Adventures in exhibitor-booth staffing, now with pictures (of others), though not so many from when I was behind the booth, naturally. ^_^

-> Emerald City Comic Con (2008) Photos <-

( A few highlights... )

Mostly...
Chris (picakuma) as Street Fighter's Akuma;
a plethora of Marvel and DC folks to come "fight" with Chris;
Carlos (yusuke) as Speed Racer, and Bleach's Ichigo;
a few of Kirsten (Kumi-chan) as female-type Ranma;
and more.

^_^

Classic Costume Confounds Cosplaying Crazies while Creators Clap
"Milo Bloom", Sakura-Con Man-in-the-Halls

The young'ns didn't recognize the outfit on Saturday, while a few exhibitors who remember newspaper comics from the '80s—and paper-only characters not seen since—gave kudos and a few snapshot moments. Most wondered if I could see out of the glasses, though walking through the busied aisles avoiding bumping into people was a visual "yes" to others. Plus, in reality, I'm no "chibi". ^_^

I was right that the convention center is brighter than the house so that wearing the "glasses" went well enough for close vision. But without the real specs for details, even without the phonies behind the camera, I did miss out on some shots when the auto-focus selected "wrong" areas.

Another problem for my own part is, there weren't any signature poses I could think of at the rare moments when people pointed a camera at me. Milo tends to just stand or sit around giving quips and punchlines. Nor were there any photos on my own camera (though I think Carlos got one).

Here's a more dramatic (and timely) moment from the original native habitat for moments when I took a break:


The second day I played general Convention Staff and brought the basic 18-55mm zoom lens, reacquainting myself with the right settings with that lens (the 50mm comparisons are ƒ/1.4 primary vs ƒ/5.6 zoom). It was tough Saturday getting aisle shots via "sneaker zoom" without others in the frame. Other photographers swarmed in to the space I left open or were right up front with wide angles. Such was the strength of picakuma's Saturday "Best Performance" contest-winning Akuma cosplay-fu.

Some comics only show the shape of the frames, never the eyes behind them. We'll see how this works out, though my perfectionist streak says these are too small on me for the character planned. Also "see" may be the operative word with the fabric I used; I can barely walk around the house with these unless I'm looking at a light source, but the house is darker than convention space should be, too. Plus, being sunglasses isn't helping with that part (heh). Maybe sheerer fabric "next time", or finding a way to forge some clear lenses without being in "pre-con Friday night" rush mode. Those "big black frames" don't typically come with light shades.

Any guesses what my attempt at a cunning plan is before it's revealed? Suggestions?

Hint: It's not SinFest's Slick. His are Aviator-rounded, and I'm not half-dying my hair (this time), nor is it long enough to spike the right way. :p

Hint2: "Big round frames for Ranma ½'s Mousse" is an automatic future yes; I'd rather be in better shape, though. ^_^

I go sleep now. (Emerald City) ComicCon weekend is upon us.

Two days to go until Emerald City Comic Con this weekend at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center (same fourth-floor location as our exhibitors hall). Here's this year's announcement about our booth and pre-reg discount. ^_^

Team Sakura, the street team for Sakura-Con 2009, will have a table at Emerald City Comic Con this coming weekend!  Be sure to stop by and say hello! Also, we will be selling registrations for $5.00 off the online registration price of $35.00!

For more information about Emerald City Comic con please visit:

http://www.emeraldcitycomicon.com/

Sat. 10:00am - 6:00pm
Sun. 10:00am - 5:00pm

I'll be one of the guys at our booth. ^_^

(xposted to the "sakuracon" comm, pardon any friends-list dups.)

Sunday was a day for hanging out with a horde of cosplayers at Freeway Park. Or an excuse to get out of the house and hang out with some friends. Or both at once!

Again, I brought along only the 50mm lens, which is nice for solos and close pairs, but gets a bit hard for groups when there's either a wall (or gaps) blocking getting further back or forward ("sneaker zoom"), or a group of photographers getting in the shot when I do. Sometime soon, I should... See the last paragraph for where that thought usually leads.

-> GasuKan 5.0 Photos <-

( A few favorites... )

Mostly...
Kirsten (Kumi-chan) as Ranma 1/2's Nabiki, Ranma (three versions), and Akane (Juliet);
Carlos (yusuke) as Ranma 1/2's Kuno, and Ranma (two versions);
Chris (picakuma) as Street Fighter's Akuma;
Lizzie (chibi_arwen) as Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney's Mia Fey;
a few with Lizzie's sister as Franziska von Karma;
a few with Krystal (Sumikins) as Death Note's Light (striped shirt w/o glasses);
and enough others that I'm sure I missed most for one reason or another.

Enjoy! ^_^

While we in the park had Mia Fey and Franziska von Karma among us, the Association for Legal Administrators was holding a convention inside the convention center. Where are those "OBJECTION!" signs when you need 'em? Hee!

Speaking of ironic timing, how can I have 90+ photos of half a day's shooting up in only two days, and a weekend's worth of shooting from March is still being worked on? Or a certain wedding video from last year.... ^_^'

I had an idea to post about how easily I distract myself from projects (including sleep), unfortunately including those that need to be finished. But when I started doing something else, I got distracted. :p

"The world just does not fit conveniently into the format of a 35mm camera." ~ W. Eugene Smith

Two days after the snow, a few of us spent a day out at Seattle Center at the Cherry Blossom Festival for a meetup and cosplay photo shoot. Yay, more practice at limiting myself to a 50mm primary (aka "sneaker zoom"). Also ran into otakingnw briefly, and we both lamented the "missed opportunity" of not having a booth and/or flyers; still a Yay moment, though. ^_^

Photo Shoot at Sakura Matsuri 2008 — Enjoy! ^_^

Mostly:
Kirsten (Kumi-chan) in a hakama and kimono top,
Carlos (ShinAnimaid / SCMB "yusuke") as Bleach's Ichigo,
Dessa (dessa_gepichu) as Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time's Eisen,
and birthday-girl Tabitha (anime_matrix) as Witch Hunter Robin in a few.

A few others had brief cameos (like Hitokiri Kenshin who caught me paying attention to something else here, lower left).

In below-the-fold news, the camera has at least three "hot pixel" points of light that I've seen show up at shutter speeds of 1/10 second or longer. The camera's programming can correct it at exposures of longer than a second (which I don't take hand-held that long anyway), and I have software that can correct it when I go in to crop and such. But still, not fun news to report, and now that I know exactly where to look in past photos, they've been there at the same speeds for a long time. I'm not going into a HULK SMASH! mode, but imagine my reaction if this were the $5k version.

Hidden on the back page, there's a new "hot pixel" on the laptop's screen. Bah!

Friday, after work and dinner and a brief cafe-with-wireless moment of poring through photos while keeping an eye on the snow and hail falling outside, I came home covered in hail from the few blocks between the bus and the door. After dropping things off, changing, and being offered a ride, there was a bit more than half a foot of snow to clear off the car before heading to the CHAC lower level. While the night started off sparse, it filled with energy by the end.

Katie's birthday club night brought Sunshine back to the realm. ^_^

Of course I had brought the new lens to also test things out "live", staying out of "ISO 1600 grainy" territory.

( Pics or it didn't happen )

With a couple catch-up paychecks in hand, a good chunk was spent on a new lens for the camera. Larger aperture is a key to low-light photography and bokeh (ぼけ, pleasing blur), and so the kit now has a 50mm ƒ/1.4 primary.

For comparison, the 18-55mm zoom that came with the camera has ƒ/5.6 at 50mm; the new aperture is four times larger for more light (and faster shutter).

Back in my film-shooting days—not that they're gone for good, I'm just two decades out of darkroom practice and availability—other than the cheap point-and-shoots and compact automatics from my own budgets, I carried around my father's 35mm Pentax SLR with a 50mm primary (fixed focal length) lens. That's what I used as year-book "staff", for a few published shots, and just general roaming. Then the compact zooms and eventually compact digitals (always at least a 3x optical zoom) started entering into the right prices, so that camera's since been passed around to other family, now with a cousin in Norway.

There's still an "equivalence" conversion between mid-range DSLRs and 35mm film, which makes a 50mm lens on them similar to a 75mm on film. Sure there are prices a few times as much for a "full-frame" DSLR, but for now, I'll take the version that doesn't affect the wallet as much. ^_^'

I haven't used a primary lens much for a couple of decades (not counting throw-away travel snapshots), so Getting Back Into Practice photos are in order. Of course, the weather hasn't cooperated much since the weekend when I bought it. Sakura Matsuri's coming up this weekend at Seattle Center, though, if the weather is kind.

In the meantime, some of the Sakura-Con shots are up in an ever-tweaking new gallery.


click to continue

(WPH = Waffles Per Hour. ^_^)

Sakura-Con repōto desu yo!


Thursday

I didn't take a single picture on Thursday as folks were setting up or hanging out. After checking into the hotel and getting my badge, I got a request for the videocamera I hadn't brought with me (because the old laptop has the right transfer drivers), and headed back to Northern Suburbia to grab them. Ah the benefit of being relatively local. But we didn't end up using that after all. I made arrangements for a Sunday night pickup of the majority of it.

Silly me, I was in blur-mode enough that that's the last I even thought about using video, even until the dances (by then I was already there with my normal camera). I even snagged the memory card from it for a mid-concert camera card swap later in the weekend.


Friday

Opening Ceremonies included the purpose for the latest videography attempts, the mockumentary footage. Yegads it looked shaky and pixelated on giant screens from the front (unless it was "edited" to look that way, heh). Those who know how quickly I got footage to the editor will know how guilty I feel for taking months to get something from last year to the right people—you know who you are. <3 ^_^

A bit of roaming included picking up a pre-order engraved sword, hallway and concourse and elsewhere walkbys, hanging out with people, and a few photos here and there.

At the Guest Reception, a few of us enjoyed dining conversation with Kido Keisatsu Patlabor mecha designer Izubuchi Yutaka and a quick moment with Tenku no Escaflowne character designer Yūki Nobuteru. Fanboy moments for me included autograph sketches of a Patlabor Ingram (perhaps Alphonse) and Escaflowne's Hitomi—why I didn't think of Allan, I don't know—and photos with both artists.

Then it was time from heading up to the Neko Dance for a while before the day was through.


Saturday

There was a bit of a mixup as I was told one time by a guest liaison but another time by someone else, so Fanboy With a Press Pass that I am, I showed up for both Press moments. The first was Izubuchi-san's Press Conference. Only one reporter was there, and after the even-longer impromptu chat the previous night, I let them have the conversational Q&A.

Between the two scheduled moments, I went into the Main Events for the ketchup mania Concert, where I only had time to stay for the first song.

I hosted a private interview with Izubuchi-san and Anime Pulse's Ichigo and took their photo with the reporter's camera. I stayed afterward a bit to chat with the reporter until his next host and interview artist arrived, two Izubuchi-san fans gushing about Patlabor and RahXephon, heh.

Ali Project Concert's may have been running late, so I was able to catch the whole show, though still in the "from many viewpoints" mode of photographic bursts.

At the All Anime Dance, I finished filling up the card I had been carrying around, realizing that I had the extra card back in the video camera. So back to the hotel I went to both transfer files and format both cards to be ready for more.
More roamings, more escapes.

The Starship Sakura Homecoming Dance was a hit with uniform-themed DJs and dancers. When I left at around 1am, the whole crew got together for a few group shots.


Sunday

Because I missed the earlier show on Friday, I went to The Slants / Scandal Concert 2 to have yet more stage-action photo time. Then more roamings, more hanging out, more escapes.

At the Charity Auction, where I arrived for only the final few pieces, I bumped up the bid for a large wall scroll of the 2008 mascot signed by all the Guests, from the $20 and such folks were bidding for it to well into the three digits and still didn't get it. Then came time for Closing Ceremonies and Assault and Flattery, renamed as Suggestions and Comments on the forum, and a final escape.


Ye Olde Tally O'Stuff

• Kido Keisatsu Patlabor ("Alphonse" Ingram) sketch signature by mecha designer Izubuchi-san on my badge (extra-laminated), and photo
• Tenku no Escaflowne (Hitomi) personalized sketch signature by character designer Yuuki-san on back of the reception ticket, and photo
• Sakura-Con 2008 hand-forged (with logo/year engraving) katana from BowenDragon
• Berry Ninja (For Great Justice) shirt from BeKyoot (formerly Anime Beach)
• Con shirt
• Japanese Con shirt
• 2 Con Polos
• Staff Con shirt
• And a rare hand-crafted wristband. Priceless. ^_^

Monday and beyond

Surely you don't think the convention actually ends on Sunday. It's time to do it all over again for next year! And poring through the hordes of photos to pick out the best few hundred. ^_^

Well, Spring has sprung with sun today, but don't tell that to the hailing-and-snowing-and-blowing-sideways weather of yesterday as I waited for a bus (or today for a further-north telecommuting co-worker). Checked into a more-local-than-Suburbia hotel, and it's time to hit the bank then join the hordes of costumed otaku in the inner city for the weekend. Sakura-Con has arrived.

Today, I'm not ready for it, though timing being important, it's also payday. ^_^

On Sunday when we close, I won't be ready for it to be over, but my wallet will.

That's how it goes. ^_^

Also, Happy Birthday to Rik! Tatakae Otaking! ^_^