Mad Hatter 1
I mentioned learning from some of my photo idols at Imaging USA, a portrait photography conference in Louisville. Skip forward a week or two and I am at ATL Comic Convention 2024 in Georgia and one of my long time Cosplay idols is there judging at the Cosplay contest. AlexBurnsFX has many iconic Cosplays but his Mad Hatter is the one I have ALWAYS wanted to photograph.
It happens like a slow motion movie: I see him on the convention floor in the Mad Hatter Cosplay detailed to perfection as is his makeup. My mouth goes dry and I finally muster up the courage to go up and give him the Cosplay 50 spiel and luckily words actually make it out of my mouth 🙂 THANKFULLY he comes in for our free thirty minute photoshoot. He is perfection for a photographer in every way possible: posing, personality, Cosplay, you name it… It was a true joy to finally photograph him and I hope our paths cross again one day.
I love when we have backgrounds that perfectly accentuate the Cosplays like this one from Gravity. When I look through images, expression trumps all. It is all in the details and not just the ones the Cosplayer has worked on for hours. A hint of a shadow strategically located can say so much more than blasting light to show every detail.