Several years ago - 1996 actually - Bruce Pelz spoke with me about a new fanhistory project he had in mind. He wanted to create a Fan Photo Gallery, similar to the Pro Photo Gallery, and present it at Loscon in 1997. He had an ulterior motive, of course - Bruce often has ulterior motives. Geri Sullivan was going to be one of the Guests of Honor at Loscon in 1997 and he wanted to surprise her with a fan photo gallery.
His ulterior motive was a reason the Fan Photo Gallery has many photos of Minneapolis fans in it (as opposed to, say, Seattle fans or Amsterdam fans) - he wanted some of the local photographers to produce photographs of Minneapolis fans for the Fan Photo Gallery to surprise Geri. (I personally really admire the photo of Laura Krentz in her cow-colored costume - I imagine I would see black and white spotted socks as well if the photo went down that far.)
Anyway, the original idea was that the Fan Photo Gallery would contain photographs of fans who are well known and of interest to other fans. The fan photographs would differ slightly from the pro photographs - the fan photographs would be in color, and they would be more than head and shoulder shots.
During the following months, local photographers captured local fans on film at various gatherings (MinnStf meetings, Minicon, book signings, etc.). Meanwhile, the same thing was going on in Boston and L.A., and at Worldcons. The original collection of photos was taken by Stan Burns, David Dyer-Bennet, Mark Olson, and Bruce Pelz, with additional photos contributed by Eve Ackerman, Robbie Bourget, Esther Cole, Marjii Ellers, John D. Rickett, Dave Rike, Joyce Scrivner, and one or two other unidentified photographers. The result was first displayed at Loscon in 1997, and, with continuing additions of more photographs, has since been displayed at many other conventions.
The Fan Gallery is a project of the Southern California Institute for Fan Interests, Inc. (SCIFI) and is funded from the "Benefit to Fandom" money left over from the 1996 Worldcon surplus. The Fan Gallery currently consists of about 200 color 5x7 snapshots, mounted in 8x10 frames. It travels from convention to convention for display - its most recent appearances before Minicon were Boskone 39 and ConDor 2002. The Fan Gallery is being exhibited here at Minicon as a "thank-you" to Minneapolis Fandom for its role in creating the Fan Gallery.
Two members of the SCIFI Board of Directors, Chaz Boston Baden and Christian B. McGuire, take care of the Fan Gallery in their spare time. They are also in charge of getting photos of fans who should be in the Fan Photo Gallery and aren't (yet). If you know of a fan who should be in the Fan Gallery, and isn't, why not offer them a photograph to add to the collection? (And, as a side note, the Fan Gallery is very interested in acquiring a good color photograph of Scott Imes for inclusion in the gallery.) If you're interested in having the Fan Gallery visit a convention near you, please contact Chaz or Christian.
Website: www.scifiinc.org/gallery/
E-mail: gallery@scifiinc.org