Why Some Of Us Photographers Are Such Pricks

The following is a guest post by Richard Bui:

A recent thread on the ever popular cosplay site, cosplay.com, inspired this post. The thread brought up an interesting perspective on the two types of photographers that photograph cosplay conventions: photojournalist and artistic. By no means am I suggesting that the photojournalist convention photographers are any less artistic, but their photography focus is more centered on trying to document as much of the event as possible whereas the artistic convention photographer would focus on maybe a few cosplayers and try to capture the most unique shots of that costume/person.  I’m not trying to knock on photojournalist con-photographers, if you enjoy it, that’s all that matters; I used to be in that camp. Events like the Cherry Blossom Festival are not suited for artistic photographers but require a more photojournalist approach. These days I tend to fall more into the artistic camp. Why? Simple, I like to do things differently. I like to challenge myself. As an artistic photographer, I prefer to shoot by myself or with my team if they are with me, I’ll explain more of why a little later. Unfortunately, sometimes that makes us come off as pricks, or we’re stuck up, or we’re too good to shoot with other people, etc, but that’s entirely not true. I want to present the perspective of an artist convention photographer.

As a photojournalist con-photographer, you walk around and photograph whatever (or whoever) inspires you. That’s fine, but the problem is that there are other photographers that do just that and as soon as you stop someone to take a picture (or you see someone else taking a picture), there’s a crowd of photographers around that cosplayer taking the same exact, or very similar shots as you. Ever tried being different in this situation and go to the other side to try to get a different angle shot, only to end up with a background of photographers and the back of a cosplayer? It’s very hard to be creative in situations like this for many reasons:

• Vying for attention: you got the cosplayer in just the right pose and you’re in just the right angle and as you’re about to snap your epic shot, another photographers calls out: “Hey, over here!” and suddenly you have a picture that the cosplayer is not looking at your or blurry because they moved. As the crowd grows, good luck getting the pose you want out of the cosplayer.
• Crappy background: for the most part you’re walking around in a convention center or a packed hallway. Most of your shots will have people as the background. +1 if you have a fast aperture lens that can blur your background, but for the most part, it’s still an uninspiring background.
• Snapshots: how does your picture stand out from the crowd? Is it just a snapshot that anyone else can take or has taken?

When I attended my very first cosplay convention, 2007 FAnime, my focus was to try to get as many shots of different cosplayers in as possible because this was my first time experiencing something like this, much like a kid in a candy store. I filled nearly all my Compact Flash cards and had thousands of images to sort through, but none were particularly interesting or memorable mainly because my shots were identical to other photographer’s shots that were posted up.

Now on the other hand, as an artistic con-photographer, you have room to develop the shot and make it neat, interesting, memorable. By removing the cosplayer out of the crowded, chaotic environment of the convention hallway, you get:

• Making the shot: you have time to develop poses, consider the background, consider the lighting
• Standing out: this goes hand-in-hand with making the shot. Because you have more creative freedom, you can work on developing a shot that very few, if any, other photographers will get. Which pic do you think will stand out more: a 100 shots of the cosplayer in the hallway with slightly different angles or a single shot of the same cosplayer but with a splendid background and a pose that is unique?
• Rapport: one of the biggest factor that makes or break a shot. If the model isn’t comfortable or connected to you, it will show in the pic. How can the cosplayer connect when there are tens of other photographers (along with the creepy photographers) trying to get his or her attention.

I actually end up taking less photographs now than I used to, but I also have a much higher keeper rate, why? Because those shots are more thought out and planned out, I have less scrappers, mistake shots, out-of-focus shots, or people walking in front of my lens. And when I post my shots up, they stand out from the pack.

Consider the following shots taken at 2009 FAnime:

All these shots were taken outside the McEnery Convention Center, often at the nearby hotels or further away. Notice how they’re aren’t random people walking around or other photographers to get in the shot? You think we can get away with this kind of setup in a crowded area with other photographers crowding about:

That shot above illustrates how we work as a team. We take turns working the lights and photographing, this way, the model’s attention is always with one photographer. We function more collaborative than competitively.

There are probably a number of photographers who don’t understand why artistic con-photographers are so serious. I can’t speak for the other artistic photographers, but in our case, consider this: we are a brand. Every picture we take, regardless if it’s a wedding or a cosplay event, we strive to do our best each and every time. We also try to push the envelope and keep things fresh. So we’re not pricks, we’re just dedicated to our craft. Good luck and happy shooting.

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