Atratus's picture

Hallowe'en has Come and Gone


Hallowe'en has come and gone again and I am tired. I made far less in sales this Hallowe'en than I have in previous years and have had far more "can you mail me the photos?" requests than I have in a while, so it may be time to remind everyone once again that I am not paid to operate the photo booth, nor does the website bring in more than it costs to operate. At Restricted Fetish Hallowe'en, for example, I shot approximately six hundred photos over the course of eight hours at the club, and spent at least as many hours over the course of the week to going through them and editing them. Now that that batch is done, what I earned from it doesn't amount to minimum wage, and that doesn't count in material costs, let alone what the camera and other gear costs. So far this year I have had one camera and two studio strobes pack it in. That voids a year's work in the clubs right there. It's not a profitable business by itself. If this were my only income, I'd be better off scavenging empty pop cans.

And when I am not operating the photo booth and just walking around with my camera, like I was at Sanctuary's Something Wicked This Way Comes at Celebrities, I am not making any money at all.

It's a creative outlet, it's social, and I keep coming back because I generally have fun. But sometimes I don't. When I am run off my feet non-stop and don't have time to be social yet am not selling anything, it's not so much fun. When I am shown any kind of disrespect at all, that's not so much fun either. Just remember that I don't have to be there, and try not to be the person who makes me not want to be there.

Comments

Hi Atratus,

My name is Drew. I just posted in the introductory thread of the Forums section, and thought I'd follow up with a comment in your blog too.

I hope you don't mind me asking for help; just a guiding hand for where I may be able to find some current, busy goth, darker wave, industrial metal or related-music type sites, forums, blogs, etc. so that I can speak with like-minded people about that kind of thing.

I'm not trying to hide anything (see my signature), I'm working for a goth metal label in Vancouver and would like to spread word about our bands, but I truly want to understand more about the goth culture and what people like and see if I can help add value to them while learning a lot myself!

I checked your "links" section, but the vast majority of sites are very outdated, irrelevant message boards, or just a little different than what I'm looking for.

Just for your reference, the main band I'm helping promote is a darker wave, goth metal, industrial -type two person band out of Switzerland, called Lacrimosa. You can find out more if you're interested by checking out the addresses in my signature, or at: http://www.lacrimosa.ch/cms/front_content.php?idcat=2

Anyways, like I said, I'm not here to purposefully flog the band, I'd just like to learn whatever I can and be pointed in the right direction to interact with those that will enjoy related music!

Thanks for your time and I hope to talk soon!

Drew

Marketing & Promotions Coordinator
End Of The Light Records
Facebook: End Ofthelight
Twitter: @endofthelightCD

Have you seen the website www

Have you seen the website www.metalstorm.net ?

Wicked site for reviews, news, forums and info on nearly any metal band (goth, industrial, hardcore, stoner) you can think of.

I don't know if it's on anyone's radar, but any of the contributors to your site or fans that are in bands would be well served to get a review of their material on the site. I am also going to look into I Die; You Die as you suggested. Thanks again for that!

Talk soon...

Marketing & Promotions Coordinator
End Of The Light Records
Facebook: End Ofthelight
Twitter: @endofthelightCD