Another year of conventions
It must be getting close to convention season again.
I tend not to make this site just about the conventions, but I must say, a heck of a lot of you seem to be visiting because of them!
So, I'm happy to let you all know that both Smash! and Animania have invited me back to shoot at their flagship events this year. As something different, I've also approached Supanova this year since there seems to be quite an overlap. I'll hopefully hear back from them soon, so cross your fingers. They're quite happy to have me along also!
In other news, I've been getting a few requests for running another Photography 101 class from those that missed it the first time. While I don't have anything planned at the moment, last year's happened because I was able to get some teaching space at Australian Technology Park. If that happens again this year, I'll be hosting another free session. Keep your eyes peeled.
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!
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.
On the job: Professionalism
In the interim between writing up my report on Animania last weekend and now, I thought I'd bring up a little on-the-job topic on the matter of professionalism.
I wouldn't call myself a full-blown professional, but here's what I've experienced in the field:
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!
SMASH! 2010 Report – A (long) inside perspective
Inside the hallways of Sydney Town Hall, volunteers shuffle in line to sign on for the morning. There's a slight sense of uncertainty as vendors, volunteers and contractors look at each other knowing something is about to happen, but not knowing when it will start.
Some of them are restless with excitement, shifting their weight from foot to foot and warming themselves after the cold of the morning. Suddenly, someone runs in through the dinky loading dock.
"Those of you who are volunteers, I need you to drop your stuff and come with me now! Don't worry about your tags yet, just come with me!"
Everyone exchanges looks for a second before several volunteers shrug their bags off their shoulders, dumping them unceremoniously at their feet, and race off after the staff member who is already on his way out.
"Hi Mike!" I hear a familiar voice behind me. I spin around, as fast as a guy carrying 10-15kg of camera gear can, and am greeted by one of SMASH!'s board members Michael Camilleri.
He shakes my free hand warmly. "I'm so glad you could make it!"
Kingdom Hearts 2 / Organisation XIII Photoshoot at Cockatoo Island
This would be the second time I've shot at Cockatoo Island, but once again in the rain. Meeting up with people from the Animania Forum, we missed the first ferry, which was probably fortunate since we had waited the rain out a bit before proceeding.
I missed quite a few things the first time around on the island and so whilst I knew of a few spots to take photos, there were also new and interesting things to try. On the upper side the the island, an entire area that was previously closed off had opened up. I didn't get many usable shots in this area, but there's always next time.
I'm not particularly liking the use of my Sigma 10-20mm on a full frame camera. The vignetting is nice (albeit strange) for a few shots, but shortly after becomes rather overused. A 35mm 1.4 is still a whiles away yet, so in the meantime, I just have to make do with what I have.
My composition needs improvement, that which can only be fixed through more (creative) shooting, but in time all will fall into place. One of my goals this time around was to make better use of my flash and whilst I made a partial improvement, I'd really like to jump to more off camera work, ala Strobist style.
Lessons learned? Know the limitations of your hardware; reframe to avoid subjects at the edges of wide angle lenses, don't rely on your 70-200mm or you'll become creatively stale. Charge your flash batteries after a wedding the previous day! -2EV or so in ambient for flash photography will fool your post processing software; think about what is being "metered" as the "correct" exposure in post. Jeans are once again such a good friend.
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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
