PhotographyBanzai.com

Thanks to the motivation and transportation from a local friend, I was able to attend the c2e2 convention on that Saturday for 2023. Day trips are pretty viable and at least for that convention it’s the only way I’ve experienced it (2011 and 2018 articles are on this website) Here’s the Facebook image gallery. I’ve been trying to think of options to host cosplay photos on other sites besides Facebook. I would be nice if there were backups online so if FB has issues my cosplay photo work would still be available. A while back I cleared my Zenfolio connection on Facebook and it ended up deleting a bunch of photosets. So at the very least I need to re-process and upload those (EDIT: These photos magically showed back up at one point which is good! Saves a lot of time and effort, but I'm still on only the one platform). With the passing of Kevin Lillard  I have definitely been thinking about making sure my cosplay photo work is as accessible as possible. The problem is time and indirec...

I was able to attend c2e2 (Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo) on 4/7/2018 thanks to my friend Kale. My two other friends Nick and Roger also went. It’s around a two hour drive, so carpooling is a great help as I’m not a big fan of driving around downtown Chicago alone.  Me at c2e2 (thanks to a friend for taking the photo) That gave me the opportunity to do some convention and cosplay photography. In this case I went with as little equipment as possible so that I wasn’t bogged down. Thanks to Roger also taking photos and being enthusiastic about asking cosplayers for pictures, a lot of the effort I have to usually put in was handled! A few highlight images from the convention: The X100F does have a built-in flash, but I decided against using it. The enjoyment of taking things easy turns into time spent in post processing in an attempt to minimize the issues.  Light sources on the ceiling had a mixture of what looked like ~3000k and ~5000k color temperatures, resulting in a bright yel...

Hey, it’s been a while! I’ve still been taking photos as usual, but this website hasn’t seen updates in a long time. A lot of my photo updates go on my Cosplay Banzai Facebook page (recently rebranded) due to convenience. Personal websites, in my experience, don’t get much traffic with articles like this. Most of this site’s traffic are my old Pentax equipment reviews. Here are a few photos I took at a local cosplay photography meetup. The meetup is usually centered around photos with horses that we have available, but we still mostly just take photos of the cosplayers by themselves. It’s really just a big group of friends hanging out and enjoying a mutual hobby (while we also eat, drink, and have a bonfire). Stuff like this is what it’s all about! Now on to the equipment talk. The equipment I pull out when I’m serious is still Nikon DSLRs. Cameras and Lenses (use both at once most of the time): Nikon D600 with a 50mm f1.8g lens: This was attached to my backpack’s strap lugs directly ...

I attended an event hosted by my convention/photographer/cosplayer friends “ Cosplayer With A Camera ” and Hikikomori Sama at the Chicago Botanic Gardens .  They have had the event there for a number of years, but this might be the last. The garden has some pretty restrictive policies on photography, which makes things difficult for us.  This year they tightened the policies even more and we had some aggressive staff on carts show up toward the end of the night. The garden itself is really large and beautiful, which is of course great for the pictures we take. Here are a few highlight photos from the event:  All I brought for the event was the Nikon D600 and 50mm f1.8g lens. It’s a nice combination that allows you do a decent amount without the extra bulk and hassles. Along with that, the overcast skies helped a lot with getting nice photos. Shade and uniform outdoor light are great for simple natural photos that don’t need much editing afterward.

My friend and fellow photographer Kings Cosplay set up a photoshoot at Starved Rock State Park in Utica, IL. Though we had our fair share of issues such as part of the park flooding, we did manage to get a decent amount of time to take photos. Besides getting some photography in, I enjoyed the exercise and scenic views! I brought a pretty simple camera kit. The Nikon D600 along with a 28mm f1.8 and 70-210mm f4 lens. I also brought a single flash, but only used that for around 5 photos. My go-to for most of the event was the telephoto. I like the photos out of that ~$200 old used 1980s telephoto lens just as much as anything else. The lens is weirdly shaped, ugly, and with old school screw-drive AF, but does the job well. 

I recently joined in on a two-day photoshoot Kings Cosplay had scheduled with the local model Ari Jade. The theme was race queen with most of the secondary subject being motorcycles. Here are a few highlight photos: Day one equipment: Nikon 28mm f/1.8g lens Two flash with a stand, umbrella, and a 6×8″ diffuser. The first day was a bit rough photo wise. All we initially had to work with was a home garage and by the time we got out to a downtown parking garage later in the day it was really dark, so the background wasn’t usable.  The main issue I didn’t properly compensate for was the sodium vapor lamps the parking garage used, which produces monochromatic light. I also tried gels on my flash, which didn’t have a strong enough orange to match the garage lamps. The parking garage photos were best in monochrome. The garage lighting didn't work out well.  Day two equipment: 28mm f1.8 lens 70-210mm f4 lens Two flash with a stand and large 42″ brolly box softbox umbrella. I also had...

I attended Anime Central 2015 on May 15th and 16th. I have a few general hallway style photos as well as quite a few from photoshoots. Photo links: Facebook Gallery Here are a few highlight images from the convention: I tried to stay pretty mobile camera equipment wise as usual with conventions. I brought the Nikon D600, 50mm f1.8g, and two Yongnuo i-TTL flash with wireless triggers. I used the flash quite a bit, mostly when I had helpers to hold them.  Lightstands would have been helpful, but it’s added bulk I don’t want to carry around. In the future, I’d like the find something even smaller than those mini-lightstands, but so far I don’t see anything on the market that would fit the bill.  I think the photos turned out pretty decent considering the limited equipment and time. I hope everyone who attended ACEN had a fun time.

Two friends and I recently attended a gaming tournament that centered around the game StarCraft II . We were only able to attend that Saturday and Sunday, driving all the way from Illinois. StarCraft II is a real-time strategy game that is popular in the professional gaming scene. This is the first gaming tournament I’ve been to and I feel it was worth the trip to try something new and just see what professional gaming is about first hand. A cool event!  This specific event was connected to the company RedBull that are famous for their energy drinks and sponsoring of non-traditional and extreme sports. The event location was well laid out and the live video production team they had was impressive. From a convention photographer’s perspective, I really enjoyed the high production values of the tournament. I also thought that the event staff I had interacted with were friendly, polite, and helpful when I had questions or needed something. Overall, it was a worthwhile experience for m...