Event - Elfia Haarzuilens 2023

You should know that a courtisane is very different from a concubine, yet many people seem to mix both up. The same goes for steampunk and dieselpunk or for pirates and buccaneers,  just to name few. But you know what: when it comes to costuming & enjoying a renaissance fair, I can live with the latter mix-up's.

Last weekend was the annual high mass of fantasy costuming in the Lowlands: Elfia.. formerly known as the Elf Fantasy Fair .. and before putting my thoughts about the event on the screen let me inform you:

All photos are HERE on Flickr
A short video will go to Clapper & maybe Instagram (once the photos are ready)
Updates on my progress will be on Facebook (also the best place to seek contact)

Video 01: A postapocalyptic future
Video 02: A magical kingdom

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I won't talk about the prices of entry & parking. Enough has been said. Enough people have cancelled their presence due to it. Still Elfia sold out, so enough people are willing to pay anything for a weekend in the magical kingdom. Life has become expensive for us all.

Still many other things have changed even compared to last year. I won't arrange them in positive/negative since there's always 2 sides to the story.

► From the viewpoint of the castle owners it is perfectly understandable that large parts of the terrain have been sealed off. Seeing the muddy remains of trampled grass where everyone was allowed to walk, must be heartbreaking. However.. this meant :
    1. Spreading out a blanket to sit and enjoy the moments before the rain, became more difficult (which can be resolved by placing more benches)
    2. Less space which means the people are packed more together. It felt crowded at times.
    3. And less space for the photogs.. who were now all lurking for victims near the entrance. (and BTW: what a weird entrance it was this year, I must say that I do prefer the large road with the official border opening up on the castle view like last year, but that's personal preference)

► On Sunday the rain started at 3PM sharp.. and continued until it had chased all Elfians away.
    1. Sorry, but the weather is out of the hands of the organisation. Still it's supersad and a few places to take shelter might have been a good initiative. Luckily there were lectures in the chapel.. but that means less photos.
    2. Making sure people don't lose hours in the traffic to the parking lot + the lines to the gates so they might enjoy a maximum of dry Elfia-time is where the organisation can improve. And hey: they made an apology post about the long waits, so they are aware and they will improve doubtlessly.
 3. However, and that's just me wondering about the idea behind the strategy, I don't entirely grasp the new entrance.. So first you have the border, in the small passage after the bridge (so no possibility to make funny photos with the border or to linger around), then for non-VIP's there's the road passing some welcome toilets (especially for wheelchair users!), the Elder Scolls-house and a foodcar (and luckily some musicians, thank you for the entertainment!) all before the actual entry .. so.. did people actually return here once they had gained access to the fair-grounds? Knowing they had to cue again to re-enter afterwards? Or was this a "taster" for random visitors without a ticket who had gotten through the waiting lines? I just want to understand the strategy.

► Were there less food/drink stalls? Less vendors? Less artisans? I heard people complain. I lived through long waiting lines for drinks/food (and cried at the meadbar where card payments had stopped working on Sunday), but I don't know. Didn't buy anything for myself exept mead .. Did see some nice things though..

► Huddling together under umbrellas I missed most events like the costume competition. But I would completely understand if someone would decide against pulling out their most gorgeous creation when heavy rain is expected. Hell, if it wasn't for the now obligatory presales I would probably have skipped it due to announced weather conditions. 

► The people during these kinds of events always seem a bit more calm, friendly & kind than when humans are on the streets & in shopping malls. I can't stop repeating this point because it means there still might some spark of hope for the human species.

► Had some great people to roam around with.

► I've been noticing that in the last 6 months evermore people are stepping themselves up to a roaming photographer like myself to ask for a picture of themselves or their child (Normally I restrain from shooting kids.. unless I'm asked) That's a good trend! For an a-social & introvert/ambivert photographer who expends loads of energy to interact all day long with humans it's good to have people step up to them instead of having to step up to people. And for the people it's an assurance they'll have at least 1 photo from the event instead of having to disapointedly make posts on FB that they weren't photographed. So keep it up! Last year I had proposed a shooting hour for all those never-photographed-costumed-visitors, but with the limited space & the weather this was simply not going to happen. 

► The postapocalyptic Raiders village was a giant leap forward. Damn this was a fun spot.. and with fire! Just wish I had a Dr. Who cosplayer in the backpack to shoot with their Mad Max-styled phone booth. 

► I guess I must have missed the dinosaurs & dragons. My bad. 

► Last time someone thought I had sniped some cosplayers because I had asked them to not look straight into the lens. I did the same during this event.. I do that often.. So before accusing someone just know that "a model/cosplayer not looking straight at the photographer" isn't the same as a secretly-sniped-or-shot-over-the-shoulder-of-another-photographer-person! And yes BiBiBieke makes behind the scenes shots while I'm posing someone, so she's often making a picture over MY shoulder.. just as I have asked her to do.

►  It feels like there was more music than last year. Okay.. I didn't get to enjoy it to much due to rain but still. I hope that's going in the right direction again. 

► Someone told me I should stop roaming the grounds and making shots at random places but instead do like so many other photogs: look for a nice spot, install lights and shoot there all day. And yes, I could get better & more consistent shots that way. But: then it feels like a photo booth, something I do when I get payed. So just another day of work instead of enjoying the festival? 

► Noticed during the wait for the rain to end that I had made nearly no photos in what I consider my "signature style". Often I only feel comfortable enough to make such shots towards the 2nd half of an event.. and by that time I was sheltering. Besides: the number of spots to make such shots during events is most of the time very limited (and has become even more limited with all the fenced off parts).

► Mead! ( But 1 Question: where were the bottles of mead???)

► Did I mention it rained? Raindrops keep falling on my head..

Here below are some samples (the other 120 photos are on Flickr)

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*Placeholder for a postapocalyptic video*

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*Placeholder for a fantasy video*

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Maybe you'd like to search for some surviving pictures from previous editions? (Yes, most was lost when we sold Aztek-TV)
ALL the other photos from Elfia Haarzuilens 2023,
Haarzuilens 2022, Arcen 2011, Arcen 2010

Link to this article: https://tinyurl.com/Elfia23

Namaste & till another event

 

"Why not try to create a widget to show some Youtube shorts & Instagram reels?"
I thought one drunken evening:

And after a week I suddenly got a notification I had to pay to keep the YT shorts in the slideshow or to show the reels I had selected instead of a random selection.. meh!