I love costumes, as evidenced by this post from last Halloween. So when I discovered that there is a whole community of dedicated costume-wearers I decided that I needed to get to know them better... photographically.
Everyone, meet cosplay. The linked article describes it better than I ever could, but essentially cosplayers dress up as characters from anime, manga, video games, or other cartoons and go to conventions in character. And these aren't lame costumes. People style their own wigs, sew, build, accessorize, and apply make-up to create the best representations they can of characters they choose to portray. It's a true labor of love.
The thing I really like about all of this is that the people I've seen who do this are taking fantasy and turning into a little bit of reality. They get to do part-time what actors do constantly, and that's where the fun comes in for me. Cosplay is pure fun and fantasy just a step outside of normal life, usually just donned for a day or weekend before heading back to school, work, and the rest of that stuff we all do. Because of that close relationship, I've chosen to photograph people in their cosplay (costume), but in a setting from their everyday life. Work, home, school, the store...
Here are the first two.
Jess, an avid writer of fanfiction...
and Aly, a Computer Science major who currently works in a lab as a programmer.
I'm really excited to expand on this project. Though I am not a member of the cosplay community myself, this is something I can really sink my teeth into.
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