Dan Dao Photo

Last winter I was able to visit my family in the Bay Area and took one quiet Sunday to take a very long walk around Berkeley. Berkeley intersects many communities and demographics giving a lot of variety to the shops there.  Berkeley Tattoo Parlour, 2804 San Pablo Avenue. IG: berkeleytattooparlour FTW Tattoo Parlor, 6536 Telegraph Avenue. IG: ftwtattooparlor Industrial, 2434 Dwight Way. IG: industrialberkeley Jesse James, 1816 Euclid Avenue. IG: jesse_james_tattoo Philthy Clean, 1015 University Avenue. IG: mrphilthycleantattoo Sacred Rose, 1960 San Pablo Avenue. IG: sacred_rose_tattoo True Love, 2700 San Pablo Avenue. IG: truelovetattooberkeley War Horse, 2599 Telegraph Avenue. IG: warhorsetattoo If your interested in supporting this feel, feel free to purchase Tattoo Shops of ATX from Belzel Books.  

This is an on-going project to collect all the tattoo shop storefronts in Austin. These are all the shops south of 35th street. I am continuing to update these as things change in Austin.  All Saints, 514 E 6th Street. IG: allsaintsatx   Ancient Ink, 1801 South 1st Street. IG: ancientinktattoo Blindside Tattoo, 211 East 6th Street. IG: blindsidetattoos Buzz Buzz, 11525 Menchaca Road. IG: buzzbuzztattoo Dermagraphix, 6400 South 1st Street. IG: dermagraphixaustin Diablo Rojo, 2604 Guadalupe Street: IG: diablorojotattoo Dovetail Tattoo East, 1703 East Ceaser Chavez Street. IG: dovetailtattoo Dovetail West,  310 West 17th Street. IG: dovetailtattoo Electric Rodeo, 160 West Slaughter Lane. IG: electricrodeotatoo Gulley Cat, 2006 South 1st Street. Website Mom's, 1703 South Lamar Boulevard. IG: momstattoos Ink Austin, 610 North Interstate Highway 35. Closed.  Red Stag Tattoo, 5314 Menchaca Road. IG: redstagtattoo Resurrection, 1309 East 4th Street. IG: ressurection_tattoo_a...

At the end of 2016, I had the silly idea to start a photo documentary project in Austin. I lived on a street with multiple tattoo shops and walked by them every day to work. Tattoo shops were something I really didn't know anything about but always interested me. Great Wave was the first tattoo shop I ever stepped into and I still feel insanely lucky I chose them first. I nervously asked an artist if I could take pictures as I shuffled through a super rough portfolio. They all turned to the nearly naked man getting work on his full bodysuit to get his input. He gave me the OK. I spent the next hour figuring out where to stand, what angles worked and how things operated in a shop. The more time I spent in different shops the more I learned how special Great Wave was. They are known across the world for their take on traditional Japanese tattooing. At the time I went Jason Brooks , Ben Siebert , James Yocum and Matt Van Cura were working. Each artist had a different approach and s...