It’s 12.30am and I’ve been awake for about 2 hours now with sleep no where in reach and acutely aware that I have to be up in 6 hours for work. The joys of jet lag. It has however given me the chance to think about how I’m not sure if I love travel in spite of these solitary hours in the early mornings or because of them.

For as long as I can remember I have wanted to travel and for the past 12 years I have made the effort to do just that. I find that when I’m in different places my thought process changes, almost like I a have a new filter through which I’m experiencing the world. I put this down to mainly 2 factors, the Distance travelled and the Difference in my surroundings once I’m there. These 2 things take away all that is familiar back home as well as the conveniences and safeties that I enjoy. They force me to analyse each and every day as it happens, the routine I have carved for myself back home is now just a memory. In our new age digital world the biggest changes we experience are still the analogue process’ of seeing, smelling, hearing, tasting and touching the world around us. It’s what’s so important about travel, challenging yourself and overcoming fears (Will I get lost? What does it taste like? Will they understand me? etc). So once you return home and everything is the same, you are not.

America doesn’t present a lot of the challenges that other counties can especially given that I have been here before but still working in New York City is working in New York City. It is like no other place and for the past week I have been at Saved Tattoo in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. During my time there I got to work with some awesome tattooers and had the opportunity to start some larger work with great new clients which we will continue next time I’m over. It’s very humbling to have people want to get tattooed by me and I’m ever grateful as you make travelling with my passion a possibility. I just want to fulfil whatever expectations a client has and hopefully a  bit more.

For me to visit New York and work at a place such as Saved it feels as though I have come out from the wilderness of tattooing that is my private studio and connected with those at the core of their area. It’s the same feeling as when I work a convention and become part of something much more than just myself and my work. I become part of the culture that is tattooing.

I spent my mornings walking through the streets and just soaking up what Brooklyn had to offer. Then sitting down in a cafe somewhere for breakfast I just start sketching ideas that would arise from these strolls on the city streets. Nothing serious and not overthinking it but just allowing myself to channel my environment. It maybe only very subtle but I know that it’s moments like these that collect like charms on a bracelet and mould the tattooer I become. It’s why I’ll continue to travel and challenge myself be I know that doing this will make me a better man and a greater father.

I hope you enjoy the pictures of the work I did and also a few of the things I got to experience during this last week or so.

Thanks for looking.