I think there are other reasons to have photos of fans at convention events and other events besides cosplay. My favorite one is a historical photo of fans protesting the cancellation of the TV show Star Trek in the 1960s. It appeared in print media and was unique in that it showed how well-organized the fan community was even when the show was on the air before Star Trek became the Juggernaut that it now is
other historical examples in smaller settings include fans gathering for traditional activities like operating a mimeograph machine,comb binding fanzines, editing with pencils and later whiteout, typing on typewriters, fundraising events to raise money to put on their own convention, filking, operating VCRs in convention dubbing rooms, dealers rooms at conventions, performing fan plays
in the 1970's, the early Star Trek conventions, the informal mingling of the actors with fans, versus how fans now interact with the actors is another example
Fans who were showcased by name in convention program guides in the 70s and 80s illustrate the rise and prominence of the fan community in traditional media spaces. Fans have now begun to appear on panels at these conventions.
Most of my focus has been on images that appear in print media, but I can easily extrapolate some of these concepts to current online fan activities.
Ex, at political protests, fans have integrated their fandom selves into the political arena. When I marched in one of the women's marches, I wore a placard that referenced "tin plated dictators with delusions of godhood". Many of the fans who participated in protests co-opted imagery from Star wars.
In most instances, I think blurring the face would suffice to illustrate these concepts, except of course when the image is being used to identify the fan for a specific purpose.
The irony is there are very few historical photographs of fans at all & those are mostly BNFs in very public venues, such as Bjo Trimble and Jacqueline Lichtenberg, and fans in high visibility large con program books.
And because there are historically so few images preseved, we've never had to have a fan image policy. It is only with the proliferation of people taking photos of themselves and each other and posting them online, without any expectation of privacy, that this has now become an issue that we need to address. We have already voted with our "feet" and marched into the future of Tik Tok videos and endless Twitter and Instagrams posts. So it is good to start to thinking about how we want preserve our history in this uncomfortably public environment
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other historical examples in smaller settings include fans gathering for traditional activities like operating a mimeograph machine,comb binding fanzines, editing with pencils and later whiteout, typing on typewriters, fundraising events to raise money to put on their own convention, filking, operating VCRs in convention dubbing rooms, dealers rooms at conventions, performing fan plays
in the 1970's, the early Star Trek conventions, the informal mingling of the actors with fans, versus how fans now interact with the actors is another example
Fans who were showcased by name in convention program guides in the 70s and 80s illustrate the rise and prominence of the fan community in traditional media spaces. Fans have now begun to appear on panels at these conventions.
Most of my focus has been on images that appear in print media, but I can easily extrapolate some of these concepts to current online fan activities.
Ex, at political protests, fans have integrated their fandom selves into the political arena. When I marched in one of the women's marches, I wore a placard that referenced "tin plated dictators with delusions of godhood". Many of the fans who participated in protests co-opted imagery from Star wars.
In most instances, I think blurring the face would suffice to illustrate these concepts, except of course when the image is being used to identify the fan for a specific purpose.
The irony is there are very few historical photographs of fans at all & those are mostly BNFs in very public venues, such as Bjo Trimble and Jacqueline Lichtenberg, and fans in high visibility large con program books.
And because there are historically so few images preseved, we've never had to have a fan image policy. It is only with the proliferation of people taking photos of themselves and each other and posting them online, without any expectation of privacy, that this has now become an issue that we need to address. We have already voted with our "feet" and marched into the future of Tik Tok videos and endless Twitter and Instagrams posts. So it is good to start to thinking about how we want preserve our history in this uncomfortably public environment