How Going to A Con Alone To Take Photos Started My Cosplay Photography Adventure

When I was in college, I used to go to cons pretty often. Mostly it was an excuse to walk around in a Yukata and utilize its utterly amazing sleeve pockets. Eventually, though, my attendance started to taper off. I graduated and so did my crew which meant we were off doing our own thing. A few moved out of state, some moved just far enough that regularly hanging out wasn’t possible. Either way, we grew up and grew out of that kind of thing. At least that’s what I told myself when I finally stopped going. A part of me never stopped liking cons, though. I always loved watching the cosplay music videos and other great content that came from them.

This year I decided to finally go to a convention again after six years. The only hitch was that I didn’t really know anyone who wanted to go with me. All of my “friends” were mostly from work and conventions weren’t really their thing. Still, I had just bought a new camera and wanted to take it for a spin so I bit the bullet and in June I went by myself to the Los Angeles Cosplay Convention to try and take some pictures of cosplayers. Turns out that’d be one of the best decisions I’ve made in a while.

Having The Camera Helped

So, there I was standing in a crowd full of unfamiliar faces. I had just bought a fancy new camera on a whim that I didn’t know how to use. I figure there was no better place to learn than by diving into the deep end and just trying to take pictures of awesome cosplay. Full disclosure, I’m not fantastic with people so going up to someone and asking to take someone’s picture was a herculean task for me. If I didn’t have the camera with me, I would have happily contented myself with just walking around and maybe buying a few things then leaving without even so much as wave hello to anyone there.

The thing is, my guilt about splurging on a camera somehow trumped my fear of human interaction. Look, $450 for a camera may not seem like a lot to some, but to me it was so the minute I threw that money down I figured I may as well get the most out of it so I don’t feel like I just tossed $450 into the sun. Looking back on it now, whatever money I spent on that camera and attendance badge has been more than paid back in the awesome people I got to meet and everything I got to experience.

Re-Learning How to Be Around People

At the LA Cosplay Convention I met this group of friends who happily welcomed me to go hang out with them for the rest of the night. I got to drink and eat with people I had never met prior and talk with them as if we’ve known each other for years. That feeling of being able to connect with people so openly became addicting and I wanted to keep that energy going. Whatever fears I had about going to cons alone was allayed in a single night (or so I thought) and I wanted to go to more. So I did. The next month I went to Anime Expo.

Anime Expo wasn’t all smooth sailing. Anxiety got the best of me and I found myself sitting in a corner for a good hour trying to muster up the courage to just ask someone for a picture. It was the same situation I was in at LA Cosplay Con all over again. Connecting with people, interacting, and being open was a skill I hadn’t practiced in a long time and I was frozen. However, I had already spent the money on the Uber to the convention center and I had to make it count (guilting myself into action is my specialty as you can probably tell). Eventually, I got myself to actually do something with my life and just talk to someone for a change. I snapped a picture of a humanized Charizard and just kept taking more pictures from there.

While learning how to be around people again, I learned something else about myself — I really like taking pictures. I’d go so far as to say that I love it. I was determined to get better at it and I figure going to more cons was great practice. I still didn’t have a set crew so it was riding solo for while. That wouldn’t last for very long.

After Anime Expo was Nerd-Bot Con and that’s where I met some of the best people I could have possibly met.

I Started to Find My Group

At Nerd-Bot con I met a Saitama cosplayer who I would come to learn lived in the same neighborhood as I did. We ended up grabbing a late night dinner together after a raucous after party. He invited me to a first year convention all the way in Santa Clarita. It was a last minute decision that cost us both $30 each and gas. The convention was a bust save for the fact that we met a couple cosplaying as Predators. Those two became friends of ours immediately after that and they are now in the process of getting me my own set of NCR Ranger Armor from Fallout New Vegas. So, the drive was worth it. I now had three people that I could go to conventions with. That was three more than when I started so everything was coming up Julius as far as I was concerned.

At Stan Lee’s Los Angeles Comic Con I ran into a Spider-Man cosplayer I had met previously at a different convention. Turns out the same people turn up to these things. Who knew, right? He introduced me to another Spider-Man cosplayer and then they introduced me to an entire Spider-Verse and that spiraled into a bevy of photoshoots, gatherings, taco runs, and the occasional case of trespassing. Needless to say, now I had way more people to roll with than when I started and man that felt amazing. I honestly don’t know if I would still be going to these things if I hadn’t met any of them. Then again, I wouldn’t have met any of them at all if I hadn’t forced myself to go alone to a convention in the first place. Funny how things work out, right?

An Unexpected Result

I just tried to sum up an entire year of going to conventions and taking pictures into as few words as possible. I’m not sure how well I did, but if you’re still reading then I think I’m doing alright. The fact of the matter of is that none of that stuff would have happened had I not decided to brave going alone to my first convention back in June. That was what started this entire chain of events that ends with me having a group of wonderful people to roll with and take pictures of.

Since meeting them, my pictures have gotten better (I think) and I’m just generally happier for the most part. All of that because I stepped out of my comfort zone and tried something that I was sure was going to be terrifying at best and a disaster at worst. Wild, right?

It’s Worth The Effort

The thing is, and this is the cliché part, life is too short to be scared to try something. Whether it’s going to cons alone or just any event in general. If someone had told me earlier this year that buying that badge was going to end with me being where I am now, I’d have waved it off without a thought. There was no way I could have predicted how this whole going to conventions alone thing would have turned out.

What I learned is that going alone opens you up to more opportunities than you might think. It puts you in a spot where you can make the most out of something and meet some great people along the way. So whatever it is you’ve always wanted to do but you’ve been hesitant about. Just give it a try, yeah? Who knows, it might take you on an adventure you would have never expected.

Originally published at creators.co on December 21, 2016.