Here’s a short con report from Furry Fiesta 2012. I was only able to attend one day (Saturday), so please keep this in mind.

When I pulled up I saw furs running around the parking lot and I knew it was going to be a fun day. I was expecting a parking headache, but happily that turned out to not be the case. I was able to park fairly close to the door, so I did and I went inside to go register.

It took me a few minutes to find the registration room, but registration was super smooth. I had gotten there around 11am or so on Saturday, and there was no line at all. I walked in, got my badge and goodies and was gone. (Dunno why I had such a hard time finding it, it was pretty big and very centrally located. I guess I was just blind!) Getting a small bar of soap was pretty funny.

Because I was just coming in for the day I didn’t have a hotel room to go drop my stuff into, so I went back out to my car to drop off my goodies and get my camera. I dropped off everything, opened up my camera case and got out my “real” badges, loaded up my camera and took off back to the hotel.

The first hour or so was spent just walking around the hotel figuring out my way around and learning where everything was. I liked the layout once I got used to it… it was a nice and easy circle, so finding everything was a piece of cake.

Before the fursuit parade I was able to catch up with a bunch of people I know, got to talk to them for a bit and went into the Dealer’s Den. I didn’t spend a lot of time there; I’ve found that after a while it’s basically the same people with the same stuff and unless there’s something specific I have in mind, I’ve seen most of it before.

After the Dealer’s Den came the Art Show. I was really nervous when I handed my camera to the lady at the door, and wasn’t helped by the fact that she took it without even asking my name. I kept a close eye on it as I walked around, but in the end got everything back without a problem. (Maybe they should use a claim check or something in the future?) I know why there’s no cameras allowed in the Art Show, but given that we’re pretty much all carrying phones with cameras in them… there ought to be a better way to to this. 🙂

I got done with the Art Show in time to catch the fursuit parade. I walked all around the route I figured it would go (the loop around the second floor – and I was right) looking for the best lighting I could. I settled on perching right outside the door to the main ballroom, and it was a good choice. With the really bright windows behind me I had plenty of soft light to get some decent photos. I saw a few suits that I had never seen before, and was able to help a newbie understand what was going on. 🙂

I hit a low point after the fursuit parade. There wasn’t a lot I wanted to do at the con, and I was pretty much alone at that point. (Cons are a lot different when you’re by yourself!) I figured I’d go leave for a bit and get some dinner before getting back in time to catch Rhubarb’s show and the Variety Show that evening, so I did. I headed over to Taco Bueno and treated myself to some non-diet food for the first time in a while. I wish we had Taco Bueno here in Austin! 🙂

Rhubarb’s show was great. He said it was his first solo show, and other than constantly getting lost, you’d never know. He performed just fine and I was quite entertained the whole time.

After Rhubarb’s show we were herded back out into the hallway so they could reset the room for the FVS. This process seemed to take a lot longer than I expected given that the chairs were already in place. When we got out into the hallway we were told to stand in a single file line out in the hallway, which most of us did. Eventually the con’s security crew started making the rounds asking people to get into the line, which I really didn’t understand as we weren’t blocking the hallway… but whatever. I just stood there in line texting with friends and waited to get into the show.

The FVS was good, but a lot longer than my attention span. I think it went over three hours — we didn’t get out of there till after 1am! The room was less than a third full by the end of it, which I’m taking as a sign that it was longer than other fur’s attention spans as well.

I fully enjoyed most of it, but it was just dragging on and on by the end. I’m not sure what I would have done differently, except for maybe be a little more choosey about the acts, or maybe even broken it up over two nights. (But then I wouldn’t have gotten to see all of it!) I wouldn’t have stayed for the whole thing, but since I didn’t have a hotel room to go running off to, I figured I’d just stick around, so I did.

Right after the FVS was over I had to go haul my fuzzy butt back to my car and drive over 30 miles back to my friend’s house where I was staying. There’s a lot more traffic on the road at 1:30am than I would have ever expected!

So that’s my short con report from my short visit to Furry Fiesta. I had a good time, and next year I need to find a friend or two to drag with me so I can stay the full three days. 🙂

By the way — I love taking photos of furs up on stage. It’s both extremely easy and extremely difficult. It’s easy in that all of the lighting it taken care of for you by someone else. You don’t have to go hunting for good lighting as it’s usually very easy to find. It’s difficult in that if you don’t know how to properly expose the frame you’re going to end up with all of the highlights blown out because of the pure black background. I think I ended up shooting at around 1 1/3 to 2 stops under what the light meter said I should be shooting at, and it worked out pretty well.

My Photo Album! 🙂