Psychonaut Photography (you can also check out their Facebook here) has posted a note to cosplayers about working with a photographer. We’ll post what they wrote below and then add our commentary in bold.
“Everyone looks at me weird when I say that I wish more cosplayers were like NovaVandorwolf and Twinfools. I’m not saying it based on their cosplays (which are freaking amazing) as I realize not everyone has the skill or the time to make outfits of that calibre.
No, I say it because after years of working as a photographer with cosplayers, they have consistently been the absolute best to work with. Yup, cosplayers are the kindest people we work with
So for all the cosplayers out there, here is a list of the little things you can do to make your photographer happy
1) If you book a shoot, make sure you show up – I cannot count the times I have had someone completely bail on me after booking an hour long shoot at a con. It wastes time for me and pretty much guarantees that I will never work with you again. Our shoots are pretty short, so it’s not much of a loss but bailing with out a text or e-mail is slightly annoying. We wait around for 5-10 minutes and then move on.
2) Be on time – I give out my cell number to pretty much everyone I work with so that they can contact me if they get delayed, so turning up late with no message is a huge irritant to me. This is especially true during cons as I’ve usually booked shoots almost back to back so I don’t have time to wait for people. Yup, we’ve experienced this a few times. If someone is *too* late, we won’t take them or we’ll move them to a couple hours later. Our shoots are free so there isn’t much of a loss on the cosplayers side but this just goes under common courtesy
3) Listen to your Photog – You have put your time and effort into your costume and now it is time for the photographer to make you shine. When we ask you to move or change what you are doing it is almost always because we have seen the potential for a great shot or we are trying to avoid catching something in the background. Thankfully, we’ve never had someone *not* listen to us. The cosplayers seem to be pretty understanding to movement and location
4) Have poses in mind – We try, as photographers we really do try to have poses in mind for every character. I typically research the series to get an idea for some poses and locations but I don’t always have enough. This goes double at a con, I don’t have the time to have a huge list of poses in mind for every character. So even if it just one or two poses, have something in mind. This is the biggest thing. I love researching characters and getting some cool poses down, but I also love when the cosplayer has some poses in mind. They don’t need to have a bunch, but a couple just to mix it up is awesome.
5) Be respectful – We aren’t just here to take photos of you, for many of us this is fun as much as it is a job. Getting your photos done and running off without even a thank you is pretty damn rude, ditto with asking for photos within a week of a con. After SakuraCon last year, I went home with about 45k photos on my computer, waiting to be checked, edited, and posted. It takes time, but we will get to your photos ASAP. We’ve worked with some pretty polite cosplayers but we do urge the people we work with to be patient when receiving after the con pictures. We both have day jobs so they sometimes can be a little delayed 🙂
In the end, this is a symbiotic relationship. I’m not going to pretend that photographers are perfect because we are not. I invite any cosplayer to give me a list of things that Photogs can do to make cosplayers happy and I will gladly post it up here right next to mine” Yep. Cosplayers and Photographers are partners. We have to work together to get the best image we can.
Please check out Psychonaut Photography’s Tumblr and Facebook