Cosplay Explained, Part 1…
If you are someone who has followed my work for a while you may have noticed a recent shift in my posts from global travel images to colorful studio portraits of cosplayers. I have spent the last decade traveling the world photographing everything from wildlife to landscapes to my personal favorite: people. More specifically: interesting people in unique cultures. Imagine my surprise when I started attending Comic Conventions with my children and found extremely interesting people in a very unique culture right in my own backyard.
I am still traveling as much as I normally do, however, I have spent the majority of my time lately editing my cosplay photos instead of my travel photos (which are on the back burner begging to be edited). Part of the reason is simply excitement. These are fun photos to take and fun photos to edit. Surprisingly, they are also extremely difficult to get. It takes a full studio setup on-location at conventions to capture them. The transportation logistical issues alone are daunting, but couple that with trying to explain what I am attempting to accomplish and why I need a very large room to every individual con organization. It takes a shocking amount of time to find the right people in these organization and then, once found, convince them that I am not trying to sell $5 insta-photos to their attendees. I can honestly say that it is easier to plan a trip to Kenya than it is to get a room at a new convention!
My cosplay photo backlog is pretty large at the moment. I know that some of you have reached out to me hoping to get a fully-edited photo from me a bit quicker. I will always do the best I can on each photo, however, so your patience will yield the best results. I will use ongoing blog posts to explain and answer the most common cosplay questions that I have been getting. Stay tuned for part two.
Finally, I have heard great things about the Cincinnati Comic Expo. I have been completely unsuccessful in obtaining a room at the con, despite using every approach that I can think of and some that others have. Those individuals that I have gotten in touch with are convinced that I intend to walk around with a camera and speedlight to try to sell photos. If any of my cosplay models are able to ping anyone at the Cincinnati Comic Expo and share your experience, I would really appreciate it. I would love to be able to say “see you there” to anyone attending. Fingers crossed…