Cosplay Photography @ Conventions: Why do it?
November 20, 2008 by super-no1
Years before I joined J!-ENT, I was doing a lot of cosplay photography at anime conventions. While I have photos dating back to 2004 on my own website, the site has been in existence since 2001. That was the year I bought my first digital camera and before that, I was shooting with film cameras. Times were a lot different back then. There weren’t very many people who took a huge amount of cosplay photographs and put them up on the internet. Photography was also a lot more simple. Everybody just went around and took as many photos as they could and didn’t really care where they took their photos. The convention environment is a lot different today. There are a lot more photographers and a lot of expensive equipment being used by a lot of people. The result is that there are a lot more websites and photo galleries where you can see excellent cosplay photographs. There are photographers of all different skill levels and different styles. It’s always interesting to look at everybody’s photos because everybody sees things differently.
So, why do I still do it if there are so many others doing convention photography these days? Honestly, I don’t like taking cosplay photos at conventions very much anymore. This year, I’ve done most of my cosplay photography away from traditional conventions. I’ve been to a lot of independent cosplay events and also a lot of shooting at some very picturesque locations with friends. The smaller and private events produced some very spectacular results this year and that’s the direction that I want to go with my cosplay photography. I’ve been to five conventions this year and really only enjoyed taking cosplay photos at two of them–Fanimecon and Mikomicon. Those two conventions had some very pretty locations to take photographs and weren’t too densely packed. I was generally happy with my results from those two conventions. Anime LA was decent for photography when it wasn’t raining cats and dogs. Next year it moves to a primarily indoor location, which I hate with a passion so I you may find me hiding in the music room at this convention next year. I went to San Diego Comic Con for the first time this year. It was packed like a sardine can and it was so discouraging. Densely packed crowds are another one of those things that I just can’t deal with and I walked away from Comic Con with zero photos. Pacific Media Expo was at another mostly indoor location. It was easy to take a bunch of my friends up to the 3rd floor and take some nice outdoor photos, but as far as working with new people, I just had to settle for the ground floor, which had very few spots that would give me the results that I wanted. There’s still a limit as to what I’m comfortable with doing with somebody that I’ve never photographed before.
These days, I have a small group of cosplayers and photographers that I’m used to working with and we are a very tight group and do a lot of things together outside of conventions. Conventions are a chance for us to work with new people. I still love going out to conventions and meeting new people and new cosplayers. As much as I enjoy taking photos of cosplayers who are my dearest friends, when I see some nice costumes at a convention, I want to photograph them regardless of whether I know the person or not. For every cosplayer who I consider as a friend, there was always the first time I photographed them and it was probably at a convention.
Wow! That is a nice outfit from FFX… I think covering cosplay is good and I think it works perfectly when you cover that small group that you know and not having to worry of other photographer’s flash and not worrying about the fan politics. One thing that would be fun to check out is how cosplay is overseas versus what we have seen at American anime cons. I hear so much about the European events (especially France) and the cosplayers in Korea.
The reason I chose this photo was because I had never met these two cosplayers before. It’s really rare for me to work with cosplayers that are complete strangers these days. Yet, these two were really cooperative and let take them to various locations on the ground floor of the hotel to take some photos. Earning the trust of strangers can sometimes be difficult especially at conventions. There are some really creepy photographers at conventions these days.
Unrelated to the post and all… The word “cosplay” that we use so often, is not actually an English word. Neither is “cosplayer”.
I have recently caught myself when talking to people about dressing up during Halloween, I almost slipped and said “cosplay”. It made me think and realize that those who are unfamiliar with Japanese culture, I had to use a different word or phrase, such as “dressing up in costumes”, to describe the same thing.
Even when you explain that “cosplay” is short for “costume play”, that still makes no sense to an English-speaking person, because it’s a made-up word by the Japanese. But we are using it so casually like it’s a generally accepted word when it isn’t.