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Rethinking Ink

According to CNN the latest trend in tattoos is removal. But the sort of folks discussed in the article are ones who got truly awful tattoos to begin with. Badly drawn spiders, barbed wire, flaming death heads and Flying V guitars? Puh-lease. Tattoos shouldn’t be trendy impulse purchases, like the hemp necklaces, hacky sacks, or STP albums you’ve got hidden away in your storage closet. Nearly a decade ago I carefully selected some artwork, then chose the tattoo artist who would be the best match for the pieces, and for me. I have no regrets nor do I desire to have my tattoos (one located on my upper arm, the other on my back) removed. But I made sure to kick the ideas around for a good long while before having them committed to flesh. Realizing, after all, that they would be more or less permanent…and that removal by laser could very well be more expensive and painful than having the tattoos done to begin with.

border of lotus flowers found in an Indonesian archaelogy book
there's a greater degree of difficulty when trying to<br />
photograph your own back