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furtechI've been a huge admirer of ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lionboogy's costuming photography: he has an incredible ability to create settings and poses that bring costumes to life. This ability means that he's in great demand for photoshoots (which he does at cons and between work and his equally amazing prop-making time). I was very excited when he said he'd be willing to do a photoshoot of my costumes: Woo! I'd been looking forward to this for months now!
The details...
The plan was to grabwaynekaa and jet up to the BArea Friday evening, shoot Saturday and Sunday and jet back down on Sunday afternoon.
As expected, Wayne and I both were behind schedule-- he finishing up costume bits and me with Rondo to drag to the Dog Gulag. We finally managed to get on the road after nine. Much scheming ensued; then Wayne fell asleep.Me too! Scheming resumed when Wayne was awakened by the cheerful, Taiko-like drumming of me hitting too many bots-dots.
Arrived atlionboogy's around 3AM: he keeps his house at the most comfortable temperature I've encountered in a house. *Warm* Got the amazing tour: his place is remarkably like mine, except he vacuums more and actually has two perfectly clean rooms. I found it comforting that someone else had a living room filled with props and cans of spray paint, foam core and construction supplies. The main difference was that his place is filled with huge props (like the bike from Final Fantasy) and mine has piles of costumes (his: more foamcore; mine: fur. Everywhere.)
Saturday we headed downtown to scout the photo sites. Lionel found a number of nice locations in places that few others would have conceived as photogenic.
Before checking into the hotel, we decided to hit the Rosecutian Museum for the Sett/YuGiOh shoot. The Rosecutian is a little heralded, but well-respected collection of Ancient Egyptian artifacts, including a mummy that traumatized me for years when I was about 5 years old. The museum is actually owned and run by the Rosecutian Order (a masonic order). I had recently used the ground of the museum as a place to walk Frieda when I was in San Jose: the site is open and well-lit, though kind of creepy.
As expected, Sett and YuGiOh made an impression on the few people there. The museum staff was *wonderful* about letting us take pictures with the costumes in the museum-proper. Unlike other big institutions (who generally say, "No," just to be safe from accidents or litigation), the Rosecutian staff was cool. In fact, somewhat awed by the big, red Sett that walked in.
I was highly amused by the greater reaction that Wayne's Ancient Magician received: several young boys were in *awe* of him. I'll be that more than one kid will have neat memories burnt into his head seeing *YuGiOh* at the MUMMY MUSEUM! (I sure would have!) There was one kid who completely ignored me after seeing Wayne: he then proceded to recite the ENTIRE HISTORY of this character at about a hundred words a second. Just short of sounding like a buzzing fly, he was so excited. "Omigoshthat'stheAncientMagicianwhowasintheancientarcofYuGiOhandheturnedintotheblahblahandthenYuGiOhblahblahblahyatteryatta..." We also we asked to join in other photoshoots there involving a wedding and a Flamenco Dancer.
We got back to the hotel and off-loaded the van. Bags and bags of costume stuff. Big tip for the bell(wo)man.hoshikaji joined us in time for dinner...then Lionel and Kim left to get liquid and mognetcentral while Wayne and I chilled (I just passed out cold). When they got back, the next shoot began: Reales, the Grey Werewolf and Lydia, the damsel-in-distress. Lionel wanted to try some video as well and set up scenes for us to do. I'd forgotten how bad the vision is in Reales: thankfully he did not post the pictures of me running smack into a wall. Twice. Once again awed by Lionel's ability to capture "The Shot".
Last shots were the schmoochy shot and the moon shot. Moon shot was interrupted by drunken young folk who thought that we were in these costumes exactly for their entertainment (long waits while they took pics with a cellphone...at night...with no flash...and drunk). One of them was so excited about the big werewolf that he was either a proto-furry or simply weird.
Next day: Dropped Lydia off and then drove out to a desolate park near Lionel's place for the rest of the shoot. Talbain, Frost and Snicker's the hyena puppet. Almost caused several bicyclist's to crash as they did double-takes. While I was un-suiting, Kim (who met us there) took Snickers out for his photoshoot. Wasn't sure how Lionel was going to do this, but didn't worry: he'll figure something out. And he did: wonderful pics!
We finally got on the road about four, meaning that Lionel had missed an hour of Superbowl. That also meant that there was -no- traffic! We made good time, even with a detour to Harris Ranch to introduce Wayne to their award-winning restrooms. He was so impressed that we decided to have dinner there as well. Meat. Good.
Arriving in L.A. too late to get Rondodog (*guilt*), Wayne helped me unload and then got on the road himself. I unpacked the suits and began my elaborate cleaning procedure: fans, several cans of Endbac II, etc. That's why even Frost-- who hasn't been used for nearly ten years-- still was as-new fresh!
Next day (Monday) got up, checked email, then fetched the dawg. Dogpark for guilt-alleviation, then doctor's appt. Since then it's been catching up on RL work, running errands and taking care of stuff so that I could hole up for a couple of weeks after getting my knee patched up.
And sleep. I spent more hours in-suit over two days than I ever had before. Lots of running, posing, etc. Plus two five-hour drives. I hadn't realized how exhausted I was: at the time, I certainly wasn't going to forego any Lionel-opportunity, adopting a, "You can sleep when you're dead," attitude.
HUGE thanks to Lionel!! Thanks for spending a weekend on us! And for the fantastic pics! And hospitality!
Thanks to Wayne for company, costuming and spotting (including liquids and brushing!)
Thanks to Lydia for both fur-wrangling and damsel-posing!
Thanks to Kim for fursuit-wrangling (brushing, snapping and being willing to help with sweaty, hot costume!!), hyena-wrangling and cookie recipe! And to Mich for staying in touch so that it felt like you were there, too!
I've posted the pic-links in a seperate post!
lionboogy's costuming photography: he has an incredible ability to create settings and poses that bring costumes to life. This ability means that he's in great demand for photoshoots (which he does at cons and between work and his equally amazing prop-making time). I was very excited when he said he'd be willing to do a photoshoot of my costumes: Woo! I'd been looking forward to this for months now!The details...
The plan was to grab
waynekaa and jet up to the BArea Friday evening, shoot Saturday and Sunday and jet back down on Sunday afternoon. As expected, Wayne and I both were behind schedule-- he finishing up costume bits and me with Rondo to drag to the Dog Gulag. We finally managed to get on the road after nine. Much scheming ensued; then Wayne fell asleep.
Arrived at
lionboogy's around 3AM: he keeps his house at the most comfortable temperature I've encountered in a house. *Warm* Got the amazing tour: his place is remarkably like mine, except he vacuums more and actually has two perfectly clean rooms. I found it comforting that someone else had a living room filled with props and cans of spray paint, foam core and construction supplies. The main difference was that his place is filled with huge props (like the bike from Final Fantasy) and mine has piles of costumes (his: more foamcore; mine: fur. Everywhere.)Saturday we headed downtown to scout the photo sites. Lionel found a number of nice locations in places that few others would have conceived as photogenic.
Before checking into the hotel, we decided to hit the Rosecutian Museum for the Sett/YuGiOh shoot. The Rosecutian is a little heralded, but well-respected collection of Ancient Egyptian artifacts, including a mummy that traumatized me for years when I was about 5 years old. The museum is actually owned and run by the Rosecutian Order (a masonic order). I had recently used the ground of the museum as a place to walk Frieda when I was in San Jose: the site is open and well-lit, though kind of creepy.
As expected, Sett and YuGiOh made an impression on the few people there. The museum staff was *wonderful* about letting us take pictures with the costumes in the museum-proper. Unlike other big institutions (who generally say, "No," just to be safe from accidents or litigation), the Rosecutian staff was cool. In fact, somewhat awed by the big, red Sett that walked in.
I was highly amused by the greater reaction that Wayne's Ancient Magician received: several young boys were in *awe* of him. I'll be that more than one kid will have neat memories burnt into his head seeing *YuGiOh* at the MUMMY MUSEUM! (I sure would have!) There was one kid who completely ignored me after seeing Wayne: he then proceded to recite the ENTIRE HISTORY of this character at about a hundred words a second. Just short of sounding like a buzzing fly, he was so excited. "Omigoshthat'stheAncientMagicianwhowasintheancientarcofYuGiOhandheturnedintotheblahblahandthenYuGiOhblahblahblahyatteryatta..." We also we asked to join in other photoshoots there involving a wedding and a Flamenco Dancer.
We got back to the hotel and off-loaded the van. Bags and bags of costume stuff. Big tip for the bell(wo)man.
hoshikaji joined us in time for dinner...then Lionel and Kim left to get liquid and mognetcentral while Wayne and I chilled (I just passed out cold). When they got back, the next shoot began: Reales, the Grey Werewolf and Lydia, the damsel-in-distress. Lionel wanted to try some video as well and set up scenes for us to do. I'd forgotten how bad the vision is in Reales: thankfully he did not post the pictures of me running smack into a wall. Twice. Once again awed by Lionel's ability to capture "The Shot". Last shots were the schmoochy shot and the moon shot. Moon shot was interrupted by drunken young folk who thought that we were in these costumes exactly for their entertainment (long waits while they took pics with a cellphone...at night...with no flash...and drunk). One of them was so excited about the big werewolf that he was either a proto-furry or simply weird.
Next day: Dropped Lydia off and then drove out to a desolate park near Lionel's place for the rest of the shoot. Talbain, Frost and Snicker's the hyena puppet. Almost caused several bicyclist's to crash as they did double-takes. While I was un-suiting, Kim (who met us there) took Snickers out for his photoshoot. Wasn't sure how Lionel was going to do this, but didn't worry: he'll figure something out. And he did: wonderful pics!
We finally got on the road about four, meaning that Lionel had missed an hour of Superbowl. That also meant that there was -no- traffic! We made good time, even with a detour to Harris Ranch to introduce Wayne to their award-winning restrooms. He was so impressed that we decided to have dinner there as well. Meat. Good.
Arriving in L.A. too late to get Rondodog (*guilt*), Wayne helped me unload and then got on the road himself. I unpacked the suits and began my elaborate cleaning procedure: fans, several cans of Endbac II, etc. That's why even Frost-- who hasn't been used for nearly ten years-- still was as-new fresh!
Next day (Monday) got up, checked email, then fetched the dawg. Dogpark for guilt-alleviation, then doctor's appt. Since then it's been catching up on RL work, running errands and taking care of stuff so that I could hole up for a couple of weeks after getting my knee patched up.
And sleep. I spent more hours in-suit over two days than I ever had before. Lots of running, posing, etc. Plus two five-hour drives. I hadn't realized how exhausted I was: at the time, I certainly wasn't going to forego any Lionel-opportunity, adopting a, "You can sleep when you're dead," attitude.
HUGE thanks to Lionel!! Thanks for spending a weekend on us! And for the fantastic pics! And hospitality!
Thanks to Wayne for company, costuming and spotting (including liquids and brushing!)
Thanks to Lydia for both fur-wrangling and damsel-posing!
Thanks to Kim for fursuit-wrangling (brushing, snapping and being willing to help with sweaty, hot costume!!), hyena-wrangling and cookie recipe! And to Mich for staying in touch so that it felt like you were there, too!
I've posted the pic-links in a seperate post!
