This weekend, Geoff and I ventured to the great city of London, ON for a horror show for our photos. The show was called Shock Stock. It is the first year for the show, but I was uber excited. The last show we did was a comic show and it was horrible. There is very little cross over from comics to horror, so we aren't going to do more comic shows.
But this show was perfect. It was straight up horror. They had the ladies from the Evil Dead there, plus some b-movie, 70's sexploitation horror films there (Ilsa- She-wolf of the SS, anyone!?) I thought this was going to be the real test of our photos- a smaller show, where we wouldn't get lost in the shuffle, straight horror, no judgement. Good times.
If only people had shown up.
In an article prior to the show, the 2 guys that organized it said that they were expecting about 1,500 people. Small, but ok.
We were lucky if there were 200 people that went through. See, the organizers sold out the Evil Dead screening that was taking place on Saturday night. They (wrongly) assumed that everyone that was going to the movie was going to go to the show too.
Yeah, they were wrong.
Friday, we didn't sell a single thing. We talked to the other vendors, and got to browse around. I bought a cool bracelet that looks like barbed wire. We met an awesome couple, he makes latex masks and Jason hockey masks. We met an author and others. We got to browse the fetish gear set up across from us, and Geoff wondered, ad nauseum, what a flogger was. 'Cause apparently you could buy one there.
We smuggled in some beer and I had a couple of drinks. Everyone else smuggled in beer, didn't bother to hide it and had more than a few drinks. We ended the night with the hope that Saturday was going to be busier, and a good day.
Saturday, the show started at 10am. We have very little set up once we are in, so we got there about 10 to 10. We took over the empty table beside us, so we re-arranged our pictures and put out the frames, which is something we don't often do, since we rarely have the space. All the re-arranging took some time, and I finally asked Geoff what time it was, hoping that it wasn't too late after the show opening, so that we could maximize our selling time. Geoff told me it was 11:30. An hour and a half into the show and there was still no one there.
It did pick up a little. We had one of our uber fans show up (I think it was Chris, and not Liam. :) We had two lovely ladies buy 3 framed prints off us. We sold more to the vendors, and one crazy,awesome kid that grew up in Niagara and asked me to write the directions to the location of Respect, so that he could show it to his Dad.
But by about 2 in the afternoon, I was depressed. I had been so hopeful for this show, and the fact that it was a big fat failure was just completely disheartening to me. I started talking about trying to get out of the hotel reservation for that night. The mask maker was also pissed. He was sporting a double table, which meant his vendor fee was twice mine, and he wasn't selling anything either. His girlfriend wanted our big, foam backed Workshop print, but he couldn't swing it, when he was losing so much money. I understood.
By the end of the night, Geoff and I had had enough. I was very angry and upset, and we just packed up in silence. The organizers approached the mask maker, who was doing the same thing, and the girlfriend gave them an earful. It really isn't their fault, they probably could have promoted better, or picked a weekend when university was still in session, but you can't make people come. I feel bad for them, because if they decide to do it again next year, they are going to have a hell of a time getting vendors, at least any of the ones that were there this year.
Geoff and I decided tha we weren't going back on Sunday. We were going home early.
Geoff and I went to a bar last night, Molly Blooms, for dinner and drinks. Geoff had tried to get me to talk all day about Cracked Lens and where we can go. Funny. I have tried to talk to him a bunch of times about it, but he really never talks back. He listens and nods in appropriate places. But mostly he "sebastian"'s me, and changes the subject as soon as I finish. He acts like he just remembered something, but I know that it means that he was thnking of other things the whole time I was talking. I just try to remember- it isn't his business. It's mine. I am the horror lover, not him. His passion is elsewhere. I really try not to get mad or hurt, when he just isn't interested. Because, really, why should he be????
Anyway, he kept trying to get me to talk. But the whole time, I am thinking- I don't think I want to do this anymore. I have tried. It ain't workin'.
During dinner, we talked some more. We made some plans, and thought some stuff through. I don't know if there will be follow through on anything. I am committed to Fan Expo, but that's the last one for the year. I am not committing to anymore, as of right now. I reserve the right to change my mind about that. We will see.
I am pretty disheartened about the whole thing. Between what work has been like lately, Sebstian, Geoff's dad, and everything else, I have no time. I don't make time. I am hoping things change. I really wanted this to become a viable option for work. I want to take my 8, 9, 10 hour work day, and dedicae my time to this. I don't know though. I might be totally off base. I am questioning myself.
But I did reach out to Holly and Eric tonight to help with a shoot. Maybe there is hope after all.
Rosie N. Grey
The N stands for no good for nuthin'.
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