you a full view of the photo.
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For this particular session, we started in the alleyway behind the tattoo shop in Kankakee Illinois, and then we drove out to Gary, Indiana. Once a booming steel town, Gary is now largely abandoned. The city’s population peaked at around 180,000 in 1960 but has dropped to just 66,000 as of 2025. With the collapse of the local steel industry in the 1970s due to automation, outsourcing, and global competition, in a city that was initially designed for a large population based around this single industry, Gary has struggled to maintain its infrastructure, leaving behind an eerie, decayed, and mostly abandoned city. One of the most iconic examples is the City Methodist Church. Abandoned since October 5th, 1975, it has become a magnet for photographers, urban explorers, and graffiti artists.
Dave, the subject of this shoot, is not just a tattoo artist, he’s also a guitarist, and he wanted that to be the visual focus of the session. We kept the styling raw and simple: his red Charvel V-shaped guitar, his tattoos, and the decaying gothic architecture did most of the heavy lifting. I’ll admit, I wasn’t particularly inventive with the posing. Locations like this can be overwhelming for me for a number of reasons. I’m always excited to shoot here, but I’m also a bit on edge, maybe irrationally, maybe not. Between the adrenaline and the sensory overload, I tend to default to safer choices with posing. That said, this session reminded me how important it is to slow down and push past the obvious. Next time I photograph a musician, I plan to bring a little more variety and intention to the posing. On the other hand, Dave is very happy with the photos, and I'm very happy with the new ink I received in exchange. I would also like to give my appreciation for Dave and the rest of the artists at this particular tattoo shop: despite all of them being straight and located in a small Midwest town, they are all fiercely protective of LGBTQ people. It's a good feeling to know I am safe around these people and don't need to worry about judgment from them. They were all so happy to be in front of my lens, and each of them told me that it made them feel attractive in a way they had never felt before. On my end of this, it was an honor to have them in front of my camera. I typically only visit the area to see my best friend Vinnie a few times a year, but I have since built a strong circle of friends in the area as well, who are also quickly becoming good friends with Vinnie as well. I keep referencing Vinnie; I've posted photos of him here before, for anyone curious: My Best Friend in Chicago
All photos were lit using natural light. Camera, settings, and lens info should all be listed underneath each photo. If you have trouble viewing the entire image on your screen, you should be able to just click on the image to enable the site's gallery mode, which will show you a full view of the photo.
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