Tats The Way It Is.

It Was An Ink-Stained Weekend In Deep Ellum As The Elm Street Fest Took Over The Neighborhood.

For whatever reason, it's the bands tend to get the top billing at the Elm Street Music & Tattoo Festival. But, make no mistake, the 50 or so international tattooers who travel to Dallas for the weekend-long deal are quite the draw themselves.

And this year, those artists got the chance to ply their crafts in the festival's new main setting of The Bomb Factory. As the marathon “13” session went on over at the festival's namesake shop a couple of blocks away and as the bands of the fest's undercard performed over at Three Links, many of the festival's participating tattooers took up shop along the cavernous new Deep Ellum venue's balcony.

See also:
• Flash Forward. // Quiz: What Friday The 13th Tattoo Should You Get?
• Buzzing. // The Sights and Sounds of the 2015 Elm Street Music & Tattoo Festival.

There, set to a soundtrack of bands performing on the venue's stage to the crowds out on its floor, these artists pricked and prodded their paying clientele all weekend long, applying permanent designs that will be flashed proudly for years.

Photographer Karlo X. Ramos was on hand to capture this scene all weekend long. Check out his shots of the Elm Street Fest's tattoo action below.