Every year it’s been a tough one. Last year I wanted to go, but found that for one reason or another, I had something else to do (I don’t remember). The year before was my first time attending, and it wasn’t bad. I went on the Sunday, the day of the main events and got some great shots. It was a pretty nervous experience, trying to work out what’s cool and not cool to do. Working out how to photograph people in crowds and such, and also contending with crowds, too.
This year was different. I went on the opening day, the Osu Kanon parade in the Osu district of Nagoya city. There were more people there than organisers had expected, and jammed in a much smaller space, and it wasn’t elbow-room only, but squeezing-room only. It was perhaps the hottest day of the year so far, and with perhaps the highest humidity yet experienced this year. Needless to say, migrainers like myself didn’t have much fun.
As for the photography, some light cloud cover can be nice to even out the light, but thick clouds did not help, invoking noisy pictures. It was a tough day, and I fear the photos bear that result. These are available at a lowered price at my PhotoShelter account, no model releases due to the public nature of the event. However, as you see, the costumes were amazing, and as you can guess, so to the experience for the crowds and the young re-carpeted cosplayers.
World Cosplay Summit 2010 – Images by Andrew Blyth
