(me @ Anime Expo 2008)
I can't believe how fast time flies these days. Looking at this photo taken in 2008 and it feels like it was only yesterday ... and four years ago !
In 2008 I was driving by the Los Angeles Convention Center and there was a sign touting Anime Expo was coming up. It had been 8 years or more since I actually watch anime, bought comic books or even went to a con (my first was A-kon in Dallas, TX).
Hmmm..... let's go see how cons have changed and ....... let me bring my lights and all that and maybe do some portraits...just for a few hours.
(more after the jump)
Dude, I had an epic time ! I hung out, took photos of cosplayers - no, I didn't know who many were but damn, look at those costumes ! I felt alive, recharged, just had such a great time I was hooked !
My few hours of taking photos turned into a day of taking photos turned into a weekend of taking photos and I was hooked. Seriously, like crack.
Fast forward to Jan 2009. It was this month I decided to attempt this cosplay book project. Enough friends have rallied that it should be done and special thanks to Bill for being the guy who gave me the confidence to do the book project. My thoughts were : no one had really done a book documenting cosplayers from coast to coast since most books about cosplay weren't about the United States and finally I wanted to show people what was going on at cons.
So in May of 2009, I drove up to Fanime in San Jose, CA. I had my lights, and camera gear with me. I figured if I didn't like what I was doing, I could just end it there. No harm done. At least I'll have a chance to visit friends up in the Bay Area.
Fanime was amazing. I was so hyped, I started hitting specific cons around the country. I used animecons.com to research the biggest cons I could find. My hope was to hit the top 10 in the US.
Some cons I travel to I had never before been in that state. Cars were rented, hotels rooms booked, photo gear rented from local camera shops. I bought peanut butter and jelly from stores and made sandwiches to bring with me to the convention. I would find an area to set-up that was out of the way yet close enough to the main area where cosplayers would hang out. I was never kicked out of a con. Con security would always come to question me but since I wasn't charging money and not using their electricity (my lights are battery powered), I was left alone.
In all, I covered six cons across the country before my first credit card got maxed out. I was fine. I had 1,600+ cosplayers photographed by then. More than enough for a book.
Six months of editing started. My goal was to have the book and the files ready by Spring 2010. I even found a backer to finance the book printing cost .... until he dropped out in Jan 2010. I was devastated.
I couldn't blame him - look at the economy. Nine months of work would be out the window if I couldn't find someone to back the project. Kickstarter wasn't an option back then. Although they did exist in 2009, it was another year before people really was aware what crowd-funding was all about.
I did the only thing I could. Use more credit cards and took out a loan from a credit union.
In hindsight, not sure if I was smart or stupid but I really wanted to do this project so I threw everything into it. Probably the fact I knew nothing at all about the book industry, about making books helped me. If I knew how tough it was... well, I might never had done the book.
In the grand scheme of it all, I consider this book a success. There's been much attention about the book and I'm pretty much sold out. For bean counters, the book probably is not a success. In the business you have to sell a lot of books to really make a profit to cover expenses for the publisher. Since I published my own book, I spent my own money to make the book, for marketing, to fly out to conventions, everything (unless I was a guest at a con, then some or maybe all the expenses are covered). But I managed to break even which was all I really wanted anyways.
I think I got something even better than money. I had a chance to meet people from across the country. A chance to travel to some states, some cities even some countries I've never been to before. It's a time I will always treasure. If I managed to pass away early, well, I lived a good life and I had a chance to do something for myself - not for clients, not for my parents, just for me.
Cosplay knows no boundaries. There's not like an official rules book. You can cosplay whatever size, shape, color, and color you are. There are people who may say things but pay them no mind. Cosplay is for you, not them. As long as you are having fun, keep cosplaying. Go to cons, hang out with your friends. I guarantee when you're old and in that rocking chair, you will treasure those memories.
( I can be very cruel !)
A few weekends ago, I was at Cos & Effect, the last con I plan to personally sell my book at. I've been on tour for the past 27 months, attending some 48 conventions in three countries. At this point, I'm almost out of books so I'm keeping some for myself. Although I myself, won't be selling the book, Amazon, J-List and local comic shops still have the book.
After traveling around for so many years, it was time to take a break from it all. Bittersweet. I love conventions but I've been traveling so much, I've been neglecting friends and my career as a photographer. I turned into a tweeting, Facebooking, video-making, book-selling, cosplay-photographing, con hopping person and not it wasn't fun, but my heart has already been in photography.
I've met so many wonderful people, talking to so many cosplayers, had a chance to travel to so many places I've never been to in my life. I'm gonna miss a lot of it. No, I'm not gonna completely disappear from cons. I don't think I can ever leave the convention life. It'll always be a part of me. Y'all out there will always be a part of me.
I plan on taking some time away. To refocus and get back to photography. To pursue other projects. Right now I'm planning to be at around 5 conventions in 2013 starting with Katsucon. I'll still have my video camera and my phone. I'll still be posting live from cons and posting stuff I find online on my Facebook. I just won't be everywhere like I was before :)
This chapter in my life is closing and another chapter will be opening. No idea what's gonna happen but then again, when I walked into Anime Expo 2008, I had no idea what was gonna happen either.
Follow your dreams.
ejen
