Neon Genesis Evangelion / K-ON! / Dr. Who Photoshoots

ALA8 was The Con of Photog Bombs, lol.

Besides the photographer who actually wound up being in my Misato × Vash photos poolside, I managed to participate in other people’s shoots as well — though nowhere near as intrusively. XP

So, even though I did take a bunch of the Dr. Who stuff independently, I hesitate to call these three events photoshoots since I was basically just taking pictures while the shoot was under someone else’s control. Then again, I don’t really call the shots at my private shoots either, so maybe the distinction doesn’t matter. ^^;

The first of the three shoots was on Saturday with Radiio Kittee as Misato Katsuragi from Neon Genesis Evangelion! I guess it was technically what’s known as Golden Hour (last hour of natural light), but the artificial lighting outside was pretty terribad. The main shooter on this one was her boyfriend Nos Ferous.

I met RK and Nos at Anime Expo 2011 and we kept in touch on Facebook. So good to meet up again and spend some time together! RK and Nos had never been to Anime LA before and didn’t know what to expect. They decided to make it a chill day, so she didn’t bring her wig this time.

RK said she wasn’t used to posing for photos, but I think she did a good job of making the character her own! Besides being the responsible adult most of the time, Misato also had her fun and goofy (drunk) side.

The second shoot was in the latter part of Sunday, with Aoi Mizuno as K-ON!‘s Yui Hirasawa! I was so sad I didn’t get to hang out with Aoi all con until I wandered out onto the pool deck and there she was in the middle of an epic shoot! Including me, there were 8 photographers there! :O The lead shooter this time was kimihirokun.

Aoi took the time to look in each camera’s direction, even mine! It made me feel special, and like I actually belonged there! ♥ I understand that all the other guys who were there are pretty much the top cosplay photographers working in the scene today. Every one of them is super-talented and I’m honored and privileged that they let this newb hack join in on the fun. ^^;

Yui is one of my K-ON! waifus, but I didn’t know there was a “Let’s Go!” version until Aoi told me about it!

Aoi had mentioned she’d gotten a new guitar for Yui, so I was glad I got to see it. It looks great! Aoi always does a great job making her costumes and embodying the characters she cosplays. Even with so many shooters, Aoi took it all in stride. She is the consummate pro!

The third and final shoot was later Sunday evening with Star Cat as the Eleventh Doctor and Liz as River Song from Dr. Who! Inoli Shiba did a shoot with them on the bridge (in the background), then went off to do some other things, which is when we did a few of these (what I like to call) “movie poster” shots!

Inoli returned later and there was more shooting to be done! Here she joins Star and Liz as the Tenth Doctor.

Afterwards, we hung out in the cabana a bit and were just goofing around. Yep, I stole this angle from Star herself, who used it during her shoot of Tora-rin at PMX 2011! ^^;

This photo, one of a sequence where River takes her book back from the Doctor who then tries to reclaim it, just randomly happened. It was great fun (and rather difficult) to shoot! Everything happened so fast — they were really fighting for the book during a lot of this and I had to keep telling them to try to hold still! But for once, my focusing fail actually kind of works! xD;

It was great fun watching other folks who are waaay more advanced than I am work. Thanks again to Nos, kimihirokun, and Inoli for letting me watch, learn, and take shots of my own! ^_^

See more photos via the link below!

2012 01 07-08 Sat-Sun: Neon Genesis Evangelion / K-ON! / Dr. Who

Anime LA 8

First con of 2012, held on the first full weekend of January, was Anime Los Angeles and it was awesome sauce! It’s a small con (less than 5000 attendees), but it’s mainly about hanging out with friends!

I totally missed the Disney Cosplay Gathering. -_-; Of course, I did show up like at 3pm, lol. I found my friends Nos and Radiio, who had never been to ALA before, and we eventually made it over to the pool deck, where most of the cosplay gatherings are held.

I did catch a little bit of the Mortal Kombat one, though! These guys must’ve been crazy cold! :O

There was a photog nearby running an Ariel and Eric photoshoot and he graciously let me take some shots!

I have to admit that in all the cons I’ve been to, including D23 Expo, I don’t ever remember seeing an Eric nor this version of Ariel!

Mermaid ahoy! Not sure if this was from a particular series, but she was swimming around in the pool like it was a normal thing to do, lol.

I actually spent most of Saturday afternoon with Nos and Radiio, whom I met at AX11! We were just goofing around and I was randomly taking pictures; this one magically came in in-focus and everything. It represents all the fun times I got to have with friends at this con! ♥

… such as this epic duel between Misato from Neon Genesis Evangelion and Vash the Stampede from Trigun! Of course, it never fails — when I get an idea and start shooting, somebody will always come in and nuke my shots. :/

Cheated this one by cropping a bit, but everything’s better in widescreen.

Caught a little bit of the Homestuck Gathering. It was huge! I had no idea what Homestuck even was until I read an article about Homestuck fans throwing things at people. Dx

We hung around the little patch of grass in front of the hotel, where it seems like everyone was doing photoshoots! Of course, we did one, too. xD Post coming soon! (EDIT: Post here!)

Ran into my friend Aoi Mizuno, who was cosplaying Kuroneko from Oreimo! So bummed I didn’t get to see Sai Rei, though. In fact, I didn’t get to see her all con. :<

Snuck this shot of a Celty (Durarara!!) cosplayer while hanging out. I didn’t have a badge this time so I wound up being a creeper most of the con, fufufu.

Finally got to see Super Saki, who is cosplaying PMX’s mascot! Wish I’d been able to get a better shot of her Jolly Roger guitar pick earrings; they were awesome!

Gekisou/Extravaganza versions of Yuki Nagato and Haruhi Suzumiya! Too bad there was no Mikuru… or Kyon or Itsuki or Tsuruya. (Mmm… Tsuruya…)

Another Kim Possible at an anime con! Hasn’t the series been off the air for a while? This is the second Kim I’ve seen at the second con in a row (the first was at PMX 2011). Not that I’m complaining, I love Kim Possible! Glad to see her getting some cosplay love!

I don’t think you want to sit on that chair… your ass might belong to Kyubey afterwards! I love that ALA has all these cool benches kicking around for you to lounge about on. And even though I’ve been spoiled, I still want to watch Puella Magi Madoka Magica!

For Sunday, I convinced my friend sanitynevermore to drive up and hang out. While we were upstairs, I interrupted the conversation to take this picture of Meltdown Rin, lol. You can’t blame me, this was an awesome rendition!

Later on, I managed to find Aoi, who was in the middle of a mass photoshoot with seven other photographers! :O I saw Psylocke, who’s one of my favorite X-Men, so I had to run over and take a picture before she left. Aoi was like, “Where are you going??” (d’awww ♥ ) But she was being pew-pewed by much better photogs than I, so I think it was okay. Photos from that shoot coming soon also! (EDIT: Photos here!)

As the day wound down and I was waiting for my friend Star Cat, I was hanging outside Con Suite when I decided to take some shots of the lovely sky. Yes, photos of Star Cat coming soon also! xD (EDIT: Photos here!)

Loots from a con I didn’t get a badge to?? lol.. I won the Cosplay in America book in an OCAG raffle during AX11 and was finally able to pick it up at ALA. It’s signed by Ejen, and I’ll have to work on getting my friends Aoi and Maridah to sign it too, since they’re in it! ♥ Also got the ribbon from OCAG and oddly enough got the AX09 lanyard from the ALA Info Booth when Ashi-chan and I went over there to ask about a panel, lol.

Spent some quality time with folks I hadn't seen in a while, finally put some names and faces together, and even got to participate in a few multi-photog photoshoots (still have so much to learn orz )!

Be sure to check out the complete set of photos via the link below!

2012 01 07-08 Sat-Sun: Anime Los Angeles, Days 2-3

Christmas Geekation

Today is Singles Awareness Day in the United States, otherwise known as Valentine’s Day. But rather than remind you of how alone you are, I’m going to close out all the fun adventures I had in 2011 with a quick recap of my Christmas vacation and also a little tour of my room! ^_^

I went home for Christmas, as I usually do, and of course I am free to be thoroughly geeky there! I managed to take in a showing of Disney On Ice: Mickey & Minnie’s Amazing Journey. I used to go to Disney On Ice all the time as a kid. This time, my aunt had an extra ticket and invited me along. Of course, I took no stills during Ariel’s part b/c I was shooting video instead. xD

Some of my Christmas loots! The aunt who took me to Disney On Ice got me the Calvin and Hobbes × Back to the Future shirt and Snoopy plaque. It’s hard to tell if the aunt who gave me all the stuff in the top section is starting to run out of ideas or if she’s just mocking me now, since this is the second year in a row she got me mostly Ariel stuffs. In either case, I don’t really care b/c I love Ariel! ♥ My bad influence cousin got me Luka, and his sister got me the Donald shirt. The quote seemed pretty racy for a Disney item!

A run to Dunkin’ Donuts is always required if there’s one within a 50 mile radius! :9 I love Dunkin’s, especially Munchkins; too bad there aren’t any Dunkin’s on the west coast. :<

Welcome to my room! I’m not really a Goofy fan; this was actually the only poster I left behind when I moved, lol. I do love Snoopy, though! I need a quality figure of him.

Quick! Which Fab Five character and which Disney Princess do I love the most? xD;;

Here are a few of the things you’ll see on these shelves: There’s the dealer exclusive Walt Disney Classics Collection lead crystal promoting The Little Mermaid line of figures. Boxed up in the corner is an original Ariel artwork watch I got in Walt Disney World and a Scrooge McDuck watch I got for graduation. There’s also the very first Ariel doll by Tyco and Happy Meal toys from the original release! Scrooge was actually my favorite duck b/c I luffles DuckTales, so there are a few figures of him — yep, before I collected animu figurehs, I collected Disney ones! xD You can also see in the corner the Goofy that inspired/was inspired by the poster behind my door.

.. and I’m pretty sure those gumballs are no longer edible. xD;;

Cupboard full of treasures untold. Looky, Gunbuster and Witchblade trading cards along with LEGOs and Back to the Future Kids’ Meal toys!

More Ariels along with original and Powermaster Optimus Primes! I have a ridiculous number of TransFormers downstairs in our toy room and need to somehow bring them all back with me. xD;;

My first artbooks were Robotech ones, and I also took a class on Disney in school. Kids at heart may remember Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, while scholars will recognize the many many Cliffs and Monarch Notes. xD;;

Mirror, Mirror was one of my fave TOS episodes so I had to get The Next Generation‘s sequel. The Voyage Home was my favorite Star Trek film so that was another must-have tie-in. I also love the Back to the Future trilogy, but I never was able to track down the first film’s novelization.

Moar Ariel-related stuffs!

I somehow wound up with two sets of those Disney Channel TLM mugs! You can also barely see the comic adaptation of TLM on top of the binders and boxes.

Gambit is one of my favorite X-Men, but I haven’t been able to find decent action figures of two of my other favorites — Kitty Pryde and Nightcrawler. :/

I used to want to be a Disney animator. You can barely make out the Ariel I drew on my shelf due to dusty. orz

Collectors Edition VHS sets, binders full of trading cards, and assorted CDs and artbooks! Yup, that’s the original VHS release of TLM and several volumes of the manga series Gon in the corner!

I told you I went to Disney On Ice a lot when I was a kid! I went so often that I became a Knight of the Magic Kingdom! xD

This Donald plushie is huge! He’s also ridiculously heavy! @_@ I included the full door to my closet so you could get a sense of scale.

I have tons of Ariel dolls so you’d think I’d have a Dollfie by now, but thankfully they don’t make an Ariel DD (yet)! … or even an Eliza Doolittle one; I love Audrey Hepburn and My Fair Lady is one of my favorites! xD And yup, that’s an original Megatron sitting on top of The Hunchback of Notre Dame‘s Quasimodo!

So many ZOIDS and LEGOs that need assembled! Need to lug them back with me at some point too.

I was once a captain in Starfleet! My one and only ever cosplay, unless you count the time I put on a yellow raincoat and called myself Doc Brown. xD

Desk drawer of Ariel and other goodies. Used to be a huge Sandra Bullock fan.

Drawer of action figures, mostly Witchblade and Natalie Portman. Yep, I also used to be a Natty P. fan; as you may have gathered, I don’t really like Star Wars. :p

It’s okay, you can admit my sheets are cooler than yours! I also have TLM sheets but my mom didn’t use them this time, bwaha.

Concluding the room tour by going under the bed! No dust bunnies, just more LEGOs!

While my room isn’t nearly as stuffed-to-the-gills as Dancing Queen’s, I also only spend one week out of the year here nowadays. Most of my things are either boxed up or on the other side of the country. Still, I do believe I have a crapton more of the original redhead’s stuff than DQ does. I once wanted to collect all things Ariel, but of course with the merchandising machine known as Disney involved, I soon realized it was an unattainable goal. :/

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this quick look into my 2011 holidays! Next week, it’s on to 2012 adventures!

Saeko Busujima (HOTD) × Holo (Spice and Wolf) Photoshoot(s)

I met Star Cat at Comikaze and we agreed to set something up for PMX the following weekend. That Sunday, she introduced me to her friend Tora-rin and we spent the subsequent three hours just hanging out and taking pictures!

This was such a fun shoot! Spice and Wolf and Highschool of the Dead are totally unrelated series, but we were just having some fun warming up with these shots.

Saeko loves living on the edge! I’m at a loss for who would win a fight between these two. :O Thoughts?

It turns out that Star is a photographer also, and we wound up passing the camera around. I learned quite a bit just by watching her work!

So much went on during those three epic hours that, including Star’s stuff, I think we wound up doing half a dozen different shoots!

There was way too much head space in this shot and I didn’t want to lose anything off the sides, hence the weird image shape. :/ Should’ve had Tora-rin scootch up a bit, but we kept getting hassled by hotel staff so we had to get out of there.

Tora-rin plays with her sword, which she had recently purchased. Saeko really loves that sword!

If this picture makes you feel uneasy, then I did it right. Otherwise… :/

Hnnnnng. Stole this angle from Star Cat! Highschool of the Dead was one of my favorite series of 2010 and the cool and collected Saeko was definitely my favorite character from that show. Tora-rin did a great job bringing her to life!

Star Cat cosplayed the haughty wolf harvest deity Holo from Spice and Wolf. Having not seen the series yet (it’s on the list), I needed Star to tell me about the character. Apparently, Holo loves apples!

Star doesn’t generally cosplay female characters so she said she had problems doing “cute” poses. I thought this one was pretty nice!

Holo loves her apples almost as much as Saeko loves her sword. It took many attempts to get that apple to stay still. xD

It was great fun getting to know these two very talented and lovely ladies, and I learned a lot! Let’s get together again soon!

See more photos here!