ten years ago, otakon 2001, wow. this was the first year i shot my con photos using a digital camera, a sony cybershot (dsc-s70). this was also the first year otakon had the entire baltimore convention center. imagine, the whole convention center and only ten-thousand attendees vs the 2011 stats of thirty-thousand.
so the most vivid memory of otakon 2001 that has stuck was the exploding manhole covers (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/howard_street_tunnel_fire). cause, residual chemicals from the train derailment three-weeks prior. thought it was thunder at first and then heard all the firetrucks. also remember the city was flushing out all the hydrants and the water in the hotel tasted like gasoline.
this was the second year we had a room at the harbor court hotel. this year we had a view of the inner harbor and what a view it was. it was a corner room, which was part of a larger suite. we didn't have the larger suite though, that would be next year.
looking back at all the pictures, i can't help but think, has it really been ten years. we were all so much younger back then. heh.
otakon 2001 pictures / gallery unlocked. https://www.rdfn.org/gallery/otakon/2001/