Another year of Fantasy Fest — Key West's week-long, debaucherous celebration of pretty much everything — is in the books. For those of you who missed out, I posted a huge gallery of Fantasy Fest 2009 photos.
I reviewed and posted photos from the event in 2006, 2007 and 2008, and I don't have too much to add to those thoughts. It continues to be a great party, and I continute to encourage as much participation as possible.
It was great to meet a ton of people who recognized me from this site. If you saw me and didn't say hello, don't be shy in 2010.
I tried to continue my practice of posting some of the friendliest photos you'll find online. Smiling faces of friends old and new. Side-boob "gotcha" shots of female passers-by aren't really my thing. They're not "candids," they're just lazy and lame. They're not eventful, they tell no stories, they don't make anyone look good.
But sometimes you gotta be "that guy" and just fire away continuously at street scenes to get some interesting compositions. This neck-breaker reminds me of the funny shots of Obama checking out asses. This dancing granny was a Hail Mary, a shot captured by holding my camera high and praying something comes out. This capture of our Capt. Tony's float had unintended results, but I think it looks cool.
I love street photography best because you never know when a girl is gonna sit on 18 bags of ice, when a dog will drink beer on a bar, or when Batman is gonna come running down the street. Those occurances make things exciting every time I take out the camera.
But I spent more time partying than street shooting, and so you'll have to settle for the more conventional party shots of happy women wearing paint.
FANTASY FEST 2009 PHOTOS FROM AROUND THE WEB
NOTE: I will add to this list as I find them. Bookmark this page and come back for more.
• Flikr: Most Recent Photos Tagged "Fantasy Fest" — This gallery will obviously be added to often, as people recover from their hangovers.
• John Chow — As usual, spectacular stuff from the best photographer at Fantasy Fest.
• David Epstein — Have a look at his annual photos, including some clever compositions for you beer lovers.
• Bill Klipp — Lots of close-ups of the artistic faces on the street. Great work.
• Ken Bradley — Another excellent PBase gallery.
• Leester — Last year, Leester posted a whopping 1,542 photos. He's got a couple of nights up now and is adding to it. Dude assigns more tags than a mortician.
• Brian David Phillips — This is billed as a gallery of 3-D photos, but I'm not exactly sure how they are to work. (My guess is they require glasses of some sort.)
• Just Another Dick — That's not a name I gave him, that's his moniker on Flickr. Almost 200 photos from the week.
• Old, Weak and Pathetic — Over 500+ photos, sorted by day. Nice shots from folks that put a lot of effort into their group bodypaints.
• Unknown's PbPulse Pics — A healthy 197 photos, but I'm not a fan of the interface. There doesn't seem an option to quickly scan thumbnails or to enlarge individual photos.
• Barbara and Joseph Scheib's Gallery — Over 700 photos from the final four days of the week.
• BuckyWorld's Photos — More than 130 pictures hosted on SmugMug.
• Patrick Fulcher's Photos — Nearly 700 pictures hosted on SmugMug.
• Victor the Nurse's Flickr Set — Another 700+ photos, all of which can be viewed at their original size.
• Yasser's Photos — Almost 1,000 photos in this gallery. And almost 300 more in a second one. Yasser did Fantasy Fest right. He dressed up a bit, took tons of pics and was always very polite. You'll see plenty of recurring faces, including his own, in his gallery — proof that he made plenty of friends and added to the party.
