FAnime Pictures are up!

My pictures from FAnime are on my photography website.

Her Honest Opinion

I shared a link I found to Children's Books from BBSpot, and my friend Joanna replied:

oh geez, you're just a package of all that's wrong!

Good to see I haven't lost my touch.

FAnime Recap

This last weekend I was in San Jose, CA, for FAnime. Having registered in February, I did not have to spend a lot of time in line to get my badge, and got a cool looking badge too. After that, I was on the prowl with my camera looking for impressive costumes for the rest of the weekend. I did actually sit down to watch some anime, and found a couple that I liked, but for me actually watching anime is secondary to testing my photography in the grueling conditions of the convention.

If I were to create circumstances to improve the photography conditions, I'd have someone managing a backdrop, someone else holding a reflector to bounce light back to the subject, and a couple of flash umbrellas and soft boxes to shine a nice even light on my subject. The cosplayers would be patient, and have a general idea of how to pose. In reality though, the cosplayers, while willing to have their pictures taken, are not usually willing to concede more than a simple pose at their current location, minimizing their time distracted by any particular photographer. This meant having random people and objects in the background, no extra light besides my camera flash, and nobody else helping me out. The light inside the convention was dark with a yellow/orange cast, sometimes with glare from large windows. Outside, buildings blocked the "good" light in the early morning and late afternoon. Most of my pictures have a candid feel to them, with all of the distractive elements in the background, but it also gives some context to the event.

Of the anime conventions I've attended, I prefer FAnime. It's much smaller than Anime Expo in L.A. or Anime Central in Chicago, but there were plenty of people in costume to keep me occupied. San Jose is local for my friends in California, which makes them much more likely to attend. The staff are ambivalent to photographers, unlike the open hostility shown by the staff at Anime Central. My friends who care tell me that FAnime tends to get newer anime than the other larger conventions, as distributors use FAnime as a test market for their newer imports. The only drawback to the smaller conventions is that not as many vendors ply their wares. There are often several anime conventions for any given holiday weekend across the U.S., and the larger conventions offer better economic incentive for vendors to attend.

Still, it was a fun weekend, and I'm looking forward to coming about again next year. Maybe I'll be a little more selective, and pick out cosplayers who are willing to work with me a bit, and enlist one of my friends to hold a reflector board.

Chicago DPC GTG

Five of us from DPC met to take pictures together around downtown Chicago. "Strangeghost" and I camped out, apparently in violation of a police order, outside of the Adler Planetarium to get shots of the sunrise lighting up Chicago's skyline. At the much more human hour of 9am, the rest of the group assembled and we spent the next few hours wandering about as an unruly mob, taking pictures of everything. Some of my better ones are in my DPC Portfolio.

FAnime

FAnime is next week! While I enjoy some of the anime, my real motivation to attend these types of events is to take pictures of people in costumes. The only people who don't like the rampant orgy of photography are some of the staff who think that stopping for a couple seconds to snap a picture disrespects them personally.

For this year's event, I got a Demb Flash Diffuser and a new bracket. I'm pleased with the results of my early tests. The diffuser gives a nice fill flash in addition to the directional bounced main flash, and the bracket is very light yet study.

Windy City Madness

Over at Windy City Gridiron, WCG writes:

Could it be that third string QB, Kyle Orton's job is on the line? The guy who as a rookie won 10 games.

Gah, why do people credit the QB for the win?? Looking back at Orton's stats for that year, he was awful! The Bears won those games in spite of Orton's poor play. A quick trip to Yahoo's stats for the 2005 season shows just how bad Orton performed.

QB Rating: 59.7, last in the league
Completion Percent 51.6%, 2nd from last, but not by much
Yards per Attempt: 5.1, last in the league among starters!

And on top of that add on 13 interceptions and 12 fumbles. This is not a person you want running your team's offense.

As a team, the 2005 Chicago Bears were next to last in passing offense (measured in yards per game and 3rd down conversion percentage), but in the upper third for rushing yards per game. The rushing stat is a little more impressive given that teams didn't have to worry about Orton completing any passes longer than a few yards. I think part of Grossman's great start last season was that opponents didn't think any Bears QB could throw a deep pass, and crowded the line. The 2005 Bears did well because their defense played very well (tops in points allowed per game).

Chickenfoot??

Chickenfoot is the creation of Jhonen Vasquez, a character mentioned in the series Invader Zim. While the entire series is very good, the Chickenfoot episode alone is worth purchasing the full set. BUY THOSE DVDS!

I'm transitioning from my poorly maintained blogs on 360 and iWeb. We'll see how well this one survives. While I still have some loyalties for Yahoo, having worked on its search engine technology for a few years, I have to admit the iGoogle setup is pretty sweet, and it works with Safari.