This journal is so late;; Hope everyone's been having a great summer so far~!! This year at Fanime I had a total of 15 shoots over 3 days, it was crazy and fun and lots of awesome. There are parks and really nice hotels within a comfortable walking distance of San Jose Convention Center. Since they're "con hotels" too, the staff are already accustomed to cosplayers roaming around by the time shoots are set up.. I haven't gotten kicked out of a Fanime location yet!
Ultra-sexy JialingPan assisted me at some of my shoots also, IN COSPLAY, thank you for your invaluable help~~ >3<
Most of these shoots are by no means finished, there are many more photos to come. Thank you for waiting, featured cosplayers! orz
SATURDAY
I was so excited to see all my friends again!!! Lots of people traveled up from southern California to attend, and others flew in from around the country (though mostly from the West Coast) and Canada~ /3/
First up were princesses and princes and human-form cats!
Sailor Moon Princesses
Organized by TerrorSprinkles, everyone looked so gorgeous~!! It felt like I was shooting a prom! *3* A super beautiful one!!!
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Setsugetsuka
Finally met kitsunesqueak ! We shot in a high-traffic area which was my bad and not the best idea, sorry guys. Lots of sniper-photogs and people walking in front of my camera.
They looked so good though~!!
Tinkerbell
Cosplayer I've worked with before + solo shoot + outdoors/forest + good lighting = best situation for shooting I could possibly get at a con. Her wings were sick!
Magna Carta
This was a super amazing group. Magna Carta speaks for itself, but they pulled off a crazy amount of details.
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Ciel
bekalou-cosplay always amazes me with her cosplays, and this Ciel was no exception. The detail shot was one of the first teasers I posted because there was really nothing that needed to be touched up on the outfit itself; even when viewed this close it was flawless~
Sengoku Basara
Preliminary count was 2-3 and I was so amazed to see all of them show up. *D* Unfortunately, it started pouring as soon as we convened and didn't let up until their hour was finished. Many thanks to them for being so willing to shoot in the rain, especially with their props and armor. (Of all the groups for it to rain on... =_=;; ) THEY HAD BURNING SOUL!!!
I think the glow in the BG is a result of sunlight filtering through the rain and possibly the slight smudging of water drops on my lens filter. Pro tips for anyone who wants to try it. XD;; Just kidding, please don't, or at least have plastic over your camera body if you shoot in the rain. My camera did a hiccup/had a slight malfunction that scared the heck outta me.
Pandora Hearts
This felt like somewhat of a continuation of last year's shoot in the rose garden. ^_^ quatre2323 did Oz and Gil again, but made completely new outfits that were just as elegant and tailored as before (if not more so).
After Pandora Hearts I went back to my hotel room and collapsed for a while, ate some cookies, watched badly-dubbed Yu-Gi-Oh on the hotel TV and waited for the next group to get changed.
Kuragehime
Midnight shoot haha YOU GUYS. This was all crack. All of it. /D/
By this point I had lost my mind and was ready for pretty much anything.
I can't tell the difference between the playing-around photos and the shoot photos.....
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SUNDAY
Sailor Moon Scouts
They were all so pretty and cheerful, it was great working with this group~!! Thank you daydreamernessa!
InuYasha
Thanks caineyamiyasha for light reflector help; This was a super chill shoot, very calm and low-stress. So the photos turned out that way too. ^-^;; I didn't have much time to get acquainted with the characters beforehand, but the cosplayers and JialingPan helped with pose ideas.
Avatar Fire Nation
Solos for KoiCosplay and friends! Thanks blackfruitbat for setting up the shoot, I'm glad I got to work with all you cool kids again this con!! /3/
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FFXIII Fang x Lightning
Midnight shoot on couches! This was so funny. The three of us weren't used to shooting yuri (only yaoi) so we had to look up poses via smart phone;;;
MONDAY
Hakuouki
This turned out to be a co-shoot with BertLePhoto ! Tag-teaming is fun once in a while, especially with larger groups, then cosplayers won't be as left out. I think the key is that both photographers make an effort to understand each other and communicate. (Versus photographers who don't introduce themselves and steal cosplayers away without asking.... but I'll leave that to another journal.)
p.s. Thanks for doing BL poses you guys are the best!! TT3TT
Kobato
Bekaaaaa again! Found her wandering around in front of the con and spirited her away to go play in the forest! >D
These were the same shooting conditions as the Tinkerbell shoot~ I could concentrate so much more on artistic direction, versus solving low-light problems & avoiding people. Therefore, this ended up being the first processed/completed shoot for this con, since very few touch-ups were necessary. I HAVE ONE SHOOT FINISHED?!!
Star Driver
I will admit I'm not the best at shooting sexy cosplays, my style doesn't suit this genre very well. Though I am trying to get better at it! This modern-decorated hotel worked pretty well for the background, thankfully, I was worried about finding a suitable place for this one.
Extra Silly Shots 8D
Rolling around the hotel lobby~~~
A neighboring photoshoot :3
This guy snuck up on our shoot. XD;;;
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EXTENDED coverage by other photogs/cosplayers!
EXTENDED coverage by other photogs/cosplayers!
There were tons of other interesting things going on while I was doing my own shoots, here are a few from other DA contacts that are worth checking out!
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THANK YOU
...to everyone who made Fanime such a super fun con, from cosplayers to fellow photographers and congoers. My next con will be Yaoi-con in October~ Looking forward to seeing everyone again! X)
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