Review For
Dragon Con '01

    Wandered around a bit, shooting Eugie in her first outfit of the con, a really good Medusa, and some con friends from previous years. Very early on, I ran across the first good multiple photo op of the con, a couple and their toddler. He was an Imperial Stormtrooper, she a Princess Leia, and the toddler a really good little Ewok.

    Then I stumbled onto the first set of  Emerald Rose on the Concourse and stayed to the end. I hope to hear them next year, The Vampire Woman from the Planet Orn is a must listen to. They were so good that many in the audience couldn't stop themselves from jumping up and dancing. Every set had larger and larger crowds.

    In between, I wandered the floors, shooting just about everything that caught my eye. Star Wars characters seemed to be in the majority, though there were plenty of other individual representatives of other sci-fi and con related genres. One was a truly impressive Cylon Warrior from Battlestar Galactica. I also got a few shots of a couple of  really good anime costumes.

    The little Ewok provided another distraction by engaging in a faux battle with daddy Stormtrooper. The little Ewok, of course, won. And, then, shudder, the New York Giants Stormtrooper showed up. He would break into the Heisman pose on request, and I noticed an incident that probably only the fanatic himself caught. When he went into the pose one time, the thigh plate caught some soft tissue against the bottom of the torso armor. the second picture of him in the album shows him reacting to the unexpected pain he was trying to experience without screaming.

    Maybe they will do it again this year. I'm writing about what I call Stormtroopers on Parade. Every Star Wars character at the con that could be there, was. My friends went along for the set up shots prior to the start, while I set up to get the long shots from across the street as they marched by. It was impressive. My understanding was that they took over Planet Hollywood at the other end.

    Then it was time for more of my Hall Monster shooting, leading up to the Dawn Lookalike contest. Prior to the show, Dana, Kim, and I went backstage to shoot Deb in her Dawn costume entry. While back there, Cassandra Peterson (Elvira) came through as herself. I hadn't had the opportunity to get a shot of her, so I made eye contact and lifted the camera slightly, and she graciously gave me permission to get my shot. The reason I got permission was my perception of ettiquette. She was in a backstage area, out of character, and I was a guest in the area (backstage) so permission was required, in my opinion. She didn't have to give me the high sign, and I would have respected a no, a most gracious lady.

    Dana and Kim went in to shoot the contest while I stayed out and worked with a few other photographers and the techs and security to provide for a seamless as possible after the contest runway photo opportunity. We pulled it off, more or less, pushing a chain uphill is actually easier. Not all of my shots came out, but I got a few that went into the album.

    The next day was more hall monster stuff, leading up to the Costume Contest. Again we went with the arrangement from the Dawn contest. While the Dawn contestants were tired the night before after several hours before and during the contest, the Costumers were really up against it. At the end of the contest, some of these people had been in what were sometimes dangerously hot costumes. I tried to stress in telling the other photographers in the shooting line that the contestants were being told to walk to a set of marks about fifteen to twenty feet apart, stop momentarily and go on, no matter how many shouts to wait were made to them. It worked great until they got close to the end, and started to stop far to long, holding the line up behind them. At this point one of Atlanta's finest stepped in and started to direct the end of the line traffic, litterally. His photo is in the album. If you know him, point the site out to him. Many thanks, not from me, but the exhausted contestants that he made it possible to get through to the end and out of their gear if needed.

    Then of course my run to the end, shooting Hall Monster style and recording visually what I saw. Of note late was the battle between Dr. Who, a Dalek, and R2D2. Then there was the lady with the body paint dragon, the Stormtrooper angel, and the cellophane girl to name a few.

    After the last shot in the album, my flash died. This made my photo experience end in frustration, as I sat for about what seemed like thirty minutes near John Rys-Davies with no camera to get a photograph.