Tattoo models: more than meets the eye

I'm modeling more than my press pass here

In the traditional world of modeling: you have to be over five foot seven and be bone thin at 110 pounds. I weighed that in highschool.  Thank goodness  for pin up modeling where you can have a few extra!

The other thing about tradtional agency/runway modeling is that you can not have a scar let alone a tattoo. So again, it’s a good thing for pinup modeling or I’de be out of a job!

Several of you friends and fans have mentioned, suggested and asked over and over that I apply for Suicide Girls. Thanks, but it’s just not for me.

So  while I attended the Labor Day weekend tattoo festival at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel I got the inside scoop for you on the gals who model for Suicide Girls who attended the event otherwise known as Hell City. (www.hellcity.com)

Me the journalist getting the scoop from Durb Morrison: festival creator!

You can see more of these gals, literally at www.suicidegirls.com

Several of these ladies are local Arizonan gals, though for their privacy I won’t say  which ones.

I asked them why they decided to pose for Suicide Girls? And some said:

“because you can’t be naked on myspace”

“because not everyone likes a silicone bleached barbie”

“nothing else to do and I’m naked anyways”

So, those are some motivating reasons. I also asked are they ever recognized around town or where they live and work and surprisingly they all said no.

Who?What?When?Why?How? Tell me!

I continue to press in questions such as: what are some of the benefits of being a Suicide Girl model? And they all  said ” the tattoos” they get from the personal appearances they do.  Some have gotten other modeling work and some said that the sense of accomplishment was enough for them.

There I am, and that is as close to being a Suicide Girl model as I am going to get.

What I find interesting about the Suicide Girl answers, is that they are in a near contradiction to answers that the Playboy  and Penthouse models that I know have and would give to the same questions. The Playboy and Penthouse models are all very driven and are motivated by the money, fame, opportunity and endorsements ( probably not free tattoos) that they can get from posing in the magazines.

So you see, there is more than meets the eye with almost every person you meet, models are no exception. Tattooed people tend to have more stories than non-tattooed people.

I know that in my own personal experience, my tattoos do one of two things:

1. They can cause someone to gasp in horror and instantly judge me and have offense towards me. Even though my tattoos are butterflies and scriptures.

2. My tattoos  can make someone take a deep breath,sigh and exhale that  I am one of them and that I’m not going to judge them. In a way it makes them let the air out of the balloon for moment.

Funny, isn’t it.

I must give honor where honor is due: special thank you to photographer Collin Ghosh of Passion Photography for taking this adventure with me. Let me know if you would like to see a gallery of the photos in large files sizes because I reduce them to load quickly on the blog and they just don’t do justice to his talent!

Also, special thank you to Durb Morrison for his willingness and generosity to let a beauty/style writer in on a press pass to  spend time and mingle with his festival which he creates out of pure love for the art, artists and attendees. He took a chance on me and I appreciate it!

For more information on the Hell City tattoo festival for next year at the Arizona Biltmore August 27-29th, visit the website

http://www.hellcity.com or plan to attend the sister festival in Ohio, aptly titled “Killumbus”.