| Conclusion |
Over 2,500 people attended this year's Anime LA convention. Next year, this con moves to the Los Angeles Airport
Marriott and will be held of the first weekend of 2009. As of right now, I have no plans to attend. After all, this is my
"Retirement Tour" and in all likelihood, my final trip to Anime LA. I enjoyed this year's convention. I had fun.
For a few years now, I've really struggled at conventions as far as photography goes. I just couldn't motivate myself to get
out and take photos even though I always had equipment ready to go and giving me angry looks for not being used. I
would see all of the fantastic costumes and I couldn't get off my lazy butt and take a few photos. Maybe I was just burnt
out on shooting cosplay and that's part of the reason why I chose to give up these smaller conventions and cosplay
events after this year. I took a lot of photos that I was happy with, but it was a struggle and it wasn't fun anymore.
Maybe if I take a look at the conventions that I've attended since giving up on Anime Expo in 2004, I could find some
answers. Ever since Anime LA ended I've had a lot of time to think about what happened at this convention. Perhaps
Animagic 2004 and FanimeCon 2005 were fairly productive conventions for me, but just about everything else resulted in
very few photos. I can make an exception for PMX, since I do a lot of press work at that convention and have very little
time for cosplay photography. The rest of the conventions that I've been to have been really small or aren't good
environments for my style of photography. I know that at the smaller conventions, it's harder for me to be enthusiastic
about anything and it rubs off on my photography habits. I need to be surrounded by a lot of enthusiastic people in order
to get into the swing of things. When I'm faced with a bad photography environments, such as Animagic's Lancaster
location, which looks like an old army barracks, or the LAX Hilton's dim hallways, I chose to not take any photos rather
than take a bunch of photos that I'm not going to be happy with.
Then, along came Anime LA 2008. The indoor photo area was decent and was a good place to take photos when the
weather was bad. The outdoor area was even better with plenty of room and that's pretty much all I need. I don't really
care what's in the background just as long as it's not too bland. This year's location was a place that I could thrive. It
was a nice place to take photographs and the convention's attendance was enough so that my energy level was always
pretty high because I could see so many people enjoying themselves. I tend to feed off the enthusiasm. The result is a
cosplay gallery of almost 200 photos, which is a lot considering what I've done over the past few years. Cosplay
shooting was fun again and I thank all of the wonderful cosplayers and my fellow convention photographers for helping
me enjoy this convention. I don't think I've ever had this much fun at a convention.
What does the future hold? I don't know. Will I return to this convention, which will be moving to a location that I know I
will have a hard time with? Is shooting cosplay holding me back from doing other things that I want to do with my
photography? I can't answer these questions yet, but I've learned to never say never and anything can happen. If this
was my last time at this convention, I thank the organizers of this event for a wonderful four years and I'll be watching how
you do. I am grateful to all of the familiar faces that I see at all the local events that I go to and for the new friends that I
made at the convention this year, I hope that we see each other again somewhere down the road.
Nergene Arquelada
super-no1.com
Marriott and will be held of the first weekend of 2009. As of right now, I have no plans to attend. After all, this is my
"Retirement Tour" and in all likelihood, my final trip to Anime LA. I enjoyed this year's convention. I had fun.
For a few years now, I've really struggled at conventions as far as photography goes. I just couldn't motivate myself to get
out and take photos even though I always had equipment ready to go and giving me angry looks for not being used. I
would see all of the fantastic costumes and I couldn't get off my lazy butt and take a few photos. Maybe I was just burnt
out on shooting cosplay and that's part of the reason why I chose to give up these smaller conventions and cosplay
events after this year. I took a lot of photos that I was happy with, but it was a struggle and it wasn't fun anymore.
Maybe if I take a look at the conventions that I've attended since giving up on Anime Expo in 2004, I could find some
answers. Ever since Anime LA ended I've had a lot of time to think about what happened at this convention. Perhaps
Animagic 2004 and FanimeCon 2005 were fairly productive conventions for me, but just about everything else resulted in
very few photos. I can make an exception for PMX, since I do a lot of press work at that convention and have very little
time for cosplay photography. The rest of the conventions that I've been to have been really small or aren't good
environments for my style of photography. I know that at the smaller conventions, it's harder for me to be enthusiastic
about anything and it rubs off on my photography habits. I need to be surrounded by a lot of enthusiastic people in order
to get into the swing of things. When I'm faced with a bad photography environments, such as Animagic's Lancaster
location, which looks like an old army barracks, or the LAX Hilton's dim hallways, I chose to not take any photos rather
than take a bunch of photos that I'm not going to be happy with.
Then, along came Anime LA 2008. The indoor photo area was decent and was a good place to take photos when the
weather was bad. The outdoor area was even better with plenty of room and that's pretty much all I need. I don't really
care what's in the background just as long as it's not too bland. This year's location was a place that I could thrive. It
was a nice place to take photographs and the convention's attendance was enough so that my energy level was always
pretty high because I could see so many people enjoying themselves. I tend to feed off the enthusiasm. The result is a
cosplay gallery of almost 200 photos, which is a lot considering what I've done over the past few years. Cosplay
shooting was fun again and I thank all of the wonderful cosplayers and my fellow convention photographers for helping
me enjoy this convention. I don't think I've ever had this much fun at a convention.
What does the future hold? I don't know. Will I return to this convention, which will be moving to a location that I know I
will have a hard time with? Is shooting cosplay holding me back from doing other things that I want to do with my
photography? I can't answer these questions yet, but I've learned to never say never and anything can happen. If this
was my last time at this convention, I thank the organizers of this event for a wonderful four years and I'll be watching how
you do. I am grateful to all of the familiar faces that I see at all the local events that I go to and for the new friends that I
made at the convention this year, I hope that we see each other again somewhere down the road.
Nergene Arquelada
super-no1.com
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