While waiting for something to finish processing while I was at work I decided to surf Facebook and saw something pop up about an upcoming exhibition by OBEY Clothing founder, Shepard Fairey over in LA and I thought it would be an awesome thing to go to for my art section.

However, because it was in downtown LA and because I still have some courage issues about going out and doing things I was a bit reluctant to go.

In an attempt to force myself to go I asked my friend Tina to go with me in order to give me a sort of obligation to go, or have somebody to help convince me to go and honestly it worked. I kept trying to find excuses not to go but she was able to convince me to go. First I thought maybe we shouldn’t go on opening night and we should go check it out later but she said no let’s go now. Then I saw on the announcement that you had to RSVP to get in and according to some random guy on Facebook who is probably a just a troll said that RSVPs were all sold out. She looked into it and said they weren’t. Then I saw a disclaimer that said “RSVP does not guarantee entry.” Tina responded by saying, “Let’s just go and try it.” Hell, she even drove my ass there. If it wasn’t for her I would have pussied out and never went and honestly if you’re one of the few people who actually follow my blog you have her to thank for this post.

Considering how Shepard Fairey is a pretty big deal, and because the opening exhibition was supposed to be from 8-11, and because they did say entry is not guaranteed we thought we’d try to get there at least an hour early. Unfortunately for us that wasn’t enough. Even after getting there early and splitting up so Tina could park the car and I could get a place in line it was still a more than 2 hour wait to actually get into the venue and even then it was almost another 2 hours to actually see the exhibit.

While we were waiting some people were being dicks and walking along the line telling us that we wouldn’t be able to make it into the exhibition before closing. Luckily for us, they were wrong. Even after the exhibit officially closed they were still letting people in to check it out. All they did after closing was shut down the music and stopped serving free drinks.

This event was another learning experience for me. Not only did it help teach me to break out of my shell but it also taught me how poorly organized things like this are.

I mean honestly you would think the organizers would know that Shepard Fairey is a pretty big deal and you would think with the RSVPs they’d have an idea of how many people would show up. But unfortunately the venue was way too small. Like I said, we showed up an hour early and it was still more than a two-hour wait. From what I heard the people at the front of the line got there at least 5 or 6 hours in advance to get those spots. Also security was pretty lax at the venue. They did say backpacks and large bags were not allowed but they were not searching people for weapons or drugs of any kind. I mean seriously, when we were waiting to get into the actual exhibit the guy in front of us pulled out a pipe and smoked a few bowls. On top of that the line was really disorganized with nobody directing it and so many people cutting. I think 3 or 4 people cut in front of me while another half dozen people cut behind me.

By the time we got to see the actual exhibit I was so jaded from the experience that I just wanted to get my pictures and go. Originally I was planning on bringing my SLR camera but after reading that bags wouldn’t be allowed I decided against it since I was reluctant to walk around downtown LA at night with an expensive camera around my neck, although my iPhone 6S did serve as a good substitute. Even with the equipment I had and the attitude I had I thought my pictures came out pretty decent. I do regret not waiting for some people to get out of the way so I could avoid getting their shadows out of my shots but given how the event was lit and the number of people who attended that would have been pretty much impossible, although I probably should have at least tried to minimize the shadows in some of my photos.

Anyway check out all the photos below.