Artist and fellow anteater  elcondedeleon is doing an art raffle! Two character slots, one is their anteater character. Check it out!

I'm doing fursuit photo commissions at Anthrocon again this year! I'm open for ten slots. Here are the details...

Price: $60 for a single suiter, $85 for couples, paid up front. This includes a $15 non-refundable deposit.

What you get:
* Five guaranteed good shots that I process (full-sized, unwatermarked) as JPG files
* JPGs of every shot I take (including copies of the processed ones), full-sized, unprocessed, and without a watermark
* Note: I retain the rights to crop, watermark, and post any of the shots I take.

Cancellation policy: As stated, the price includes a non-refundable deposit. If for some reason I miss our shoot and am not able to reschedule, I will give a full refund.

For examples of my work, check out my galleries...
Photo commissions from previous clients: http://www.antnommer.com/2017/06/looking-back-photo-commissions-photo.html
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/antnommer/albums
FurAffinity: https://www.furaffinity.net/gallery/antnommer/
Weasyl: https://www.weasyl.com/submissions/antnommer
Furry Network: https://www.furrynetwork.com/antnommer/photos/

Each session will take about half an hour. I take several shots and will have more than just the five shots that turn out really well. I highly recommend you have a handler with you, as we might need to cross a street or two to get to a good photo spot, and I don't have any handler experience. We may also need to move locations, depending on weather, too many people, etc. Location examples are: DLCC roof, DLCC garden, the riverside across from the convention center, a garden across from the Westin.

If you're interested, please send me a private message on FurAffinity/Weasyl/Furry Network or message me on Telegram (same username), and we can work out a time and location. Payment must be done through PayPal before the convention; when we've confirmed the details of your shoot, I will ask for your PayPal information and will send you an invoice, which MUST be paid before Anthrocon begins (Thursday, June 29th). I CANNOT accept money at Anthrocon as I am not a dealer, I can only take the photos there. (I've been informed by a top member of Anthrocon staff that this is their policy and I could be banned for accepting money at the convention.)

Slots:

1. Goku

2. Red Laurent and Oliver

3. Minion and Fang

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Man, it's been a while. I've been around, but haven't had the time to really pick through my shoots and upload my favorites. That will change soon. I've got a bunch of photos from the Pittsburgh Pride Festival, Anthrocon, bowling, and some commissioned photoshoots*. Check them out here:

- Bowling - April 2016
- Digeri and Wally - Commissioned photoshoot
- Pittsburgh Pride Festival 2016
- Anthrocon 2016
- Waterfire Festival - July 2016
- Bowling - July 2016
- Goku - Commissioned photoshoot
- Bowling - August 2016
- Diesel and TDK - Commissioned photoshoot
- Mt. Washington Incline Tour
- WPAFW 2016

I'm also going to be going through old photos and reuploading them with the new watermark. It's quite an undertaking, but the photos will look much better. I'll be replacing the existing photos, so if you'd like to see them, you'll have to check back on what's already there.

*The commissioned photoshoots are going very well, by the way! If you're in the Pittsburgh area, hit me up on Telegram, and we can set something up! It's the same username that I have on here.

In other news, I have a fursuit!!!!!! My mate finally finished the suit, and I got to debut it at this year's Western Pennsylvania Furry Weekend (WPAFW). He also took a bunch of photos of me, so expect to see those up soon!

JUST OPENED MORE SLOTS!

This year at Anthrocon, since I'm in need of some spending money, I'm going to be doing something a little different: fursuit photo commissions. You give me money and I take photos of you. :D Here are the details...

Price: $30
What you get:
- three guaranteed good shots that I process (full-sized, unwatermarked) as JPG files
- JPGs of every shot I take (including the processed ones), full-sized, unprocessed, and without a watermark

I take several shots and will likely have more than just the three shots that turn out really well. I retain the rights to crop, watermark, and post any of the shots I take, though. For examples of my work, check out my galleries...
FA: http://www.furaffinity.net/gallery/antnommer/
Weasyl: https://www.weasyl.com/submissions/antnommer
Furry Network: https://beta.furrynetwork.com/antnommer/photos/

I'll open six slots initially, as I imagine each session will take about half an hour, and will open more later based on my availability. I highly recommend you have a handler with you, as we might need to cross a street or two to get to a good photo spot, and I don't have any handler experience. We may also need to move locations, depending on weather, too many people, etc. Location examples are: DLCC roof, DLCC garden, the riverside across from the convention center, a garden across from the Westin.

If you're interested, please send me a PM or better yet, message me on Telegram (same username), and we can work out a time and location. I'm completely free Thursday, and mostly free Friday and Sunday. I prefer cash payment, but I'll also take PayPal; please be ready to pay when you show up for your photo shoot.

Slots:
1.  bella.bunny1239 - Thursday, 4pm
2.  benjivulpes - Thursday, 4pm
3.  Larkawolf2009 - Thursday, 6pm
4.  omegafoxgoku - Friday, 10am
5.  peppermintbutthole - Friday, 11am
6. RedLaurent (FN) - Friday, 1pm
7.  chiscringle - Friday, 2pm
8.
9.
10.

Do you love bugs? Do you have Telegram? Do you want to share your love of bugs with others? Then I've got the chat for you!

https://telegram.me/bugchat

Photos are up for March's bowling meet in Pittsburgh. Click here for the full album.

Last Thursday I had the opportunity to watch Fursonas, a documentary on the furry fandom. If you’re not aware of the film, you can watch a trailer for it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ul-Z6G9uXtY An additional clip that gives a good idea of the theme is here: https://vimeo.com/150355594

The following covers my thoughts on the documentary. I’m not sure how much I can reveal without pissing someone off, so I’ll leave comments about any edits at the end of this.

I didn’t watch the trailer before going into it, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Actually, that’s not entirely true; I expected the worse. Who in the fandom wouldn’t, at this point? I’ve been a furry since 1998, and have seen many of the well-known instances where the fandom was dragged through the mud for one reason or another. It often seems like nothing good can come from an outsider pointing a camera at the fandom. I had also heard that furries who had been the source of negative experience with the media, like Boomer the dog, would be featured. But I had to see it, if only to satisfy my morbid curiosity and lust for B-movies. Cringe-fest, here we come.

This movie is different. For one, the director is a furry (I’ll refer to him by his furry character here, Video the wolf), though he didn’t make this fact known to his crew or subjects until well into the project. For another, he lets the subjects do the talking, for better or worse. The film opens with a look into the life of that infamous furry, Boomer the dog. Boomer made the news a few years back by trying to have his name legally changed to “Boomer the dog”. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he lost that court case. Besides learning about the case, we also learn about his fascination with Boomer and dogs in general, as well as what being a furry means to him and how his hobbies help him connect to the community. Not knowing anything about him beyond his court case and therian-like canine identity, I was surprised to see what a genuinely positive and happy person he was. I will admit I was also a bit ashamed at having assumed someone like him must be a full-on freak.

The film focuses on the lives of several other furries, as well. Diesel the raccoon, Bandit the dog, and Skye the wolf, to name a couple. They talk about what drew them to the fandom, their thoughts on what it means to be a furry, and how they’ve been able to express themselves within the community. It’s not always clear exactly what questions were asked of them, but the responses were lengthy, thoughtful, and heartfelt. Diesel talks about his outing to a few coworkers eventually lead to harassment at work. Freya describes what it’s like being a furry and a mother. This is one of the brightest parts of the movie, where you learn about the person under the fursuit, and that they may have a weird hobby, but they are still people, and people are complicated. Even if you may not be a furry (a perspective I tried to hold while watching), their stories are still relatable or elicit sympathy in some ways.

You may be wondering, ‘how objective is this documentary?’ Personally, I was impressed that it was fairly objective when it came to its portrayal of the fandom. There were lots of positive moments, but it didn’t shy away from more controversial things. However, there was a distinct focus on a certain member of the fandom: Uncle Kage. This will likely be the main talking point for anyone who watches the documentary (it certainly drew a lot of additional questions from the audience during the Q&A). Throughout the first half of the film, clips of Uncle Kage talking about the fandom and what it means to be a furry are shown. They’re encouraging, even charming. Then, the tone starts to change. As the film explores the fandom’s avoidance of the media, we see more clips of Uncle Kage, as he runs a panel tutoring others on how to engage with or avoid the media. He touts his status as a politician and public figure as credibility to his authority. This leads to more videos of him speaking about his militaristic stance on protecting the fandom’s public perception, and his firm beliefs on how furries should conduct themselves. To paraphrase a point he made, “a reputation takes years to build up, and seconds to destroy”. At one point, Video himself is shown logging into a Winestream session with Uncle Kage and challenging him on if Anthrocon’s media relations policies should be so strict. Uncle Kage looks into his webcam and shouts “fuck yes!” Up to now, I had largely ignored Uncle Kage and his influence over Anthrocon and the fandom; being one of those stubborn freethinker types, I have a personal aversion towards authorities and celebrities. Seeing these clips, I was left feeling conflicted, in support of the concepts of maturity and discretion, but balking at the fascist presentation.

It may seem like a tangent to talk so much about these scenes. A lot of the film centered around Anthrocon, as Video is from Pittsburgh and the con happened to be going on when his team decided to do a documentary on furries. With that context, it’s no surprise that Uncle Kage’s presence loomed large throughout the film. Especially during the (surprisingly only) second-most prominent focus of the movie: sex in the fandom. We’re returned to the previous subjects, who all offer their thoughts on the public’s views of the fandom as a bunch of perverts, misconceptions about sex in fursuits, and all things we in the fandom have likely heard before. There’s a scene I found particularly amusing; a clip of Uncle Kage ranting that whatever weird sexually devious things occur in the fandom either don’t exist or are entirely unwanted suddenly cuts to Varka quietly sitting in front of a bookshelf full of Bad Dragon toys. These extremes and the contrast between them makes for perfect bookends to the massive grey area that is the fandom’s approach to sex and sexuality.

Speaking of polarizing figures, we also see what ChewFox and her mate have been up to since they both appeared on the Tyra Banks episode, where they confidently admitted to being furries, and to having sex in fursuits. I’d seen that episode before, of course, and the outrage over it. As with Boomer, based on what little I knew of ChewFox and her mate led me to assume they must be pretty awful. Instead, I was impressed with ChewFox’s candor about the incident. I can’t recall where exactly during the film, but we see a clip of Uncle Kage talking about how acceptance of others is a core and universal aspect of the fandom, a binding glue we should celebrate and enforce. Following the interview with ChewFox, we’re treated to Uncle Kage again talking about public perception of the fandom, and how some people try to ruin that perception. “I won’t name names, like ChewFox. Fucking bitch.” This is something he said, in seriousness, in front of a large panel of furries. The sudden hypocrisy was quite a shock. If he’s nominated himself to be a role model for the furry community, why does he think openly insulting members of that community is acceptable? Isn’t he aware that this tells others that it’s okay for them to do so as well? Has he forgotten that being a role model or a politician is a full-time job, and everything you say and do at any moment is scrutinized? He lectures us on acceptance and putting forth a good representation to the public, only to then call a member of the fandom a “fucking bitch” to a room full of people and cameras; do we really want that sort of person speaking for us, no matter how good of a media schmooze he is? Questions like these lingered in my thoughts well after the movie was over.

This is another area that the film excels in: getting the viewer to question the status quo of the fandom (at least if they’re already a furry). Hearing the experiences of different furries, how they view the fandom, and how furries treat each other, picks at your confidence that everything is great the way it is. Our fandom strives to be open and accepting, but as Uncle Kage ironically put it, we’re not, “we’re tolerant”. It may not be apparent to a non-furry watching, but the film carries the undertones of a harsh self-criticism within the fandom. Can we consider our fandom mature when we’re too inexperienced with and paranoid of the media? Are we really holding ourselves to an appropriate standard when we’re so quick to attack and judge each other over what we personally believe furry should be about?

I really, really wish I could tell you how it ends. It’s such a perfect counter to the dark subjects the film covers in the last third.

I do have criticisms on the film itself. It focused on fursuiters, which isn’t much of an issue, but I felt it didn’t adequately show that that’s only a subset of the fandom. While it did mention that furry is as much about art and creativity as anything else, and each person interviewed showed off their creative sides (along with having a frame showing personalized art introducing their character), I think more examples could have been given to show the massive amount of artwork this fandom produces. Fursonas aren’t only realized through fursuits. I can’t recall if any mention was made of the contributions the fandom makes to the outside world. If there was anything said about the amount of money for charities that is raised, or even the amount of money Anthrocon makes for Pittsburgh as way of explanation for the con’s good standing with the city, it went by quickly enough for me to miss it. Certainly something we should be proud of, but perhaps a focus on that would skew too much towards a positive bias. While I disagreed with others that the film was anti-Kage propaganda (he gives himself plenty of microphone cord to hang himself with), putting so much of the film’s focus on him seems odd in retrospect, since the theme is on fursonas, and what makes someone a furry. Finally, while an important topic that was covered well, I still thought the film focused too much on the sexual side of the fandom. There’s so much that could be said about it, but what was said ended up becoming redundant.

Those personal irks aside, it’s a very good documentary overall. It does what a documentary like this should: introduce viewers to new experiences and challenge those in-the-know to reflect on an outside perspective. Before the movie started, I took a good luck around the audience and only saw a few recognizable furry faces. When the film was over, the audience very enthusiastically applauded and cheered. That’s quite an endorsement! I should also mention that it won the Spirit of Slamdance award. As a furry and as a person, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and encourage you to see it if you ever get the chance.

Got photos uploaded from the past couple of bowling meets! Head on over to my Flickr to check out the albums.

January

February

As you may have noticed, I've uploaded a bunch of photos from First Night, Pittsburgh's annual New Year celebration. The local furies were once again welcomed back to join in the parade! Check out the photos here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/antno.....57662820972440

If you enjoy my photos, please consider leaving a tip: https://www.gofundme.com/antnommer

Bark & Bowl is a charity event held to raise funds for fighting canine cancer, and is sponsored by the National Canine Cancer Foundation. A few photos from the Bark & Bowl meet are here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/antno.....57660908321316

You may notice that there are very few photos there. That's because my camera corrupted yet another memory card, and this time it seems permanent. I turned the camera off to swap a lens, and made sure it wasn't accessing the card before hand. Lens swapped, I turned it back on, and it sat for a second then said it couldn't read the card. Turned off and on again, same error. Later, I tried the usual tricks (sad that I have "usual tricks" for this sort of situation) to recover the photos, but the card couldn't be read by my computer, either. Nor could I make a disk image or format it. After doing some research, it seems that the card's chip detected a catastrophic writing error and tripped its write protection, a permanent fail-safe meant to keep the card readable. Since the corruption of the card means I can't read it unless formatting first, and I can't format because of the write protection, the card is a dud, and the photos are lost. I used a different card the rest of the night, but was only able to get those few shots.

While I don't like going through crowd-funding to pay for new camera equipment, I fully appreciate every little bit that has been donated! But my camera situation has become more dire, and I need more help to reach my goal and get past this small nightmare. If you can share my campaign around on furry sites and social media, it'll reach more people, and hopefully I'll reach my goal before long. It would really help me out a lot! Here's the link: https://www.gofundme.com/antnommer

I made an announcement about this on Twitter, but forgot to mention it here. Western Pennsylvania Furry Weekend (WPAFW), a small convention held near Pittsburgh, was October 9th-11th. I had the honor of being the official photographer for the event! WPAFW is great as a smaller, more laid back convention. It's perfect for getting to know some of the local and near-local folks a bit better.

I've shared some select photos on here, as I usually do. You can see the full album here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/antno.....57657688030364

My mate,  mimosamoth, also took some fantastic shots that you can see here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13401.....57657524688484

In other news, thanks to a very generous donation, I'm now up to $224 on my GoFundMe campaign!! I had my reservations about doing a crowd-sourcing thing, but this is really starting to look like it'll become a reality. I can't tell you how excited I am thinking about how my photos are going to look! Thank you to all who have donated so far!!

If you're interested in what my GoFundMe is about, click here: https://www.gofundme.com/antnommer

First, I've uploaded the latest bowling photos from the meet on 09/19/15. Some of my favorite shots are uploaded here and on FurAffinity, and the full album is available on Flickr.

Second, I've opened up a GoFundMe. I'm trying to upgrade my camera gear, which will be pricey, so I thought I'd reach out for a little help. If you like my photos, consider leaving a tip! Your donation will go towards better camera gear, and better photos! Here's my GoFundMe page with more information. There's no obligation, but anything you can contribute would be greatly appreciated!

I'm looking to upgrade my camera equipment, as what I have seems to be wearing out. It's expensive though, so I could use some help! If you love my photos, and want to see me continue to deliver better and better photos, please consider a small donation!

Click here to see my GoFundMe campaign page, with more information.

I'm sure most of you have already seen some of the Anthrocon photos I posted on here, but since I finally finished the parade photos, I can post a journal about it.

Anthrocon was great this year! Saw old friends, met new ones, spent too much money in the dealer hall and at bars... Another successful con! Except for one thing... During the fursuit parade, my memory card corrupted itself. I slapped in a new card as quickly as I could, but I missed some people. Perhaps worse than that, the card also contained the Sabretooth photoshoot I went to before the parade; that shoot was a big deal to me since I had been requested to be there and take photos. When the parade was over, and trying not to panic, I went up to a friend's room and used her computer to see if the card was salvageable. It was... sort of.

When the con was over and I was back at my own computer, I ran a few different programs and tried various things to get the photos off of the card. I recovered most of the RAW files, but many of them couldn't be read in Photoshop or Lightroom. Oddly, I could see the photos looking perfectly fine in the folder, but when I tried opening them, they were full of artifacts. Then I had an idea, and it actually worked: I found a program that let me extract the compressed preview JPGs from the RAW files.

Since they were compressed, their quality wasn't as good. This is most evident in the fursuit parade photos. I thought about trashing them, but decided people might still want to see them. Anyway, here are the albums...

Convention: https://www.flickr.com/photos/antno.....57655641101569

Fursuit parade: https://www.flickr.com/photos/antno.....57654317672673

More photos are up on my Flickr!

Alameda Park meet: https://www.flickr.com/photos/antno.....57654809887965

Pittsburgh Pride Parade: https://www.flickr.com/photos/antno.....57654997287965

The latest bowling meet: https://www.flickr.com/photos/antno.....57655334998321

No more new photos until after Anthrocon!

Check out my photos from the Alameda Park meet on my Flickr!

Yayyy, finally got some new photos! These are from the recent bowling meet. Flickr album

First Night is a festival held in downtown Pittsburgh to ring in the new year. Of course, the local furries were there, even as part of the parade! Here are some photos I took of the event.

Photos from the latest bowling meet are up! There are a few here and on my Weasyl, and the rest are on my Flickr!

I have an Ask.FM account now! Ask me stuff!

My photos from last weekend's furry bowling meet are up on my Flickr page!

Enjoy my photos from Western Pennsylvania Furry Weekend? Check out the rest on my Flickr page! ^^

I finally finished going through all of the Anthrocon photos I took. Started with 1099 and ended with 956! Check out the full gallery on my Flickr account.

This is probably more for artists and fursuiters, but what the hell. I'm also re-ordering these because they were kind of random before.



Where are you staying?
My apartment. I live in Pittsburgh. :3


What day are you getting there?
Probably Friday.


How are you traveling?
Car.


Are there any panels you might be attending?
Probably the PA Furries Meet and Greet (still trying to meet the locals), the fursuit constructing panels, and the parade.


What's your goal(s) for the con this year?
See as much of it as possible, and hopefully buy some art.


Where will you be most of the time during the day/s?
Wandering around.


What/where will you be eating?
I dunno, whatever's cheap and convenient.


Can I come with you for food/fun/etc?
That shouldn't be a problem!


Who will you hang out with during the convention?
Old friends from Arizona, new friends from Pittsburgh, maybe random other people. And my mate, of course.


What do you look like?
White guy, less than average height, dark blond hair.


What is your gender?
Male


How tall are you?
5'5"


How can I find you?
Tweet at me! I'm Antnommer on Twitter.


How is the best way to find you?
Look for the photographer with the anteater tail!


If I see you, how should I get your attention?
Just say "Hey Antnommer!" or "Wow, look at that cool bug over here!"


Are you nice?
I like to think I am!


How long are you going?
As long as I can!


Will you be suiting?
No. :( I will have a tail on, though.


Do you do free art?
I don't charge for my photos.


Do you have an artist table?
Nope.


Do you do trades?
Not sure how that would work with photography!


Do you do badges?
Nope.


Can I look in your sketchbook?
I don't have one. D:


Can I draw in your sketchbook?
If I had one!


Can I take your picture?
Sure!


Can I talk to you?
Sure!


Can I touch you?
I guess so, as long as you're not clingy or coming on to me. >_>


Can I buy you drinks?
Please do! :=~


Can I give you stuff?
As long as it's not con crud!


Can I hug or snuggle with you?
Hugs are okay, but anything else you'd have to run by my mate (and he'd probably say no).


Will you be going to parties?
If we're invited!


Will you be performing?
Nope.

Just checking in to let everyone know that we made it safe and sound to Pittsburgh on Monday! Still trying to unpack!