How Do You Light a Wookie?

Chewbacca - © Copyright 2007 by William Beem

How do you light a Wookie?  It’s not the kind of question most photographers need to ask themselves. It can be challenging, though.  Look at those deep eye sockets.  How are you supposed to bring out the soul within? Is it proper to whiten his teeth or Liquify his hips?

I grabbed this shot a couple of years ago at Star Wars Weekends at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.  I learned that you can get a Wookie to pose, but he won’t hold it for long.  He’s there to please the crowd.  Things move fast in the Star Wars universe.

That’s going to be my challenge this weekend. I swore that I never wanted to do event photography again, but you can never say never.  I still have the desire to do concert photography.  I still like the idea of capturing a moment, even though most of the time I can’t control it.  Maybe that’s the allure that caused me to buy a ticket to Star Wars Celebration in Orlando.

I won’t be there for the full convention.  After my experience at MegaCon, I don’t think I could stomach the event for that long.  I won’t be going as working press, but just as another paying guy with a camera.  While that means I won’t have great access for photographs, it also means I’m not accountable to anyone else’s desires.

It’s going to be a busy day and not without some ironic contrast.  My morning starts with a swimsuit shoot by a pool, and then I head over to the convention center to join the swarm.  That event runs until 7:00 pm, but there’s opportunity to make it last even longer.  Disney’s Hollywood Studios hosts a private party – Last Tour to Endor from 8:00 pm to 1:00 am.  It could be a very long day. I’m not completely decided upon joining the party, though.  It’s another $75 to basically see the same thing that happens during Star Wars Weekends, only surrounded by more people that are encouraged to dress up as a character from Star Wars.  On the other hand, I have to wonder how some of these people cut loose at a party.  Oh wait, I know.