vampire-con Archive

Vampire Con Portraits

Vampire Con Portraits

by Amelia G : September 4th, 2009

vampire con picsThe recent Vampire-Con in Hollywood featured Vampirella’s Ball as the closing event. Comic book vampire Vampirella celebrated her 40th anniversary at the vampire convention, so I think it seemed only right to name the closing party after her. We have video coverage of the whole convention coming up soon, but the portraits we shot are exclusively from Vampirella’s Ball.

Forrest Black and I of course photographed Countess Lotti and Wendi Mirabella, the successful event mavens who made the whole weekend happen. Nella, who won the Vampirella look-alike contest kicks off our Vampire-Con photo gallery. We shot event MCs Count Smokula and the delicious Scarlet Rose (who also played a prostitute on my favorite Western of all time Deadwood.) You will find longtime friend of Blue Blood editor Pam Keesey in our portraits from the event. Other luminaries you will spot include gothic musician Andra Dare, horror actor Stephen Wozniak, and more.

I have to confess that the awesomest bit of our vampiric shooting adventure was most unexpected in context. This guy comes up to where the Blue Blood location studio is set up and he has kind of a long capsule intro. In Los Angeles, it is really really really a good idea to be able to state in a brief paragraph, while shaking hands, who you are and what you do and why who you are . . .

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Pic of Me at Vampire-Con

[info]forrestblack shot this portrait of yours truly at the recent Vampire-Con. He and I shot a bunch of vampire costumes at the event. Free gallery for the perusal of those who do not let fangs get their black panties in a bunch. I also spoke on a panel about vampires and sex. Big shocker that would be my topic; what with Blue Blood and writing my thesis on it and all ;-

Blue Blood
(Image Courtesy of Blue Blood)

Ashes En Pointe

Los Angeles is covered in ash. Where I am in Hollywood, it is at least a fine layer of ash, as opposed to say a raging inferno or one of the areas where it will costs residents thousands of dollars to clean the ash out of their carpets and ventilation systems. Unfortunately I am kind of a delicate flower when it comes to physical adversity and, even running an air cleaner 24/7, my eyes and throat have been burning all week and I’ve felt sick for days.

Getting ready to post the images [info]forrestblack and I shot during Vampire-Con at Vampirella’s Ball. I need to write a short article to accompany the photography, although I’ll have more coverage of the event on video later, so I don’t need to do the full report with this. I think it is awesome that professional event planners put together what I consider more of a proper fandom event in Los Angeles and that they did it on a topic so near and dear to my heart — vampires.

It is probably mostly just the normal biological response I’m having to the endless fires in Southern California, but I keep thinking about the parts which were difficult. I mean, a lot of what I do is really hard. Not like it might be tough for someone else to do, but like it is really a challenge for me personally. I just like to take challenges as head-on as possible. Always have.

I mostly enjoy this. Today I am just feeling a little bit like a ballerina with bleeding toes. But having our city covered in ash is probably supposed to make all Angelenos gothic.

“However, this was before Inigo’s wound reopened; and Westley relapsed again; and Fezzik took the wrong turn; and Buttercup’s horse threw a shoe. And the night behind them was filled with the crescendoing sound of pursuit.” –William Goldman, The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure; The “Good Parts” Version

Vampire Con Panel and Photography

Vampire Con Panel and Photography

by Amelia G : August 12th, 2009

vampire con hollywoodIt is no secret that I love the vampire genre. I received Honors at Wesleyan University for my thesis on vampire legends as a paradigm for aggressive human sexuality. And I would like the record to show that I will be speaking on exactly that topic this weekend at Vampire Con in Hollywood. I’ll be taking part in the panel programming Sunday afternoon, after the movie nights, and before Vampirella’s Ball (more on this in a moment.) I’m excited that Wendi Mirabella and Lotti Pharriss Knowles have put Vampire-Con together.

The panel I am on is called Hot-Blooded: Vampires & Sexuality and is at 1pm at the Henry Fonda Theater on Hollywood Blvd. It will be moderated by David J. Skal, Author of Hollywood Gothic and V Is For Vampire: The A-Z Guide Of Everything Undead. I’m especially excited that Pam Keesey, who I’m looking forward to catching up with will be on the panel. She is the editor of multiple anthologies of lesbian vampire tales, Women Who Run with the Werewolves: Tales of Blood, Lust, and Metamorphosis, and Vamps: An Illustrated History of the Femme Fatale. Pam Keesey has a very engaging personality, has published yours truly, and once gave me a tour of Forrest Ackerman’s memorabilia collection. Other panelists are Hal Bodner, author of Bite Club: A West Hollywood Vampire Tale, filmmaker Fred . . .

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