Last fall, a family friend asked me to photograph a project he was working on. Come to find out, he was interning with an author who was working on a book that was about to be published. What?! I was totally on board after that! After talking a little more, I found out that the author is a minister and wanted to tell the stories behind people's tattoos, knowing that most tattoos have a personal meaning behind them.

A group, including my friend, the author and a few other volunteers, met at Blueberry Hill in the Delmar Loop. As people came in, they were invited to sit and tell their story. Afterwards, I was able to work with them to photograph them and their tattoos. It was a great afternoon, and we met some wonderful people with amazing stories.

I was honored to get to meet some wonderful St. Louisans that I was able to photograph, and many of the people the group talked to were featured in the book. Be sure to check out the book to learn more, and take a look at some of the pictures from the afternoon below.

Notes: I didn't want to spoil their stories for those interested in the book, so I didn't include captions for the pictures. Also, in each diptych (paired picture below), a closeup of a tattoo might not be on the person in the accompanying image.