Author: Anna Codrea-Rado (Anna Codrea-Rado)

For half the year JC Ortiz, 29, works on a fishing boat in Alaska. He spends the other half in Williamsburg, playing the banjo in his band, The Keeps. Ortiz got his first tattoo three years ago in Chico, CA. He wanted a design that encompassed music as well as fishing. So he drew an...

Oldschool Alex, a tattoo artist, sees tattoos as a commitment. He says he doesn’t have a reason for every one of the many inscriptions that adorn him; they simply mark his ability to express himself freely. Alex, who is 38, got his first tattoo when he was 17. He was living in New Jersey and...

Jonathan Romain, a 23 year-old bookbinder and self-described day wanderer, “connects with animals more than people.” The “self-portrait” on his arm, a bear on one side and deer on the other represents the two sides of his personality. The silent bear is humble and only attacks when provoked, while the wandering deer never trends the...

People give many reasons for getting a tattoo. The stories behind them range from the emotional – those commemorating the death of a loved one – to the lighthearted – those that were the result of a vacation. Some people don’t have one particular reason. The Brooklyn Ink went tattoo spotting recently and asked local...

Kenneth Yulfo, 39, from Sheepshead Bay, got his first tattoo in 1996. Yulfo says he chose to have a dolphin because he’s drawn to the creatures’ “beauty, intelligence and grace.” Yulfo, a body shop owner, gets his tattoos done by the same Coney Island artist. He says it’s important to him to feel “safe and...

Tim Ryans had a sunflower with Peter Pan sleeping inside tattooed on his chest after he had his heartbroken (Anna Codrea-Rado/The Brooklyn Ink) Peter Pan sleeps inside a sunflower on the left side of Tim Ryans’ rib cage. Ryans, a musician from Williamsburg, says he got the tattoo – his only one – after his...