SkyPirate’s AnimeFest 2004 Report
The days leading up to AnimeFest were no surprise, lots of distractions. Would I finish numerous projects at work on time? Would the extra memory card for my camera arrive? Would I get over the worst sore throat I’d ever had, that had come out of nowhere? Then there were the good surprises, like a very old friend contacting my out of the blue, because he had found my web site. Also, we were able to modify my flash bracket so that it could accommodate my camera correctly. No more shooting left handed!
Thursday
This was my first AnimeFest convention and I really didn’t know what to expect. AnimeFest hadn’t planned anything for Thursday night’s pre registration, but I went anyway. People played volleyball and soccer with plastic cups and I demonstrated my skill of catching coins off my elbow. I got into a couple conversations that I was uncomfortable with. Went home having not taken a single photo.
Friday
Many of the cosplayers were still in school and Friday activity started off slow. The convention casually rolled to a nice crescendo by 6:00 pm. Free space in the common area disappeared proportionally. Tables and chairs for the convention goers to eat and rest at were a very welcome surprise. I can’t say enough about this one simple creature comfort. Thank you.
For lunch, I met an old friend that I hadn’t seen in, well, a long time. We did a lot of catching up over a nearly two hour lunch.
Saturday
The two week old, cable that connected my flash to the camera developed a short resulting in unpredictable flash failures that would plague me through out the convention. I expect cables to fail, but not that fast.
Dance
The dance started a little late and this would come back to haunt me. I fried a lot of retinas, using a technique called ‘dragging the shutter’and was lucky nobody punched my lights out. It was really too dark to photograph anything reliably (with my camera). I probably won’t do this again, unless by request. If you like this effect, you might see if you camera has a ‘Night Portrait’ or ‘Slow Sync’ mode. The shutter is held open for several seconds to capture the motion of the glow stick, then topped off with a flash to freeze the dancers. It helps to use a tripod or monopod.
What’s with the Locked Doors?! Uh oh...
I left the dance and was ready to head home on the DART light rail. Only one problem, the hotel doors to the station were locked. With a little bit of exploring, I managed to find another route to the station, where I discovered the last train had left a few minutes earlier and that I was stranded. I took the time to misread the schedule and came to the conclusion that the first train Sunday morning was at 4:30 am.
Video Rooms, Shelter for the Homeless Anime Fan
Ended up watching a very entertaining martial arts movie. At the end of the movie, hundreds died in a major battle, eventually leaving only the antagonist and protagonist standing to battle amidst the corpses and rubble. Sure wasn’t expecting that.
The fire alarm went off about 2:00 a.m. and we all had to leave the building. During the evacuation, I lost my camera’s $80 flash bracket. A special bad karma wish to the individual who set of the fire alarm.
Went to another video room and watched several episodes of Robin Witch Hunter, which appeared to be a Buffy rip-off to me. A young lady in the back of the room had arranged four chairs into a makeshift bed and was lightly snoring.
As I mentioned earlier, I misread the DART schedule, the first light rail was at 5:30 am. Discovered I had lost my flash bracket and raced back to the J-pop room, where the wonderful woman who was supervising that room had found it. You have my very sincere thanks.
Sunday
Finally, at 5:30, the DART light rail lumbered into the station and a handful of people boarded it. I'm not sure why, but this particular train decided to dump us all off at Forest Lane. Eventually, I made it to my car around 6:30, grabbed a McDonald’s Big Breakfast and slept for about two hours.
I don’t remember much about most of Sunday. Several cosplayers kindly broke away from the convention long enough for me to take some more ‘artsy’ photographs upstairs in the main lobby. This gave me the time to experiment with both flash and available light.
Cosplay Contest
Hmmm... maybe a little less MC banter. There was probably a very good reason for the stalling and the MC’s were probably doing their best to fill the gaps with something. I expended a 90 minute battery during the competition. I snuck out immediately after the competition, without knowing who won what.
The evening finished up with a group of cosplayers led by Cherry, inviting me up to take photos of them in hotel lobby. It was a really great group of cosplayers and they came up with some terrific poses, But, lack of sleep and fatigue had caught up with me. I couldn't hold the camera steady and watched people who were standing still, drift in and out of the camera’s viewfinder. Somehow, we did manage to pull off a few very nice shots.
Monday
A human wall transformed itself into a lengthy conga line and rambled through out the convention area.
A-kon 15 had ended kind of a strangely for me. Probably, stayed just a little too long. For AnimeFest, I wanted to make sure I knew "when to leave the party" and to end things on a more positive note. Everything, seemed to be winding down around 1:00 pm, when many of the Houston cosplayers headed for home.
Post convention thoughts
As with any convention, some things went right and some things went wrong. Overall, it was a lot of fun with very few problems. The planners, staff and volunteers did a terrific job. Publishing schedules and keeping schedules is my only wish for the next AnimeFest. Hotel security seemed a bit oppressive about taking photos. The floor plan worked extremely well, for me, everything was just a few seconds away and nearly everything was in sight. The low ceilings, were perfect for bouncing the flash off the ceiling. Producing some very nice portraits, with a lot of sparkle and detail in the eyes.
Several very special cosplayers made this the best experience I've ever had at a convention. I think together, we produced some really beautiful and fun pictures. You really made me feel appreciated. Hopefully, some of my photos show my gratitude to you.
A few people have asked if I plan to attend other events. I am researching and considering it. A LOT of new camera equipment made this a very expensive year and consumed most of my budget. I’d like to find people my own age and pace to carpool and room with.
What I learned
I started off the convention trying to take some of the photos close to the walls. Some these shots suffered from the light from the flash being tinted by these same beige walls. Next time, fewer shots parallel to the walls.
Where are ALL the other photos?!!!
There were a several serious photographers with REALLY nice cameras Nikon, Canon and Minolta Digital SLRs. Cameras I would be envious to have. I’m anxious to see their work, but where are their galleries? Come on people, take pictures, then give them back to the creative people who deserve them.