Shake it like a polarized picture

These pictures is all just random Iphone pictures taken with the Polarize app. Pretty nifty. It might not be the best phone camera but with a little help from some applications, it ain't too bad. You take a picture and it turns it into what you see here. Then you can choose to tag it with a "hand writing".

First some more recent pictures from this years Roskilde Festival and hanging with our new friends in Cancer Bats and Co.

My Birthday this year with our friends in Hamburg.

Some shots from California this year.

Coffee on Vesterbro

Our last trip to Japan this spring

Just a little random post. Hope you liked it anyway.

Here comes the rooster.

Björns Rooster was done in 2 sessions so the lines looks a bit pale next to all the fresh colours but it will have to do for now.

Rats and whales!!

I'm sorry but I am way too busy watching Whale Wars to come up with a good text for this post...although it deserves it!! I'm just here waiting for Ninjavideo to stream some more of the episode that we are watching right now.
Well both these guys did well!!! Good people and good pieces. Now enjoy while I Watch some more whale show!!

Scott's Roman Lady.

Martin's Rats.

Also check this trailer out!! The Cove

It's a loooong road

Today I did my flash sheet for Tattoo Artist Magazine.
I had decided to do a Rambo flash sheet...don't ask why because I don't know how that happened! Well here it is..well the shitty scanned version of it that is. BUT This is not for grabs anyway! If you wanna use this then please buy the flash through the magazine.

Warning! Rant ahead:

This was brought to my attention the other day:

Apparently sleazy rock party promoters are the only ones doing anything for the Danish tattoo scene!
Before i was informed of this, i had no idea that making parties at nightclubs, with strippers, a way too young audience, loads of drunk people, tattooing in a backroom of the club, offering the logo of the event tattooed for free, was considered doing something for the "scene"!
No idea... I would not have guessed it!
Silly me, here I was, thinking that the people making a difference for the Danish tattoo scene were the tattooers, who tried to show people what is going on it the wide world of tattooing, travelling and educating themselves, and raising the standard of tattooing.
The ones who are trying to educate customers about what to look for when getting a tattoo.
The people who are promoting great tattooers by showing their work and telling the people what is actually possible these days.
But I was wrong. I was thinking about sooo many different people but no... Party promoters!! That's who!!
Now that i think about it, I bet that's how it is all over the world.
And come to think of it... how about the people who create clothing lines with tattoo designs on them? They got it right too I guess!! Awesome people!!
Good job assholes!! Don't expect a thank you basket from me any time soon!!

Hail Destroyer

2004 was the last time Amalie and me went to the Roskilde Festival but this year ouf friend Stan hooked us up with free tickets incl. fancy Media tickets which gives you free pass to better toilets, shortcuts, shorter lines for bars and food and a bunch of asskissers. Stan was on tour with Cancer Bats who I really like so that was perfect!

Stan our Roskilde dealer

We didn't want to do the whole camping thing so we decided to go back and forth every day with Wookie as our driver. The band ended up doing the same. Half of them stayed with Wookie and the rest with us. It was fun having new friends as house guests.



Friday was maaaad busy but fun...and hotter than hell. We got to see Isis, Faith No More, Down 2 songs of Satyricon, and I ended the day with Nine Inch Nails. Sooooooo goood!!!
Amalie has a better report of the day and more pictures HERE.




Saturday started a bit late. Wookie had to fix something with his car so I missed Dawn Of Demise where my buddy Jacob was gonna sing along on the last song. BUT we made it there in time to see our new friends Cancer Bats play a really awesome show!!








Since we had the fancy passes we could see the show from the stage but we quickly decided to go in front of the stage so we could see and hear them better.

Uuuhhh...Fancy Pass!!

After kicking ass for an hour in the summer heat we all chilled in the promised land called backstage where the drinks are cold and free and there is food and cake for free as well. There wasn't anything any of us wanted to see that day anyway so we hung out there for a few hours. Later I some how got talked into going to see Slipknot. I hate them and wasn't planing on going anywhere near the stage where they were playing but everyone was going and after hearing rumours about their show (spinning drums and fire) I was tricked into going anyway. Well...I actually think I hate them more now! There was spinning drums and A LOT of fire (that we could feel waaaaay back where we stood) but I just can't stand clowns and gimmick bands like that...and the sounds sucked sooo bad too.



We hung out a bit after that and then went over to try to see Fever Ray. There were way to many people so we just went home instead.

More Amalie stories from saturday HERE.


Sunday started with brunch in Copenhagen before going back to Roskilde for the last (and busy) day. After sitting in a traffic Jam for a looong time we just made it in time to see Neurosis. We had to go before the show was over to go see Eagels Of Death Metal. Thay Rocked hard as always and the Band and Co. came and saw most of the show before they had to leave so it was a good goodbuy (or See you later).
Before EODM was done we had to run to the next stage to see M ward. MMMMMM.....Ward! Sooooo goood! We got some good spots right in front of the stage a bit to the side so there was no one behind us. Good show!! After that we were starting to feel full. We went to see the end of The Bronx, who I had heard so many good things about but I couldn't focus on listening to new music. While we looked for food we listened to the last song from Madness before we went over to see Yeah yeah yeahs. We were all just way to warn out by this time so even though they rocked out like nobodies business then we were to smashed to enjoy it and that was the end for our Roskilde Festival.

One thing is for sure...we need to find a new band to tack along next year because going to Roskilde this way is the only way now.

Thanks Stan for hooking us up and hanging out and thanks to Cancer Bats & Co for some great days!

More Amalie report HERE.

country for...tiny men

Anki's parents were nice enough to take us into their homes after the wedding. Her father is a big collector of many things...I like that. There were so many things every where but what grabbed the attention was the big railway track/village he was building up stairs. Really nice. He promised us that it would be even better next year when we come back! So maybe more pictures next year.

For ever and ever

This is what I did for Sascha and Anki for their wedding. Congratulations again and again!!

All the best guys!!

All dressed in white

As mentioned in the post before this one we went to Hamburg because Sascha and Anki were getting married and I got to be the best man.


To begin with I would like to say that I was the worst best man even. I was working to much to find the time to write a little thing about Sascha for a wedding booklet that Ankis parents was making with small stories from family and friends. I didn't make a speech for same reasons but also because I really really hate speeches both giving them and receiving them so I was happy when Sascha told me that I didn't have to make one anyway.




They got married in a big museum inside an original samoan house, with a local government official to perform the ceremony. I had to pretend to understand everything she said but that went well. I just smiled and nodded once in a while.
After all the official stuff it was just nice relaxing time at Ankis parents house where there was delicious food and drinks and nice people! Such a good day and it was so good to see the happy couple get each other.

Sascha's dad

John, The homie/bandmember

Chrissss D.

Immortalizer

In the end of last month we went on a little trip to Hamburg, Germany. It was the day before my birthday but that was not the purpose of this trip, no no! Something way more important was going on!

Our friends Sascha and Anki was getting married and I had been chosen to take the most important role as best man.

We took the train there and had a short break on the ferry where legs could be stretched and "delicious" cafeteria food could be eaten. I don't know what is wrong with me but I just can't resist that kind of food even though I know it's bad.


We had decided to bring Lucifer on this little adventure and he behaved so well on the whole trip even though he had to sit in his little dog bag the whole way.

Sascha and Anki came and picked us up at the station and after dropping bags of at their new mansion we went out for some Italian food.



The next day was my birthday and what better way to celebrate than to go shirt and tie shopping? You see, I had the suit, I had the shoes and I had the socks but no shirts or ties that I felt like wearing with this fancy new suit so we had to do a little last minute shopping.
Later that night we saw Valiant Thorr which made me really happy because I had been bumbed out that were gonna miss their show in Copenhagen but Sascha and co. had decided that we all should go see them play on my birthday! They were great and I had a great birthday.

The next day was the wedding but I think that will have it's on little post in a bit.

The day after the wedding Sascha and Anki went on a little honeymoon but they were kind enough to let us stay at their apartment.


Later in the afternoon we met up with our friend and fellow tattooer Chriss Dettmer and his girlfriend, Silvie to hang a bit and to plan out our unholyness for this years London Convention...I can't say more about that just yet...later!!
It was a nice day with window shopping, coffee and food and relaxing in sunny Hamburg!

One of the best things about this trip was that I could hang out with friends and my wife and dog and not stress about anything for 5 days! Ahhhh...

Yes I still tattoo

...In case you were wondering!


A little update on the gypsy 3/4 sleeve. We added this little Tucan sitting on the gypsy girls crystal ball.



And a little doggy.



Later!

City of Angels

We took all our Japanese friends shopping the last day they were in the states. Crazy day. 3 cars, 8 Japanese peeps and 2 Danes and way to many things to by and places they wanted to go...and too few hours in a day to get it all done. We had to plan everything so that they would get to go all the places that they wanted.

First stop, Bike shop for Hata. He is into these fixed gears bikes so he had this special shop he wanted to check out.

After that we went to Melrose where we started with some coffee. Amalie and me quickly realized that the Japanese guys were getting a bit to comfortable if they wanted to get everything so we decided to split up and meet back at the café a bit later. It kinda worked.

Wacko is this awesome bookstore/toystore/art gallery thing and this was on everybody's list so that was cool.

On the way to Swingers Rei remembered that he needed to go to a home depot to get some screws and bolts for making tattoo machines. To our luck I spotted one in the middle of a mini mall so one more thing on the list checked off.
We kinda need to go to Swingers when we are in LA. We really like the place and the food is good to so that was a must.

We ended the shopping spree at Amoebe where a bunch of music was bought and where I could have spend plenty of more hours but it was getting late and we had a long drive back to Santa Ana.

A fun but stressfull day.

...you know?

Thanks too Sid we now always have a place in California and some good friends!

What do you do with the pieces of a broken heart?

We didn't get to hang out that much with Bill this time but we did get to have a few meals together.

I don't think my wife really needs any presentation...Here she is...and yes that is Gene Simmons.

...And the sign says...

Jon, who used to be my little long haired freaky person, was actually the first to contact me about coming to California to work. Now he is one of my best friends. Vi elsker dig, Jon.

GOOD MORNING MR. BREAKFAST!!

Up next we have my evil twin Klaus. I fucking love this little hater. I got his stupid face tattooed on my arm and he has mine on his leg. More pictures of him here.

HAIL SATAN....Whaaaat?

The next few post will be dedicated to some of our friends that we hung out with in California...well those who got caught by my camera.

To open the ball we have Will. Will came to hang and get tattooed and just have an awesome time while we were in California. Such an awesome dude.

You!

I'm still here!! It's true! I am sorry that it has been so long since I have posted anything. While in the states I never had time to be on the computer so most of my internet activities was done on my iphone.
When we came back it was straight to work and some loooong days that didn't left me with any energy or time to blog either.
Then it was time to go to Germany to my friend Saschas wedding where I was the best man.
Now I am back and ready to get back into the blog world again. Hope I still have a few of you with me.

I feel like I should tell a lot about the trip to the states but I fear that I won't be able to catch up with all I need to post and there by never get back in the game. But how about some pictures instead? If you wanna know more about what we did then as always check out the wife's blog.

Here is just some random shots of things...thing that I saw in California this year.

A few pictures to keep you guys happy

I have absolutely no computer time so here is a short post with pictures. I havn't even had time to look closer at the pictures taken so far but it looks like there will be some good photo posts coming up...but maybe not until I am back in Denmark where I have a bit time to look at them and upload them here. Until then, here is some of the tattoos done so far.


First was my good friend of pure METAL, Will. He came to hang out in short shorts and awesomeness and also to get some more awesome tattoos.
This time we added this magic wizzard and the lamb of doooom.
More about him later.





Next we have what I did on this years Ink N Iron in Long Beach. More about that as well later.





Now shopping. If you can't wait to hear about all the awesome stuff going on here then go check out my wifes blog.

California

Just a quick update here from California to let you all know that we are alive and well and enjoying seeing our friends again. There will be a picture post soon...well maybe not until like in a few days because we will be busy all day today with picking up friends from the airport and checking in on the Queen Mary in Long Beach before this weekends convention. I am sensing good times ahead and some crazy times too. There is something about a bunch of people in short shorts and kneesocks...hmmm??
Something else to look forward to is the tattoos I did yesterday! It might have been a sacrificial lamb and a mighty wizzard. Maybe!

I will get back here with proofs as soon as I can but I don't know if there will be any internet on the boat...there is ghosts but I am not sure about internet!

See you all later

Tits and toads

Well...frog actually but that doesn't rhyme on tits.
Here is what I did today.

Frog...funny, pretty colors.




Did all the colors on Lars' sea slut. She is luring in all the danish sailors so the huge octopus (to be inserted on the other side) can feast on them. In the background you can spot an old Danish wreck. The colors look a bit funny in the picture due to all the wiping of different colors but it will look good later and I promised Lars to post a picture anyway and since it is his Birthday he gets what he wants...well a picture on the blog anyway! I will try to get a better picture later.

Dia De Los Muertos

Today I finished two tattoos both with Mexican skulls. Finishing colors on top of old black always makes it hard to get a good picture so this will do until I see them both again in a month time or so. I was actually supposed to do 2 more mexican skulls tomorrow (on the same guy) but he had to cancel. Too bad! It could have been DAYS of the dead.

International Trooper Week

This week I had 3 customers from other countries who all came to claim the highly regarded title of "TROOPER".

First we had Mike from New Zealand who ended up lasting almost or maybe full 8 hours. I was a bit stressed because I wanted to go see my friend, Jacob, sing for the first time in his new band, The Kandidate. Well I didn't make that in time but we did finish the tattoo.



Second was Mark from Germany. We didn't finish the tattoo that ended up beeing a bit bigger than we had expected so noooo hard feelings there. Since we only almost finished there won't be any picture of that one this time...sorry Mark you will have to wait with your internet fame till we are done.

Last but not least we had Tim who also were from Germany. After 6 long hours of pain and squirming we finished 1st half of the lower arm that I am gonna do on him. Second half will be done when we come back from California in June.



Since they all lasted longer than 6 hours they all earned the title of "trooper". Good job guys!!! Well done...Splendid indeed!!

The award for Customer Of The Week gotta go to Mike though. He came all the way from New Zealand. Lasted 8 hours without complaining and left one hell of a tip even though I stressed him out the door to try to catch a show. Thanks for understanding buddy!!

Reconstruction

We have been rebuilding our work room in the apartment all weekend. New furniture was bought and some mounted on our walls. Bigger task than it sounds. You can drill one place and it is like the hardest rock known to man and then the next will be like cutting through butter with a laserbeam...and we all know how easy that is!!!

Well all this building has left me with little time to blog or do anything else but I will post a picture of our Brit of The Week, Greg. We started what will end up as a sleeve. This time we did one patch on the lower and stated the upper arm. More will be added this december.

Later suckers!!

Well needed rest

This weekend has been absolutely awesome. I have finally gotten to relax for real and a few things that I havn't had time to do up until now. Saturday seemed like the longest day ever but in the best kind of way. It felt like it keept going and going so that we had time to get everything done. We started with brunch with Nick followed by shopping for glasses. After this there was a great deal of relaxing at the apartment with coffee, records and I finally had time to look at some of the many photobooks that I had gotten. Might do a small bookreview later...maybe.
I played around with my fancy softbox trying to figure out a good setting for an upcming photoshoot. Good times.
Then we went out to eat a snack dinner with Nick before we had to go see STAR TREK!! Yeah!! Awesome! Good times.
When we got home we hung out a bit more and chillaxed on the couch watching Medium on Dvd until we looked out and realised that it was getting light outside...it was 4:30 and we wanted to get up and get something out of the day..since it is Lucifers birthday today!! 5 years old!!! Go see Amalies blog for some über cute baby pictures of him.
We ate a nice breakfast before going to the park with the birthday boy. He got to run a bit and hang out in the sun while the grown ups had some coffee and juice. We did talk about tattooing Amalie today but since we had such a great day relaxing yesterday we decided to continue today.





Now it is time for some awesome Sicilian icecream and some more coffee enjoyed together with more photo books while listening to records. Later suckas!!

Butterfly, flower and owl

I am still not back in my daily Denmark routine and I don't really have any energy to do all the things that I want to do such as update my blog. This weekend helped though but we will get to that. First a little tattoo update.


First up is my good ol homiette Rikke B. We go all the way back to Hicksville where I grew up. We did this tattoo almost two years ago but we finally got to fill in a few small gabs here and there so now I can put her arm on the internet as promised!!

I give to you: Rikke B!

Up next we have our Swedish photographer, Lisa, who did a piece on the shop for a fancy magazine a while ago. Good pictures. Not only that...she brought awesome cookies!! YEAH!
She got herself a nice little owl. Fun to do a normal looking owl for once. No crazy colours or fancy stuff around it. Just a nice and simple owl. I do love the crazy ones too but it was nice to do something "new".

Not a good walk in the park

There is a looong story to this post but I am not sure I feel like getting into writing the whole tale down. I will give the high speed version: Ok here we go!


Me and Mattias was on one of our camera geek trips in Shinjuku. We wanted to try out not only my fancy new camera but also my new flash and more importantly the softbox I got to go with it. We decided to try it out just outside a park where we would be left alone and not be in the way of anyone. After taking a bunch of pictures of each other we decided to take it on the road. We went into the park to test it on some other subject like bushes and a lamp post as shown below. We were so exited about the light that we decided to ask the nearest person (happened to be a homeless dude. There is always a lot of them living in the parks) if we could take a few pictures. After answering with a few grunts, that we translated into that he couldn't care less, I snapped these two shots. To speed things up the next person wasn't that friendly and we actually ended up getting attacted by him...well Mattias did while I tried to get away from the loony with 2 big backs on my shoulders, my huge camera around my neck and the giant litedome connected to my camera with a 5 meter long wire. Not that easy. Well we tried to get away from this crazy person but he kept following us till we were waaaay out of the park and into the streets. In the end the Police was called and we all ended up at the Police station to explain what happened. This would all be fine if it wasn't for the little fact that I didn't have my passport on me. In Japan, as a foreigner, you are required to have your passport on you all the time. Speeding up again... Amalie had to bring the passport to Shinjuku station where me and a cop picked her up. After 3 hours of talking to different cops (since none of them spoke English that well), taking an alcohol test twice (because they didn't know how to do that right either, and writing a letter to the chief of the Police promising that from now on I would ALWAYS have my passport on me, we were free at last! What a day!

I'm Still here

It has been so long since my last post that I have decided to speed things up a bit. That means that I won't tell every story or post every picture as I might would have had I only had the time. I will try to keep the most important parts and instead show some fancy pictures. It has been a bit rough coming home but it's getting better so soon we will be back to normal mode again. I simply havn't had time or energy to blog, email every one that I should, paint or even look at the pile of awesome books that I just got. But today my goal is to play around with some of my new fancy photogear to try that out.

Well first off, here is the last tattoos from Japan. I think it is the last ones...first of Matt. He had to have a third session on his enormous rib piece. The parts from his second session wasn't fully healed so the picture looks a bit funny but at least we finished and got a picture. After many hours of singing along to awesome anthem musik we made it!!



This little kitty is on a Japanese tattooer. I wasnt really sure what to do with this first since it's not what I normally get asked to do but it ended up beeing pretty fun to do.


I promise that I will ba back soon! Still more photos from Japan both from my awesome new 5D mark II and from my awesome little Russian plastic Lomo see see you soon.

Share thy internet with thy neighbor...

Well it was great while it lasted. Our neighbor, whos internet we have been freeloading on for the last month, must finally have realised that he was not alone on his connection and there for decided to put a password on it! Damn it! I say that it was all the porn Amalie downloaded that tip him off. Ohh well. So now we are stuck with this poor slow on and off conection. Sucks!
This post was gonna be two posts but I didn't felt like doing this forever so it became one.

First a few shots from the 46th floor in Shinjuku. Then a few shots from ground level in Koenji.




A few pictures from our trip to Takaosan. A great day in the sun on a mountain 600 meters up in the air. A bunch of nice statues and shrines to go along with the great view.
We had lunch when we reached the top and we had some older dude playing his japanese flute as a soundtrack. Nice.








Tomorrow will be the last geekout day with Mattias where we will test out my new
softbox...uhhh...

Blood and thunder

Yesterday Dom came to get his giant beast finished. I have been wanting to do a whale piece forever so I was happy to see this one done. He had a few scaps in the black here and there so it was hard to take a good picture but next time in Japan we might add a big shark on the other side...if he has forgotten the pain by then.


...and yes we did listen to Mastodon...a few times!

So one out of 3 rib pieces done.

This little Viking owl got started last time we were here and after 3 hours of colors it is now done. It pictures how, in the old days, the viking owls used to hide inside roses and then shoot out lightnings from their claws when the enemy comes to close. Great camoflage skills, those viking owls. One of the many questions I get asked alot, frequently even, is: "how do you know so much about these desings of yours?", and the answer is simple. I read it in books filled with FACTS! That's how.



I could tell you the real meaning behind these next two tattoos but I would have to kill you and I don't have to to go around and find you all so you will just have to guess.

10-20 vision

We went to Shinjuku the other night. We do that so often but this time we had Hata and Rei with us and our destination was one of our favorite restaurants, Tiki Tiki...I think you can guest what kind of restaurant that is.
I decided to try out the 10-20 mm Sigma lens on my new Canon 5D II. It is crazy how much more picture you get with this camera. Since I am not used to shoot with a full frame camera this is a new world for me. Anyway. Here is a few ones from the cap ride.

Hanami

The day after we came back from Akita we decided that it was about time to go on a hanami while it lasted. We had been afraid that all the cherryblossoms were gone when we came back but I think we got there just at the right time. We got our selfs some lunch and went to a park in Shinjuku.
Later that day we went to maybe the best NOFX and Bad Religion show that I have ever seen and I have seen both bands a few times now. That was a really nice day!

If you want blood...you got it

I figured that it was time to give the people who are mostly visiting my blog for the tattoos something to look at. It has been a while and the photopart of the blog has been dominating the space a bit I will admit. One of the reasons is though that t not much have been finished yet and also I have enjoyed much time off that has been spend on things as shopping, sightseeing and lame stuff as taking pictures. But the waiting is now over...here is a few samples of what has been done in the land of the rising sun. Remember that there is still more to come...we havn't left the country yet.



My friend Takayuki aka the terrorist did not only come back for a new tattoo to his collection of Uncle A tattoos, he also brought gifts! Who doesn't like presents? He noticed last time how much we liked Rilakuma so he went out and found some sweet things. We got ourselfs a nice rilakuma clock and soapdispencer and some nice cake keychainish things. Awesome. On top of that I got to do a mutieyed goat from hell and that is always nice. Good stuff maaaan!




This little bamboo eating sucker was done in Akita while we visited our friends at Cotton Pickin.



This little Daruma was done just a few days ago...just for the record then I still hate doing necks!

I was supposed to finish on of the big rib pieces the other day but after 6 hours of drilling we had to stop. 45 more minuttes left before we go home. Another piece was supposed to be finsihed today but got moved till saturday...where I was supposed to finish the last rib piece but who didn't have enough cash to finishing it this time...Hmmm...I really hope that I will get to finish just one of them!!

Welcome to the family!!

Sooo...I am sorry that I have to skip a bit forward on our tales of this trip to Japan. Something happened today, something so big that I have to break that chronology of the many doings of ours here in Japan. "What can be so important" you might ask...I will tell you what:

It happend! I got my new camera!!

I am now the proud owner of a Canon 5d Mark II!

This is actually the same setup as I have now just with a nice fat batterygrip.

And what better day to get it than on my geek out day (part II) with fellow Camera geek and awesome photographer, Yes it's still Mattias Westfalk. When I came to myself again I met up with him in Shinjuku. We went to one of the big government buildings to have a good salaryman lunch in the cafeteria on 32rd floor. What a view for a lunch. Here the geekness started with some good conversations about what make a good photographer and what the difference is between a great photographer and a great photoshopper.
After lunch we decided to drop by the 46th floor for an even more crazy view over Tokyo. Since there wasn't any juice on my brand new camera I had to document these hights with my other little friend the LOMO LC-A+ so you will have to wait a bit to see those picture till I get the film back.
More geekness shopping was then done in Yodabashi camera where I got myself a nice little softbox for my flashgun! Looking forward to try that out. From here we went on a nice little walk to Harajuku where I picked up the bag mentioned in earlier post from last Geek trip. You would think that that would be enough shopping for one day but why stop there? We were gonna meet up with Amalie who were in Shibuya anyway so we thought that we might as well meet in Tower Records. Since we were there anyway I got myself the Watchmen graphic novel and a new tattoo book and then I fell over a classic that was too cheap to resist, Moby Dick. I have been fascinated with the story since I was a kid but never read the story. But here was an addition with notes, maps and illustrations so cheap that I had to get it. I was supposed to finish a great Whale rib piece tomorrow but he had to reschedule till Saturday! Dang it. Anyway, whale tattoo action soon and I have a feeling that it won't be the last whale scenery I will be doing!
After a great bowl of ramen we decided to head home before it started pooring down as the weather report had foreseen.
On the Shinjuku station Mattias wanted to show us a great cake place so instead of changing to the train on the other side of the track as we usually do we went down into the station. Next to the cake place there were these big walls of light that most likely usually have add on them. But not today. We had to try out the skills of the new Canon in front of these great light sources. Here is a few quick snaps that we took before heading home with the cake that by the way was delich.






Later we watched Little Miss Sunshine and ate before mentioned cake with vanilla ice cream!!

What an awesome day in Tokyo!

Lc-a+

Ok...I have officially lost track of the days (and I love it by the way). I forgot when this was but it was a good day. We met with Toshi kinda early since he had some things to do later that day. The plan, you see, was to go to the museum of my favorite Japanes artist, Kawanabe Kyosai.
After a few changes of trains we got there. The museum is in the familys private home and is only 3 small rooms. To get from room 2 to room 3 we had to go outside and into a nother building and between the two 2 houses there was this cute littl garden. Kyosai had a thing for frogs so there was a cool frog statue there.

Lc-a+

Lc-a+

Lc-a+

The prints and originals there are awesome and pretty and all that BUT...the small cafe where you can buy prints, postcards and most importantly books (SO cheap) was worth the whole trip....mmmmmm....Kyosai books!!! Well we got ourself a cup of coffee while browsing though all the Kyosai goodies.

Canon 30D

Canon 30D

Since it didn't take us all that long time to go through those 3 rooms Toshi still had some time left to hang with us. It also turned out that the plans that he had was to meet with some friends in a park to celebrate the cherryblossoms but it was kinda cold and kinda grayish so he wasn't that much in a hurry to go do that. We needed to go to Ueno and do some shopping so he joined us for that. We made a quick snack stop at a bakery called Andersen...a Danish name and yes when we came in there was Danish goodies and even Danish flags. We didn't felt tempted thought to throw ourself at what was supposed to be goodies from home. Looked pretty good though.

Canon 30D

Canon 30D

Off we went to buy Amalies grand dad a new watch...a real Rorax...that's right....Rorax! A cool (super cheap) gold watch called Rorax with the little crow on top as it's brother Rolex has. He had wanted one since he saw Amalies so we had promised him that we would brimg him one of these masterpieces from our next trip. These shopping streets has all sorts of things from bling bling to "designer" clothing to fishmarked and fruits and whatnot...always fun to walk these streets.

Canon 30D

Canon 30D

I can't seem to remember what we did after this but it was a really nice day. Fun times and great things were bought! You can always go see what Amalie posted about this day if you wanna know more. She is better at these day reports anyway.

It has been a great long day with awesome weather, Hanami and a great Punk rock show so I am busted. Sorry if the text didn't make too much sence! I will see if I can catch up with the dates soon.

Swedish Tungsten

The other day I had the pleasure of hanging out with my Swedish fellow camera geek and amazing photographer (yes maybe you have guessed it..) Mattias. The whole day was devoted to full blown geekness so armed with my LC-A+ and my Canon 30D I went to Nakano to meet up with him at our first of many stops, one of my favorite camera shops. They have 4 different departments spread out across from each other like 4 different shops...it might even be, who knows..anyway one has all the digital cameras and lenses new AND used in super condition to the best price I have found in Japan.
On top of that there is all the cool old school and analog cameras. We go there to browse and see how cool some of these old machines are.
Across the street there is a bag and tripod shop and the last shop is just random old crap that you might need for your camera like a lenscap (i actually needed one) and release cables (also needed one of those) and stuff like that.

We decided that lunch was in order before the next stop on the agenda. Mattias knew this great Thai buffet that not only was good but also cheap and who doesn't like a good cheap meal. Here we discused the world situation and philosophied on worldly matters. Good times!

LC-A+, Fuji 400

Next stop was two camera stores in Sjinjuku. One of them is if not THE biggest camera store in the world then close. One of the really great things about this store is that you can get to test all the amazing fancy cameras and that goes for all the different lenses too. There is a bunch of lenses lined up with a few cameras to test them on depening on what brand you are shooting with. This is really awesome so you can try out a lens before spending a whole bunch of money on it and also try out different models a brands that you might not would have gotten too if they weren't there for your pleasure. We also got to play abit with the mighty Canon D1 mark III. We decided that they must have put in a little gedget that makes that speciel sound a feeling when you shoot with it. What a feeling!!!! I do realise that this is a camera that I will never get or need since this is the über camera that my skills will never match. The 5D mark II however is deffinetly on my shopping list and as soon as they get it used in my little camera heaven in Nakano it might be mine. The used cameras is soo cheap and most times only taken out of the box and put on a shelf with a "used" label on it..well almost. We both agreed that this camera must be the best you can get...well next after the D1 obviously. Mmmm...5D....you will be mine!! Ohhh yes, You will be mine!!!!
Since I need a new camerabag we went to the department for that and played around with a few different models to see what I needed. Mattias was trying to trick me into buying a biiiig bag so I could have ALL my equipment with me but what I need is a bag that will hold a camera and an extra lens without turning into a new bagpack. Roomy but tourist-friendly. A few candidates was found and inspired by my wifes visual shopping list I took a picture to remember it so I could think about it and come back later if I decide to get it.
On this stop on our tour de camera we alse checked out a bit of lighting and flash equipment. I found out that I wanna try the softbox that you can use with your normal flashgun. I won't really need the big fancy flash kits with tons of light and stuff but a nice softbox or two with the flashguns that I already have will be nice.

LC-A+, Fuji 400

LC-A+, Fuji 400

After a great amount of drueling we met with Amalie who was out in Sjinjuku for a bit of shopping. We had coffe at what used to be Standard Burger, a place we many times had looked at because of the great name but never been to.

LC-A+, Fuji 400

Since it was getting a bit late we decided to skip one stop on the tour and go straight to Harajuku where Mattias had to drop off some flyers at a bike shop. Here more eye shopping was done. This time my eye fell on a Crome bike messenger bag. It is now added to the shopping list.

LC-A+, Fuji 400

From Harajuku we walked to Shibuya where we found a few great Lomo freindly shops. Mattias who loves sharp bright pictures have had a hard time with the thought of these toylike plastic thingies that I call a camera but since seeing some of the shots taken with the LC-A+ I think he is warming up to it a bit.

LC-A+, Fuji 400

The grandparents.
LC-A+, Fuji 400

The colored brothers and sisters.
LC-A+, Fuji 400

This has been one of our many topics as well. Fancy vs toy. Digital vs film. Big vs small. I have found out that I can't really shoot touristy pictures with my digital camera at least not as easy as with the little handy LC-A+ that I just wave and shoot. It somehow gives me more freedom to shoot as I see where as with the Canon I might use too much thought on how to shoot things and what setting and should I adjust this and would it be a great effect if I do th....LC-A+ you need to remember what your distance is and then shoot. Nice. But anyway...we found a few Lomographic shops where we met some of my little Russian babys family. We saw and talked about what there is too choose from. Good fun.

LC-A+, Fuji 400

Last stop on the tour was Tower Records that has a pretty good sellection of photo books. The 7th floor is a great bookshop with a bunch of english books and magazines wich is rare in Japan. Here we got to the subjekt of different favorite photographers and different styles. In the way out I picked up a few new cd among them the new Mastodon...mmmmmmmmm!!! Soooo good!!

LC-A+, Fuji 400

By this time it was getting late and time to go home. It was a great day of geekness and I hope we will get time to do that again before I will have to go back to Denmark.


Mattias shot some great shots doing the day and some of the can be seen here.
I mostly shot with the Lomo as a contrast to Mattias with his 5d but I had to shoot a few digital since I had brought it. Inspired from Mattias and his way of spotting thing that I couldn't see right away, I gave that a shot. I wouldn't normally try to take this kind of pictures...but when in Rome...

Canon 30D

Canon 30D

Canon 30D

...and the list goes on and on ...

As I recently warned you readers about (by recently I mean the Post that I posted a few minutes ago) here is more picture from my little Russian friend Lomo LC-A+.

I am a bit behind with my bloggings so these pictures are from last Thursday and Friday I think.

Thursday we met up with Mattias to go to an artshow opening for our friend Crystals Kappa show. We went for some Indian food before we headed to the Ghetto. By The Ghetto I don't mean some hooood but the name of a place in Shinjuku that houses a bit of everything and everybody. There is artshows, a bar, dj, I think the have a koncert there now and then, Stores with collectible toys, an indoor skateramp and it is also a place where Mattias and his "gang" of philosophying bikeriders hang out. Back to the story. oh yes...artshow...there was a nice collection of different tattooers version of the charming creature Kappa. Our friend Nico from Holland was In Japan as well visiting Crystal so he was there as well. It seems like we have to meet in Japan since non of us have time to meet anywhere else in the world even though our Countries isn't THAT far from each other. So see you next time you're in Japan buddy!
Mattias showed us one of the bike-maniacs own creation, a double bike. Yes...well...it's kinda a bike with an extra bike frame welded on top of that...well just see the picture below of Mattias riding this monstrosaty. Did I mention that it doesn't have any gears or breaks what so ever? Nothing! Madness...

The next day Mattias came to Koenji to go eat dinner with us at the infamous Osaka Pizza place but I already kinda blogged about that.

More pictures soon...I am trying to catch up with the days past. Tomorrow a day of...don't know what we will do with it...maybe blog about the fun things we have been doing the last couple of days.

I forgot that I was shooting an 400 asa film and not a 1600 so the pictures didn't turn out quite as as I wanted them to but here they are anyway. At least it is some form of documentation.

Our own Swedish meatball, Mattias

The smokers corner outside a convenience store.

I love their small houses that looks like half of them are missing and that by the way has been there way before the rest.

AC/DC

Sooo...I bet some of you are starting to think if this Uncle Allan guy really is a tattooer or just a freak with a plastic camera. To that I can only answer: Yes....yes to both. I am sorry for the lack of tattoos here on this blog of mine. The last 3 customers I have had here in Japan has all been big pieces that needs to be finished later on this trip so be patient. On friday we will go to Akita where I will do a few quick one shots at Cotton Picking that hopefully will make it to the blog if the north Koreans doesn't shoot us down with their "rockets"...yeah...try Missile...NOT COOL!!!

Anyway...Meanwhile you guys will just have to settle (and deal) with all my stupid picture and there is pleanty of them. There is no stopping me and my Lomo!!

These shots are from our little hometown Koenji.

We live under this little thingy... we just cross our fingers and hope it doesn't fry our brains.

mmmm...Mr. Doughnut.

The view from our front door.

Domo Arigato Mr Roboto

Yesterday I did my first blog friendly tattoo on this trip. She lasted 7 hours of hurt on her tiny leg but as a true Japanese customer without any complaint or movement or anything. Good job! I love Japanese customers.

After work we went back to the cool Osaka Pizza place where Mattias joined us for dinner. Good times. A good way to finish a hard days work in awesome Tokyo.

Today I am starting one of three American rib pieces. Hope they will do as good as my Japanese friends.

Koenji desu

Still enjoying the good life here in Tokyo. I have only done 2 tattoos so far and even though it was both on necks it has been a nice change from the hectic Denmark workdays that sometimes last from 9 in the morning till 10-11 in the evening. This will soon enough end. It looks like I will have a busy weekend coming up.

The other day I got my first out of three sessions on this trip with Shige. This time he "only" did 5 hours so it was a good change from the last two 8 hours sessions last time. There he is...the only man who will ever get to shave my but. This time he colored in the little statue on my leg, shaded some of the tails and started doing some color in the cherry blossoms on my leg...and but. Yes I have cherry blossoms on my butt. Maybe I will give you guys some juicy nude photos later when I have got some more done. MAYBE.


Today is a day off and the plan is to chill a bit here in Koenji and then meet up with our friend Mattias and go to an art show opening at this place called The Ghetto. It is a show that our friend Crystal puts up. More about that later.
Now picture time. This is still from my new beloved Lomo Lc-a+.

Mata

The street.

The view to the left

The view to the right


The walkpath

Saito

Hata

Rei

"you make me childish like a kitten in creamy rainbow"

We are back home in Tokyo, Japan (not to be mistaken by the Tokyo in Denver). The flight was good and it was awesome to fly directly from Copenhagen to Tokyo. That made the trip about 4 hours shorter...niiiice!
When we got here the weather was really nice and spring like. After my 11 day in a row tattooing madness it was nice to get a mood boost like this. Denmark and Danish people can drive me nuts to the point where a short bike ride to the shop can make me angry but sitting in the Narita express looking out the window being surrounded by Japan made it all go away. Even the weather yesterday where it was grey and windy with a bit of rain could bring me down...nooo problem. It is good to be back...


Back to the story...

We got to Inkrat where Hata was too busy to take us to the appartment rental office so we had to hang out at the shop all day while the jetlag (jetrag in native tounge) was catching up on us. Later our friend Izumi joined us for dinner at (for us) a new resturant that makes Osaka Pizza (a Rei given name). The place was awesome, build like old school Osaka (apperently) like a small ally with drainpipes and metal plates on the walls. There were all sort of cool posters and toys everywhere and the food was deliiiish. It will not be our last visit here.
Yesterday was spend hanging out at Inkrat and talking to a few customers about designs and stuff. We also got our tickets to see BAD RELIGION and Nofx....CAN'T WAIT!!!! And also finally we got our tickets to the Ghibli museum. We have been meaning to go there everytime we are here but it can be kinda hard to get tickets! But now we are in!! Catbus here we come.

Today I will do my first tattoo here...my favorite kind...a throat...but it is all good...I am in Japan.
Hopefully our Swedish friend Mattias will drop by. I can't wait to hang out and be a camera nerd with him. He is an awesome photographer and has already tought me a lot so I bet he will teach me a trick or two this time as well.
Now no more talk...here is some shots from my first roll of film taken on the first day of our trip.

We went by our acade to what was new and what was in the ufocatchers this time.
Our good friend Rilakuma.

It didn't take Rei many 5 minuttes before he took one of my machines to finetune the setting..."now maybe number one setting"


The Osaka Pizza place. This is inside a building.

Izu and Ame.

Today the sun is back....mmmm....See you soon.

See ya later skater

Dear blog readers.

I am sorry that I haven't been here keeping you updated on all my doings lately. After a 11 days workweek with days as long as 16 hours there has been little time or energy to blog...and now we are going to Japan!!!! There has been a bunch of new pieces and I finished a few as well but not a lot of pictures good enough to show so you will have to wait for some healed picture to come.
I also got a few rolls of film back but I haven't even had time to check it out yet. I might bring them to Japan and post some from there.

Before I go pack my suitcase I will leave you with this AWESOME GOAT FROM HELL!!!
My good friend Jacob came by and hung out for a couple of days. Since I work all the time I never have time to hang out with friends so this was really cool. Hanging WHILE working...great concept!



I gotta run...see you later...next time from Japan...mmmmmm....Japan!

Soooooomewhere ooooover the rainbow...

These two tattoos is kinda not really a style that you see me do that often and maybe that is why it was so fun to do.

First this little Mr Luck. It's a tease...go see the rest on the Conspiracy Inc. Blog. It has a rainbow and everything!!
Her original idea was to get a rabbits foot for luck but you can't just get thaaat! You need something else...right? So we did the whole rabbit and as a last minutes change we added the actual rabbits foot. Weeee 2 in 1!!!



Next is Sandra who wanted a couple of Blåmejser...that's the name of the bird. As the design progressed I decided to add more and more details and that kept happening while tattooing. It was just supposed to be a nice simple traditional kinda piece but when you are having fun why stop, right? We almost didn't make it but after a few tricks we had done too much to stop so she did it anyway! Hurraaaaa!!! After that I did a few hours of lines on Marcus sleeve with crazy nuclear waste mutated octopus and bass. Pictures after next session where we will start some color!



That's it for tonight! Now relaxing time!! I need it! Yesterday was work non-stop in one way or the other from I woke up at 9 till 3:30 at night!! Tooo much!

ZZzzzzzzZZzzzz...

It is 1 at night and we almost just got home from work...gotta draw a Beastie Boys owl...Werd!

Just a few words to update ya'll what goes down in Uncle town:


Eagles Of Death Metal ROCKED last night!!!


Two new tattoos that are much different than what I usually do coming up...when I get time...

Check out my amazing wifes blog. She has some great post about our upcoming trip to Japan. I wish that I could write something like that but I can't as well as her so just go read hers! You rock!!

YES we are going to Japan soon and I can't wait!! Now seriously go read Amalies blog!

I finished lining Marcus sleeve with radioactive bas and octopus fighting a fisherman...awesome...and I just realised that I DIDN'T post about that before...well it's cool. Trust me.

That's it...

Now I have to draw. Got a tight schedule tomorrow.

Granddad the sailor man

These two brothers wanted to get a tribute tattoo for their granddad. Their plan was to get the same tattoo as he had...well kinda...newer version. They brought in a picture of the tattoo but since it was THAT old and the picture of it was just a normal picture blow up in size it was kinda hard to see what it really looked like. We came to the conclusion that it was a dagger going through the skin with a snake around it! Sweet!


What I did was that I traced the basic shape and just redrew the tattoo as I saw it. It turned out pretty cool if you ask me and I thought it was a fun idea.
I hope your granddad would have appreciated it...and that your grandma won't kill you guys for this.

Two paintings a day keeps the... umm...monkey away?

Todays doing:

Two paintings. They are from some pictures I took of Amalie a while ago. They are kind of a test to see how that works out. They are both postcard size which is a pretty cool size for something like this so I think I am gonna do more like them. Still need to figure a few details out but I think this is a good start.





If you wanna see who finished her awesome hat then go to see Amalies's blog

Nighthawks at the Conspiracy...

...well even though it was in the middle of the afternoon.
Today one of our bestest buddies, mr El Marvino, aka Marv, aka Martin, aka Pato aka many more names, came to get his Nighthawk tattoo done. It was a sticker design that I had done long time ago for the song Nighthawks that he did for his first record. Almost done with the 2nd (and 3rd) record he felt that it was time to get that old hawk done and move on to the next chapter in the tale of Marvin.
Good times with a lot of AC/DC (Marvin had made 2 different Mix "tapes"/cds with his best of AC/DC) coffee and cake. Awesome!!
You can see more of the fun times on my wifes blog.



The reason for his rough look is not as dramatic or cool as it could be. No stupid bar fight or heroic act involving many ninjas that had to be beaten to save a small village from the terror of the evil...hrmm..ok ok he fell on his bike...don't drink and drive people!! There you have it!

The Return Of The Skating Twin

I'm a little behind with my blogging so this is not from today. It's from this Monday.
Mads came back for more heavy tattoo action: his gigantic rib piece didn't scare him off.
This time it was for a 3/4 sleeve with a pretty little gypsy girl and some roses and the sad and happy masks. Next time we will add her true companion the Tucan. He will be sitting on her crystal ball that might tell you tales from the future...or maybe just work as a really cool bed lamp.
Anywho...here it is so far.

...now I am off to see Sworn Enemy, Walking The Cadaver, Freya and CDC.

Grotesquery Conceiled (Within Measureless Magic)

These two guys came from the Uk and Ireland all thought they both originally come from Polan. After 16 hours without sleep and a long travel to get here we did 5 hours on the dagger. A "classic" choice of design that I have done a few times before but I'm happy with the result and don't feel that he got a piece that I have done already. Well he was happy and I was happy...the dog was happy and I think my wife was happy so that's good right?

You can go to the Conspiracy Inc. Blog to see the whole tattoo and see what else is up in the world of Conspiracy Inc.






Next was this evil Valkyrie (not Tom Cruise) who you can see here sporting the Norwegian national make-up. Don't know what she is up too...but I'm sure it is noooo goood! Or maybe she's just coming from a King Diamond or Dimmu Borgir show. Who knows.

But this guy earned himself the title of trooper by 7 and a half hours of torture!!


These guys had done their homework and brought cake TWO days in a row and there by earned a shared spot as the customer(s) of the month for cake and sitting well for a long time. Good job guys and I am looking forward to do some more crazy mayhemish tattoos when you come back in December.