7-18-2007 body mod photography

I think it’s implied pretty clearly in the description when it says “tattoos, piercings, & other body modifications”. The context suggests only intentional modifications.

It seems to me that there’s a long history of people interpreting these topics as broadly as possible, e.g. Volkswagens in the Bugs theme etc. Personally I’d hate for that to change

As someone who intentionally looks for alternate, unexpected interpretations for their creative/amusement value, I would ask that if there is something we flat out want to exclude, we must be clear with it. Otherwise, it puts the mods in a very difficult situation– if they pull a pic for being off topic, and the person complains that its not against the stated rules, it doesn’t leave that mods much of a leg to stand on.

Also, more food for thought and contemplation: I have a scar on the side of my face from when I had a mole removed as a teenager. The surgery was strictly optional and cosmetic. So in that sense, that scar is an intentional modification. Not that I have any intention of entering it… would it be legal, or not? Under the current definition for this contest, it would.

i have scars, some intentional and some not, but nothing for the contest. wasn’t able to get where there would be people to shoot. let me rephrase that. people to take pictures of.

this is the current difficulty: “Difficulty – not just a simple close-up of it. The picture is what counts.” which to me means that single scars are out anyway.

i took it to be folks at a tattoo convention. or biker week in any of the various places that have biker week. in other words pictures of folks with body art doing their own thing while we capture their soul with our cameras. then exploit them for fabulous prizes.

there are those that do street photography well and then there is me. this contest would be for them. i had bugs last week.

that was personal, sorry.

but seriously there are some we like more than others. obviously keys wasn’t one of my favorites. fun to see what others did but i wasn’t inspired by it. had a couple of ideas for this but between RL chores and the rain … nada shot.

Okay, I don’t want to be a complete idiot but I guess I have no choice. 😳

Scarification? Clarification, please. I mean aren’t all scars unintentional?

Specifically for me I am asking about scars from surgery.

In a word, no. A lot of traditional or tribal tattoo involves creating wounds which scar to form images or patterns. It’s basically a tattoo done without ink and with a deeper cut. Once it scabs, the scab is pulled off early to make the scar more pronounced. This is often repeated over and over to cover a large portion of the body. It’s a brutal process, but it can have beautiful results in some cases. Curious‘s link is a good example.

As for surgical scars, I would say no. I have a scar on my right leg where I had to have a large pin inserted when I broke it in 2002. I would not call that an intentional body mod.

I mentioned plastic surgery as a gray area because it is intentional and it is, technically, a body modification for (usually) superficial purposes a la tattoos or piercings. What do the rest of you think? Fair game or no?

Finally, does someone want to explain what “manscaping” is. Do I want to know?

I know that this is late in the game, but you might consider adding a difficulty of “must be intentional mods” because we do have a history of allowing a loose interpretation of the theme.

Either way it won’t affect me because I don’t normally run across many modded people (and I never see them when I have my camera). Maybe I’ll get lucky and find some at the junior college tomorrow…

If anyone still has questions about “manscaping” this site gives a fairly complete (and SFW) introduction to it.

Though I will not have anything to contribute I’m looking especially forward to the submissions this week.

I think what it really gets at is permanent body mods. Manscaping, like a haircut, isn’t permanent, nor is botox, though permanent eyeliner is.

Oh god, no no no, please say no…..