Sunday, February 18, 2007

The show.

I was slightly disappointed by the Pacific Orchid Exposition this year. At first I thought it was perfect because it wasn't as crowded. Last year it was pouring down rain. So I figured with the mid 70 degree weather there was no reason to be stuck in a building. I was delighted it wasn't so packed.



But after further inspection I found that many of the booths were much smaller. Some people who have always had giant booths were half the size this year.



There also didn't seem to be anything new or exciting from any of the foreign vendors. Especially from the Asian rim, and South America.



A show that previously had been filled with Cattleya's(I did find a few) was replaced by many vendors just showing Cymbidiums. Which can be found at any hardware store. I was a little surprised.



I guess in the end - it made being distracted by how amazing the city was - all the better. I didn't even wind up buying anything. Which is really unusual.



The one thing that didn't change however was the human dynamic. The POE or any orchid event - is hands down the most annoying place on earth to take photos. It is filled with people who couldn't give a shit if they walk right in front of your shot. They are the most clueless bastards on the planet. It doesn't matter what you are doing. You could have your lens 6 inches from a flower and someone will put their hand right in between.

Interesting side-note.

When I first started taking pictures at events - my experience was orchid shows and technology shows. Then one day I went to an Indy film festival and my faith in humanity was restored. Indy film people are the most conscience of getting in your shot. They are amazing. I never had so many people wait for me to finish a taking a picture before walking in front of me in my life. They rock!

Car show people are actually quite good as well. But I found at car shows people will purposefully try to get you to take a picture of them with the car. Somehow they think because you have a big camera that you might be media. They mug.

Technology shows are right above orchid shows. For the most part they are pretty much clueless. Sometimes you get people who will be respectful of you getting a clean shot, but for the most part they couldn't give a shit.

So - by the time I get out of an orchid show I'm just really irritated.

1 comment:

  1. As a child I used to go to the big orchid show in our town with my dad every year. We lived in Hawaii, in a town filled with older Japanese families, which ammounted to a huge number of orchid enthusists. I pretty only loved going because I always got to go to the snack bar for some S&S Saimin.

    Anyway, my dad is no longer into the orchids, he's been obsessed with bromeliads for the past 15 years or so. So much so that our house was deemed a potential vector site for the dengue fever carrying mosquito. Dad had to go around the yard with a bottle of Dawn putting a drop of detergent in each of his bromileads.

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