Another experiment in time-lapse videography; this time featuring the two hundred and sixty fursuits who participated in  Howloween 2024’s post parade group photograph.

Time-lapse video of the assembly for When Furballs Strike’s golden occasion group photograph; organized by  Kijanilion.

Post-parade fursuit interactions at  Howloween 2022.

 saskprairiedog’s Saturday night midnight howl at Anthro Northwest 2023.




Raw video shot on  KitwanaLion’s camera at Anthro Northwest 2023’s Friday night dance. The “snow” effect was achieved by shooting through floodlights beside the stage while they were directed at the rear wall. When these lights were repositioned on subsequent nights to project onto the side walls, the effect was lost.

See  VancouFur 2023’s entire Fursuit Parade in under thirty seconds!

Celebrating it’s twentieth year,  Howloween expanded into a three-day convention. As part of the festivities, the convention held it’s first Fursuit Parade, and 112 furries participated.

This is for everyone who has been wondering about the state of affairs involving  CuteFoxie since he passed away in March. As many of you know, CuteFoxie preferred to keep his distance from his family; so when he passed away there were a few questions as to whether or not CuteFoxie’s relatives could be located. It is of this matter that there is now good and bad news.

The good news is that CuteFoxie’s family has ben found. After not hearing from Alberta’s Public Trustee’s Office since May, I placed a follow-up email to inquire about whether or not his case had come to their attention. According to Alberta’s Line of Authority, the Public Trustee would be entrusted with handling CuteFoxie’s burial should the police and Medical Examiner’s Office be unable to located his relatives. The response that I received was that the MEO had released his body to a local funeral home. This could only have been done if a relative had stepped forward to claim his body.

The bad news is that neither the Trustees nor the Funeral home filed any information regarding who took possession of his body and at what time this took place. The most that can be gleamed is that these events took place sometime between May and September, and that his body has likely been interred somewhere in the Edmonton area. It is also possible that this information does exist, but it may be protected from public knowledge by the provincial Privacy Act.

So for those of you who have been worried that CuteFoxie’s body remains unclaimed, you can now rest easy. To those of you who were hoping for more information, I am afraid this is the most that can be said. It is possible that his family has not reached out to the furry community because they wish to keep this matter private and personal. If that is the case, then their privacy should be respected. If any more information is forthcoming, this journal will be updated accordingly.

One last thing that I would like to say about my friend. In the months since he died, it has been truly remarkable to gauge just how many lives were touched by this little Fox. Many of you have found ways to express your grief over CuteFoxie’s passing and to pay your last respects to him. And I know that CuteFoxie would be shedding tears from the fact that so many tears have been shed over his death, and that so many heartfelt messages have been expressed by those who knew him. But what I would give just to hug him one more time and tell him not to be afraid.

Last year  vancoufur was proud to welcome  dancingduke as the convention’s Fursuit Guest of Honour. During his visit, Duke created a brand new music video alongside many of the fursuiters in attendance. Enormous thanks must go out to all of the people in the convention’s video department, everyone who volunteered their time and effort to help make this shoot possible, and all of the fursuiters who came together and learned these dance steps alongside That Dancing Dog.

Two days before The Great American Eclipse, Pacific Northwest Furries gathered in Kenmore, Washington, for the twenty-eighth quarterly edition of the world’s largest furry bowling event, When Furballs Strike. Amongst the 294 attendees was one little blue dog who left a trail of mischief in his wake. Fortunately, he was being trailed by one camera-wielding magenta Fox.

Thus begins the first part of  blusicurl's /Baby Blu’s documented antics, in which Blu proceeds to run amok throughout Kenmore Lanes’ arcade. Having attended a number of these events, I had seen plenty of furs playing within the arcade, but never had I taken any video of furs actually operating the equipment . Thus tokens were procured, and this is what ensued.

After causing mischief in Kenmore Lane’s arcade, Baby Blu descended into the alley; whereupon, finding an abandoned lane, he decided to start hurling some bowling balls. Watch as Blu engages in an epic quest to knock down all ten pins in one frame! Will he do it?

Two videos were not enough to contain all of Baby Blu’s antics from When Furballs Strike 28. Here are some special bonus scenes featuring Blu and his furry friends at Kenmore Lanes.

After the success of 2016’s “Project 8-Ball”—the recording of Bellingham’s Procession of the Species on Super 8 film—a sequel was commissioned for 2017: “Project 8 is Not Enough”. Originally intended for VancouFur, the shoot had to be postponed due to inclement weather. Having already purchased the necessary three cartridges of small gauge stock, the film was placed into storage to await a second-take opportunity.

That opportunity arrived on July 1st: Canada’s one-hundred and fiftieth national birthday. It was on this date that TK—in town for the first visit since his inglorious 2012 deportation—decided to host a Fursuit walk in conjuncture with the Canada 150 celebrations at Canada Place: Vancouver’s waterfront convention centre, and site of the largest planned festivities in the west. Not since the 2010 Olympic Winter Games had the city witnessed such an outpouring of patriotism. This special occasion begged to be recorded in a unique medium; besides, nobody else was going to do it!

On the morning of Canada Day, our group assembled in the same Gastown parkade which just hours earlier had served as crew park for Deadpool 2. Joining Rennie Fox were Marlin FisheRoo, Friduwulf, Chiswick Gryphon, Harvest , Penryn Magpie, Maxwolf, Rico, and Sairys Wolf. Fox, Gwydion, Orwin, Prowler, Toboe, Trigger and Whitzy were on hand to act as spotters, water bearers, digital documenters, and assurers of their general wellbeing. That a few furs from the United States chose to join us made this outing all the more special. At eleven o’clock, the suiters stepped out onto Water Street. It look half an hour to migrate the five blocks between Gastown and Canada Place. Every time we stopped at a crosswalk or to allow stragglers in the heard to catch up, we were mobbed. Once everybody finally arrived at Canada Place, I switched over to documenting the day on Super 8 film.

We were unsure about what kind of reception the fursuiters would receive. Everybody had been asked to come dressed in maple leaf paraphernalia. They were embraced. The crowd fell all over itself to get pictures with the suiters; especially once we had made our way over to the flaring Olympic Cauldron. We ended up as leadoff photo to Canada Place’s Facebook Album. Vancouver Police positively Tweeted about us. But perhaps the greatest triumph was becoming part of the national Canada Day broadcast. See that fellow in the purple and white dotted shirt posing with Maxwolf? He is Canadian Broadcasting Corporation correspondent Ian Hanomansing, amd had just finished speaking with Peter Mansbridge (known to every single one of you as Zootopia’s newscaster, Peter Moosebridge); who was in Ottawa during his final national telecast before retirement. When Hanomansing’s camera operator panned to show-off the crowd at Canada Place, the countrywide audience saw us in the midst of these celebrations.

Very special thank yous go out to the staff and security at the convention center, who not only allowed us to come inside for a break but also escorted our heard through the building so that we could bypass the crowd outside and safely reach the cauldron. To the good people at Niagara Custom Lab for providing and processing the Kodak Vision 3 50D 7203 Color Negative Film stock. And to Lifetime Heritage Films for their spectacular 5K scanning and colour correction of the resulting negative.

And now the same footage with musical accompaniment:
https://vimeo.com/251980679

To document  Furlife’s appearance at Bellingham’s 2017 rendition of the annual Procession of the Species, I decided to complete a “Trilogy of Formats” by recording the entire event on a vintage 1999 Panasonic PV-D209-K Palmcorder loaded with a pair of VHS-C TC-30 videotapes. Many thanks to all of the fursuiters who took part in this procession, and for being so interactive with the camerafox.

The First of Two Parts:

The Second of Two Parts:

A considerable amount of tape was spent recording the antics of two fursuiters in particular: Ruckus and  Skyan. These are cut scenes of their interactions with the crowd.

Lastly, Furlife time travels all the way back to Bellingham’s 1999 Procession of the Species; as seen at  VancouFur 2018’s Variety Show!
https://vimeo.com/250025037

A Flickr Album featuring images from all four days of  VancouFur 2017. Enormous thanks go out to all of the fursuiters who took their time to pose for the camera, and to your patience in waiting for this year’s catalogue. Everyone featured herein is encouraged to repost these photographs if they can be of service. All I ask is that you please remember to credit your photographer, just as I have taken pains to properly identify all of you.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/131436887@N07/albums/72157688589377675

The complete library of stories compiled from my footage recorded at  VancouFur 2016. Special thanks to all of the fursuiters who so kindly waited a whole year to see these images.

VancouFur 2016, Part I: Axanis and mBlade

VancouFur 2016, Part II: Making Friends

VancouFur 2016, Part III: Inflatable Fun

VancouFur 2016, Part IV: Baby Blu and Cloud

VancouFur 2016, Part V: International Fursuit Flash

VancouFur 2016, Part VI: "Atlantis"
https://vimeo.com/207363416

On Saturday, December 17th,  Kitwana_Lion hosted a Fursuit Walk in Downtown Vancouver. Joined by his newfound Pacific Northwest Furends—Cobaltfox,  fisheRoo007/Marlin,  friduwulf85,  furryjackman,  kanancollie, and  sairyswolf—who spread warm, fuzzy holiday cheer through the magic of Fursuiting, with an abundance of hugs, smiles and disco dancing!

Thanks to all of our spotters, and FurryJackman for giving us two cameras to edit this video together.

Robson Square Fursuit Walk, 2016 Flickr Album
https://www.flickr.com/photos/13143.....h/32382582726/

This summer members of BC Furries took an active part in Vancouver’s annual pride Week festivities. Organized by Foobar, this appearance was an opportunity to show support for the LGBTQ2+ community, and to join in the joyful atmosphere.

The first video documents the Furries’ appearance in the Vancouver Pride Parade.

Among the featured fursuiters are:
 Kappy/Miley
 Glitter_Pills/ RileyWildDog
 SairysWolf
 I_IS_Kato
 Ro3

Also taking part in the parade:
 Bellafluffypuppy
 Foobar
 Friduwulf
Hazellius
 AlyonTyphlosion/Nostalgicmon
Sugar
SuperNova
 warrior27/Tegir
 yapokTrove

(Director’s Disclaimer: The featuring of certain fursuiters should not be construed as favoritism. It was decided while editing based on the available footage, which was in turn limited by those positions from which I was able to observe the parade route.)

Later that evening, a smaller contingent of furs milled about with the crowds on Davie Street, posing for photographs, sharing hugs, encountering a wide assortment of revelers.

 foobar
 friduwulf
 Felicityfluff

The first years of my life are documented on film. Sometime in the 1970s, my parents purchased a Canon Auto Zoom 512XL Electronic Super 8 Camera. This was their primary resource for shooting motion pictures footage of my toddler years back in an era when “Home Movies” still lived up to their billing. My father would occasionally pull out his projector and show off these old filmstrips during the late eighties and early nineties. But by then he had embraced the arrival of videotape. His reels of film were packed away, and the Camera was stored quietly in its original carrying case. It lay there inside a bottom shelf in our garage for almost thirty years.

It was J.J. Abrams and the motion picture Super 8 (2011) that began a personal yearning to shoot for the first time on honest-to-goodness FILM. How would something furry appear when exposed to the soft grainy tones of Super 8 rather than the pristine razor-sharp clarity of a digital medium? Alas, from what I deduced the process was prohibitively expensive, film stock rare to come by, and it would be necessary to ship the film out of province for processing. Furthermore, upon screening  Yummers/King Gourd’s well-made Super 8 footage in the Autumn of 2012, it seemed like the moment to stake a claim had passed. The project was called off; though seeing Gourd’s films from “Furfright 1977 & Furry Connection North 1978” would keep the inclination simmering.

During the spring of 2015, I once again began looking into the practicality of reawakening the old Camera. Now approached from an improved financial position, after attending that year’s Procession of the Species in Bellingham, Washington, the decision was made to record the entire 2016 Procession on Super 8 film. Over the intervening year, I gathered information about having the Camera serviced, locating film to purchase, a lab to process said film, and a company which could scan the footage for editing and exhibition. In November, this scheme began operating under the codename “PROJECT 8-BALL”.

Then, in January 2016, Kodak stunned the filmmaking world. At that year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the company unveiled a brand new 21st Century Super 8 Camera. With a retail launch scheduled for laterthe same year, it appeared that Super 8 was poised to make a grand comeback. I was not prepared to wait. I wanted to shoot on a vintage Camera instead of the boxy new prototype. I wanted to get ahead of the curve.

In March of 2016, the Camera paid a visit to CamTex Camera Repair Service in Vancouver. As was to be expected, the Camera had not been sitting in pristine condition for thirty years. Several parts required replacing and cleaning in order restore the device to working order. I then purchased three rolls of Kodak VISION3 50D Color Negative Film 7203 from the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (I would find time to expose two cartridges during the Procession). I read up on shooting in Super 8 and with that particular model of Camera. I started teasing people with the promise that—if everything went according to plan—I was going to conduct “An experiment in making history” during the Procession. I said nothing more.

May 7th was a gorgeous clear day. I rolled down to Bellingham with  Foxfan1992,  orwin and  sairyswolf in tow. Before the Procession got underway, the Camera was displayed to those members of  furlife who were in attendance. And then the filming started.

Fortunately, I was not shooting completely without precedent. All of my photographs prior to 2006 were shot on film, and I still use manual settings to adjust exposure and (in the case of video) focus on the fly. The 512XL operated in a similar fashion. Only exposure was automatically adjusted by the Camera itself (and even that was optional); the rest was up to the operator. The greatest handicap was being unable to see what I had just recorded. Since there was no playback, one did not get the instantaneous feedback now taken for granted. First the film cartridge had to be inserted (correctly) into the Camera. Then the focus was caught by zooming in and staring through the viewfinder at a circle with a line through its center. If the image in both halves of the circle was aligned, the shot was in focus. This proved to be the most time consuming and frustrating aspect of the process. The fursuiters were always in motion. One could not always tell them to hold still; especially if they were in the midst of interacting with somebody. Once focus has been (hopefully) achieved, the shutter was pulled halfway to allow the automatic exposure to meter adjustments. Then the shutter was pressed in full, and the camera made a loud satisfying whirring noise as the film passed through the gate. When you changed setups you had to repeat this process again. With each press, a gauge would count upwards through the fifty feet of film per cartridge. Then you would pop open the back of the Camera to insert a new cartridge, hoping that what you had recorded on the old cartridge would be suitable for later viewing. From an efficiency standpoint it was frustratingly cumbersome. But it felt good to have taken a step back into something that felt almost primitive yet more organic and cerebral; something which forced you to budget your work and concentrate on capturing only the best images. Despite having brandied about terms like “Filming” over the years, in my work if it is an electronic image then it is decidedly not filming and is always video. You can therefore imagine my personal elation when Sairys asked, “How’s the video coming along?” and I excitedly turned to him, shouting, “It’s not a video!”

Within 24 hours of the Procession being completed, the film was on its way back to Toronto and Niagara Custom Lab. The waiting began. For several weeks, I had no idea how the footage had turned out. Once the processed film was returned, it visited Lifetime Heritage Films here in the Lower Mainland. At this final stage of the process, the two reels of film were combined and then scanned into an MXF file. Only then was it finally possible to see what had been recorded on film.

Amazingly for a first timer, very little of the footage was unusable. Most of the images were well exposed and in focus. But I had made one enormous error; fortunately I had also covered my tail. At LHF, I asked for both RAW and Color Corrected video files to compare the quality of their services. It was immediately evident that the RAW file’s colors were unnaturally warm. My suspicion is that the Camera’s built-in CCA Filter had been improperly set vis-à-vis the type of film stock being used. All of my footage had been exposed at the wrong color temperature. Fortunately, the Color Corrected file had removed this issue and salvaged the footage.

So now without further ado, here is the 2016 Bellingham Procession of the Species, recorded entirely on Super 8. I want to thank all of the organizations that made this project possible, and all of the Furlife fursuiters who came out to be a part of making history. Will I shoot on Super 8 again? This remains an expensive and impractical medium to use with regularity. However, I do still have that one cartridge of unexposed film sitting in the downstairs cooler, so never say never...

And now, here is what happens when you add a period-appropriate soundtrack...

 VancouFur means many things to different people. Perhaps the best way for you to understand it is to experience VancouFur for yourself. This video compiles together some memories from the 810 guests who shared their friendships, games, excitement and fun at VancouFur 2016.

And you can be a part of it, too! Join us for the next VancouFur: March 9th-12th, 2017. Visit vancoufur.org for more details.

We hope to see you there!

Music: http://www.purple-planet.com
“Victory”

Sometimes it can be difficult explaining to non-furs why grown people seem compelled to wear animal costumes and behave silly in front of complete strangers. But if anyone harbors any doubt as to the aims of fursuiting, let this be your answer.

Even before  VancouFur 2016, the convention was well aware that it’s new hotel had been incorporated into the Canadian Government’s plan to resettle some of the 25,000 civilians fleeing from the Syrian Civil War. Staff took precautions to mitigate the inevitable linguistic and cultural gulfs that might separate these two very different groups of people. But when the convention started, the Syrians were nowhere to be found. They had all been relocated. The concern seemed to be for naught.

The weekend passed uninterrupted…until Sunday afternoon. As the attendees of the fursuit games departed from the main ballroom with only the closing ceremonies remaining to complete the weekend’s events, they walked into a lobby filled with newly arrived Syrian families. People who had escaped undeserved and unimaginable horrors now suddenly found themselves in the midst of people whom spent their leisure time dressed in animal costumes. It was the anticipated moment arriving at a most unanticipated time.

But when this first contact happened, no language or cultural symposium was necessary for these families to understand the magic of fursuiting. The result was pure joy; an opportunity for children to let themselves go bonkers with unrestrained happiness.

Thanks to all of the Furries who did their part to make these families feel Welcome to their new home.

The Fursuiters (a list of those appearing in this video; by no means a complete list of everyone who was on hand)*:
 crazyjoe1952/Border Collie
 Gilda
 KhordKitty
Maru the Cat
 nightdragon0/Hyshaji Nightdragon
 Reo_Grayfox
 saskPrairiedog/Munchkin

*If anyone recognizes the orange fursuiter in the Canadian hat, please let me know his identity so that he can receive proper credit.

“Somewhere over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World”
Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
Facing Future
Mountain Apple-1993

As you are probably aware,  foxalbiazul’s good friend RonRon recently passed away.  JimFoxyBoy is putting together a compilation video tribute involving Fox fursuiters. He is asking for footage of individual fox fursuiters noticing the camera and then running up to give the camera a hug. Anyone who wishes to participate at any time during the meet should contact Jim for further details. Let’s do this for a dearly departed fellow Fox.

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7507328/

Silly antics from Howloween’s three goofballs— blusicurl/Baby Blu,  Cloud1516 and  CyberKitsune09—who spent endless hours amusing themselves thusly. This is what happens when Furries have waaaaay too much free time on their paws…

With special appearances by  Aphinity/Ioco Husky and  Qmick.

Also check out these little teasers:

Baby Blu’s Moment of Zen

Insightful Furry Conversation

If you thought the Attack of the Super Monsters was bad enough…

Director’s Explanation: Those few brave souls who endured  Howloween 2015’s Bad Movie Night will recognize this video as a parody of the evening’s entertainment; which was provided by myself for all to…enjoy. Believe me when I tell you that the actual film employs production values marginally superior to the efforts employed for this parody. A great thanks to all of the fursuiters who gave their best over-emotive performances, as well as the construction crew who spent Halloween in  Errolthedragon’s Ground Floor Basement Studio building this city out of cardboard and fun!

The first of five videos compiled from footage shot at  Howloween 2015; featuring many of the fursuiters who attended, plus a few surprises.

Always match; NEVER Mix!

As seen at  VancouFur 2016.

Director’s Disclaimer: No wolfies were harmed during the making of this spoof.

Special thanks to product demonstrator/unfortunate victim  Sairyswolf; and to  cosmicwuffy and  Dadingo for the inspiration.

"Garden Music" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

ATTENTION  onefurall SUITERS!

The official OneFurAll Photoshoot will be taking place at  VancouFur on Saturday, March 5th, at 11:30AM.

If the weather cooperates, we will meet in the hotel’s rooftop garden. If the weather is inclement, we will meet in the lobby.

Be sure to spread the word about this photoshoot to any other OFA suiters who may be attending VancouFur 2016.

See you there!

Our furry friends in the Ukraine are getting ready to host WUFF’2016, and they would like  VancouFur to send them a video about our convention to be shown during their convention. So if you would like to take part in the very first video advertising VancouFur 2017, flag down this Fox. There is no set date or time for filming; it will take part throughout the con. The video will be a montage of highlights from the events of the weekend. It will demonstrate why our convention is a fun and exciting event that can appeal to furs all over the world, and EVERYONE is welcome to take part.