Every year I keep saying how much better Fanime keeps getting and this year was no different; it certainly exceeded last year’s expectations. The crowds, the costumes, the people, every year keeps raising the bar of excellence. Normally we go Friday and Saturday to Fanime, but this year we had a wedding on Saturday so we were only able to go briefly on Friday, but did spend almost a full-day at the San Jose Convention Center on Sunday. And unlike the last few years, we didn’t have any private scheduled cosplay photo shoots, opting to just wander and do random photo shoots on a whim, which worked out nicely.
I also had the great opportunity to hang out with some amazing cosplay photographers again this year as well as meeting new cosplay photographers: Abbott Wang, Tony Quan, Andy Rakka, Vincent Milum Jr, Raul Sandoval, Eric Ng, Martin Wong, Max Archer, Steve Fraga, Daniel Wright, Joseph Chi Lin, Ejen Chuang, Shaowen Yao, Ackson Lee, and sorry to those whose name I forgot. It was also great to hang out with some amazing cosplayers, both familiar and new faces like Chloe Doan, Jan Pesino Illenberger, Tracy Ho, Angela Jo Garcia, Han-Na Aku, Vanessa Escalambre, Crystal Like, Petra Zuniga, Steff Scholl, Naxul, Imari Yumiki, and others whose name I may have forgotten as well.
All-in-all, it was a great cosplay event, we had fun, and can’t wait to be back! Below are photos I took from Fanime 2011. You can see the rest in our Fanime 2011 gallery here. Another thing that was a bit different from last year is that all the photo shoots and us appearing at Fanime was sponsored by one of our Recommended Vendors, SF Threads. There are some amazing cosplay related projects in the works, so definitely be sure to regularly checkout the SF Threads store for the big announcement. And as a special treat, we’ve been authorized to provide a limited time coupon code saving you 15% off your TOTAL order in the SF Threads store. Use FANIME2011BUIPHOTO as the coupon code and this code will be good until the end of July 2011!
Anti Ai-chan's cosplay of Ymir from Queen's Blade at Fanime 2011
Anti Ai-chan's cosplay of Ymir from Queen's Blade at Fanime 2011
Anti Ai-chan's cosplay of Ymir from Queen's Blade at Fanime 2011
The Sushi Monster in a custom cosplay at Fanime 2011
The Sushi Monster in a custom cosplay at Fanime 2011
Kiwi5Frog's cosplay as Lust from Full Metal Alchemist at Fanime 2011
Kiwi5Frog's cosplay as Lust from Full Metal Alchemist at Fanime 2011
Han-Na Aku's cosplay of Robin from Young Justice at Fanime 2011
Cosplay of Dante and Imari Yumiki's cosplay of X-23 from Marvel vs. Capcon 3 at Fanime 2011
Imari Yumiki's cosplay of X-23 from Marvel vs. Capcon 3 at Fanime 2011
Cosplay of Dante and Imari Yumiki's cosplay of X-23 from Marvel vs. Capcon 3 at Fanime 2011
Anti Ai-chan's cosplay of Warden from Superjail on Adult Swim at Fanime 2011
Anti Ai-chan's cosplay of Warden from Superjail on Adult Swim at Fanime 2011
Naxul's cosplay from Resident Evil at Fanime 2011
Crystal Like with an apple at Fanime 2011
Ackson Lee demonstrating how big "it is" at Fanime 2011
Yukari's cosplay from Pokemon at Fanime 2011
Kuchikixrukia's cosplay from Pokemon
Kuchikixrukia's and Petra's cosplay from Pokemon at Fanime 2011
Kuchikixrukia's cosplay from Pokemon at Fanime 2011
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Behind the Scenes Tech Info
I wanted to travel very light for this year’s Fanime, only opting to bring one camera with one lens and using only natural lighting for an extra challenge. All the shots taken on Friday at Fanime was shot using the Nikon D7000 (on loan from our friends at B&H Photo Video) with a Nikon 50mm f/1.2 AI-S. The shots taken on Sunday at Fanime was using my Nikon D3 with the same Nikon 50mm f/1.2 AIS manual focus lens. Everything was packed into my Think Tank Photo Glass Taxi for transportation or around my waist when shooting using the Spider Camera Holster.
