Have you ever noticed how you react to the physical appearance of other people? What causes either positive or negative feelings in those first split seconds? What repels you to not engage a stranger? When you see someone with tattoos what's your reaction?
Meet Geoff Jorgensen. Geoff is a CFO of a successful NEO company. He graduated college with a degree in business finance. Geoff also models part time and that is how I met him. By all accounts Geoff is a clean cut, well mannered, down to earth driven young man. Aside from business, his two passions are fitness and body art.
As we talked Geoff shared with me, "My Mom has been really supportive of my tattoos". "She views it as self expression and understands how much it means to me".
Beginning in college, Geoff has been taking his overall body art vision in stages working to complete the front and back illustrations. His ink has been very well done! Geoff is a man that takes care of his body, eats healthy, works out regularly and has tattoos. This is not someone who is abusing their body in any way nor is he anti-social or dangerous.
Whether we want to admit it or not, most of us have some preconceived notion of what a person is like based on their appearance signal. This can play heavily in the world of marketing as psychology is drawn upon in manipulating audience perception. Yet in these modern times "taboo" is becoming mainstream. The challenge is to not react from presets, instead staying open to the "human being". Its a lens I like to work with.
about the author: Karen Ollis is an experienced photographer specializing in studio portraiture, and environmental on-location portraits for editorial stories, PR and marketing testimonials. instagram @ollisphoto