G R O W Y O U R W I N G S

So much still to do.   Still have laundry and packing.  But I've finished printing and shopping today.  I'm officially on vacation as of today.  Thank goodness.

My right arm is somewhat better.  Pain flairs then subsides. Up until yesterday I was very good about doing my physical therapy exercises.  But got very busy yesterday so I've been bad about that.  Need to do it today.

On that.   I had been planning on bringing THE BOOK.  You know that gorgeous, wonderful, but HEAVY BOOK.   But since my arm is injured, I've been worried about handling that book plus my camera equipment with a bum right arm and also considering we may or may not have time to return to the room as I'm used to doing between breaks at other cons.

So even though I promised myself I would not.  I did.  I created a few things for signatures.   Had to slam them together over the past two days after work.   I pasted samples below.  Sorry about the watermarks, I'll post non-watermarked versions after the con.   FYI, for our core group, I have copies for you if you want them.  I personally love these.   Much easier than what I've done in the past.   I did a trifold, legal size brochure type layout with three themes:  1) Overall Vegas Con for any and all to sign; 2) A J2 specific one just for the Js; and 3) a karaoke themed one as that event is quickly becoming one of the highlights of these cons for me.

I used my own photos (with the exception of the three individuals I haven't yet seen at a con) and some quotes from past cons and/or interviews.

These are printed on heavy paper.  They are double sided.  And since they are in a brochure layout, they can be folded in a way that will easily store in a plastic sleeve and binder.   And they are lighter weight then when printed on photo paper.   Plus they are 1/2 to 2/3 the cost of the photo versions.   Win-win-win.   I also had a few shrunk down and laminated and these I especially love.  Of course they are more expensive and I only made a few of those.   Even with the overall cheaper cost, the time and production labor (for me) was SO much less as I had Kinkos do it all for me. So much easier and stress free.

The images:




( brochure images under here... )

As far as my gear.  Serendipity struck two days ago.  My company accidentally ordered too many rolling laptop carry-on suitcases.   And they just gave me one.   I was thinking of bringing my rolling backpack, but that is rather bulky.  This is more compact and, added bonus, fits my 17" laptop AND all my camera gear very nicely.  Like it was made for my camera gear.  My only complaint is that the bag does not have an outside sleeve type pocket to just stick stuff in without unzipping the main compartments.   My camera gear fits in there in my camera carrying case, which means if I decide the rolling bag is too much to handle at my convention seat (I'm hopefully it will slide under the seat in front of me), then I can still have my normal camera gear back to use.

I had not been planning on bringing my large laptop and just bring my ipad.  However with this bag, I'm reconsidering that.   Although I have a lot of CF cards for my camera, I knew I would likely have to purge images directly off my camera using that little screen - which is hell on my eyes.   With my laptop I can do what I typically do during cons, transfer all the photos to my harddrives over night so I can clear out cards, plus have backups.    Haven't yet made up my mind on the laptop yet.  I'll decide tonight/tomorrow morning for sure.
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Now I need to eat my lunch and start some laundry.
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Some more photo possibilities for autographs at Vancon.   



above :: this one is from a series of shots I took at Burcon (see all of this series here).  I loved Jensen's teasing of Jared so decided to try to depict it by using a comic-book type format.   The quote is actually from Kim Manners, but has also been referenced by the boys both about their friendship and the camraderie on set.   "We spend way too much time together not to enjoy each others' company."  




above :: fickleone and I decided we were kinda "over" having something for each individual person to sign.   So I came up with an 8x10 that we can have everyone (except the Js) sign.  The quotes are mostly Sam & Dean quotes - mostly from season 1.   I purposefully used a season 1 promo shot with more recent screen shots of the various characters.  I was thinking it was something like a "Then" and "Now" type of thing.




above (and directly below) :: I couldn't help it.  I haven't yet seen Mark P or Julian (assuming he doesn't cancel.)   So I went ahead and added to my Heaven and Hell autograph series.   I'll decide when I get to the con what I will have them sign.







above :: *sigh* I cannot tell you how much trouble I had with the color in this image above when I printed.   So not kidding.   Plus I really cannot decide how much I like this.  So it goes in the pile of "maybe I'll have Jensen sign this."  I'll decide later.  Likely at the last minute.   

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A couple of months ago I posted here that I wanted to try to use some of my own photos at Vancon for autographs.   This is a first for me.   I've always shied away from doing this because I feel like I could never find a good enough photo (let along more than one) and it just felt weird to me to have anyone sign something that was "them" rather than the characters they portrayed.   (Yeah, like going to cons in the first place isn't a little bit weird.  I didn't say it made sense.  Ha!)

When I posted, I had one (count 'em, "1") photo that I kinda liked good enough for an autograph possibility.   The last few days I've been pouring through photos from all six conventions I've been to.  Even from the first LA Con where I was using an old point-and-shoot camera.   I was able to pull out about 5-10 photos from each con that I thought I might be able to do with.   I toyed with the idea of doing a con retrospective, having one photo with an image of the guys from each con I've been too.   But I couldn't come up with something I liked enought.   

But the good news is that the whole exercise really helped me narrow down all the thousands of con photos I had to a dozen each con that I really liked.   I may do something with those.  Perhaps between Vancon and Vegas.

In the meantime, I have two more photos of Jensen from Burcon that I'm adding to my favorites list.  I'm printing these out as well and bringing them along to Vancon with the possibility that I might have him sign one.

Edit:   Btw, these versions have the red de-saturated a bit due to the crap-tastic photo printer I use at Kinkos.   Yeah, the printer likely isn't really that bad.  Let's just say that there is something about the color profile for that printer that does not match well with my Mac's color profile.   And all photos print out more red or more orange than they should be.   I was so frustrated this afternoon printing.   My son was along with me and man oh man did I want to salt and burn that printer.   Since I'm printing these two tomorrow, I purposefully desaturated the reds & yellows so that I (hopefully) would only be printing them once.   Usually I have an online image and a print image, but I do not have the patience to deal with that right now.  :/   



(click these to enlarge)






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I started this series for Vancon 2009 and have added to it for each succeeding con.  I had a previous autograph series from Chicon 2008 & LA 2009, but wanted something different.

I love the background for this series.  However, now that the Heaven & Hell myth arch is (mostly) done, I may have to find something else for the next set of cons.  I've got something in mind that I may play with.

These are all the unsigned versions.  Some are better than others.   In the original set I wasn't as good at finding high-res images of the actors.   So the quality suffered.  Plus my PS skills has gotten a little better in the past year or so.   I've gotten all but a few of these signed.






( photos under here ... )

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I decided to stick with the previous series of images I did for last year's Vancon and created some new ones for the guests for Vancon 2010.






above :: I think Samantha is one of the guests I've seen most often at these cons (other than the Js of course.)  I love this image of Mary from DSoTM.



above :: Matt



above :: Cannot wait to see Rob.



above :: Katherine's auto comes with my ticket.



above :: I don't have a Demore autograph and haven't yet decided if I will buy one.



above :: I don't yet have an autograph for Brock.  I may not buy one.  But just in case.



above :: since I didn't pay extra for Richard's autograph at Vancon 2009, I still have this image I did back then that I will have him sign this time.



above :: I'm going to have Misha sign my LACon 2009 photo op with him.

above :: and I will have Aldis sign my Vancon 2009 photo op with him.


above :: I don't even have this one printed as I did not intend to make or pay for an autograph.  However, it just felt weird not to have one.  (OMG, does this mean I need to make one now for Clif???)


above :: yes I did Tiny!  At the very, very last minute mind you...  Likely will not spring for the auto, but still.

Now I need to decide what to have the boys sign.   I still have last year's image that I didn't have them sign since they signed my Chicon 2008 photo op instead.

Earlier this month I posted about some other options I was considering as well.  I think it's between this image above, or a 4x4 inch laminated card I made using these two images below that I made from some photos that wolfpup2000 took (at LAcon 2010 I think).   I put Jared on one side and Jensen on the other and then laminated it.

   

See comments for each photo for some opinions needed.

ETA:  Added Pic #8-The Trickster.

ETA2:  Added Pic #9-Anna.  Need opinions on which of two versions to use.

ETA3:  a_carnal_mink  to the rescue.  She said the SPN S2 Companion book definitely says Henriksen's name is spelled as I have it in the image!  Yay!

ETA4:  Updated the Castiel one -- darkened his name just a bit.

ETA5 (and hopefully FINAL ETA!):  Fixed the Dean version to include better insets.  Much happier with these.  I still cannot decide between color vs. B&W insets.  bowtrunckle  suggested B&W with a tinge of color added behind the boys or something.  So I added a third version with a little orange behind the boys.  What do you think?

ETA6:  I liked the tinge of color in the background so much that I updated all versions (except the #b of Sam or Dean) to include it.

ETA7:  Creation just announced that Aldis Hodge (aka Jake) will be appearing on Friday.  So, obsessive geek that I am, I had to add pic #10 for him.


1) Sam & Dean with Impala.  I can't decide whether to have both boys sign this one or have each one sign an individual one (see below.)



The Sam one below was one I did a test print on.  The color version.  My daughter seemed to think the color looked out of place since Sam was in B&W.  So I did a B&W version of this and the Dean one below.  Opinions?  I've even considered scrapping the B&W promo shots for a more close up shot of each boy--in color.  But I so love this particular promo shoot. 

Let me tell you that my appreciation for the screen capping goddesses of SPN has increased 10-fold today.  Wow--it's a lot of work!

2a) Sam with color insets	2b) Sam with B&W insets
1c) Sam with B&W insets but with a tinge of orange behind Sam

BTW--I intend to change out one or more of the insets in the Dean photo below.  Especially the profile middle shot.  Earlier when I went looking for Sam shots, all I found were good Dean close ups (which of course I didn't save).   I even found myself wondering if the Sam-girls were right that Dean gets more screen time or something.  Until I started looking for Dean shots and ALL I SAW were great Sam shots (which of course I didn't see when I was ACTUALLY looking for Sam.)  *headdesk*  ETA:  Updated Dean with better insets--much happier.

2a) Dean with color insets	2b) Dean with B&W insets
2c) Dean with B&W insets but with a tinge of orange behind Dean

For all the others I've been trying to leave enough room in the bottom left side (on the chest area) for a signature.  Let me know if you think I didn't leave enough.


3) Castiel



4) Mary



5) Andy



6) Henriksen.  Help!  Did I spell his name right????   Confirmed by the S2 Companion book!



7) Jo





8) The Trickster - Boy does that man have an expressive face!  I wanted to try to capture one that showed both his ticksey sense of humor as well as an overtone of danger.  Not sure I did--it was hard to choose.  But I had to go with this one because of the clarity of focus and angle of his head.  So I missed out a bit on the danger vibe I think.  But I'm happy with it none the less.



9a) Anna version a - This was the version I originally had in mind for Anna.  But the image of her at the time of Uriel's death does not stay very well in focus when I enlarge it.  Which bums me out.  So I did another version below.  Which do you prefer?




9b) Anna version b - I put the image of Anna with her hair wind-blown as the middle inset in this version.



10)  Jake