Inaugural DCC Cosplay Photoshoot Meet Up

On June 24^th I hosted the first Dayton-Columbus-Cincinnati(DCC) Cosplay Photo shoot Meet Up at Hills and Dales Metro Park in Dayton.  The DCC Cosplay Photo shoot Meet Up is modeled after the DC Cosplay Photo shoot group that I belong to while living in Washington, DC.  When I moved up to Dayton, Ohio I did not find a similar group, even though Ohio has a lot of cosplayers, so created the DCC after the DC model. I did change one thing from the DC group to the Ohio group. We take a picture of all the cosplayers while holding a small white board with their cosplay name as they check in, which is then posted to the event’s Facebook page. This allows photographers to tag photos easier, and not guess or try to remember who they photographed.

The DCC Cosplay Photo Shoots is a fun, positive, and encouraging group that exists to cultivate the art of cosplay and cosplay photography among our members in the Dayton-Columbus-Cincinnati areas and surrounding areas in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. Additionally, the meet-ups are to foster collaboration, friendships, partnerships, and growth for both the cosplayers and photographers. The meet ups will provide cosplayers an opportunity to work with several new photographers and get photos of their cosplays outside of the convention atmosphere in unique locations and settings with guaranteed photos. The meet ups will allow photographers to work with several different cosplayers outside of the convention atmosphere in unique locations and settings to build their portfolios.

Group Photo: Cosplayers and Photographers

The first meet up in my mind was a success we had five cosplayers and four photographers plus an assistant attend. We also had a nice range of cosplays come out for the first event. Everyone was friendly and showed up on time. Plus, after the event ended some of us when and got burgers at EO Burgers.  

I would like to thank Friese FramePhotography, Kevin Florkiewi, and Leaf Photography for coming out and photographing our lovely cosplayers. I would also like to thank our cosplayer, GleumeCosplay, But Dragons Tho Cosplay, Kamikaze Kendra, Nonsense Noah, and Bocchan Owo for coming out and modeling for us.  I would also like to thank my husband for coming out and helping me, and taking all the intro photos, and giving little 3x3 inch polaroids to all the cosplayers.  

I’m hoping the attendance of both cosplayers and photographers grows as we make our way around all three major cities. Currently, it is a little rough going, due to the group spanning three cities, with the two furthest cities being about two hours apart from one another. Also, I think it may be a bit harder to come by locations in Ohio as compared to DC.  While there are a lot of parks in Ohio, permitting and photography policies for each park very widely county to county.  Just for the Dayton area, I deal with three different county park systems. Then entrance fee free indoor locations are close to non-existent.  But these are things that can be overcome, I just need to learn the permit system and do more location scouting.

I hope to see more cosplayers and photographers at the second meet up which will be held in the Columbus area in August.  The third meet up will be held in September in the Cincinnati area. 

Note: You can see all my photos from the event here.