Needle, lamp, patience

Kandang Ink were tired of looking like every other studio on the strip: ring light, flat black wall, healed piece against a bare arm. They wanted the room itself to sell the experience — the calm, the cleanliness, the concentration.

I shot almost entirely on the studio's own lamps, pushing exposure down so the ink and the skin carry the frame. Two full sessions were documented start to finish, with the client's consent on record before anything went on a card.

The film is close, slow and mostly hands. It reads as craft rather than counter-culture, which is the audience they are actually trying to reach.