Prompt
· English
View from inside a container of the place looking out: from inside a cupboard, an oven, a bag, a car boot, specifically from inside a cluttered tattoo studio cupboard looking out at a 42-year-old tattoo artist rolling the eyes in exasperation. The man is of Melanesian descent with deep espresso-brown skin, a muscular build with broad arms, short height, a round face with full cheeks, hazel eyes, bushy eyebrows, a small gap between the front teeth, thick deep waves in shoulder-length hair dyed deep teal, and neat cornrows. He is dressed exactly as the role of the brief requires, wearing a black t-shirt and a leather apron stained with ink. He holds a fine-liner pen in his right hand, poised over a half-finished watercolor sketch of a fern frond on a piece of skin. The fern sketch has visible bleed-through from the under-layer of ink, and a single dried tea stain is on the edge of a damp paper towel next to the sketch. A chipped watercolor pan is nearby, revealing a different hue underneath. Two unrelated things are placed next to each other so they comment on each other: a small bottle of diluted ink and a crumpled receipt. Disposable film camera at arm's length, slightly soft corners, captures the scene. Clamshell light from above and below creates an even glow with a bright catchlight in the eyes. Shot on a disposable film camera, with visible grain, slight color shift, and a vignette effect that darkens the corners of the frame.
