( hasselblad 503CX, Planar 80mm F2.8, Flash-D 40, Portra 160 VC )
Now Japanese “Anime” is all over. Not only you can watch them on cable TV. You can find “Anime” and “Manga” in most of the book shops in the U.S.
Once you like something, people with mutual interest start gathering. It must to a human nature. Just like bikers drive together on weekends. “Anime” is not an exception. There are many conventions and gatherings for those “anime” lovers. Anime Weekend Atlanta is one of the biggest conventions in the U.S. It is held annually in every September. This year was the 14th convention.
They had a lot of sessions, such as workshops and panel discussions. You name it, they had everything about “anime”. It was a great fun to shoot “cosplayers” in the hotel lobby.
I, however, have no knowledge or interest in “anime”. Despite the fact that I simply can not tell who was wearing what, I decided to go there with my great curiosity.
The camera I brought was Hasselblad 503CX with PME 3 prism finder. In addition, I used D-flash 40. This was really a heavy armament. I felt as if my neck and shoulders were being pulled out by their weight. My guess is that they weighed about 4.5lb or even more! It was almost hanging tank from my neck.
As soon as I got the convention, I noticed a lot of “cosplayers” everywhere. They were the people who wanted to be photographed. I was the one who wanted to photograph them. We had mutual benefits. Once I pointed my camera, they immediately posed and acted for me. I must be honest. There were people who I strongly recommend to lose their weight to halves before they cosplayed. I dare not to waste my films by shooting those people. I carefully chose models by my own criteria.
Well, here are some shots (slide show provides pictures in better quality).
You can spot these photos are not great. The axis of my flashlight must have shifted too low without realizing it. In addition, I am still not sure I should have used slow sync to expose the background more or I should keep it this way to black out the background.
To make a confession, I enjoyed much more than I thought I would. My sister in law who is very interested in this kind of things (“otaku” culture) is now saying that she wants to come next year. By all means. And I will go there again too, with my tank hanging from my neck.
(Japanese translation)
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