So I did a bad thing and I bought a new lens, an Olympus F 1.8 75mm.
That finally pushed me over the edge, and I now have an account with 500px.
And then I took the lens with me to SGTCC. I went there a year ago, with fairly decent results, so I was looking forward to this one.
I was not disappointed in the least.
I really went to work on the first day with it,
Fig 1
although being unfamiliar with it resulted in some amusing problems, such as below, when the camera focused on Saitoh’s hand rather than his face
Fig 2
and the fact that even when I was ten or fifteen metres away from the subject and having a lot of people wander into shot and in some extreme cases start shooting from directly in front of me, I’d end up cropping the image more than I would like.
Fig 3
But when the lens worked, it worked very, very well and it let me capture images without people realising it.
Fig 4
I mostly went back to using my 20mm on Day 2, but with the benefit of bringing my own spotlight, which let me create some very atmospheric shots
Fig 5
Fig 6
Fig 7
And then at the end of the day I went back to using my 75mm.
Candid shot:
Fig 8
Posed shot
Fig 9
I even caught a legendary outlaw dancing to Jackson 5 in indoor light.
fig 10
And a tree
Fig 11
But the best part of the day, I think, was that I no longer just run up to people, take shots, and exchange cards. I exchange greetings, and ask people I know for shots, sometimes of shots that I would hesitate to request if not for the fact that I have probably established a certain degree of (I hope, justified) trust with the cosplayer.
Fig 12
And I’ve made friends, without knowing it, without thinking about it.
I have friends here, and I don’t know what I’ve done to earn this friendship,
Fig 13
and I can ask things of people, to try things that might not have occurred to them.
,
Fig 14
Except, perhaps, by just being me.
Fig 13
(Sometimes, being me comes out very strange indeed:)
Fig 14
All photos except the last two are from this album here
Fig 1: Jass CSS as Kenshin (movie version) from Rorouni Kenshin.
Fig 2: Invinc Messatsu as Saitoh Hajime (movie version) from Rorouni Kenshin.
Fig 3: Yuko Ozeki Chee, Saku Miyuku and Jelly Ellie as Rikku, Yuna and Paine from Final Fantasy X-2
Fig 4: Dunno, from dunno. I shot him as I was leaving.
Fig 5: Jaye Tempest, as Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite.
Fig 6: Kuromori KinoKamiki as Haruna from Kantai Collection
Fig 7: Fi Ismail as Scarecrow from Resident Evil (not sure of details)
Fig 8: Kirisaki as, er, dunno
Fig 9: Yumiki Li and someone I don’t know, as a pair of Sheryl Nomes from Macros Frontier.
Fig 10: Peter Quill/ Star Lord from Guardians of the Galaxy
Fig 11: Groot, with bonus Rocket Racoon, from same.
Fig 12: Cherie Sim, as Psylocke
Fig 13: Chelcy Wong Mun Ei, as Ranka Lee from Macross Frontier (30th Anniversary edition)’
Fig 14: Drefan and Jan Ile, as Thor and Captain America
Fig 15: Chelcy and myself (as Dante). Photo by Chelcy
Fig 16: Myself and Mochi Rinya, as a panda from Worlds of Warcraft (I think. I could be wrong)
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