Photo Opportunities

[Sigundo]

I will be attending training in Norman, OK Apr 4-25, (missing the Norman Faire  ) and never been to Scarborough Faire. This gives me the weekends of the 9th or 16th to go. I know the 9th will be opening day, and was wondering how crowded the faire will be on opening day verses the 2nd week. (I'm leaning toward opening day, since it should be a bit cooler,(well a couple degrees maybe) but sadly, my wife won't be with me and she at least would love some shots of the Faire, so I can wait if it is a bit more open 2nd week). Hopefully someone who attends regularly will have some advice, and I would appreciate it.

Mind you, the weather at the time will of course trump any of my other decisions, but lets hope for faire skies...

[Merlin the Elder]

Opening weekend should be lovely!  I've never found the crowds at Scarby to be overwhelming, that I can remember. We go early in the season to take advantage of cooler weather ourselves.

[Sigundo]

Sounds great! Based on what I can see of the average temps, it shouldn't be a HUGE difference over a week's time, but you can usually add about 10 degrees when I'm at the faire for some reason... so I go when its as cool as possible.

It's not as fun when the better half can't go with me, but loads better than sitting around saying "wish I'd went to the faire". If it does end up busy, maybe I can hang back and take a few shots while they herd me off the grounds at closing time. haha.

[Merlin the Elder]

I don't know what you schedule is, but the park just after opening cannon is usually nicest. Lots of photo ops there, if you can get a good spot.

Crowds seem to peak in the afternoon. Sunday is also a bit lighter.  Now that's just from our experience. We're only there one or two weekends a year.

[DonaCatalina]

Opening weekend tends to draw a few more rennies and others in garb. There is a decent crowd at opening (10:00am) But as Merlin said, it really doesn't peak until 1:00pm or so. Any of the first 4 weekends will garner you more shots of people in nice garb. Come early and introduce yourself at the parking lot party.

[Sigundo]

Well, I'm attending training in Norman, OK with weekends off, so I'll be there from opening till closing both days on the weekend of the 9th (or 16th if the 9th gets rained out). Its just coincidence that I got training dates to coincide with the Festival. Last year I had training also in April and was able to go to the Norman Fair (maybe I get the month of April as I'm bottom of the rung in senority, as most others want HOT summer days for some reason). Most of them are not into Renaissance Faires, but that's their problem, not mine. HaHa.

I don't need advertising quality pics, just want to show the wife what the faire looks like.. she's seen crowds before so don't need that so much  Either way, I"ll do fine..  be a nice break from training for 2 days and I can drive back to school after closing on Sunday, unless I get real tired, then I'll leave a bit earliers, but should do fine.

** Whenever I get there, I always try to see the opening ceremonies, I've enjoyed them at the KYRF, TRF (tennessee) and ORF (those are the only 3 I've been to so far, but this is my 3rd year at it, so I"ll see more).. oops. forgot the Norman Fair, that one too. With luck the next order of R/F pins will be ready before I go. Forgot I ordered a couple earlier in the year until I saw another pin related post. **

[Stalkwell]

Don't forget...
There is usually an RF.com gathering on opening day for photo ops.  Stay tuned for time and place.  Also, as Merlin has alluded to, prior to opening cannon there is a large gathering at front gate.  The masses gather at the gate for the pre-game about 15 minutes prior to opening.  If you happen to be around row 12 or 13 next to the front gate, many of the RFers gather there an hour or so before boom.  Not an official thing, they just congregate there and finish garbing up in their cars.  Come on by and say 'HI'.  You will find a few standards that you will recognize, and a lot of familiar faces from RF.com frantically tugging at bodice laces and boots.  I'm sure you will also find at least a dozen photographer wanna-be types there  that can give you heads up for the good shooting spots.

And remember... Faire skies ALWAYS have clouds if you are a photographer 

Stalk well...

[Merlin the Elder]

...snip...Based on what I can see of the average temps, it shouldn't be a HUGE difference over a week's time...snip...

hehe... Yeah, but this is Texas!  About 3 years ago, it snowed opening weekend. The next weekend, it was even colder (according to my sources). We came the third weekend—85 degrees.

Last year, we came for preview weekend, and temps were moderate as I recall (t-shirt temps). But the week before, there had been a 14-inch snow that had collapsed the roof of the mist-bridge!

But, I'll tell you something, good Sigundo, Scarborough is a wondrous place! Non-shine or shine, we'll be there opening weekend. Hope to see you.

[Sigundo]

I'll keep a lookout. Luckily for me, my garb is still transitioning from "costume" to "garb", so except for the boots, takes no time at all to put on.. and I gotta have boots on to drive, so I get ready in the hotel room and off I go, but yes indeed I have noticed trunks opening and lots of adjusting/accesorising going on prior to opening. Usually a lot of happy banter (unless one has driven a LONG way and a key piece was forgotten) but even then, they just replace it if available on site.. must be just another part of rennie life. 

[VIII]

Signiore Sigundo:
IF you can get there by 9:00 a.m. we do have a Performer's Meeting where we can introduce a fellow performer to our Performing Company.  Just have your Director contact our Director for an introduction!

[squiregaby]

I'm always there and more than happy to be the subject of photos

[lys1022]

If you are there for the Opening Gate show, I highly recommend getting to a spot where you can see and hear it all.  It is something that is rather unique to the faire circuit.  The performing company (Scarborough Academy of the Performing Arts, or SAPA for short) creates a long-form improv scene that lasts 15 minutes, and they do so after being given an opening line and a closing line.  Everything else is made up.  Oh, and the opening and closing lines are given to them right in front of you...from fortune cookies.

The faire itself is pretty picturesque, with a lot of detail on buildings and landscaping.  You want to look for things like the small garden over on the back path in HollyField (the left-hand third of the festival as you come in the gates).  SAPA has a fairly tight set of costuming guidelines to follow, so that is of a good quality too.

If you like action shots, I strongly urge you to attend the Human Chess Match and the Highland Games.  One of the best times to get a lot of shots of costumed folks in the same place at the same time is also Evening Court Dance over in Pecan Grove (the right-hand third of the festival as you come in the gates).

Feel free to browse my various Festival shots on my Pbase account.  I have a lot of Chess Match photos, but I also took a lot of shots of whatever caught my eye.  You can see it here:

http://www.pbase.com/lys1022/scarby

I hope that you enjoy your visit to Scarborough!

[Merlin the Elder]

I had no idea! That's pretty cool. I wondered why it was such a surprise to one of the actors last year when the fortune cookie was empty at one performance I saw!