Torential rains didn’t keep a nice-sized crowd from enjoying an afternoon of photography and champagne at Fou Le Chakra.

The cafe’s red-painted walls were filled with black and white and color portraits of those whose pictures were taken in the very same room on Valentine’s Day.

The portraits are spontaneous, unguarded – sometimes unflinching, sometimes joyful, always gorgeous.

It was a mostly local crowd, though some did brave the weather from upstate New York, New Jersey, even Brooklyn Heights. No one from Manhattan made the trek as far as I could tell. People who’d said they’d definitely be there didn’t show – a fact we blamed on the weather and not lack of loyalty or devotion to art.

In the midst of it all, one of my friends, on a whim, ran off to get a tattoo at a parlor just one block away. In less than an hour she had a beautiful bird and the word, LOVE on her lower back. The  parlor has a wide-selection of vintage-style tattoos to choose from. The artist, who herself was tattoo covered everywhere she had skin showing, bandaged my friend’s tattoo and told her to wear lose clothing, not to scratch it or put scented soap on it for risk of infection. In five or six days, the flaking should have stopped and my friend will be able to wear low slung jeans and show it off to the world!

My daughter and her friend couldn’t wait to see the flying bird on my friend’s back. They were mighty disappointed when they saw that it was bandaged up for no one to see.

On Saturday April 16th, Crawford will be doing it again. He’s setting up his portable studio, signature backdrop and all, and will take shots of those who come in. There’ s no obligation to buy a print – but see if you can resist having a picture of yourself that also doubles as a work of art.

And you can get a tattoo right down the street.

Yours from Brooklyn,
OTBKB