How'd We Cover the Autograph Area

It's a valid question.  Not one I like answering, but one I've been asked several times -- how did we cover the autograph area.  We had one person, Kay Kellam, me, whose sole task at con was to cover the Autograph Area.  People could autograph for as long or as short a timeframe as they would like -- and they showed up when they showed up.

One person implied I was stalking them by spending so much time in the autograph area, so I left for an hour and a half, and found out later that I had missed two actors!  They'd come and gone in that time!  There really was no happy medium between being there so much that I became a familiar face, and yet staying sufficiently in the background that people didn't notice me.  A large part of that was simply our desire as a website to have "candid" photos. 

I suppose with my press badge I could have walked up to each person signing, asked them to stop being nice to the fans who had paid good money to see them and please give me a radiant smile -- but how real would that have looked?  We wanted to show how the actors came -- and then their people came.  It is a part of the hollywood magic that it is fun to be apart of.  (For a great example, go to the page for Tony Amendola -- I had a heck of a time getting near him when he first arrived... and yet, after everyone had gotten their piece of Bra'Tac he had a moment to sit back, relax and catch his breath.)

I truly love seeing autograph tables so crowded that I can't get near it to get a picture -- and yet the irony is that when I can get close enough to get a good photo of the actor causing such a sensation, it is during a bit of down time when no one is in sight.  I didn't want people to visit this site and get the impression no one was there, and explaining the ebb and flow of con traffic isn't the easiest task I've ever embarked upon -- so in the end, as sorry as I am that one person felt uneasy about my desire to give them good representation on the site, I am in the end happy I spent so much time trying to get the best possible photographs so that those who have never been to con before can find out why we say it is a Pop Arts Convention  -- and so that those who have been and missed the autograph area can find out what a treat they were unaware of and hopefully give it the time it deserves at future cons.  (Virginia Hey, above, always had a line, and yet the one time I had a good angle of her signing I spent 25 shots to get this same basic shot -- and yet if you try try again, you will get wonderful shots like the ones on her page.)

(C) Kay Kellam, 2001 for PopArtsPlace.com
Prior to having her first novel, A Life to Di For, published author Kay Kellam enjoyed a variety of jobs that helped to shape her outlook on the world, and her profession.   more...