Confuzzled 2010
What an amazing and fun weekend! Back in Bristol now with balto_mike Even after crashing for many hours after getting home, the energy of this convention is still coursing through me as I review photos, video and sound from the weekend's events. Ive shot 1400 photos and a couple hours of video.
Mike and I traveled via bus and rail systems to Manchester, which wasnt all that bad given the rail line is high speed and made for a nice scenic trip. We had stayed up all night watching the General Election results come in, then realized we should probably pack, so no sleep. Luggage was quite a sight too! 2 fursuit partials packed into a large box, both our clothes and a laptop in a suitcase, accessories/extras in a duffle bag, both our camera bags, and Mike's video camera bag. Walking to city centre with all this proved a massive pain in the arse, so we opted for the bus, even tho the nearest available bus stop for the direction we needed to go in was still a bit of a walk. I had the fursuits and the duffle strapped to the suitcase which had wheels (Thank dog!) It still managed to tweak my arms and back with the bit rough terrain. After our first stop it was another walk to the next bus stop for the train station, and another walk to the station itself. Joy. I dont mind the walking at all, it was the addition of all the luggage and lack of sleep that was a drag. Upon arriving at the train station, I had a traditional English Breakfast, consisting of egg, bacon, beans, potato and some sort of fried tomato looking thing.
Catching a starting train was quite nice as we had full use of the luggage rack. The seats are a bit cramped for my long legs, but I managed. We made one changeover and then boarded a bus for the hotel. At this stage we were quite worn out. Our arrival at the hotel was set to coincide with registration opening, yet due to technical issues on the hotel's part with the room keys we waited another two hours before getting inside. I think this is the one thing on everyone's mind that was the only downer of the whole weekend. Again, it was not a problem caused by, or resolvable by the con staff. Completely a hotel issue. Sure there were other reports of issues, but visible to the majority of attendees they were not. I must commend the con staff for handling a new hotel, a new chairman and all the challenges that come with it in such a superb manner.
The growing queue as we wait on hotel staff to resolve the keycard problem
Chatting with the Germans while we queue
It was really nice to catch up with the few British and European furs that I knew already, and it was great making a bunch of new friends. The layout of the new hotel was nice, with the main bar being perfectly placed as a focal point of activity. This is a big difference from american hotels. While they do have bars, they are often placed off in their own little space, and their ridiculous prices make them quite unattractive as a hangout. So US congoers generally go off site to drink and chill then come back. Hotel bars there need to LEARN something from the Brits.. Lower the drink prices so they reflect the competition around town, and we'll come there to hang out and drink instead. The bar for a UK con really is a centerpiece of social activity and it was a lot of fun to experience the openness of groups sitting about, very easy to walk up and join a conversation and find something to talk about. Also, Bulmer's Pear Cider = <3
The main bar and social activity
The theme this year was Science, so many people dressed in lab coats. In a sense it was kinda like an Uncle Kage fan club con hahaha. The science lab panel was a big hit, several people had a shocking experience with the Van Der Graaf machine.
Wheel powered by heat & trying to get a fursuit charged enough to make the fur stand on end
One of the biggest highlights of the weekend was the Pawpets Show, the staff and crew did an AMAZING job with writing and producing an awesome and insanely funny show. I was filming as a second camera, which you will see from Mike in the coming days. Because of this, I have no photos of the show.
Another big part of my weekend was the dances. I both danced in fursuit and photographed to some of the best mixes out there. DJs Swolf, Black Wolf, Ani Boxer, Cheetah, Graafen, Kenai, and Zuki rocked two dancefloors for hours on end.
Fursuit dancing teaser ^.^
The fursuit parade was an absolute blast. It was a bit cool outside, perfect suiting weather. The walk began at the dance club, through the hotel and outside down the hotel's drive. OMG so many cameras, mine included XD. Upon arrival back at the picnic area we stopped for about 5 minutes to give everyone a photo op, where I proceeded to do what I do best - photograph in fursuit! Pinky Fennec made the comment "A fursuiter that takes photographs in suit? I've never seen that before" which made me feel really special. To my knowledge, Im the only fursuiter that can shoot an SLR in suit. I have seen a couple others with point and shoots that have a LCD screen on them shooting in suit. After that, it was off to the club entrance side of the hotel, to stand on the street edge waving at confused motorists. Almost all of them sounded their horns as they passed. A few gave us some EPIC WTF!?!?! looks.
At the bar entrance, waving at cars | Snirf and Ditzy playing around during the public photo op
Last, but certainly not least, CF had an incredible art auction and set some records. The table cloth drawn on by Guest of Honour Tani Da Real went for £2000.00! The audience was in disbelief. A fantastic bidding war between Colifox and Beshon, helped raise over £5000.00 for big cats. That is awesome!
It was really nice to have my partner with me for the con. He introduced me to a lot of people who Ive since made friends with, we got to enjoy a night out for dinner, and as always, snuggles are the best.
Hope youve enjoyed the con report and the photos. The full set is available at www.flickr.com/photos/kaiwulf/collections/72157624043905800/ The link should open a new tab/window. Please note, photography is my art, my way of contributing back to the community. Feel free to share these photos and put them on your own sites. If you want full res copies please note me with the frame numbers (the # after DSC_) along with an email address that works for you. I will package sets of photos into a ZIP and give you a download link if the files exceed 10MB, as that is the typical limit on many email systems. All I request is that you credit the photo and link back to the collection. Thanks!
Mike and I traveled via bus and rail systems to Manchester, which wasnt all that bad given the rail line is high speed and made for a nice scenic trip. We had stayed up all night watching the General Election results come in, then realized we should probably pack, so no sleep. Luggage was quite a sight too! 2 fursuit partials packed into a large box, both our clothes and a laptop in a suitcase, accessories/extras in a duffle bag, both our camera bags, and Mike's video camera bag. Walking to city centre with all this proved a massive pain in the arse, so we opted for the bus, even tho the nearest available bus stop for the direction we needed to go in was still a bit of a walk. I had the fursuits and the duffle strapped to the suitcase which had wheels (Thank dog!) It still managed to tweak my arms and back with the bit rough terrain. After our first stop it was another walk to the next bus stop for the train station, and another walk to the station itself. Joy. I dont mind the walking at all, it was the addition of all the luggage and lack of sleep that was a drag. Upon arriving at the train station, I had a traditional English Breakfast, consisting of egg, bacon, beans, potato and some sort of fried tomato looking thing.
Catching a starting train was quite nice as we had full use of the luggage rack. The seats are a bit cramped for my long legs, but I managed. We made one changeover and then boarded a bus for the hotel. At this stage we were quite worn out. Our arrival at the hotel was set to coincide with registration opening, yet due to technical issues on the hotel's part with the room keys we waited another two hours before getting inside. I think this is the one thing on everyone's mind that was the only downer of the whole weekend. Again, it was not a problem caused by, or resolvable by the con staff. Completely a hotel issue. Sure there were other reports of issues, but visible to the majority of attendees they were not. I must commend the con staff for handling a new hotel, a new chairman and all the challenges that come with it in such a superb manner.
The growing queue as we wait on hotel staff to resolve the keycard problem
Chatting with the Germans while we queue
It was really nice to catch up with the few British and European furs that I knew already, and it was great making a bunch of new friends. The layout of the new hotel was nice, with the main bar being perfectly placed as a focal point of activity. This is a big difference from american hotels. While they do have bars, they are often placed off in their own little space, and their ridiculous prices make them quite unattractive as a hangout. So US congoers generally go off site to drink and chill then come back. Hotel bars there need to LEARN something from the Brits.. Lower the drink prices so they reflect the competition around town, and we'll come there to hang out and drink instead. The bar for a UK con really is a centerpiece of social activity and it was a lot of fun to experience the openness of groups sitting about, very easy to walk up and join a conversation and find something to talk about. Also, Bulmer's Pear Cider = <3
The main bar and social activity
The theme this year was Science, so many people dressed in lab coats. In a sense it was kinda like an Uncle Kage fan club con hahaha. The science lab panel was a big hit, several people had a shocking experience with the Van Der Graaf machine.
Wheel powered by heat & trying to get a fursuit charged enough to make the fur stand on end
One of the biggest highlights of the weekend was the Pawpets Show, the staff and crew did an AMAZING job with writing and producing an awesome and insanely funny show. I was filming as a second camera, which you will see from Mike in the coming days. Because of this, I have no photos of the show.
Another big part of my weekend was the dances. I both danced in fursuit and photographed to some of the best mixes out there. DJs Swolf, Black Wolf, Ani Boxer, Cheetah, Graafen, Kenai, and Zuki rocked two dancefloors for hours on end.
Fursuit dancing teaser ^.^
The fursuit parade was an absolute blast. It was a bit cool outside, perfect suiting weather. The walk began at the dance club, through the hotel and outside down the hotel's drive. OMG so many cameras, mine included XD. Upon arrival back at the picnic area we stopped for about 5 minutes to give everyone a photo op, where I proceeded to do what I do best - photograph in fursuit! Pinky Fennec made the comment "A fursuiter that takes photographs in suit? I've never seen that before" which made me feel really special. To my knowledge, Im the only fursuiter that can shoot an SLR in suit. I have seen a couple others with point and shoots that have a LCD screen on them shooting in suit. After that, it was off to the club entrance side of the hotel, to stand on the street edge waving at confused motorists. Almost all of them sounded their horns as they passed. A few gave us some EPIC WTF!?!?! looks.
At the bar entrance, waving at cars | Snirf and Ditzy playing around during the public photo op
Last, but certainly not least, CF had an incredible art auction and set some records. The table cloth drawn on by Guest of Honour Tani Da Real went for £2000.00! The audience was in disbelief. A fantastic bidding war between Colifox and Beshon, helped raise over £5000.00 for big cats. That is awesome!
It was really nice to have my partner with me for the con. He introduced me to a lot of people who Ive since made friends with, we got to enjoy a night out for dinner, and as always, snuggles are the best.
Hope youve enjoyed the con report and the photos. The full set is available at www.flickr.com/photos/kaiwulf/collections/72157624043905800/ The link should open a new tab/window. Please note, photography is my art, my way of contributing back to the community. Feel free to share these photos and put them on your own sites. If you want full res copies please note me with the frame numbers (the # after DSC_) along with an email address that works for you. I will package sets of photos into a ZIP and give you a download link if the files exceed 10MB, as that is the typical limit on many email systems. All I request is that you credit the photo and link back to the collection. Thanks!