A Year in Cosplay and Comic Cons Part Two

The Salvatorian Way

Etiquette is everything at the conventions or in other words "Cosplay is not Consent" that describes the major set of rules whenever you are participant in any con, but there are other implicit rules that you can learn with the experience.

As I mentioned in the last entry there is a lot to learn whenever you go to the cons, the first day can be extremely overwhelming as there is a sensory overload on everything, there is music as many guests like to play on the hallways if they don't interrupt certain panels, there are dance gatherings, cosplayers posing for photos (which this will be discussed later) hosts looking to attract people to their panels, etc... there is a lot to do all day long.

Planning ahead is the key, but also there has to be a moment of your day that you can dedicate to take photos of the cosplayers, is fun to see how much detail they invested but also how much they bring the essence of the character to life. Not long ago I overheard a friend of mine saying Sometimes studios should hire cosplayers, because they can recreate costumes better and they bring the characters to life better. In essence that became part of my motto when taking photos.

There is one social component that you have to know "conventions attract a lot of people, they are a safe heaven for many introverts (including myself), people within the spectrum, LGBT+, people with social anxiety and other psychological issues, I do not know how to say it properly but the most eloquent way I can express is "Conventions are places that have a demographic that pay to go to socialize, because they know they will feel safe, is a zone with no judgments and even if you see cosplayers that project certain aura with their costumes, please respect their personal spaces".

Whenever you are taking photos remember to say please and ask politely, if the cosplayer refuses keep walking because they deserve time for their privacy, it's easy to understand. Also remember there will be younger cosplayers that are accompanied by their parents or guardians, and always ask permission, because they as human beings also deserve their privacy to be respected as they want to enjoy the experience too.

Jada.

I can't seriously offer any trick of getting a good casual, candid photography I used to master that skill a long time ago when I had to act as my crew when I was working in the media, but for every good photo there are at least a 100 bad ones. Whenever you are walking on the aisles of the convention as we mention before be polite to the cosplayers, say hello, ask how the initiate into cosplay, how they create or from what vendors they find their supplies? There are plenty of way to start a conversations and make friends with similar interests.

Vendor hall can be interesting, because usually at least on the Florida circuit it will contain the artist section and the autograph lane, it will be all together, sometimes it can get too crowded but you can find the best cosplayers roaming there, but be patient and let them do their business as they are there like you, to have fun.

Now that we are talking about photos and etiquette, I do follow a series of rules to navigate to any public event but I modified them whenever I am in the conventions, whenever I am looking for a photo I always try to look for any person who gets my attention (I do not go for people with no little to no clothing, is just one of my rules) but what gets my attention? A cosplayer who is having fun but also that captures the essence of the character.

On the last time I went to Metro Con there was an event of Boku No Hero, several cosplayers went as the characters but I only found one almost at a last moment on Saturday that got my attention, a young woman dressed as Inko Midoriya, between all the Deku's and the League of Villains, there was someone who got my attention because she captured the essence of the character. We have to think, conventions on a larger or medium scale they bring around 10 k people and that's on the busiest day that is Saturday, so trying to find Inko became an almost impossible feat.

After trying to find her for a few hours, I gave up and I decided to go to the autograph lane to try to get one or two before going to another panel, to my surprise Inko was walking near the line of the autographs and I knew I had to take the chance, I approached her and ask her as I ask everyone in the most polite way if I could get a photo, because I never saw anyone dressed as Inko less with the props she had which was a board saying Proud of My Son which also displayed several photos of Deku.

Going forward in time, a couple of days later thanks to the Facebook group and good social media skills between the participants, the photos of Inko where published and they were one of the most heartwarming photos I ever saw; she brought the character to life, she looked proud of the Deku's that where in the photo ops, I do not know how to describe it but it was one of those moments framed in time on why gatherings as comic cons are important, because they are spaces of self expression.

Another cosplayer who goes by The Salvatorian Way made a cosplay related to the Sponge Bob episode where he and Patrick sell chocolate to Mary and her mother; it was one of those cosplays as he said made with a tight budget but checking on social media it was a hit, nobody around the area has done something like that and it was extremely and creepy when he was asking for chocolate with Mary's Mother voice around the convention center.

Kurosaki as Deku

One of my biggest inspirations in the cosplayer circuit has been for over a year a woman named Kurosaki Cosplays, she and her troupe represent the kindness on how veterans receive newcomers as myself, besides my friend Kimmy who was the one who introduced me to the conventions, Kuro is one of those friends that through her account shows a detail on tutorials, convention life and photo ops.

Probably the first memory I have of Kurosaki is on how she made everyone feel welcome, and this is one of the photos I have that reflect the happiness.

Probably my main goal by going to the conventions became to celebrate the cosplayers, the freedom of every day life they represent but also the ability they have to unite people with their creations. In a year I had gathered for my personal use around 8,000 photos of the conventions I been, probably by next year that number will double.