Like many people, I spent some of the past weekend doing some holiday shopping.  I’m not one of those hardcore shoppers that camp out overnight or get up before sunrise to get to my favorite store before it opens.  However, I enjoy shopping on Black Friday and the Saturday after Thanksgiving even though I’m not a fan of being in large crowds.  This year, I was on the road at 9AM on Black Friday.  I didn’t have any plan and I wasn’t looking for anything specific.  I wasn’t even looking to buy anything since I still have some expenses to take care of before I can really start doing some serious shopping.  I hoped to get some good ideas for what I could give as gifts.

At this time of the morning, I found crowds to me fairly light compared to last year.  I checked out the nearest Best Buy and found lines to be almost non-existent and there was plenty of available parking.  It almost looked like business as usual.  Another place I went to was the Del Amo Fashion Center, which is a very large shopping mall.  Parking here was a bit more tricky.  One thing I noticed this year was the absence of traffic cops and barriers that help direct the flow of traffic.  Every year, this mall has those set up.  I guess they just weren’t needed this year.  I’m not one of those people that circles to the parking lot endlessly in order to find a spot close to an entrance.  I’ll take the first parking spot I see, no matter how far it is, and walk into the mall and get my business done.  From what I saw, there were more storewide sales going on.  A store puts everything on sale rather than advertise specific things.  It was interesting to walk into a greeting card store and find Christmas items already 50% off.  Doesn’t that stuff usually go on sale after Christmas?  Foot traffic was very heavy, but still, it didn’t feel as busy as last year.

At the end of the day, I my only purchase was a box of Christmas cards.  I’ve got 3 weeks left and I really didn’t get any good gift ideas.  I’ll try again next weekend.

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.

Pacific Media Expo concluded on Sunday. Attendance remained strong. The final day’s events included Cosfest, the convention’s official cosplay competition. Entrants competed for cash prizes and convention memberships. Sunday’s events also included the B-boy Showcase, featuring dance crews Sick Step and Kaba Modern. Unlike other conventions, this final day included a full day of activites, with video gaming, karaoke, and video screening rooms still operating until 9 PM or later for those hardy convention-goers who just weren’t ready to head home.

During a 3-day convention, the second day is usually the most heavily attended.  Pacific Media Expo continued to attract large crowds on its second day.  With several other events besides PMX being held in the LAX Hilton, the hotel lobby and convention space was densely packed for most of the day.  The second day also saw a full day of programming and panels featuring the convention’s musical guests and representatives from the music and anime industry.  Cosplayers were also out in large numbers and the hallways were constantly clogged for photo ops.  Those seeking more photo space spilled out onto the hotel driveway and the hotel’s third level, which features several gardens.  Also opening today was the convention’s maid cafe featuring maids from an actual local maid cafe, Royal-T.

The convention’s concert series continued to play to capacity crowds.  Lines started forming early in the morning for Saturday’s concert featuring Kaya.  Opening for Kaya were local pop acts Heday and Nylon Pink.  Pacific Media Expo continues through Sunday at the LAX Hilton.

Pacific Media Expo opened In Los Angeles yesterday, with perhaps its biggest opening day in recent memory. The early afternoon crowd started out sparse but steadily grew throughout the day, filling the LAX Hilton with hundreds of fans of Asian pop culture. The days events featured the Cowboy Bebop Experience, featuring a jazz band and card tables, and a Pocky tasting room. An exhibit hall booth featuring items from Baby The Stars Shine Bright quickly sold out of merchandise. Returning for its second year was the Asian Food Challenge, where contestants with strong stomachs sampled exotic foods from Asia.

The evening concluded with a rock concert featuring local bands Vamp Star and Vaeidos and VK band from Japan, Suicide Ali. The bands performed to a capacity crowd. Pacific Media Expo continues through Sunday.

I’ve been on vacation from work since Monday.  So what exactly do I do when I’m on vacation?  Actually, when I go on vacation, it’s usually to accommodate some rest time either before or after a convention that I cover.  The last time I went on vacation was after Fanimecon because I knew I would need it.  Driving up to San Jose and covering a 4-day convention is exhausting and I needed the week after to rest up and work on photos.  This time, I’m getting ready for Pacific Media Expo (PMX) this weekend.  Much like last year, I plan to provide daily summaries along with a few photos.  It would make a bit more sense to take a vacation after PMX, but since that would be too close to the mandatory days off for Thanksgiving, I chose to take a vacation before PMX.

So, what have I done so far?  I don’t feel the need to do anything.  I don’t feel the need to go on a trip or anything like that.  When I’m on vacation, I want to relax and I’m a homebody for the most part.  I’m most comfortable at home.  Last time, I wrote how I was really swamped with photos to edit.  I’ve actually finished the photos from Mikomicon and the trip to the Salton Sea that I took a few weeks ago.  I’m really pleased with making some progress there.  I made a few medical appointments for this week.  I got a flu shot over the weekend and I had an eye exam on Tuesday.  Thursday morning, I have an appointment with the dentist.  I also took time to vote and went on a little location scouting trip for a possible upcoming photo project.  No, I didn’t use my ballot stub or “I Voted” sticker to get a free cup of coffee, donut, or scoop of ice cream.  I wish that I did.  That’s what a typical vacation is like for me.  It’s not terrifically exiting, but it sure is relaxing.

I had a fairly relaxing weekend.  It was nice to not be on the road or attend an event for once.  I’ve kept myself busy working on various photo projects for my own website as well as J!-ENT.  It seems that I’ve been at an event almost every weekend since San Diego Comic Con.  I’ve covered all sorts of events from picnics to cultural events (Festival of Philippine Arts and Culture, Nisei Week, Harvest Moon Festival) to conventions (Mikomicon, Anime Con Carne) to road trips (San Diego, Salton Sea) to entertainment (SUGIZO, Juno Reactor).  I’ve reported on many of these events in The Scrap Heap.  It’s been a gruelling summer/early fall.

I’ve never covered so many events in such a short amount of time.  The result is a fairly intimidating backlog of photos.  There’s also the fact that I’m physically exhausted from covering all of these events.  I’m not doing too badly.  I finished the cultural events quickly.  Fortunately, those don’t require a lot of photo editing.  I usually just go with a slight brightness adjustment.  I raced through the Juno Reactor stuff because whenever I cover those, I put all other projects on the back burner.  Over the weekend, I finished editing my Mikomicon photos and I’m currently in the process fo building the web pages for it.  Once that’s done, I plan to work through the photos that I took during my trip to the Salton Sea.  Even though it was only a casual trip, everybody involved really wants to see the results and in the end, there will probably less than 100 photos, so it can be done quickly.  That leaves enough photos for two issues of Cosplay Underground to go through, and those require quite a bit more post-processing.

With Pacific Media Expo looming in the distance, it’s time to cut down on my late night Rock Band sessions and get to work on these photos.  Sure, I enjoy it and am actually learning quite a bit about my photo editing programs and how they work.  Photo editing was always one of the aspects of digital photography that I never really enjoyed, but this experience has taught me how to be more efficient at it, especially when it comes to color and light corrections.  One of these days, I’ll actually be finished…  I think.

It’s a new week and once again I’m out taking cosplay photos at some seemingly random site in Southern California. This past weekend, I was in Van Nuys for an invitation-only event known as Anime Con Carne.   Yes, I know that this past weekend, the Autumn Dream (formerly Ani-Magic) was also being held.  Honestly, I don’t like the idea of counter programing but there are various reasons why I chose to attend this event.  The main reasons for me coming here were that I knew more people who were attending Anime Con Carne, it’s easier to get to, and it’s a much better place to take photographs.

Over 100 people attended Anime Con Carne.  It’s not really a convention, but it does have an official hotel and some programming, panels, and contests.  Since it’s an invitation-only event, it’s more of a gathering of friends.  Everybody seems to know each other in some roundabout way if not directly.  It’s a small event, but a very good place to network and meet with other photographers, cosplayers, and anime fans.  Otherwise, it’s just a nice way to spend an afternoon at the park and have a barbeque.  Anime Con Carne is another one of the well-organized independent events that have become more common, paricularly in the Southern California area.

For me, it was a welcome break from being on the road for the past few weekend.  It was nice to stay in town instead of driving hours to get where I needed to go.  This park is one of my favorite locations in the Los Angeles area.  Even though some of my favorite areas of the park were undergoing some construction, conditions were still good to continue shooting for future Cosplay Underground editions.  I just had to do some extra scouting of the area.  My victims for today included cosplayers “Chuwei” dressed as Rinali Li from the series D. Gray-Man, and “Anela” dressed as Simca from the series Air Gear.  Look for them upcoming issues of Cosplay Underground.

Last week, I wrote about a little photo session I did at a museum in the San Diego.  This past weekend, I took part in another on-location cosplay photo session.  This one involved a rather long and treacherous road trip to the middle of nowhere.  This weekend, we were shooting on the eastern shores of the Salton Sea, 220 feet below sea level and halfway between San Diego and the Arizona border.  The group that I travelled with consisted of a dozen cosplayers and six photographers.

We left in two groups.  One group left from Los Angeles and had a relatively easy trip along the freeway 10.  The group I travelled in left from San Diego and took a scenic route along winding two-lane highways through the mountains of San Diego and Imperial Counties.  Eventually, we met up at a place called Desert Beach, site of an abandoned seaside resort.  Today, most of our cosplayers chose to dress as assassins unrelated to anime or video games.  Today would just be a fun photo session that wasn’t supposed to make a lot of sense.

There are many abandoned buildings along the Salton Sea.  The motel at Desert Beach is in surprisingly good shape.  They’re definitely dangerous but there really isn’t anything to keep anybody from entering the structures or climbing on top of them.  Perhaps they’re a big tourist attraction and that’s why they haven’t been torn down.  The odor of dead fish is very strong.  Along the shore, you can find numerous dead fish.  We stayed at this location during the brightest part of the day.  After a break or lunch, we moved to our second location, Bombay Beach.

Bombay Beach was the site of a flood and a lot of the remains are still standing.  It’s an eerie place.  you can explore these ruins and find furniture and appliances that people left behind.  The surface here looks muddy, but it’s actually a somewhat firm mix of sand and salt.  A lot of things here are covered with salt.  Along the water, the sand is covered with fish bones.

At the end of the day, everybody was very satisfied with the trip and we felt that it was definitely worth it to travel this far to take a few photos.  This is a location that we would probably like to visit again to do more cosplay photography.  The trip was dirty and exhausting, but worth the effort.  It’s really a great experience to travel with such a large group who enjoy this hobby.  These trips aren’t so much about getting photos taken or getting work done.  It’s really more about getting there together and having fun and being with friends.

Sure, I have yet to put together v. 002 of Cosplay Underground, but I’ve already begun shooting v. 003.  For Cosplay Underground, it’s nice to have some photos in the bank and work on issues when I get the chance.  The first issue that I completed this year was shot entirely at Fanimecon in San Jose.  The second issue will feature photos taken at an organized cosplay picnic, Nisei Week, and Mikomicon.  Basically, the first two issues were shot at conventions or cosplay events.  Issue 3 is going to venture away from the conventions and organized cosplay events, at least in part.  Basically, I’ll be going to various locations in Southern California with a few adventurous cosplayers and seeing what happens.

Over this past weekend, I travelled with a group of photographers and cosplayers to the Antique Gas and Steam Engine Museum in Vista, CA.  In the back area of this museum is a truck, tractor, and farm machinery graveyard.  There’s a lot of old rusty vehicles and random pieces of junk.  It was a very interesting and colorful location to take photos of cosplayers.  On this day we had several cosplayers dressed as characters from the video game Persona 3.  I actually had enough cosplayers on this occasion to finish a whole edition of Cosplay Underground and have it completely devoted to this group.  It would have been the biggest issue so far, but the weather did not cooperate and I was only able to work with three cosplayers on this day.

The photos appearing above are cosplayers “Sushi Monster” as Ken, “Shiya” as Fuuka, and “Susan” as Aigis.