14/05/2025
Chester, the Oddtattooer — My Interpretation
The beauty of portrait photography lies not just in capturing appearances, but in interpreting them. As photographers, we are granted the rare liberty to translate our perceptions into visuals - to craft a narrative that reveals something deeper, something not always seen.
This is how I see Chester.
To most, Chester presents a striking, unforgettable image. His face is a canvas of bold, geometric tattoos that stretch across his skin. His arms are cloaked in intricate inkwork, and his hair, a shock of silver-white. Perhaps most arresting of all are his eyes - or rather, the absence of their natural whites. Both corneas are tattooed completely black, giving him an otherworldly presence.
On the surface, he’s loud. Visually overwhelming.
But in person, Chester feels completely different. He’s calm, composed, and speaks with a thoughtful pace. There’s a quietness about him, like someone who observes more than he speaks.
That’s the Chester I wanted to photograph.
So I portrayed him in a moment of repose. Chester was asked to seated casually, his expression softened in a haze of many thoughts. His head tilts downward, his gaze completely obscured, allowing the black void of his eyes to retreat into mystery. Smoke spills from his mouth and coils around his face like a veil - a metaphor for his elusive, mysterious thoughts. It is in this tension - between the intense exterior and the thoughtful interior - that the portrait of the Oddtattooer lives.
The result? Exactly as I envisioned. It might not be a picture of who Chester is. But that’s the wonder of portraiture - it’s not (sometimes) documentation, it’s interpretation.
And this is mine.