Smash! 2011 – A long(er) inside perspective on the event and its management
They say that late is better than never, right? I've had to question that while writing up a post-convention report from my attendance at Smash! 2011.
Please be warned, this is long, and may offend.
Five tips for photographers and cosplayers
I'm taking a break from processing photos I took over the weekend at Smash!, but while I've got some thoughts for cosplayers and photographers fresh in my head, I thought I'd splurge them out. Bear in mind, these are for cosplayers and photographers taking photos during the cosplay event on stage, not wandering around the venue.
Getting your geek on: Supanova review and photos
It was certainly not the coldest Saturday morning I'd experienced, but my choice in clothes wasn't helping as I walked along one of the longest expo lines I'd seen in a while. I wasn't quite sure what line it was for at first, until I overheard one of the organisers explaining to a family that they would need to join a different line to buy tickets, then join the line for entry. Ouch.
Animania Sydney Mini 2011 – Cosplay and event photo round-up
I won't be writing up a report for this event this time around, but as promised, here are my photos from the day.
I've been having a look at a lot of other photographers' work and noted there have been a lot of instances where I've been standing next to someone, or in a couple of cases are in the edge/corner of a shot! Come say hi next time or leave a comment, I don't bite =)
Click through to see the pics.
Animania mini Sydney preview
Hi there guys,
Just a quick sneak of what's happening at the mini Sydney Animania festival. I'll be working on pics throughout the day, so check back later.
Here's a couple of shots so far. If you see me running around, stop me to grab a photo!
Some people had issues getting out of bed this morning.
And others took the doll display far too seriously.
Had some awesome weapons today.
And Who Wants to be over 9000 was pretty popular.
More if I manage to update later today, otherwise you'll have to wait for the final batch =)
Edit: Here's some more with some from WCS!
Anime conventions
As an ex-organiser of an anime convention, I have some fairly controversial views on the politics behind them.
Every so often, I feel quite passionately about certain aspects of the different event organisers' policies or procedures. I'll write up a particularly heated piece with my version of events, or my opinion drawn from my experiences. However, they invariably get deleted.
Even pieces explaining why they get deleted get deleted (as has happen in this instance).
To say anything would be inappropriate given that my experiences have left me biased, but my (biased) opinions are strong because of those experiences. It's a bit of a Catch-22 situation.
On several occasions now, I've considered joining the organising committees of several event organisers. A part of me wishes to apply what I've learnt from the mistakes in my past. Another wants to gain a better appreciation for all sides of the political battlefield. It feels, however, a little too soon, or perhaps a little too late.
Too soon to jump off the fence of impartiality and too late to join a cause I am becoming increasingly too old or tired to engage with.
I'll be taking photos at Animania Sydney mini this weekend as an unpaid member of the media. For the record, no event organiser has made me sign a non-disclosure agreement; I choose to keep my opinions to myself for the benefit of all involved.
Super busy
I've been super busy as of late. I'm working on the cover story for our company's flagship magazine and I've had a few very important dates to keep.
In brief I...
- passed my bike on to get sold to generate a bit of money to hopefully buy an upgrade.
- started to write a report on Animania, but am now unsure whether to continue given my previous history
- have been editing a heap of Animania photos. There's a little less than 400 from Saturday alone after cutting out dupes and ones that don't make the cut.
- celebrated my significant other's birthday
I'll be back into the full swing of things soon. In the meantime, you can always follow my updates on Twitter.
Main Animania Sydney 2010 Sunday – A sneak preview
Well, having done a sneak preview of Saturday, it's only fair to do one for Sunday, right?
Didn't take as many photos today, but here are some of my faves.
Backstage coordinator extraordinaire, Marina Arrebola has her hair done in the early hours by Jenny Ngo.
Mathias Barrera jams it on his (guitar hero) guitar.
Rika Matsumoto, the voice of Satoshi / Ash Ketchum, delivers a rock out performance.
Another result from the light box at the ABJD display.
Karaoke winner Tuong Vi Nguyen pauses during an interlude to rock out air-guitar style.
There's a couple more in the gallery below!
Main Animania Sydney 2010 Saturday – A sneak preview
I am pretty exhausted after running around for the whole of today. There's no way I can get all of my photos up for tonight, so for now here's a sneak preview of a few of my favourite shots from today.
If you're still deciding whether to go tomorrow, I hope this helps make up your mind!
Bernie, one of the sound, stage, light and AV guys checks the microphones are in working order.
Back of house in the maid cafe kitchen, delicious dishes are made.
Giant wall of merchandise is giant. Pinin makes its final stop for the year. Stock up while you can!
I heard that one of the stores (most likely this one) were selling replica Sephiroth swords. I think they completely sold out.
Remember Geelong Ung that I mentioned in an earlier report on SMASH!? He's working hard at Animania also!
There's a pseudo-light box at the Asian Ball Jointed Doll table. With a little patience, you can get a studio-esque effect with dolls! Photographers take note!
Luke Hill drops the Vash the Stampede outfit and picks up a new gun as a Team Fortress 2 Sniper (and also a cosplay judge).
And backstage, Widya Santoso kicks back and relaxes with facilities set up just for cosplayers and WCS finalists and judges.
There's a couple more in the gallery below. If you're attending tomorrow and you spot me, say hi! I'll try and take your photo!
Behind the scenes: Animania Sydney 2010 Setup
I was out at Australian Technology Park today visiting an expo for work when I remembered that Animania Sydney is this weekend.
I remembered because I started to notice all the signage that was up. Then I realised that setup for the event starts two days in advance and that they were probably setting up! So I ducked over on my lunch break and took a few shots.
I think a lot of people take for granted the effort that goes in to setting up an event. There's a science to setting up an event in terms of logistics and scheduling. Things need to happen in parallel in order to make the most of the venue time - the in-house crews can't set up the lighting while the stage contractors build the stage.
The scheduling is pretty simple on paper, but if anyone gets it wrong, the consequence ripples and grows through the day.
The guys on the ground meanwhile are getting all the wiring gathered to connect everything together. Everything is labelled, tracked, connected, secured and then flown on the rigging.
This can take the entire day and typically the crew won't know if they've got it completely according to plan until the next day when they do a dry run and program the lighting board.
There's about 50 lights! All it takes is for one to be connected or labelled incorrectly and it can take ages to figure out what went wrong.
For most of the lights, gels are placed in front of them. Each one is cut by hand and placed in front of the appropriate lamp. They make pretty colours!
... and for sticking around, here's what the 2011 Animania Cosplay Calendar looks like!
Can't wait to see you all this weekend!
Calendar
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Sep | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | ||||
Twitter (mukimu)
- Clocking off this arvo with a #technolatte podcast -- Facebook's IPO, Optus TV Now and cyber crooks' tips and tricks. http://t.co/7upIRDEw 2 days ago
- http://t.co/MbDSdFG4 My SO: "went to make tea, came back to this" 2 days ago
- Saw Tower Heist last night. My fav line: You've only been a lawyer for 3 days and you're trying to bribe the FBI? / Sharks are born swimming 2 days ago
- Love it when peeps let me know they got my enquiry and are on it. Prevents that limbo-ness of not knowing if anything is actually happening. 2 days ago
- Do you think it's time we did more about mobile malware? Commentary: http://t.co/CuUSwPgM 3 days ago
