The convention itself felt pretty intense. It was held in the Pennsylvania Convention Center–a massive structure right in Center City–and it was filled to the brim with people. Close to 1,000 tattoo artists set up booths in the center’s main exhibition space, and thousands more eager clients packed the room from Friday to Sunday to get some ink. Let me tell you–it got clammy. Of course, when you have a bunch of people in one confined space, temperatures are bound to rise. But when all those people are getting tattooed? Forget about it. Body temperatures normally climb during the tattooing process–an immune system response to the trauma. After a while, I just had to deal with it.

The scene was a mixed one: Non-tattooed parents brought their sons and daughters to browse, groups of teenage kids attended to rebel by getting tattoos, female pornography stars gave autographs, celebrities from reality TV tattoo shows posed for photo-ops, and half-naked fully-drunk men removed their shirts to show off massive chest and back tattoos (some of which were quite ugly). But most of all, thousands of clients congregated that day to meet with some of America’s best artists for appointments–artists who they would probably never see due to distance. And they all walked away with smiles.

I can’t wait to go to the convention next year. I might follow my friend’s cue and play something called “Convention Roulette.” It’s an easy game: First you take out a whole bunch of cash, then you find a cool design made by a visiting artist, and then you get it tattooed to you. You live once, right?

Here are some photos from the weekend.

A guest artist from Asheville, NC tattoos at a parlor just three blocks shy from the convention. "It's too crazy in there," he said.

A transfer paper sketch that later becomes the stencil for a tattoo

Sean Barry of Philadelphia Eddie's Chinatown Tattoo goes to work

Philadelphia Eddie's Chinatown Tattoo

Inside the convention: hundreds of these little booths--many of which held three artists or more--lined the convention center's main exhibition space. An estimated 10,000 people attended the convention last weekend.

My buddy Bucket (Charles Spataro) of Resurrected Tattoo gives a back tattoo

My friend Emma and her incredible sky-into-space sleeve tattoo

Resurrected Tattoo: Syracuse, NY. Almost-hometown crowd, right here.

Chest tattoo by Jemola of Resurrected Tattoo

Tattooed man. Many attendees and artists referred to the convention's scene as a "freak show."

Peacock sleeve tattoo

A very labor-intensive chest tattoo

QVC fashion show rehearsal. Taken on 2/8/2012 by me!

Be sure to read this article on Fashion Week’s new digital efforts to connect to buyers and customers. Very interesting and very appropriate: I attended the QVC Fashion Week runway show last night, which used similar methods of mainstream broadcast.

What do you think of this new trend? Do you think it’s effective?

P.S.: The Olsen twins were there last night!

Pardon the poor resolution--taken by my friend Lauren Humphries-Brooks on an iPhone.

I’ll be attending the Philadelphia Tattoo Arts Convention this weekend! I’ve noticed that this event generally goes underreported in the press–I’ll be there with my camera on Saturday and bring you a post next week covering the artists, the events, and the convention-goers.

If you’re involved with the convention, or if you’ve attended previous conventions, please send me recommendations for artists and customers with whom I can speak and photograph. I love talking to people about their tattoos–it’s a great way to grasp people’s personal stories and creative motivations.

Do you have any tattoos? Feel free to share your story in the comments section.

Photo courtesy of Brianne Garcia, www.dopeambition.com

WWD reports a new design for Harper’s Bazaar: More ads ( a 15.5 percent increase, the article mentions), thus more pages. However, these new pages includes a cleaner layout and different typography. Changes officially set in on the March issue, which I guess should be out pretty soon. How many of you feel eager to check it out? Harper’s subscribers: Do you think that more ad space compromises the integrity of the magazine?

I finished reading The Hunger Games trilogy last night in anticipation of the movie’s release in March. I enjoyed reading each book, but felt shocked by the third volume’s unbelievably depressing end. I thought this was supposed to be children-appropriate–something that needs to have a happy ending. If you finished the three books, how did the end make you feel?

Regardless, I’m very excited to see the first movie…and the second and the third when they come out. Like all book nerds, I worry that the movie will take on a different form than the book. I didn’t feel too happy about the American version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo deviating from a pretty major climax that appears in the original novel. I also didn’t feel too happy recently upon realizing that His Dark Materials film trilogy will probably never see completion. So, in sum, if The Hunger Games stays true to the literature and completes all three movies in the trilogy, I’ll be a very happy movie-goer! How about the rest of you?

PHOTO: Property of michi003. SOURCE: Flickr Creative Commons.

When the “Shit ____ Say” meme blew up on the Internet a few weeks ago, I got really into it. Each day brought new insight into a new city or subculture (examples: Shit San Franciscans Say, Shit New Age Girls Say, Shit Manarchists Say, Shit Queer Grrrls Say), and I really liked the education that came from it!

Now, a few weeks down the line, it seems like the trend has come to a halt. I no longer see these videos go viral on Facebook, people no longer talk about them at parties, and I think I know why. Once a trend becomes meta in its focus (see video embedded above), people no longer say shit–shit just stops.

Hey, y’all. Now that I’m out of graduate school and have more time on my hands, it’s time for me to take my online game to the next level. I’ll be using this front page as a blog, and I’ll be updating it frequently.

Onward!

Here’s a making-of story that covers the Indie+ (pronounced indie plus) runway show at Re/Dress NYC, a plus-size vintage and indie boutique located in Brooklyn.

Here’s a video that I made of the closing of Re/Dress NYC, New York’s premier plus-size vintage and indie boutique.