Black and Blue Tattoo

How can you say No to the best tattoo artist in the Bay Area, when she asks you to photograph some of her favorite creations? And why would you?
I was thrilled to work with Idexa Stern, the founder and owner of Black and Blue Tattoo, a woman-owned and gender inclusive tattoo shop in San Francisco. Tattoo work is still male dominated and Idexa has always mentored and helped other women enter the field. For a long time, hers was one of the few women-only tattoo shops in the world. Nowadays you'll find men as well as women among the tattoo artists working at Black and Blue Tattoo, but Idexa's vision still stands: a place where body art is of the highest caliber and where clients come first.

Idexa specializes in geometric patterns...

...and organically inspired designs.

The best part, apart from learning a lot about tattoos, has been meeting some of Idexa's clients. Everybody was available and excited about the project. One in two Californians has a tattoo, but we still need to go a long way in recognizing artists like Idexa Stern, who use the body as a canvas and create art that moves into the world.

Idexa loves what she does, and her enthusiasm is contagious. She told me she wanted to move away from the usual pictures of tattoos in the studio, in front of a black background, so we got creative, looking for a background that matched each tattoo, and shooting outside, using natural light. Luckily the weather cooperated.

Idexa Stern

Do you have a tattoo? What's your story?