The Northern California Spring Cosplay Meet was held in Hakone Gardens, a beautiful and rather large Japanese-style garden in Saratoga.

They had really great traditional-looking buildings, some accessible and some not.
It was so tempting to jump the fence and shoot in this shack. >_<

Heading into the bamboo forest path; it was perfect for Mushishi cosplay~



~bekalou-cosplay

SEXAY

~heulangel & ~thiefbydesign

barfing open a trans-dimensional portal

Oh, to be so young and energetic!!
I had such a hard time keeping up with them;; It was quite a challenge but at the same time the spontaneity made their photos much more lively.

Best prop evar! XDDD
Man I don't even know where you would buy a photo sleeve like that, it's so impractical... but AWESOME.

The meet was from noon to 4 so managing sunlight was a definite challenge. Many photographers in this shot.
~KAZUHOLIC ~BlizzardTerrak *Stormfalcon

... to get an idea of the awesome attendance.
Close to 60 cosplayers, I think?
And maybe a dozen photogs.
This was my first general NorCal cos meet and it was better than I could've hoped. It was great meeting so many cosplayers and photogs who live in the area, I look forward to seeing you all again at Fanime~ ^-^
My full flickr photoset of the event is here: [link]
Thank you to *ocwajbaum, *Bekalou and ~KurisuchieKitty for organizing the meet!
More photos at cosplayers' galleries:
:thumb157261501: @
@
@ Sakura-con (Seattle, WA) is in two weeks!
I'll have a table in artist's alley, so please say hi if you visit.
For those I've talked with about shoots already, I'll be sending timeslots your way soon. Looking forward to seeing everyone from last year again!!

















Your Mushishi photos are great, I love the atmosphere. ^^
Yes I really want to go back and shoot some more. XO
It's really close to Fanime so maybe I will drag some cosplayers there...
I'm very glad you like the photos, thank you so much for letting me know. Hope to run into you again at future meetups/cons! ^-^/
And just fun to shoot without /too much/ pressure like planned photoshoots... try new techniques and things. Gotta goof off once in a while!
Great seeing you there!!