This personal project is called MARKED. The concept is this: We experience joy, anger, love, bitterness, loss, remorse, beauty, grace, and a truck load of other emotions. As a result, we are left MARKED by life and for some, we choose to be MARKED by ink to remember those things. They serve as reminders, memorials, tributes, achievements. But they also serve as beautiful pieces of art that walk past us every single day. We don’t always get to appreciate the art and hear their stories. So, this project seeks to do just that – share stories and reveal beautiful art that often goes unnoticed.

If nothing else, hopefully it encourages you to take a minute and ask that stranger whose sliver of ink you see sneaking out past their sleeve what the meaning of their art is. Sometimes you will find “that guy” or “that girl” who was just drunk and thought that a shamrock, Elmo, unicorn, or barbed wire fence around their bicep was super awesome and unique – and who knows, maybe the person with that tattoo actually does have a story attached to it with actual meaning. But, a lot of the time you will find a grateful person honored that someone took the time to notice, listen, and appreciate.

The tricky part with this project is that I am seeking to shoot all of them on a white seamless – so, that means I am either waiting on studio time, having people come to my house, or driving around with a white sheet of paper in my car I can tape up on a wall somewhere indoors. It would be too easy to just shoot the tattoo wherever I met the person. I desire to have a meaningful encounter with each person where I give them the time and attention that their tattoo and story deserves. Plus, I desire to light each one uniquely, which is proving to be a challenge.

Here are a few of the 35 I have so far to start. Hope you enjoy the project and hope even more that you pass it along to your friends who have tattoo’s with meaningful stories behind them.

I first met Cindy back in 2009 when I took the head shots of the Star 94 DJ’s. After that experience, Cindy would always say that I would one day shoot her wedding – I had no idea she was actually serious!
At around the same time that Cindy asked me to shoot her wedding, my wife and I had been dreaming up a way in which I could use wedding photography to help bring restoration and awareness to an issue that is heavy on our hearts and currently gripping Atlanta, and that’s the commercial sexual exploitation of children. Atlanta is one of the top cities for sexual trafficking of adolescent girls, and we believe that couples who are celebrating their love to each other have a huge platform to impact lives from whom love has been stolen and distorted.

So, as we began to think up this idea that’s now Love Gives Way, I called up Cindy to see if she would be on board and if she thought it was a good idea. She and Eric were shocked to learn that this was true of Atlanta, and they immediately wanted to do their part.

In a brief summary, Love Gives Way is this: metro Atlanta brides and grooms choosing that their Love Gives Way to the recovery and restoration of girls who have been exploited as a result of CSEC (commercial sexual exploitation of children). Through this campaign, I am partnering with Wellspring Living who works directly with the girls and women. I can’t thank Cindy and Eric enough for being the very first couple to go for this idea and become a Love Gives Way couple. Their wedding day will impact these girls’ everyday as a result of their efforts. Thank you both so much!

Cindy and Eric shared a small, intimate ceremony at the Log Cabin Community Church and then it was off to the The Pace House for the reception. Every detail, from wearing her mother’s wedding dress to the polaroid picture wall and the creative dinner setup consisting of miniature sized portions of hamburgers, tater tots and chicken wings, made for a wedding that was unique and reflective of Cindy and Eric’s personality. The sweetest moment of the day though came when Eric not only presented his vows to Cindy, but also to her daughter, Lily, as the three of them begin this new chapter together.

I’m beyond excited for these three and can’t wait to see how they continue to grow together and impact the lives of those they come across.
Thanks Cindy and Eric for everything – love that you are in my life and I was able to capture your special day!

Well, my Love Gives Way campaign has officially kicked off and I can’t wait to see what happens over the next year. If you are unfamiliar with what I am talking about, click here to read the full post. But in a brief statement, it’s metro Atlanta brides and grooms choosing that their Love Gives Way to the recovery and restoration of girls who have been exploited as a result of CSEC (commercial sexual exploitation of children). It is couples all over the city leveraging their day of celebration and love to bring hope to those where love has been perverted, distorted, and taken. I can’t say how excited I am already about the response people have had towards this campaign and their eagerness to be involved. It’s going to be an exciting year as weddings taking place every weekend become not just days of celebration, but also of restoration. I can’t think of anything more beautiful.

As I talked through Caitlin’s wedding day with her, she wanted to make sure we were able to get plenty of bridal portraits and knowing that the day would be shorter, we decided to meet up 2 weeks before her wedding to shoot a bridal session at The Carl House where the wedding would take place. This was the first bridal session I have ever done and I loved it! It was great having 2 hours for just her portraits and knowing that she fully trusted me to do whatever creatively. Many of them are probably not your typical bridal shots, but I love that we were able to get so many different looks in that short amount of time.

Caitlin was not only making a commitment to Jack on that day, but also to his beautiful little daughter, Malaya. It was a joy to capture this day for all 3 of them.

Congrats Caitlin, Jack, and Malaya. Thanks so much for allowing me to shoot and for all you did to bring restoration and awareness to the people of Atlanta with your wedding day!
Also, thanks to Bobby Russell for helping 2nd shoot.

Here are a few of the frames from this past conference here in Atlanta.

Katelyn is another student I’ve known for a long, long time but never have been able to see this side of her life. Thanks Katelyn for such a fun shoot – loved getting to see you do something you are so gifted at and thanks to your mom, Stacy, for helping keep those horses busy so we could get the shots we needed and keeping me from being trampled at the same time!

Here are a few my favorites!

Shelby has one of those contagious personalities where everyone feels welcome around her and she loves being able to make you laugh.

We headed downtown Atlanta for her senior shoot and then ended it with a little different set up. I knew that Shelby was a great dancer, but since I’ve already taken pictures of people dancing before we were thinking of a way to mix it up some. So, we hooked up a hose and her mom sprayed it straight in the air to give a sense of it raining. I love being able to do these little things that add so much to the images.

Here are some of the images from the shoot!

And just as an update, with the shoots we have done so far and the extra donations made by clients, we have already been able to purchase about 9 bikes for families in Cambodia! Thanks so much for your partnership in bringing restoration to others!

One Nine Images Announcement from Stuart Atkins on Vimeo.

Chris and his family moved up to Lake Lanier a couple years back and there isn’t a week that goes by you won’t find Chris and his buddies out there wake boarding – except for the dead of winter maybe. We started off the first part of his shoot down the road at a park but we made sure to save plenty of time to head out on the water and capture what Chris does best. For most of the shoot I was in the back of his family’s boat and shooting straight at him as well as taking a few portraits, but for the last few shots of the night I got in his friends’ boat and we just ran along side of Chris’ runs while his brother held the strobe for me.

It’s so refreshing to try new things and capture images unlike anything I have before. Thanks Chris for a great time and letting me capture your senior pictures!

Anyway, Forrest and I headed downtown Atlanta last week for his senior photos. We first shot around town a bit but since Forrest is a great tennis player we were also trying to incorporate that somehow. Thankfully the Hilton Hotel in Midtown was extremely generous and told his mom we could have access to their outside court located on the 4th floor.

I had a blast on this shoot and I think captured some of my favorite senior photos so far.

As a reminder, here is the video with the new announcement in regards to senior photos I launched a couple weeks ago. Use your senior shoot as a platform to bring restoration!

One Nine Images Announcement from Stuart Atkins on Vimeo.