This is honestly one of the most epic updates from the Gathering of the Juggalos. Other than maybe Black Flag bars you don’t really see a lot of people getting the same band tattoo, but fucking EVERYONE at the Gathering has the Psychopathic Records hatchet man logo. It’s fucking crazy. I started out with the idea of shooting all these ICP tattoos but seriously 75% of the people there had them so I had to concentrate on the more outrageous tattoos, but even then I was sort of ignoring half of them. It just went on and on.  I guess if you are the type of person to travel to the middle of nowhere for an Insane Clown Posse show you are probably they type of person to get there logo tattooed to you. Honestly, I almost got one just to commemorate the event but my editor wouldn’t get a matching one with me.  But I do have both Michael Jackson and Elvis tattoos so I might not be the best judge of good tattoo ideas. But yeah, this gallery is full of hatchet men and ICP tattoos but there are also Dark Lotus tattoos, Twiztid tattoos, Kottonmouth Kings tattoos and pretty much any of that wicked shit. Even Coolio has an ICP tattoo. These kids are seriously down with the clown.

So click here to see a huge gallery of Insane Clown Possee tattoos from the Gathering of the Juggalos. Oh, and be warned, a few girls have ICP tattoos on their exposed breasts, so I gotta rate this gallery a NSFW.

For complete 2010 Gathering Of The Juggalos coverage please check out the Driven By Boredom GOTJ archives.

The Alphabet of Photoblogging is an A-Z 26 day long series about what to look for when doing nightlife photography and what to do to get your photo taken. For the rest of the alphabet and more info click here.

Alcoholics make the world go around, at least the night life world go around.  Parties on Tuesday’s just wouldn’t be the same without kids who get drunk every night of the week.  Now, in all honesty I have seen a lot of bad shit in my life because of alcohol and have dealt with a lot of serious drunks in my life.  Watching people close to me go through bouts with booze is the #1 reason that I don’t drink.  All that aside, the drunker people get the more fun the party is and the better photos I get.  So I guess what I am saying here is drink as much as possible unless you are close to me, in which case I wish you would cut back a little…  One thing to be careful about is photographing really drunk people naked or doing dumb things.  You don’t want people to wake up the next morning pissed off at you for taking advantage of them.  If I take nudes of someone that I think is pretty drunk I try to get contact info from them and don’t post anything until I get a sober okay from them.  I also have a policy of taking things down any time someone asks, and they ask all the time.  You never want to fuck up someone’s life because they got drunk, but in the same respect, if you are afraid you are going to do something to fuck up your life while you are drunk, maybe you shouldn’t get drunk.  I’ll take down your photos and you take some responsibility for your actions.  Sorry to preach.

The Alphabet of Photoblogging is an A-Z 26 day long series about what to look for when doing nightlife photography and what to do to get your photo taken. For the rest of the alphabet and more info click here.

Most of the clubs I shoot at offer bottle service and there are one of three reasons someone has a bottle at their table.  1. They promoted the party. 2. They are some sort of VIP. 3. They spent 400 dollars on a 30 dollar bottle of vodka.  In every case there is reason to shoot that person.  If they are the hosts of the party you should get the shot.  If they are VIP  you need the shot, and if they are dropping that kinda cash at the bar, taking their photos will make them feel special and then they will spend more money and then the bar will make money and have money to pay  you to take photos in the first place.  Totally exciting.  Anyway, people taking chugs out of vodka bottles makes for good photos anyway, as does people pouring the bottle all over the place which happens all the time, especially when the person is not paying for the bottle.   When the bottle service comes out, ruckus usually ensues, just make sure you are there to get the shot.

The Alphabet of Photoblogging is an A-Z 26 day long series about what to look for when doing nightlife photography and what to do to get your photo taken. For the rest of the alphabet and more info click here.

Nothing makes a bad photo look great than a celebrity. People have made entire careers out of taking bad photos of celebrities. If you get a photo of a famous person you can leverage it into hits through gossip sites or try to sell it for actual monies. These things are exciting. You also make the promoter of the party happy because his place looks like the spot to be. The only issue celebrities is that you sort of have to be careful around them. If you piss off a celeb by taking their picture you risk them leaving the club which really pisses off the promoters and venue owners you are working for or with. A lot of these people go to clubs to escape all the people outside trying to take photos of them all the time. I usually just walk up and ask them if I can get a photo and if they say no, you have to respect that. I have had a few say no and a few pose with their friends for me. Then again, if Britney, Lindsay, Brad, Angelina or Suri Cruise walk through the door, I am getting the shot no matter what. We all need to eat right?

 The Alphabet of Photoblogging is an A-Z 26 day long series about what to look for when doing nightlife photography and what to do to get your photo taken. For the rest of the alphabet and more info click here.

I hate shooting DJs.  Nothing is more boring that watching a guy stand over a computer with head phones on.  Once in a while a DJ will get really into it and it will make for some good shots, but it is pretty much a tedious experience.  Unfortunately it is a shot you have to have.  When the main draw of the party is often the DJ you need to get that shot.  A lot of time the person paying you to take photos is the DJ so you know you need to get photos of them.  DJs are also a shot I get early in the night when I am sort of getting comfortable shooting.  The DJ is expecting you to take his photos, when some times others are weary of it if they don’t recognize you.  Once you get a few shots of the DJ people are more ready for you to take photos of them.  If you know the DJ some times you can get them to pose for you and it looks a lot better than them standing over the turntables looking kinda bored.  All that being said, once in a while I get some really good shots of them though… in fact my desktop background is a shot I took of a DJ about a month ago.  Crazy.

 The Alphabet of Photoblogging is an A-Z 26 day long series about what to look for when doing nightlife photography and what to do to get your photo taken. For the rest of the alphabet and more info click here.

I think I have a weird relationship with eyes.  I couldn’t tell you my best friend’s eye color.  I couldn’t tell you about any of my ex-girlfriends eyes.  The truth is I just normally don’t care about eyes.  But once in a while I meet someone with crazy amazing eyes and I am real into it.  I sometimes don’t even notice until I have photographed them, and once I have I pretty much shoot their eyes up close every time I see them.    As you might have noticed, I am a big fan of really up close shots.  I don’t shoot everyone up close, I just shoot them when I get a sense that they might look cool up close.  Usually it is because of some amazing eyes or some nice lips or something… or maybe a horrible disfiguring scar or lack of teeth.  I also make sure to get good shots of anyone with weird fake contacts, even though we all know how silly they are.  I think I want Miami Dolphins contacts… I would look beautiful.

The Alphabet of Photoblogging is an A-Z 26 day long series about what to look for when doing nightlife photography and what to do to get your photo taken. For the rest of the alphabet and more info click here.

Here is a trick:  If you can’t get a good photo out of someone ask them to make a funny face.  Everyone looks good when they are trying to look bad.  If someone isn’t photogenic, they will be if they have their eyes crossed and their tongue out.  They also won’t complain about how bad they look in your pictures, they will just laugh about it and make it their myspace default.  A funny face should not be compared to the “Ugly Face” which is created by motor-boating your lips while shaking your head from side to side in order to freeze the mouth in a most hilarious fashion.  While this is also a great trick for making people look awesome, it is much harder to get people to play along.

The Alphabet of Photoblogging is an A-Z 26 day long series about what to look for when doing nightlife photography and what to do to get your photo taken. For the rest of the alphabet and more info click here.

I am not a big fan of go going.  For someone who is obsessed with girls and spends a lot of time taking half naked photos of them, I am strangely opposed to girls dancing around in their underwear.  I don’t like strip clubs, I don’t like burlesque and I don’t like go go.   Maybe it is jealousy but I just find something gross about making your living based on your looks.  Seeing someone spend two hours doing their make up drives me insane and watching a dozen guys drool over a go go dancer makes me queasy.  That being said, I tend to make friends with go go dancers and it always gives me something to photograph.  I feel slightly creepy shooting go gos, but they make for good content for this site.  I seem to be friends with nearly every go go dancer south of 14th street.  I don’t know what it is.  I get along real well with strippers and porn stars too.  Sex workers are just my people and I love them… even though I think go-going is a dumb party gimmick.  My fault, I hope you will still pose for me…

The Alphabet of Photoblogging is an A-Z 26 day long series about what to look for when doing nightlife photography and what to do to get your photo taken. For the rest of the alphabet and more info click here.

Shit.  I missed I.  I went straight on to H.  We can’t forget I.  I is for ice… as in bling… as in bling bling.  I want to see your grills… ya, ya, ya grills… Got a sweet gold watch like mine?  I’ll shoot it.  Got your name in diamonds around your neck?  I will shoot it.  If you have sweet LLCoolJ style name rings, you better believe I will shoot it.  Excess is the name of the game and while I find it absolutely disgusting to spend $1500 on a purse, I find it absolutely hilarious to spend that much on a necklace, or some fake teeth or even a wonderful golden hoodie spun from gold fibers assembled by small children in Southeast Asia!  How the hell could we forget I!  I is for ice and ice makes for sweet photos.  Show me those rocks!