Tag Archives: ear-stretching

Encounters in Africa

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This photo is from two years ago when Florian and his girlfriend were in Kenya. On their way back from a safari they passed a Maasai village, where they decided to stop. This was their first reaction when they saw him and his stretched ears — perhaps the first time they’d seen a white guy with stretched ears, a practise that is all but dying out in their own culture. A very fun, friendly encounter that saw them dancing together not long after.

africa-florian

His picture reminded me — when Rachel and I were in Africa (an amazing experience) in 2004, in Durban we bumped into an older Zulu that made his living taking photos with tourists. As you can imagine he was a bit beat down by life, unsurprising given that he’d been essentially reduced to a zoo exhibit, turned into a curiosity for visitors due to his cultural background. So there wasn’t any dancing. He did however appear happy, or at least bemused, to meet a white guy with stretched ears as well.

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Wednesday’s BME boy

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Here’s some BME boy appreciation for you.  I love when people submit portraits of themselves to BME.  TheTrueStasis sent us the following portrait.  I’m not sure, but I think this might be “Blue Steel”.

I like the choices and placement of his piercings, they have a certain flow about them.

TheTrueStasis

Send in portrait shots of you and your body modification!  Remember, there are two ways to submit, either by uploading photos to BME directly through your BME account or via email.

0ga Tragus Piercings

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Tobias, who you may know not just from here on BME, but also if you take part in the tattoo and modification forums on Reddit, said that ever since he saw the 0ga tragus I posted back in 2008 he worked toward it. At that point he was wearing itsy-bitsy 16ga jewelry in each ear, and over time he’s stretched them to that 0ga that first inspired him. Success! He currently wears skin-color Kaos Softwear silicone jewelry in it, which I think is perfect because it makes it look even bigger. He adds, “to this day, it still amazes and wows people, and they’ve become my absolute favorite piercings.”

My old friend David also wears BME a 0ga tragus — two of them as well, one of them in each ear, although he wears matching 0ga Anatometal steel tunnels. That’s David’s “Dumbo ear” (his words, not mine) there on the right, and Tobias is on the left. By the way, if you like this, check out the 1/2″ tragus I posted just a little while later.

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Necro-Ear

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The result of getting your buddy who learned to pierce by “watching videos” to work on you in his kitchen… is that you’ll eventually end up getting yourself repaired by someone who is actually based out of a reputable studio. The famous and notorious “Autoclave Cookbook” (this really does exist) aside, you should not be able to cook a proper supper in a body modification studio. This ear repair was done by Papacho Body Art and Christian Moron of 316 Tattoo Studio in Caracas, Venezuela. I will never get used to looking at necrotized ears. That is only permissable if you are a zombie or otherwise a member of the undead — and even then it’s completely undesirable.

necro-ear

It’s not the body mods that make the bad guy, it’s the overalls.

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A while back my old friend Josh (yes, “That Guy” from the 9:30 club in DC) has been featured on modblog a few times previously for pictures similar to these. It seems he has a thing for playing the villain, when truth be told he is a gentle giant of a man.

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For another shot and a little backstory on this project from Josh, keep on keeping on.

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My buddy Dave and I started doing some horror themed photo shoots as a promotional campaign for a haunted hayride a few years back.  That project went away, but we kept shooting.  Dave is a huge old horror movie buff, and he started toying around with making movie posters out of the shots complete with titles, taglines, and credits.  That gave birth to the “movies that don’t exist” concept.  As we kept shooting, we started to realize that it would be fun to make a trailer for the movie that doesn’t exist.  we’ve started working on the story, and shooting video along with the stills.

The photos have received a wide range of responses, from people that absolutely get the homage to the slasher flick angle to being called poorly edited misogynistic crap.  We realize that the subject matter is not for everyone, and the fact that it elicits any response at all is a good sign.  If you don’t get a response, you’re not doing it right.  We also haven’t tipped all of our cards just yet.  There is more to the story than what appears at first glance.

Our number one priority when shooting is that none of the girls get hurt (only I am allowed to injure myself for a shoot).  The shoots are all done in fun, and we often ruin shots because one of us can’t keep a straight face from joking around so much.  This made us realize that we need to show that side of the process as well, so we’ve started shooting some “behind the screams” video to show the lighter side of the project.

The current plan is to put together a multimedia package .  There will be a book including the stills, some bios, peeks behind the scenes, and some story elements.  Then there will be the video portion which includes the trailer, outtake video, and some interviews.  The project keeps evolving, so there may be even more to come in the future.

All of the work can be seen on the 13th Hour Photography’s facebook page.

I don’t think that’s where that goes!

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Enemy sent in this photo of himself.  From what I gather, the piercings were all completely self done.  His lobes are at 7/8 and his septum is at 7/16.  I wanted to post the photo because high nostrils don’t come in very often.  I want to say this is still a fairly uncommon piercing but given where I live, I’m not sure if that’s accurate or simply my perception.   What about you, ModBloggers?  Would you say this is uncommon or do you see high nostrils with some frequency where you live?

I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that he doesn’t normally wear what appears to be a piece of pipe a sharpie in his septum and that this was just for the photo.

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Leaf subsides to leaf

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Fall is slipping away and winter looms like a monster in the shadows (I really hate winter). Seeeingred sent in this photo and on this grey, cold day on the North Shore, it made me smile. It’s so tranquil I really kind of want to be there with him.

Photo by Maria

Photo by Maria

His piercings (can you spot the microdermal?) were done by Dorian Vilify and the tattoos by Evan Oslund of Custom Ink & Steel in Flint, Michigan. Sometimes it’s nice to just admire the view. P.S. I don’t mean the trees!