Alex Bradley Photos are known to capture a scene the way it is as if the time froze right at that moment. Throughout time, photography has developed in its styles and technology. But in this article, we present you with a very interesting style of photography that omits tattoo ink on the skin of the subject on the photo!
Meet Michael Bradley who is a photojournalist. He was interested in the style of ‘Wet paint’ photography which was known for not capturing body ink on its photos. This led him to be inspired to create Puaki, which is an exploration into the Maori Culture. In this project, Bradley focuses on capturing portrait photos of New Zealand’s indigenous culture with their face tattoos which are called “tā moko” in the native tongue.
The ‘Wet paint’ photography was first practiced by the colonizers who settled in New Zealand. They used this style to capture the natives without their native markings being documented. The Native cultures were suppressed until the colonization ended. And afterwards, it was studied and photographed the way it was.
These markings on the face called “tā moko” were a cultural representation which in its name translated as “to come forth/ reveal/ show itself/ emerge/ open out/to give testimony”.
Unlike the colonial era, Bradley wanted to document and study more about these native people to take their story out to the world in his project Puaki. Even though the intentions of the colonizers were bad, the style of photography is interesting. In that, it would omit body ink automatically when the picture is captured.
Scroll down to check out the pictures that we have gathered for you. Follow the link to know more about this project. Please feel free to express your ideas in the comments sections as well.
More info & Photo courtesy: Michael Bradley | Facebook
