Bernard Brand – Dakota lee Tattoo Parlour Shoot

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A little while ago Eslie approached me about shooting some portraits of the artists at Dakota Lee Tattoo Parlour.  I like working with other artists, so naturally I said yes.

I tend to approach each shoot differently or at least I try, because each subject, person or group is different. I did some research, checked out the artists and the parlour and after some back and forth on dates we finally came to a day that suited most of us. (Unfortunately Ryan (the owner) was off on holiday, so I didn’t get to photograph him).

On shoots where I am my own assistant I like to keep things really simple and use a minimal amount of gear. So my gear list was as follows:

• Fuji X-T1 with 35mm 1.4
• Fuji X100T
• YongNuo YN-560 IV Speedlights
• 1.2 meter Octobank
• 101 centimeter Shoot-Through Umbrella

I like using one light to create moody portraits. The problem with the umbrella is that light just spills everywhere so I ended up shooting with it half closed to help focus the light a little more.
So I jumped between those two modifiers on the shoot for the individual portraits, plus whatever ambient spilled in from the windows and I used two lights for the group image.

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I wanted to shoot everyone at their individual work stations and use the environment to my advantage with it being a tattoo parlour by day and a rockabilly bar by night.

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In regards to the retouching; I didn’t want to spend hours on it so I did the majority of it in Lightroom and then dragged it over into Photoshop for some colour toning and blemish removal.

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So, those are all the technical details on how I approached making these images. Thanks to Eslie for roping me in and Dakota Lee, affording me the time to come and shoot in their awesome space.

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Ryan Lee, founder of Dakota Lee traveled extensively and during these travels he would get a significant tattoo from one of his destinations.

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He has seen many tattoo parlours during his travels but nothing comes close to Dakota Lee.

Dakota Lee is a mix of a venue, live entertainment, bar and tattoo studio.

Let’s face it says Ryan, tattoos are painful and sometimes the odd drink helps, he decided to mix all the above elements to create a lifestyle culture whereby you cannot only mix a tattoo experience but you can hangout and mix with like-minded folks.

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You can find Dakota Lee on 011 051 5267

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