Otaku High Cosplay Photography

Well we made it through 2009 which was perhaps one of the worst years of my life. The year started with a car wreck and ended with -$400 in the bank. Congress tried it’s best to destroy the industry I work in and I managed to survive 3 waves of layoffs. Despite all that madness I was still able to attend a fair number of conventions and take over 3000 cosplay photos. Made some new friends along the way and hopefully as we move into 2010 we’ll get to party hard.

I am finishing up some outstanding photoshoots from the 2009. This includes a few more shoots from AnimeFest 2009, all of Onicon and my Moment of Zen III photoshoot with the TMCC gang in North Texas. I hope to have AnimeFest and Onicon in the can by the end of Janurary. We shall see. I was fighting through a bad bit of the blues and stopped working on photos for over three months. I just didn’t to do it anymore. I got burned out. I even thought about selling off all my gear and moving on but the little angel me sucker punched the little chibi devil me and I am pulling out of that nose dive. The catalyst for the recovery is owed in part to a photo I took of the cosplay Ex-Shadow in her Vash the Stampede outfit. The photo reminded me of why I do it and how much fun it is. It revived me. Many thanks to you Kyle!

My 2010 also started off good. After over 3 years of pay raise freezes at my job they finally removed it and gave me a good raise and a nice bonus to show their appreciation for sticking with the job and fighting throug the really rough 2009 season. This cash combined with what is coming from the tax return will allow me to completely wipe out my credit card debt and free me from a huge financial strain that has made my hair go gray in places. Hooray to that!

I have updated my Con schedule in the above tab and updated my FAQ regarding Model Releases and Cosplay BAN listings. I will be adding a new cosplayer spotlight article soon and adding the 2009 Best of the Best photo showcase as well.

IN 2010 I’M GOIGN TO WIN! This is my new mantra. I will live by it.

I am also back to the gym and eating better. My goal is 100 pounds in 365 days. It will not be easy but I am going to do it this time. I want to be Joe Stud Muff’n photographer! I need to be healthier so I don’t die right in the middle of the photoshoot from a heart attack! @_@

2010 New Year’s Resolutions:
1. Lose 100 Lbs.
2. Be happier!
3. Watch more Anime!
4. Finish my Fantasy book!
5. Complete my 2011 Cosplay Calendar project!
6. Finally get furniture for the apartment!

MechaCon fans and cosplayers take heart!   I am still chunking my way through the 5000 photos to get them published for all your viewing needs.   It’s hard to do when I only have an hour or two on the weekdays to produce photos.  My weekends have been filled up with other stuff so I haven’t been able to just sit and work on photos for several hours.   I am roughly half-way done, working on Saturdays photos now.   Expect at least 4 more sets to be completed by Friday.

AnimeFest is fast approaching.    My favorite convention and the one where I do my best work I think is less than 3 weeks out.   Photoshoot scheduling has begun.    If you are interested in having a shoot please head over to my DeviantArt account here:  Kuragiman’s DA     I will be posting my available time slots there and tracking things there.   If you don’t have a DA account then you can e-mail me at my e-mail address:   kuragiman-at-otakuhigh-dot-com.    Space is limited.    Each shoot is an hour long.    All people particapating in photoshoots with me must sign a Model Release agreement before shooting can take place.    You can find a direct link to the forms on the front page of the website in the right hand menu column.

That’s all for now!  Back to work!

I just got home from MechaCon 5.0 in Lafayette, Louisiana.   I had such a blast this year and I wanted to extend a big thanks to Pete and Jon for allowing me the honor of shooting for the convention again this year.   I am proud of the growth you guys have achieved and look forward to seeing big things in your future as you move to the Big Easy for MechaCon 6.0.   I hope I can be a part of that continued growth and would love to return for 6.0.

More shout outs go to Jesse who made this MechaCon visit possible as with the previous MechaCon.   You are always a blast to talk to and you run a smooth cosplay show, one of the best I have seen at my many years of convention hoping.

To all the cosplayers that signed up to shoot with me, a big thanks to you!   Without your hard work I’d be out of a job at conventions!  I saw some great work this year and can’t wait to dig in to the photos and start releasing them to the fan fair of many ooooo’s and ahhhhh’s!

More information to come but right now… I am going to crawl into my bed and die a peaceful tired death.   XD

Finally…  I am done with A-Kon 20 photos.    Just in time for MechaCon coming up next week!   Hooray.

Speaking of MechaCon…  see you all there next week!

And the last bit of information…
It has arrived! Some of you that are closer to me than other cosplayers know I have been working on a model release form for my photography. In an age of sue happy Americans I felt it was time for me to protect myself and my cosplayers when doing photo work with me. I also have plans in 2010 and beyond to start doing more with my photos than just throwing it up on the web. Such projects will require that the subjects being included in the works I do sign a Model Release. If you don’t know what a model release is the simplest definition that I can give is that it is a legal form that gives me permission to use your image likeness in whatever form of medium I want. Should a publisher want to use any of my photos I will need this form to be able to hand over the photo to the publisher. I also want to sell prints of my very best work here on DeviantART. I have had enough people ask but in order to do that… you guessed it, model release!

Some cosplayers may not wish to sign the release. That is fine but know that I will no longer accept a cosplayer for a private shoot without first acquiring a model release from them. There are three types of releases in the PDF. One is for cosplayers 18 or older and is a blanket form allowing me to use any image I have taken of said cosplayer, past, present or future.  The second form is a nearly identical form to the first but only allows me to use photos taken at a specified shoot.   The final form is for minors, 17 and under and requires a parent or legal guardian’s signature before a shoot can begin.  All three forms require a witness’s signature.  A witness can be anybody; a friend, a family member or anyone capable of signing their name as long as they bare witness to your own signing of the release.

The legal mumbo jumbo in the Model Release might intimidate some of you but it is as simple as the definition above. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask me via comment or private note. The link to the model release can be found on the right under the Blogroll section. Either scan in the signed copy and return it to me via e-mail or sign it and have it ready with you at the convention to give to me. All information MUST be filled out to make the release legal and binding. All information provided will be kept in the strictest confidence and will not be released to any third parties for usage. It is for my personal records only.

Thank you all for your help. Some of you that I have shot with in the past that I wish to use your image in my upcoming calendar project will be getting Notes soon.  ^_^

I have noticed a lot of new sign ups for user accounts in the Otaku High galleries since I started posting A-Kon 20 photos.   While I am happy to have new users come in and comment and keep in touch via the galleries there are a MILLION bots and spammers that are trying to get in just as bad so they can comment spam the hell out of my site.    I have a very hard time picking out who is who.

If you TRULY want an account so you can comment on my photos then your username you make has to follow certain guidelines.   First, use proper capitalization of your name.   People that sign up with names that are all lowercase or funky looking will get deleted without a second thought.    Second, do not put any numbers in your username.    You will be deleted.  Bots tend to throw a bunch of random letters together with numbers.   You will be treated as a bot/spammer and be deleted before activation.     Third, Fill out SOME profile data.    The first thing I do when I see a new user registration is look to see if any profile data is filled out.   The bots/spammers don’t generally answer any of the profile questions.    Answering the questions is the quickest easiest way to get activated.

That’s it.   Follow those guidelines and you’ll be activated within 24 hours.