Denver Show Pictures and Thoughts

Thank you so much, guys!

That is a great idea, Murray. I will definitely try that! That seems like it would be the easiest way to do it.




Sunday, there wasn't a big crowd, but there was still a line of people when I arrived. I did arrive late though. :p



















Terry Jack Schreiner























Me too!
















Entrek USA

































Small knife by Mike Moody

































That is all I have for the show. The show ended at 3 p.m. on Sunday. I was ready to hit the road for my drive back to the natural state. Everyone of the knifemakers were at their table until the end of the show on Sunday. Which I was surprised by, since most shows people are ready to leave and go home. I picked up a few knives, some walrus and mammoth fossil for my J.S. test ;), and a knife book.










I am curious to see how the corncob holds up on a knife handle. Uncle Al has some in the shop here in town, but the last time we looked at it the corn seemed to be slowly coming out. Granted it hasn't been finished out or anything, just scales that he picked up just because. So I thought I would get a little using knife that has some corncob for the handle that has been finished out. Plus, I just like knives. lol.


Aaand I'm out! I know I will be seeing a few of you guys in Kansas here soon, so be safe until then!
 
Thanks for posting this!!! I live in Colorado Springs (60 miles from Denver) and was not able to attend.
 
Logan Pearce said:
I wasn't the show photographer. However, next year I will be.
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Good news for the Professional Knifemakers Association and their well established annual Denver Custom Knife Show.

I was the show photographer for six years and before me Terrill Hoffman did the duty for some years. Unfortunately Terrill found that it was not economically viable to continue so he asked me to take over since I live in Denver and wouldn't have to travel so far with all my studio gear. I enjoyed the show and the officers with whom I worked, as well as many of the makers, but they did little promotion and never used my images to their advantage. So I promoted the show every year here on this forum (and elsewhere) with lots of images and narrative. I always sent my pictures to BLADE Magazine and editor Steve Shackleford used them for very nice double facing page spreads. In the end it was not economically viable for me either.

While the PKA provided a room for photography at no cost, they asked that I photograph all the award winning knives and do a group shot of the winning makers for free. There were between 14 and 17 award knives every year - that's a lot of free work. In theory the deficit could be made up by makers and collectors who wanted their non-award knives photographed during the course of the weekend. There were just never enough paying customers to even marginally compensate for all the freebies. On the whole it was simply not a group that valued good professional photography. There were of course exceptions and a few became friends and regular customers over time.

My departure was a bit of a wake-up call for them and after I left there was some talk about restructuring the deal if I would agree to continue. But by then I was done and ready to move on. My hope is that you will be the beneficiary of a new and better deal since the PKA officers seemed willing to move in that direction.

You mentioned that you were unable to find out very much about the show on this forum. If you search PKA Show not much will come up. All my show posts were about the Denver Custom Knife Show, which is the show's real name though people casually refer to it as the PKA Show. Here are links to a few of my threads from the show during those six years.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...e-Show-2013-Winning-Makers-Composite-Portrait
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...ugust-2012?highlight=Denver+Custom+Knife+Show
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...Knife-Show?highlight=Denver+Custom+Knife+Show
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...nners-plus?highlight=Denver+Custom+Knife+Show
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...The-Knives?highlight=Denver+Custom+Knife+Show
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...d-Winners!?highlight=Denver+Custom+Knife+Show
 
I have to admit that it is nice to see that someone covered and knew about the show. I went this past year and after carefully looking through your pictures, Logan, that I am actually in one of them, you can't see my face but it is me.

From what I have heard this show has been getting smaller and smaller over the years. It would be nice to see it grow.
 
Here is a link to the last Denver show that I attended -- 2011

http://www.fototime.com/ftweb/bin/ft.dll/pictures?userid={297B3F03-10F2-4371-8576-F931466106EF}&AlbumId={89A3D235-33AA-4C69-92A1-7B5DE7F7FA88}&GroupId={C63ADE4F-019E-4992-B402-BC0D0B6A4BF2}&nt=a

or here in the CKCA site which also has a full write up and comments

http://www.customknifecollectorsassociation.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=1465

I was not at all doing this work for pay but was there as a collector and did purchase a nice knife and thoroughly enjoy doing shows across the country and this was my second time at the Denver show.
 
Thank you for the input, Buddy and Murray! I should have done a better search on the forums, before saying that. I really meant the last two years, when I said I couldn't find a lot of pictures to get an idea of what was going on at the show or what to expect. As with all shows, I always feel like there could be better promoting. I doubt anyone would listen to my thoughts though. :P

I was hoping to see you at the show this year, Buddy. It would have been nice to visit with you. I really would have liked to have seen your photography skills in action. Maybe next year when I am out there you could give me some pointers. :D

Brian! I didn't get as many good pictures as I had hoped, but next year I plan on doing a better job of capturing everyone. ;) Also, hopefully this and a few other shows will start growing more.

Thank you all for the comments! It helps me a lot to make future posts better.
 
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