I went along to check out the Cape Town International Tattoo Convention, aka Southern Ink Exposure 2011, at the Waterfront's BMW Pavilion. I was slightly apprehensive because for me the world of tattoo artists and their canvases is an alternative one and I wasn't sure how not to stand out like a sore thumb, a tattooless outsider.

Apart from this, I'd once asked a tattoo artist if I could take a photo or three in his shop, and he looked at me as though I'd crawled up from under a rock, and expressed his displeasure at the idea in a manner that left me feeling like I'd overstepped some unseen boundary.

I guess it was for this reason that I took some time to observe the various artists before whipping out my camera and shooting away. I'm happy to report that these artists (and most of their clients) seemed quite happy for me to record their work. They seemed more pleased with the idea of photos than I'd anticipated, and for the most part were actually really friendly and sometimes unexpectedly chatty.

Click here to see an album of a few photos taken at SIX 2011.