AndyRak Blog

Tim Gunn on Superheros' style xD

2010-10-16T00:00:00.000-07:00

Just came across these videos online~ So awesome really gotta share with you guys xD

Part I:

Part II:

IMO - Paid Photoshoot

2010-10-10T12:13:00.000-07:00

Fellow photographer Beethy recently started a discussion on photoshoot-and-charging on his journal. "Should photographers charge for their service" is like one of the most frequently discussed/argued topics in the cosplay community. If you are a professional photographer unfamiliar with the cosplay scene you will be amazed by how unlikely cosplayers are willing to pay for your service.

The original discussion posted on Beethy's blog: link

People have all sort of reasons why photoshoots should be free. We have photographers aiming only to build their portfolio and/or practice their skill and thus feel bad charging; we have cosplayers even suggesting that photographers should be the ones paying because cosplayers are spending lots of time on their costumes and they are also the one modeling for the photographers; we also have people who think charging for cosplay shoots will eventually turn the cosplay circle into a commercial hellhole where everything is about $$$.

Personally I am not against photographers charging for their service. It make perfect sense to me for an artist to get paid for the time, professionalism and expertise they put in on a project. Just like cosplayers getting paid on commissioned costumes/accessories. Photographers are free to simply put up a price and start charging for their service, be it $10/hr, $100/hr, $1000/hr, etc etc...

However, the thing is most cosplayers don't have a budge for photoshoots and thus won't be willing to spend money on photography service. Not so much because they don't have the money but because most of them treat cosplaying as a hobby and fancy photographs is not really necessary for them to enjoy a good time.

I think photographers shouldn't expect *every* cosplayers to pay for your service. Just like you don't bust into a wedding, take pictures and demand the couples to pay you. There are people who are willing to pay for excellent photographs. However I do think a different marketing strategy/business model should be used due to the lower demand for photography service in the cosplay community...

Saboten-Con 2010

2010-10-05T18:42:00.000-07:00

Toiea as Lavi from D.Grey-Man

Just come back from Saboten-con in Arizona this past weekend. It was my first time traveling to an AZ con and it was a really wonderful experience. Apparently it's one of the larger local conventions so there were a lot of AZ cosplayers attending. The hotel was a super nice resort and it was all sunny and warm so it totally put me in vacation mood all weekend. xD

GreyFinch as Casimiro from HiNaBn

Walked around the convention a couple times and attended the Hanna's not a Boy's Name gathering on Saturday meeting a group of fellow Hanna fans. Fun time!! Surprisingly there is quite some Hanna cosplayers at Saboten this year. This web comic is seriously getting popular fast :D

So much fun hanging out w. some of my favorite AZ friends and meeting some new ones~~ Can't wait to check out some more AZ cons in the future~~ :-)

Oh yea and now my 2010 convention count is 6!

Self Reminder: At-Con photo shoot

2010-09-05T21:17:00.000-07:00

Sac Anime was this weekend and it was pretty much the last con of summer 2010 in California. So far I've been to 5 conventions this year and thanks to that I got the opportunity to shoot at various convention locations. Some shoots went well and some didn't. After reviewing those failed shoots I realized one very important thing that I overlooked all these time.

Here is a screen shot of a poll from my DA:

The most important thing I (or any photog) have to keep in mind is we are at a convention. People are rushing from here to there so we should pay extra attention on how long a shoot might take. Don't be over ambitious trying to finish three 2-hours shoots in 1 day or spending 4 hours for one shoot.

At-con photo-shoots have a totally different set of rules.

Just another self-reminder. :)

Fanime 2010

2010-06-21T11:38:00.000-07:00

We have hotel lobby w. classy setting right next to the convention center

Fanime is still my most favorite convention in California. I was so happy to attend this convention 3 years in a row. It has gotta a lot bigger compared to 2007 but still at least as awesome as before! :)

Stairs, tree and grass (aka. park) 3 blocks away from the convention center

There are so many places available for shooting. The variation is really great. You would have no problem looking for location for various series. Also, unlike LA, most of the locations doesn't requires any special photography permission to shoot. Making it much easier for photographers and cosplayers.

Random bikes at the convention center

This year I didn't setup any photo shoot but instead I was walking around the convention center getting photographs here and there. It was really fun hanging out with old friends and meeting new ones. I really enjoy being so relaxed at con, I guess I'm gonna do this more often from now on :)

Indoor at the convention center

All images (hi-res) can be found on my homepage and my DeviantArt. Anime Expo is in 10 days... I can hardly wait for the fun time ahead!! :D :D

Remarkable ACG Photographers

2010-05-11T18:30:00.000-07:00

What Frank West was planning to do with a camera in this situation is beyond me

If you are a fan of anime, comic or game I'm sure you already noticed there are quite a lot of photographers in various ACG series. In a ~~twisted~~ sense, they are much like photographers in real life in which they all carry their equipments around everywhere they go and each have their own skill-level and specialties. However, the biggest different is that in the ACG world most of these "photographers" used their camera for everything but photo taking...

Here is a list of remarkable ACG photographers. You might consider them to be as big as Nigrel Barker in the ACG world. xD

Aya Shameimaru - Creepy Photographer

Aya uses a wide range of gears. Including Leica rangefinder, p-and-s, dSLR, SLR... anything

Aya is one of the many characters from the famous non-commercial gaming series Touhou Project. She is the main journalist of her own newspapers Bunbunmaru Newspaper and is always busy collecting material for her articles. She has a habit of taking embarrassing or risque photos of other characters for her newspaper and she is often being seen harassing her assistant Momiji Inubashiri. Definitely one of the most infamous creepy photographers in the ACG world.

Momiji is often a victim of Aya's harassment.

Frank West - Super Hero Photographer

Frank's favorite gear is probably baseball bat, or guns or anything that kill zombies

Frank West told everyone not to mess with an ACG photographer in the epic Capcom action game Dead Rising. In the game he was forced to fight his way out of a zombie-infested mall with anything he picked up in there. Obviously being artistic with his photography didn't quite make it to his priority list and thus his camera is more like a fancy necklace than a... camera. After playing for a while I really think he should consider a career change. He could be an AMAZING underground fighter I'm sure. XD

Frank will be appearing in Marvel vs. Capcom III next year. This time bringing his game to the next level by fighting against various superheros from Marvel.

Heroines from Fatal Frame - Drama Queens

Camera Obscura is the gear of choice in the Fatal Frame series

There is a lot of very dramatic events going on with Miku Hinasaki, Mayu/Mio Amakura and Rei Kurosawa from the Fatal Frame series. Among the 4 of them Rei is an award-winning freelance photographer while Miku is a photography assistant (Fatal Frame III). However, unlike most freelance photographers in the US they don't get to deal with style and clients much during their work hours but instead they deal with ghosts, exorcism, and dark Shinto rituals on a day-to-day basis. Definitely not an easy career over there.

Can't wait to try Fatal Frame IV on Wii.

99% of Rei's tasks involved photographing ghost from various haunted mansions. Quite different from what we do in California.

Jiro Tomitake - Victim Photographer

Gear of choice for Jiro is his SLR. He is going everywhere with it.

Jiro Tomitake is quite an unfortunate photographer as he got killed so many times in the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni series. For a second there he might even reminded you of Kenny Mccormick from SouthPark except his death is usually less comical. He is a freelance photographer who travel to the Hinamizawa town around 3 times a year for his work but unfortunately usually ended up getting killed there.

He specialized in bird photography... although we didn't really get to see any of his works from the series.

IMO - SouthPark

2010-02-16T12:49:00.000-08:00

(image source: WarriorPoint)

A few years ago I thought all American cartoons are for kids and I'd introduce people to Japanese animes just because they are less "kiddy"...

Recently I realized I've been totally wrong all these time... South Park for one is definitely not for kids xD

The theme and story-telling of this show is so different from anime in general. The show is always about the current events happening in the society. Criticism of countries' politics, religions and many other touchy subjects are usual topics of the show. Also, no matter what the topic was the four kids would still swear non-stop in most episodes (except maybe Kenny since we can't really tell what he is saying most of the time xD) The script are nicely written so most of the time you'd get a good laugh from it rather than be pissed/offended by the show.

I'd recommend this show to everyone (18+ I mean). If you are an anime fan and need a break from it this is definitely the show to checkout! I am sure you are gonna be addicted :D

... IMO this show really need more love from the cosplay circle. It'll be AWESOME :D

All episodes available on southparkstudio.com

Top 10 series in the 2010 cosplay scene - 2

2010-02-12T20:01:00.000-08:00

At least the Europe's Debt Crisis doesn't have much to do with this one (Google Image)

Warning: nerdy entry... continue from previous post

Reborn! (aka. Katekyo Hitman Reborn)

Reborn! all-stars (image source: Google Image)

Info: wiki
Reborn has been a very popular shonen series in the cosplay scene for quite a while. The chracter design are simple and clean making them relatively easier to cosplay. The list of character growth as the series proceed and both the anime, manga and light novel are still ongoing meaning we'll be sure to see more and more cosplays from this series in 2010.

Zone-00

Zone-00 main cast (image source: Gaia Online)

Info: wiki
If you frequent Japanese cosplay sites such as Cure I'm sure you already heard of this series before. This manga has been quite popular in the Japanese cosplay scene since 2 years ago and we started seeing more and more people cosplaying from this series in Taiwanese conventions last year.This year in Anime LA and AOD we started seeing our very own Zone-00 cosplay group. There is still no news about an animation series yet but it's already so popular among the ACG circle. I'm sure we'll see a lot of people cosplaying from this series this year.

Final Fantasy XIII

Final Fantasy XIII in game scene (Image source: PSPSPS)

Info: wiki
We started seeing cosplays from FF-XIII in the US cosplay scene since... 2007. As the release date drew near we kept seeing more and more people cosplaying characters from the series. As we (fans) all know, the English version of the game is scheduled to be released on March 9th this year and it's only logical to expect even more fans cosplaying from this series. As always the designers in Square Enix did an awesome job in the costume designs. I can hardly wait to see more Final Fantasy cosplayers walking around convention centers everywhere.

Avatar the last Airbender | Alice | Avatar

Tim Burton's Alice in wonderland (Image source: Manny the Movie Guy)

Info: wiki | wiki | wiki
Cosplay from movies is more popular in some conventions than the others. WonderCon and San Diego Comic Con are two of the bigger conventions where movie-cosplay is more popular. Avatar made a great impact early this year and we can definitely expect seeing cosplays from this movie. Avatar the last Airbender and Alice are another two highly anticipated series to be released some time this year. Anyway C'mon guys these are movies, 3 hours at most... check them out before going to these cons would you? XD

Katanagatari | Baka to Test to Shōkanjū

Katanagatari (Image source: Brianandrew)

Info: wiki | wiki
New series are like penny stocks (lol). It's hard to tell how big are they gonna get but for sure some fans will be attracted to these two very colorful series and decide to cosplay from them this year. They are both still airing in Japan this season and they are really fun to check out. Definitely look forward to seeing them at cons.

We will get more pointers from CWT24 in 2 weeks. By then we'll have a much better idea on which series to "invest" in for the convention season this year! Good luck people. Have fun shooting in various 2010 conventions! XD

~~...darn I'm nerdy... lol~~

Top 10 series in the 2010 cosplay scene - 1

2010-02-11T00:27:00.000-08:00

Cosplay photography is a serious business (image source: Getty images)

So all of us photographers who like to shoot at anime conventions know that the cosplay scene is fast and constantly changing like Wall Street. If we invest our time researching the wrong series we'll ended up losing EVERYTHING in the upcoming convention season. Because of that, insider information and a little prediction is very important for what we do.

Since I'm ~~feeling nerdy~~ bored let me list my personal guess on 2010 most popular ~~stocks~~ series in the cosplay circle. I spited up the entry into 2 to hopefully make it easier to read :D

Vocaloid

Members of the Vocaloid family (image source: komica)

Info: wiki
The Vocaloid family were already HUGE in many Asian and US conventions last year. We can expect to see them being even more active this year with the addition of new characters, songs and the much anticipated Black Rock Shooter anime project which is scheduled to air this Spring. Magnet, Akuno Musume, Hagane and Black Rock Shooter are some of the most popular series among the cosplay circle. Definitely check them out!

Black Butler (Kuroshitsuji)

Sebastian and Ciel from Black Butler (image source: komica)

Info: wiki
Black Butler was already a "major player" in 2009. It was not unusual to run into 10 Ciel and 8 Sebastian in a convention. The series have extremely remarkable costume designs and it definitely got the attention of many cosplayers worldwide. The more recent addition of the Noah's Ark Circus pushed the design to the next level and now everyone in the series seems to wear Haute couture wherever they go. I think we can definitely expect to see more Black Butler cosplay this year.

Macross Frontier

Movie poster of the Macross Frontier movie "The False Diva" (image source: komica)

Info: wiki
Macross Frontier was a big hit back in 08 and 2009. The amazing storyline and characters development of this series made it a very popular choice among cosplayers. Although the TV series ended in 2008 the manga is still going on and from what we saw in ALA and AOD it is clear that cosplayers are still very excited about cosplaying characters from the series. I'd expect the upcoming movie scheduled to release in Japan this Fall would keep the momentum going for 2010.

K-On

The 4 main girls in their concert outfits (image source: komica)

Info: wiki
K-On was another commercial success of Kyoto Animation, the production company of Full Metal Panic, Lucky Star and Haruhi. The story was about these 4 girls of a really laid back after-school music club. Some of the outfits in the show are gorgeous, unfortunately they were only being showcased in 1 or 2 episodes when the main characters performed in "concerts". Despite the lack of costumes we still saw plenty of people cosplaying from the series in 2009 and with the airing of a 2nd season in April I'd look forward to seeing more and more cosplay from this series.

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Mari Illustrious Makinami, new character of the Evangelion series (image source: komica)

Info: wiki
It might sound weird to expect a series from 1995 to come back 15 years later. Believe it or not, Evangelion is getting BIG once again thanks to the newly released animation movies. Two of the 4 episodes of the new movie series has already been released and the new characters and storyline once again attracted lots of fans and cosplayers. The last two movies is supposed to introduce us a brand new ending of Evangelion and they will come out in Summer and Winter this year. Prepare to see more Rei and Asuka running around the convention centers this year.

(... continue in Part II)

AOD 2010

2010-02-10T01:10:00.000-08:00

I still kinda remember how I told myself in 2009 to cut back on conventions (to save up for food) but I guess it's just not that easy... lol

"Genma Shizume, Darker than Black". Cosplayed by: Muze

So after a relatively last minute decision of attending Anime LA last month, my fellow soCal friends and I decided (again, last minute) to drive all the way to San Francisco to attend Animation on Display. It is a relatively smaller conventions that all of us have heard of but none of us have ever attended before. It was a nice experience to have a convention in such a busy neighborhood (SF Japan Town) where we have access to nice restaurants, grocery stores and pretty much everything in San Francisco. The convention hotel was a bit small, however, I was quite surprised by the variety of locations available for shooting. The gorgeous Japan Town made a wonderful backdrop for shooting various anime costumes.

Although I didn't take many pictures it was still a lot of fun hanging out with friends and checking out all these random restaurants in San Fransisco. I can hardly wait for more fun time this year. I'm sure it's gonna be awesome! :)

Wandering around J-Town with "brown bags" (aka.. beer) in hand (image source: Minh Soi)

Nice to Meet You, Home - 2

2009-12-12T19:20:00.000-08:00

You would think this shot was taken by Terry Richardson but actually it was from Dad... many years ago XD

It is always nice to see my sister Ruby. She has been in Hong Kong all these years and she knows all the nice places to shop, eat and party. She is currently in her final year of college and unfortunately November was one of her busiest months with tons of tests, exams and projects. But luckily we still got enough time to hangout and took some photographs.

We took all our shots at home, right before Ruby run to school for her exams. Here is the (mock) setup for one of the 3 compositions:

We used our living room for one of the setup. (Mom was rushing XD)

The mini-shoot was a lot of fun... although now I can only remember the super delicious Hai-Nan chicken rice after the shoot that afternoon lol. I look forward to hanging out with Ruby again the next time I return to Hong Kong :)

For the result of this mini-shoot, please check out my website andyrakphoto.com

Nice to Meet You, Home - 1

2009-12-12T10:35:00.000-08:00

The name of this restaurant described the quality of Chinese food in Hong Kong. XD

Eat, Eat, Eat, Eat...

That are tons of great food in Hong Kong. You can buy materials from local markets and cook it yourself or you can go to pretty much any restaurant and enjoy really high quality cooking. Once you have you first meal in Hong Kong you'll LOVE the city (and no don't go to McDonald's) XD

Shanghai cuisine is very popular in Hong Kong. You can find them anywhere (there are at least 3 restaurants serving Shanghai cuisine near my house)

There are a couple main differences between Chinese food in Asia and Chinese food in the United States. Firstly, fresh meats (aka. live animals) are available in local markets. Chicken and fish (and most seafood) are still alive in the market. Butchers kill them for you once you purchase the item. Secondly, there are many chefs from main land China and Taiwan who have been cooking Chinese food for generations and have all these secret recipes. This magically make the food taste good :D

Not sure what's the name of this type of fish.. Fresh from the market

Thirdly, most restaurants use a lot more oil in cooking than in the US. A single serving of beef-fry-noodle might contains 10+ tbsp of oil. And that, although make the foods taste better, might mess up your stomach if you are not used to it.

Herbs and Chinese medicines are added to many type of soups (to aid digestion, help your skin, etc etc...)

My stomach started complaining on the 3nd day of my trip thanks to the "beef-fry-noodle" and my sudden 4-meals-a-day diet. I guess it's never good to over-do things haha. The doctor told me to not eat "greasy, cold, raw and/or too much" food and I lol'd cause I did them all during the first 3 days of my trip! Fortunately it only took me two days to recover and it didn't affect my trip much.

Dried sea horses and sea dragons... probably soup material?

That's it for now about food in Hong Kong. Definitely worth a try if you are a fan of Chinese food!

Nice to Meet You, Home - 0

2009-11-09T20:48:00.000-08:00

My 1 year old nephew Joshua from the Bay Area ~~who keep calling me grandpa...~~

After 2 weeks of telecommuting from the Bay Area tomorrow is finally the first day of my Hong Kong trip. I haven't been back home for 3 years and I'm sure a lot have changed since my last visit. The temperature is still very warm (around 83 degree) over there so I guess it'll be like summer again.

Aside from shopping and visiting friends and family, I'll probably check out a local cosplay event called HKU cosplay party during my short stay in Hong Kong. Can't wait for some cosplay-culture-shock XD

The amount of HK money I'll bring with me to the airport (~ $87.73 USD)

Hong Kong Trip

2009-11-05T10:44:00.000-08:00

(image source: National Geographic)

Haven't been back home for 3 years... Finally got a chance to go to Hong Kong for a visit next week.

I look forward to really living the life of a HK ppl for 2 weeks. Can't wait to bring back stories and photographs of this amazing city! ^__^)

Photoshoot - Dating 101

2009-10-17T09:40:00.000-07:00

My friend Tyson is thinking of doing some freelance modeling. We decided to work together to pull out a portfolio for him to show his potential clients. Instead of starting off with fashion photographs we decided to do something fun/silly in our first shoot.

Tyson has this ultimate gorgeous Lexus IS 300 he got a while ago. When I first saw it I knew I have to somehow incorporate it in every single photo of this photo shoot. XD

Billy and I with the 3 awesome models (Leilany, Tyson, IS 300)

The best part of a casual shoot like this is we both got to play around with idea, props and location without worrying too much about brand images, wardrobe and styling. It is also a nice way to develop our teamwork.

Thanks a lot Leilany for being the "mystery date", Tyson for being our awesome model and Billy for assisting with lighting! You can view all the 5-setups here: Dating 101

Fashion Brands by Mark Tungate

2009-10-14T18:17:00.000-07:00

Awesome book by Mark Tungate

Picked up this book at a local bookstore a couple weeks ago. Author Mark Tungate did a wonderful job introducing us to the world of fashion. He first covered briefly on the history of fashion branding from Worth and Bobergh in 1858 to some of the top fashion brands nowadays including LV, Gucci and Chanels. Then he went ahead and talked about the business trend in the fashion industry, as well as discussing strategies some brands and designers used in selling their products. Being a "fashion outsider", Mark was able to cover all these topics in a way that is easy for everyone to understand.

I especially love how this book focused mainly on the business side of fashion. Fashion is a really tricky business. As Mark mentioned in this book "Fashion is based on creating a need where ,in reality, there is none" and because of that, marketing pretty much determine the success or failure of a brand. Media has always been the tool of choice in marketing fashion brands. Understanding the business side of fashion helps me understand fashion photography better. I highly recommend this book to my fellow photographers and anyone who is interested in the fashion industry :)

Mega64 Video

2009-09-22T01:20:00.000-07:00

(img source: komica)

The above image is pretty much my impression on one of the funny videos from Mega64. The team from this well-known gaming blog/forum occasionally film themselves dressing up (and acting as) video game character in public places. Usually making people annoyed and sometimes getting themselves arrested. Other than just this group of (silly) gaming fans sometimes you might even see famous guests such as Hideo Kojima in their videos. From the couple of videos I saw it seems like San Diego is one of their favorite cities to film their video. ^^;;

While dressing up in costume and disturbing people in public is not what "cosplay" is about (no, not at all), you might still find some of their video funny if you are a gaming/costuming fan. I personally found these video a little disturbing because this is exactly the type of things that give ACG* fans a bad reputation. Oh well, maybe it's just me XDD
*Anime, Comic, Game

RE4 merchant is not quite a good career in San Diego (especially near Costco XD)

If you just want a laugh and/or just wanna see how crazy gaming fans can get I'd recommend checking out some of their videos. You can find some of their videos on their YouTube channel: here.

Photographer - the Sartorialist

2009-09-19T19:49:00.000-07:00

(image source: http://morningcup.wordpress.com)

Couple names always come up when we talk about fashion photography - Nigel Barker, Annie Leibovitz, Steven Meisel, etc... The wonderful works from these world famous fashion photographers defined the look of fashion photographs in our time. Teaming up with world-class models, makeup artists and fashion designers they portrayed an extremely glamorous world of fashion that is more a fantasy than reality. Their extremely creative take of fashion photography also gives some of us an impression that fashion photographs have to be "loud" in order to be noticed by the general public.

Truth is, fashion doesn't have to mean loud. Scott Schuman, aka. the Sartorialist, takes a totally different approach in fashion photography. Instead of following the big trend of creating an unreachable fashion fantasy he decided to shoot most of his fashion work on the street with "real people" he saw everyday. As a photographer who really know fashion, he knows what is "IN" and he captures what is really attractive to the viewers. His back-to-basic approach put *fashion and style* as the main focus of his image which is sometimes not the case in today's fashion photography.

The Sartorialist Book (image source: http://www.selectism.com)

Being listed as one of Time magazine's top 100 design influencers, Schuman is now a frequent contributor of GQ Magazine. This year he published a book with some of his favorite images. His signature street-style photo made this book a really great reference of today's fashion. If you are a fan of fashion I'm sure you'll find the images in this book very inspiring. ^___^)

The Sartorialist official site - http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/

Underwater Photography

2009-09-14T12:41:00.000-07:00

I was discussing with my buddy Muze and Tony the other day about underwater photography. Muze was studying the possibility of bringing cosplay photography underwater and all of us suggested a favorite underwater photographer. Here are the 3 awesome photographers we were looking at that day:

Elena Kalis - elenakalisphoto.com/

(image source: www.preik.no)

Alix Malka - alixmalka.com

(image source: look.thecubie.com)

Zena Holloway - zenaholloway.com/zena.html

(image source: musaranias.files.wordpress.com)

They are really great photographers! I really enjoy seeing how they each handle underwater photography with their own unique execution/vision. Loving their works BIG TIME!!

Can't wait to try out underwater photography some day ^__^)

18+ Anime Convention?

2009-09-08T17:33:00.000-07:00

This poster pretty much summed up yoai-con... not really XD (image source: komica)

If you are not too familiar with the cosplay circle you might be surprised to learn that there are actually 18+ anime conventions out there. Yaoi-Con which takes place in San Mateo, CA on the October 30 - November 1, 2009 is one of these conventions. The theme of this unique convention is "yaoi"*. It is an anime convention for "fans with an interest in yaoi-related anime, manga, and other aspects of Asian culture." (wikipedia)

*Yaoi(やおい) is a popular term for female-oriented fictional media that focus on homoerotic or homoromantic male relationships, usually created by female authors (wikipedia)

Due to the adult nature of this convention, the registration process of Yaoi-Con is a little different from your usual anime conventions. Other than the regular online form and payment, pre-registration requires an extra mailing of a photocopy of your proof of age. At-con registration/badge pickup also requires a mandatory picture ID check. You will be given a bracelet upon getting your badge and you are supposed to wear this bracelet throughout the entire 3-days convention. In case you lost your bracelet you'll have to pay a rate of $60 to have it replaced.

A Ulquiorra cosplayer from Yaoi-Con 2007. Highlighted is the bracelet.

Although the theme of this con might not be something you are interested in, however, IMO this is one of the best conventions in CA for photographing cosplayers. The location is extremely photography-friendly. With some pretty nice indoor and outdoor locations to work with (if you are not planning to get away from the con-center). It is also a great chance to see costumes from series that are totally unheard of (assuming you are not a Yaoi-fan). Overall it is a totally different experience from attending bigger cons such as Anime Expo and SDCC.

For more information about this convention check out the official website: here
Location of the con: Marriott San Mateo-San Francisco Airport

Who is Ayanami Rei?

2009-09-06T00:48:00.000-07:00

Ayanami Rei, cosplayed by Anh (click for large image)

Across the whole anime universe(?) there are two characters that give me huge headache when it comes to photoshoot concept. They are Ayanami Rei from Neon Genesis Evangelion and Goku from Dragon Ball. They are two very popular, almost mainstream, anime characters that everybody know even if they are not particularly into anime, comic or game. I've seen them so many times over the years that seeing them anywhere hardly trigger my creativity anymore.

I used to be a fan of Evangelion and I am planning to do an Evangelion shoot later this year/early next year so I really have to know the characters. So I read the manga, re-watched the 26-episodes TV series, the first movie "Death-and-Rebith", the classic "The End of Evangelion" and the new movie Evangelion 1.0 movie "You are (Not) Alone". Now I think I have a nice idea about most of the character but still... I have a hard time coming up with a concept for Rei.

I think the main difficulty is she is sooo well known that there is no ONE Rei. Every person have a different perception on this character. If you google for images of this character you'll notice throughout the years people had portrayed her as sad, happy, sexy, mean, friendly... etc. There is no one image of Rei that everybody agree upon.

Despite all those perceptions from others, I think Rei is a little creepy, to say the least. She is this very pale, emotionless girl almost always being seen wearing all these heavy bandages and yet we have never seen scars or even hints of wounds on her... really I mean, does it even make sense...?

It's almost as if she's not a human being.

Thanks to my friend Anh for being the awesome undoing-bandages-Rei! ^__^)

Say you hate Photoshop

2009-09-03T02:33:00.000-07:00

A cosplay image before-and-after retouching. (image source: komica)

I was looking at some amazing before-and-after shots of celebrities on this funzblog article and it reminded me we have the thing in the cosplay circle too.

Digital photography makes PP (post-processing) of photos so much easier. Photographers no longer need a fancy darkroom to edit their image. Most photographers these days PP their own images after shooting. The degree of processing ranges from minor exposure/color adjustment to major retouching of the model's skin/bodyshape/face etc.

Although most of the time the photographer did the processing. However, if a job wasn't well done most often the cosplayers get the blames. Cosplayers certainly don't want a reputation of "over-shopping" their faces. That's why so often you will see people arguing violently on cosplay.com and other forums about PP and cosplay photo.

Photo retouched by master photo retoucher Amy Dresser (image source: photoshopblog.net)

Do realized that post-processing is a necessary part of the creative process. Telling your photographer to not process your images will greatly limit the creative potential of the shoot. However, if you do have concerns on the degree of processing the photographer might apply to your photo by all mean you should
discuss with your photographer about it.

Another thing you can do is to talk to your photog to see is it possible to get a copy of the unedited images along with the edited photographs. Be sure to talk to your photographer before editing any of the unedited images as there might be a particular look/style they want in all of their photo and you might ruin their reputation if you didn't do a great job on the editing.

That's about it, happy photoshopping (or not) XD!

Cosplay Photoshoot - Perona, One Piece

2009-08-31T00:24:00.000-07:00

Missing the cold in San Fransisco (photo credit: Raymond)

I just recently came back from the Bay Area and I'm now really missing the cold weather over there (especially after this last weekend of 100+ degree in San Diego...). With the helps of many friends I was able to execute 2 photoshoots during my short stay in the Bay. One of them is with Nadia as Perona from One Piece. Perona is a ~~crazy~~ gothic-lolita ghost princess with the ability to split into many ghosts in combat. Definitely a very unique and interesting character from the show.

Foggy location at foggy hours (photo credit: Raymond)

Shooting with this ghostly lolita princess reminded me of the good time last year with the Beautiful Nightmare shoot. Except Perona isn't really a "beautiful" type of character in the show XD. We went to a random mountain area near Cliff House to make use of the fog in San Fransisco.

We were doing the last setup of the day, we got no more fog at that time (photo credit: Raymond)

In the original series Perona has a "Wonder Garden". When I first heard of this "garden-of-the-ghost-princess" thingy I thought it would be so much fun shooting Perona in her garden! And the shoot did turn out to be A LOT OF FUN! Thanks so much Nadia for being our model and Raymond for assisting us with the shoot and transporting us there ~~and taking so many photos of me~~ XD!

Graffiti at the Princess's garden? I bet Perona is a big fan of art (photo credit: Raymond)

Crazy time! (photo credit: Raymond)

For the result of our Perona cosplay shoot please click here.

Nikon P6000 with Pocket Wizard

2009-08-28T20:32:00.000-07:00

A lot of people are wondering about whether the Nikon P6000 supports the Pocket Wizard radio trigger system. The answer is YES. The only thing you'll have to do is to turn off the build-in flash as shown below and you'll be good to go:

(image source: johnbiehler blog)

You will then see this icon indicating that your flash is on remote-triggering mode:

Other than the Pocket Wizard, the P6000 also supports Nikon CLS as well as other remote triggers such as the Cactus Triggers as shown in this article on johnbiehler blog.

I did notice that if you turn off your built-in flash while having your Pocket Wizard on the hot shoe (turned on) the camera might not recognize the PW right away (it happened once) in M-mode so you might wanna turn off your camera and turn it back on again to use the PW with M-mode.

I haven't played with the CLS on this camera much but the original press release only stated that the SU-800 (NOT SB-800) and the SB-900 can be used as the commander so I'm not sure can the Nikon SB-800 be used for such purpose.

IMO - Criticism

2009-08-27T01:00:00.000-07:00

Say you just finished watching an anime and you really like a character in the show. You think it'll be cool to cosplay the character in an upcoming convention and thus you wake up your inner ~~nerdy~~ cosplay spirit and start constructing a costume. In the end you spend some money and time putting it all together and in return you get to have fun at the con and get some pictures taken. Obviously it has nothing to do with your profession life and you are definitely not doing it for a living.

Do realize something as simple as that might still attract harsh criticism from people. It's because in the ACG world many fans are hardcore. They might notice an ultra tiny piece of detail missing on your costume; or they might think your body type doesn't fit the character; or they might notice this extremely minor color different of your wig from the original... etc. Sometimes these criticism can get quite personal and none of them make much sense.

Don't take this type of harsh criticisms seriously.

Remember that you are doing it for fun and you are doing it as a hobby. There is no reasons for you to have to handle any harsh personal attacks just for cosplaying. And C'mon let's face it, no matter what you do you simply can't please everyone. You might wanna treat a comment/criticism seriously if it is constructive and helpful but otherwise maybe you should just ignore it.

During an interview in the May 09 issue of Vogue supermodels Hilary Rhoda, Lauren Hutton, Karlie Kloss, Paulina Porizkova and Caroline Trentini touched briefly on this topic. Attached is that part of the interview:

(Vogue USA, May 2009 cover from http://mynexthandbag.net)

On Rotten Remarks, Or What Not to say to models... (Vogue USA, May 2009)

Lauren: As I was coming out of doing a Vogue cover with a well-known photographer, I passed him and said something like "Good nite. Have a good time." And he said something like "You're a whore, aren't you?" It was almost 40 years ago, but I remember thinking, What was he really trying to say?
Hilary: That happened to me about two weeks ago. We were shooting in Los Angeles on location. Somebody said to the production guys, "Are you shooting porn?" I was so shocked, not offended; but it was really strange.
Karlie: This sounds petty next to those stories, but I think the worst thing for me was being told I was too skinny. That hurt because I know myself enough, and it's such a stereotype in our industry,k especially with my generation.
Hilary: If one person doesn't like your looks, somebody else will. That's what I have learned. I was too American-looking or whatever... you have to laugh.
Karlie: I'm obviously still growing my thick skin.
Paulina: I have been criticized from the roots of my hair to the very tips of my toes. I was thiking about that the other day and wondering if there's one part of me that got away unscathed.
Lauren: It was covered.
Caroline: In the beginning you think, OK, this is a real job and I'm searous about it, so I should listen to them. But then you're like, Oh, God, how am I going to change?
Paulina: How am I going to change my right eyeball?
Caroline: Exactly.

(full interview can be found at http://www.modelinia.com)