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Event Report: MomoCon

Matt — Wed, 12 May 2010 10:05:16 +0000

If you didn’t get a chance to go to MomoCon a few months ago then I have to say next year I’d highly suggest you make plans to attend. Located on the large Georgia Tech Campus, the convention as a whole was quite a display of what can be organized with a few talented and passionate individuals.

MomoCon is free convention with all sorts of perks given to those that donate a little extra or buy an upgraded passes. Even with that said, it really is a well run convention and has a little bit of everything wherever your interests may lay in the Anime subculture. For me, I was surprisingly contacted by one of the lead organizers on MomoCon Twitter and was invited to attend, and even wore an awesome special guest pass while attending.

I will also say that when registration opens their “free” block of passes (they have to limit their numbers due to the regulations of the campus) go quite quickly. So register as soon as you get a chance!

MomoCon’s Website

For MomoCon 2010, I primarily participated in two panels; one centered around Steampunk Costuming & Design, and the other on Cosplay Photography; or as I like to call it, Basic Portraiture.
I’ll be the first to admit I was a bit lost for words during the Steampunk Costuming & Design. I didn’t quite know where to interject my thoughts on the entire affair given my perspective as a photographer. Mostly I let the tremendously talented Matt, Erin, John of Penny Dreadful Productions and Meredith, Joseph of Outlander Armour take it away.

I will say in general, and from a down and dirty sort of view, shooting specialized costumes typically only takes a extra effort in the sense as a photographer you have to ensure your composition truly takes advantage of whatever your shooting. This can also be said for any specialized post processing techniques you might decide to use.

In the case of my Steampunk photography, I let the client/costume tell the story by putting them in a unique environment and ensure that I properly light the stunning wardrobe. On the post-processing end of things, its quite easy to convert images to sepia or to give them an aged sort of look and this typically enhances to story element of the shots. However; I say this also with the understanding that any technique can be overused and should like any seasoning in a meal be used appropriately and sparingly.

On the other hand, when I spoke during the Cosplay Photography panel with Meredith, I’d like to think I had a little more understanding of the entire affair. Meredith and I spoke to the basic tenets of model / photographer relationships.

Communication

Photographer’s responsibilities

Model Releases

Composition

Lighting

While Meredith and I didn’t have nearly enough time to cover all the bases when it comes to Cosplay/Portraiture Photography it was really overall a great experience. One of my soon to be clients katie even got a couple of snapshots of us during the panel. If you attended or even if you have some general questions yourself please don’t hesitate to let me know!

Horo of Spice and Wolf

Matt — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 10:00:02 +0000

I’ll be the first to admit while I enjoy Anime, I barely have any time to keep up with it. I’ll also freely admit that when someone mentioned they have a new costume or something unique to shoot, I jump at it. Meredith contacted me early one week with a new costume she’d like shot. After describing the character to me, I knew exactly where to take her.

As with most shoots of this nature, below is a little write up by Meredith since she knew a great deal more about the character then I.

It’s been a long time since I sat and serious looked at my costume portfolio. During a redesign and re-imaging phase of my website, I realized how desperately I need new content, even of the same old costumes. At most I have one, maybe two, photos in each gallery I’m gaga over – but most of it is just convention shots or photos that showcase the costume well enough, but do little to invoke a feeling.

Yes, I’m that kind of nut.

As much as I love sewing and playing dress up, one of the biggest turn-ons for me is seeing everything come to life. Matt is amazing at that. Capturing these moments, allowing these characters to explode into the 3-dimensional from the pages and cells of my favorite comic or anime.

Wednesday, Matt had some downtown after work and invited me to come up to his place for a mini shoot. I say mini, because most of our shoots thus far have involved hiking, climbing, dodging bullets, and scaling mountains. (Maybe not the bullet part, but just wait til we go to the abandoned prison!) We went to a little field near his place, and the worse I had to suffer was traipsing through the mud barefooted. The shoot also lasted for only about 45 mins, and we got maybe 100 shots.

I wanted a wheat field, it was essential to my shoot. As Matt said, it’s a shame I didn’t decide on this 4 months ago when the fields where blazing with tall grass and un-cut wheat (but no one says we can’t shoot this costume again later!). The character, Horo from the anime Spice and Wolf, is a goddess of the harvest and associates herself with wheat and loves apples. It’s also an adorable love story.

Spice and Wolf

As Matt is super prompt about these things, I had the proofs ready by the time I got home! The hardest part is sifting through, trying to find which shots not only flatter me and the costume, but looking for the ones I think will stand out in a sea of other cosplay pictures. Now, the hardest part, waiting for the edits. ^_^

Below is a small gallery of my lovely afternoon spent with Meredith Placko

Anime Weekend Atlanta 15

Matt — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 10:00:45 +0000

If you’re not familiar with AWA (Anime Weekend Atlanta), it’s a Japanese animation (or Anime) and comics convention held in Atlanta each year shortly after Dragon*Con. It’s quite an exciting convention filled with interesting and unique costumes (or as they might call it cosplays).

I’ve been going for quite a few years now typically just to see whats popular as well as to check out all these fantastic costumes. You can see some of my past coverage at the following links:

This year was a fairly quiet year for me as far as AWA is concerned. I was so dead tired from Dragon*Con that I barely got to do anything or really enjoy all the activities available. However, I did get to attend a few things, namely the fashion show indicated below as well as meet up with a few of my local repeat clients.

Here are a few examples of the shots I took during the Lolita Fashion Show

I was fairly lucky to also run into the Outland Armour crew at AWA. There was a steampunk ball late on evening to which they were the guests of honor. I was able to grab a few shots before they went into the event.

Near the end of the convention, a couple of old friends asked if I would shoot their group as well. I’m always happy to help a friend out when I have the spare time. Here are the shots below for you to check out!

Anime Weekend Atlanta 14

Matt — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 14:40:45 +0000

Anime Weekend Atlanta ultimately was a quite a depressing affair this year. As a few may have read from my previous post, I lost a CF card with left me quite out of it for the convention. It was lost on Friday night and I did everything possible to try and track it down but it was simply gone. With that combined with general con exhaustion, I ended up leaving on Saturday night to spend Sunday recovering.

Cosplay Costume Contest
I did attend the costume contest as always and I must say there were a few impressive entries this year. Some of my personal favorites though didn’t make an appearance in the contest. I’ve included my gallery below of available shots for your enjoyment.

AWA SmugMug Gallery