I didn’t really enjoy MomoCon that much. It’s not because MomoCon was executed poorly, quite the contrary, but it’s mostly two-fold to why I personally didn’t really have much of a great time. One, my head wasn’t in really a great place, and hasn’t been in one for a little while for reasons I have yet to really discuss with others, and two, I simply felt like I was kind of too old or something, to really get much enjoyment out of a convention.
And I guess three, everybody I knew who was there was either on staff, an exhibitor, or a guest that had their own obligations to fulfill, so I spent an inordinate amount of time by myself, wandering around, and struggling to find things that I wanted to take pictures of.
Ultimately, I think I’m a little over the convention scene as a whole, and not just singling MomoCon out, because when the day is over, I know quite a few people who work and run MomoCon, and I have nothing but good things to say about them, their work, and their dedication to pulling off a convention the size of MomoCon, to which I remember its earlier days, when it was literally held at the Georgia Tech recreation hall.
But I really do feel that it boils down to the fact that I’m growing if not already grown, weary of the convention scene as a whole, and I’m not sure what lies ahead for me in regards to future conventions. I’ve already decided that after this year’s Dragon*Con, I won’t be going to next year’s, because I want to actually miss it for a change, and I think I could allocate the $1,000+ spent on hotel and expenditures might be better spent towards like a big international trip or something dramatically different.
I didn’t even really enjoy taking pictures this past weekend, which I kind of feel was something of a red flag as it pertains to my general interests and something I’ve enjoyed throughout the years. I had this nagging feeling that I’ve seen everything before, or I’m not really impressed with the quality of some of the things I see, or that clichéd feeling that the convention scene really has become like high school where only pretty people get attention, and anyone else is left feeling inadequate or unappreciated.
It’s like I see a costumer that I’m intrigued by, but then they’re whisked away by vastly more talented photographers, whom more importantly, has brought all of their gear from bounces, umbrellas and gofers, consumes 200 square feet of space to operate, and lures all of the really nice costumers who justly so, want high-quality pictures of themselves. The costumer is metaphorically roped off from everyone else at this point, and people like me abject refuse to wait on someone I just want two or three quick pictures of, so that I can share with the rest of the internet.
Often times, these costumers then become burnt out on taking pictures for anyone else, and despite the fact that they get into costume to be noticed, lavished attention on and photographed, occasionally deny people from stopping for a picture. Any time this happens to me, I mentally blacklist them as someone not worth taking a picture of myself.
As for the photographers themselves, I can’t hate on the fact that they want to take pictures of costumers, but I feel like bringing so much gear for what’s really recreational photography is pushing past the limits of what I like to call tryharding it.
The analogy I made for this dynamic at conventions is one of this cycle of ego-stroking between very-talented costumers and very-talented photographers; the hottest women and the guys with the six pack abs flock to the tryharding photographers, and they do their thing while everyone else is kind of left on the outside looking in. And given the nerdy, outcast-like nature of conventions in general, this has cultivated the ironic scenario of where a class-dynamic has been created within the subculture of outcasts and nerds who started these things to try and abolish them.
Sure, I get that I may be coming off sounding salty and envious of those more talented than I am in just about everything, be it costuming, photography, or just plain popularity, and I get that. I can say that I’m not, regardless of if it’s believed or not, but ultimately, when I take a few steps back and look at convention scenes today, especially compared to those of yesteryears, it’s most certainly a different landscape, and not necessarily one that I’m nearly as fond of now as I was back then.
Ultimately, I have reluctance to do any con, if it’s going to be like this, where I’m left to my own vices for the entirety of it. I like the opportunity to take pictures, but if there’s not any pictures to be taken, it’s always preferable to be in the company of comfortable people. Take comfortable people out of the equation, and then it’s really the question of why be there in the first place?
You want to know my fondest memory of MomoCon? Honestly, it was on Saturday night, when I was separated from the rest of my friends, because we all kind of fell out of sync, and I had eaten when they hadn’t, so they went to go eat (and drink) without me. It happens, and I wasn’t upset about it. But it was around 7:30 pm on a Saturday night of a convention, so it should be a great time to do something clichéd fun and awesome, but with everyone spread out, and others already getting their drink on, it didn’t seem worth trying to catch up.
So I left. Walked to my car, drove off, and went home. Let my dog out, fed the animals, picked up dinner on the way home and ate garbage fast food, and watched Game of Thrones.
I had no regrets, nor did I feel one iota of anxiety or envy that I could be missing out on some wacky and fun drunken escapade at the con. And I was really happy being home and relaxing alternatively. I know I make old jokes about myself all the time, but I think I really felt like I was actually becoming old right then and there, but damn was I in a pleased mood that night.
