I missed my blog post last weekend as I was photographing the event known as Camp Fangamer in Tucson AZ.
I know so many wonderful people thru playing video games, especially Earthbound. It felt like “My Game” because I one of the few who really knew anything about it when I was a kid. I was a Sega girl growing up so when I wanted to Earthbound I would need to rent it & a SNES at the same time at the local video rental shop. It used to be $50 for a long weekend with one game and because I didn’t have a credit card I had to put down a deposit of $100. I could buy a SNES for $150 but my dad was weird and didn’t want that? Whats the problem, dad?
I grew up with the Sega plugged into this giant tube TV set up in the dining room so my dad could keep an eye on me. When I rented Earthbound I boldly dragged a TV into my room so I “wouldn’t be disturbed.” My parents were very against my brother and I having TV’s in our rooms so this was a bold move. I basically said “Goodbye” to my family so I could go on an adventure with this little game which is also about a child under the same pretenses. It was all “Let’s go on an adventure- a really strange adventure but I promise lots of laughs.”
Camp Fangamer is just how it sounds, summer camp for gamers. It offered a unique weekend getaway experience for gamers, especially fans of the game Mother 3 which still hasn’t seen a North American Release. You followed along with the Fangamer team not only playing the game, but acting out a stage show that was streaming live over Twitch to viewers at home. It was all for a good cause where all funds from the auctions all weekend were donated to Speak Your Silence.
I would constantly hear non-camp goers looking in and saying things like”My daughter would love this,” or “How can we sign up?” It was a bunch of silly fun and I am glad I went again. There was so much to Camp that I’m just going to list things since I there was a LOT of things happening there:
- A film festival that was held all weekend that encouraged camp-goers to make a short movie using their phones. They had a team of video editors in a creative room that could help you and edit your movie just incase you couldn’t.
- There were constant arts and crafts- lots of hands on creative things to make all weekend with a team capitan there to help you out if needed.
- Food trucks were usually always on site with a good selection of eats
- There was a cafe style room with a smaller stage with a selection of instruments so jam sessions were a thing. There was always music coming out of this room.
- There was a small arcade room with a bunch of games set to free play so everyone got a chance to play games. There were also systems set up to play almost any game you wanted (no there was not an option to play PC98 games- maybe next year if I bribe the right people)
- A Merchandise Museum returned again and it offered a nice quiet room to enjoy if you needed a quiet room. Ah.
- They had a system of money with stock options through the online banking app you just needed to download. You could use the DP to pay for crafts, items in the Cafe, and the event encouraged people to trade their items at the event using the DP. The market eventually crashed before the end of the weekend.
- There was a room set up to act as a trading post where you could rent a table to trade of sell for DP.
- There were a lot of panels available, the stage show was always playing, there was always something interactive going on all weekend. A giant T Rex rushed the show
Camp was another great time for me and I was happy to be there to help out :3
Dank Art
Art is a lot like video games. If you put your time into it you should be able to master it. Real skill comes from what an individual can bring to the game to make it their own. If you really want something you will set goals and go for it. Even tiny steps, like putting a few hours in every day, helps to get closer to those goals. I put my time in when people are going for theirs.
Earlier in the week I catched some of Aquas streams where he was trying out routes for ghosts and goblins arcade as well as a few arcade randoms. Aqy was also with me taking photos at Camp Fangamer and has helped me out tremendously on strange photographing adventures. He’s also a tremendously gifted gamer so I always try to make it out to his speed runs or casual plays. He’s amazing at playing Ghouls & Ghosts and Gimmick, though he was really signing himself up for torture runs with that Ghosts & Goblins Arcade practice runs.
Macaw had to try two nights in a row to get this game to work, but it was worth it once his internet problems worked out. Story of the 7 Heroes is a Simulator RPG for the PC-9801 that follows a group of fighters off on a quest with not a lot of information about it online. It’s face paced and invites the player to lead the characters across a playing board fighting enemies much like Shining Force or Fire Emblem. Since it’s on the PC-9801 it has a few sexy scenes (it wouldn’t be on the PC-9801 unless it had sexy).
Funkdoc is playing 1CC Requests from his monthly subscribers. It’s one of the nice things he does for people who subscribe to his stream. He was still playing thru X-Men (hence White Queen) and after a few hours he switched to 64th Street which is a game I am not familiar with at all. I made the dank art based off the hilarious flyer art for the game that was posted in chat though I forgot to put in a wall cat.
I actually snuck away from some of my photographing duties to catch a bit of BBH’s 500th viewer special and made some quality Danks for the occasion. I really didn’t want to miss the 500, so I tried my best to be therein some kind of capacity. I was able to catch his Monday randomized and the game to catch a bunch of Sky Adventure which was really fun to the glitchy foot ball game, so the nicer ones are from when I was still here. I only had limited materials on my trip and from now on I’m packing a small paint set to take with me because when you gotta paint you gotta paint. I still made do with what I had in the hotel room.
Since I was gone I didn’t have many opportunities for art though Omintarian and I did break down and visited a local Hobby Lobby. I picked up some resources and we went to work to make a Dank Art booth in one room and made announcements over Twitter. Our table got rushed and soon we were rolling in DP. These are very special Danks so if managed to pick one up you were very lucky.
Down to Earth
It’s always hard for me to get back into the swing of things if I stray off my routines. As soon as I got back into town I was thrown back into all the work waiting for my return. 
I love shooting on a 50mm lens. It’s by far the most versatile lens I own for my pro set up. I have others but I keep using the 50 out of convenience and because it packs up nice on the camera body. I enjoy going for walks and taking photos of things I like or that catches my eye.
When I am out on an assignment I want to be able to bring that same level of comfort I have when I am out on my walks. It’s a game of “How fast can you take your time” when setting up each subject so the light is perfect. Lately I have been seeing nothing but light cracking through the shadows.