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!
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!
SMASH! 2010 – A mini preview
I'm pretty tired from shooting today. I went along to the Sydney Manga and Anime SHow, SMASH! at Town Hall today.
I was shooting from backstage for most of it, so unfortunately, I'm not bringing you photos of cosplayers. This also means that I won't be putting a rush out on these photos, but I will give you a mini preview of some of my favourite shots from today:
This guy was awesome. Before the doors opened, he set up a little amp and started rocking out. He had his own little following shortly after.
One of the more popular artists at work.
I'm a sucker for polaroids. And cute girls. That's why I have a polaroid camera and a cute girl (both not pictured here).
One of the many organisers of SMASH!, I've forgotten her name, but she's Alyssa Inocencio the Guest coordinator.
One of the maids from the cafe. I think they're part of the D2MG dance group? Not sure. Just the boys (not pictured) were part of D2MG. See comments below. Thanks "Sakura Fubuki".
Jackson - one of the faces of the online art, japanese and pop-culture store, Pinin. Go visit their store. They have cute stuff.
A lot of the stress and organising goes on behind the scenes. This is just one typical situation.
Yuko Miyamura's backstage door. I did get permission to take photos of her. Unfortunately, until my photos are approved by her agent (which will probably take a while), I can't show you them. It's unlikely I'll be able to post any pics of her.
I've got a report coming up on the way, and more photos soon, so check back when you can =)
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.
Pokemon Photoshoot at the Royal Botanic Gardens
I try to attend photoshoots whenever I can and because I'm involved with a few different groups, the subject matter is quite different at times. When a meet is arranged on the Animania Forums it usually results in a quite a strange gathering. Normal meetings for shoots are strange enough, but when you're walking around Circular Quay with Pikachu in tow, things definitely take a turn for the weirder.
This was also my first trial run of the Sanho/Hyperdrive Colorspace UDMA. In short, the device worked well although it has a few quirks, but I'll post up a review at a later date with the details.
Harsh lighting this time around and being at the Botanic Gardens, it's a good chance for me to familiarise myself with some of the hot spots to take photos from for later sessions. There are quite a few things I need to improve upon, but I've only noticed them whilst in post production. I didn't bring my flash cord, so off camera flash was not possible, but even then I only have two hands. A pity because there are a number of shots I would have loved to experiment with. I haven't made up my mind as to whether I like the vignetting on my 10-20mm. It's not bad at 20mm, but anything less than that and I'm hesitant to run with it.
Anyway, photos! I think I need to be a little less lazy when I'm shooting for fun as I didn't get all that many frames and hence not that many keepers. I could get better and improve my "hit" rate, but that requires shooting more which is exactly what I should be doing in the first place!
These photos are viewable by the public. Please contact me if you are the subject and would like your photo removed.
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