My story of cosplay

Secretcon

Secretcon

I started shooting cosplay because of a combination of my passion for photography, my desire to shoot people and to be able to tell a story with my art. I started taking photos at secretcon, a photography-based convention held at different locations. This one was held at Gloucester prison. The learning curve was massive throughout the event but it was well worth it.

CosXpo

CosXpo

My next convention was at CosXpo at Reading University. The lighting situation was a lot better, however slightly bright in some places. I was still learning however started to build that confidence up. At this point, I’d like to thank a photographer called Jamie (Click on their name to see their work). They gave me the confidence to produce some stunning images throughout the day.

My breakthrough

London MCM and shoots after CosXpo

After CosXpo I felt a breakthrough with my work. I can’t really describe what happened but something changed in a positive way. I could see a continuous development within my work from the start of my journey. As of writing this (May 2022), I do feel a lot happier with my work, however, there is still a journey of development left. The following sections I think have a slight change in look and style, but you can see some of the ideas I have had, have been developed and refined.

850_2380.jpg
850_2571.jpg
850_2618.jpg
850_2774.jpg
850_2791.jpg
850_3389.jpg
850_5857-Edit.jpg
850_5939-Edit.jpg
850_6040-Edit.jpg
850_6224.jpg

For the first time, I shot with people outside of a convention. This felt completely different with a lot of restrictions being removed. Instead of having to rush to create a shot or series of images, I had more time to think and compose ideas. The first out of convention shoot, I still felt a lot of pressure to create content. Something now I know negatively impacts my work and my ability to work with others.

 MCM London May 2022

 
 

MCM London was another big step forward. For an extended period of time, I shot very wide. The lack of space and lack of places to get clean photographs combined with a wide-angle lens was a good creative challenge. I tried to take lots of different styles of photographs, with a lot of them working well, while some didn’t. I was also lucky to shoot with several people over repeated days, a massive privilege to have and something I would love to repeat at future conventions.

This has been my story so far. I will continue to update this once major events have passed. I will be writing a blog semi-regularly talking about things which have interested me. In the meantime please have a look at all of my cosplay links.