Hello the name is Michael or you might know me as Fancy hat photo. This will hopefully be my first of many blogs. Join me on the journey of A recent event I was a photographer at. This event was Katsucon 2024 at National Harbor Maryland. This location is such a beautiful place for photographers. You have the outside by the water with a rocky shoreline and the city of Washington DC and the Woodrow Wilson bridge in the background. Inside on the bottom floor you have an atrium with a fountain and fake flowers and trees with nice warm lighting. A few floors up you have a white marble tile area with a famous gazebo and large double doors leading to a ballroom. In a space off to the side of that area is another place with beautiful white staircases.
I love working at events like these. I can book multiple shoots at a discounted rate for my clientele. I had a few people book with me that I have worked with multiple times before. I really appreciate them doing that. I have met and worked with a few new people as well. I shot some people cosplaying characters from shows I love a few from show and games I had to learn about ahead of time. One of my favorite things is to make sure I know about what they are cosplaying from to give them the best results I possibly can with posing location and editing. I also enjoy walking around between sets and taking pictures of random people and their amazing cosplays. Most people are very receptive to the idea of having their photo taken. Sometimes pleasantly surprised that I am fancy hat photo. Always ask for somewhere you can tag them on social media so that you can let them enjoy the picture you took of them. Some people dont have social media or dont want to be tagged and that is ok.
As for the paid shoots I did at this event. I had multiple sets I did over the course of the weekend. I had a few shoots book last minute. For example on Thursday I was chatting with a fellow photographer when someone came up and was telling him that the photographer they booked cancelled on them saying he had booked something else at that time and forgot. I did find out who the photographer was that did that and no I wont call them out here. I offered them a discounted rate on a group shoot and the photos turned out great. They were a genshin impact wedding group. On the same day I did a photo set of a chisato from love live and a Lee Hyunsung from omniscient readers viewpoint. Lee Hyunsung was a last minute booking. They booked me about an hour before the shoot. The other shoot was a group I have worked with several times before I always love working with them. They were cosplaying a pokemon group another set that turned out great.
On Friday which is the first official day of the convention. I had someone cosplaying an original character. I did sets with them twice over the weekend once was an armoured warrior the second was a rouge assassin. I will talk more on that for Saturdays part. I shot a character from one of my favorite all time shows one piece. This cosplayer was cosplaying Boa Hancock. Those photos were fun to take and they also really enjoyed the end product of them as well. After that shoot I had some time to waste. I grabbed my lunch then wandered around the dealers hall looking at all the stuff I wanted but wont buy. For awhile after that I was getting people to take hall shots with. I then had one more set in the evening of a Link from Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom. I have had the pleasure to work with this cosplayer in the past as well its always a great time to do so.
Now onto Saturday this was my busy day of shoots for the weekend. I had 2 last minute bookings. One of them was early in the morning with someone that had booked me for a later shoot that day as well. I am always happy to work with them as well. The other was from A game called Honkai star rail. A shoot I mentioned earlier the rouge assassin. We needed to get some other random cosplayers involved to set the scene of them being a rouge and an assassin. I managed to stop 2 seperate people and got one to let my client fake steal their gun from them. The second one was to portray an assassination. Managed to find a someone dressed up as a roman soldier. This person was awesome and had a great time having their photo taken. Whenever I ask someone to join in to help out. I make sure to get their info and send them a copy of the photos that were taken of them as well. Its my way of saying thank you and that I appreciate the kindness they showed. In the morning I had a set with a mother and her son cosplaying Cruella Deville and a henchman. I have worked with them on so many shoots. One of my favorite people to work with. I am always happy to see they will be at a convention I will be attending as well. I also did a group shoot with them from Genshin Impact. Unfortunately that shoot was a little bit of a bust. Some of the attendees for it were not too pumped for the characters they were cosplaying it was a tough choice of characters to get ideas for. I felt like I was unable to give everything I promised I would. They have assured me I did what they wanted. The photos did turn out really good. My last shoot of the day was someone cosplaying an NPC from Final Fantasy. It was done in the evening to showcase the light up products they were holding and using as props.
The second thing from my Saturday was all the hall shots and people I met. I took some great shots of random people who were walking around. I also met some great people some other photographers who were happy to compliment my work and told me to keep up what I am doing. People will come around to the product and work I am doing. That was a huge confidence boost for me.
Sunday the final day of the convention. I only had one shoot it was a lovely person. They had made a skirt of the character Hooty from Owl House. It was a really well made skirt and the character on it was very well done. I hope they one day start taking commissions for the skirts they make. At this time they dont take commissions. But a very kind person and the photos I took showcased their skirt really well. Afterwards I again wandered around and took A handful more hallshots. The day didnt last as long the conventions usually end early on the last day.
Now a quick talk about the equipment I use. The convention does have some guidelines for equipment. One thing is no free standing equipment such as tripods and big soft boxes and free standing lights. Sadly some people don't follow the rules or cant read them I cant say. You end upseeing a lot of stuff like that happening anyways. But as for me I try my best to stay within the rules. So I use a Fuji film x-t3 for most of that weekend a Viltrox 33mm f1.4. One thing I normally do is keep my camera on manual mode. I know thats not for everyone but I feel like it gives me greater control of my photos. Having used auto for photos it feels like it falls just a bit short of the shapness I look for in my photos. I had some handheld lights that I would get other people and friends to help hold for me to avoid the need for a tripod. On my camera bag and on my hip I had a peak designs capture clip. I love the use of those clips and would highly recommend them to most people. Once I return home the next part of the fun begins. Editing photos for this I use Lightroom Classic and Photoshop for custom edits.is Katsucon was such a great experience for me. Learned so much and worked on my marketing and getting my name out there. The people I met were great and wonderful there were so many amazing cosplays. Sad that I didn't get photos of everyone that I wanted to get. Hopefully at the next event I get more photos taken of all the amazing talented people there.