AwesomeCon 2023 Review

This year I attended AwesomeCon. I originally planned to have at least a week separating my trip to Ireland and my attendance at AwesomeCon. However, work training interfered with that and my Ireland trip needed to be shifted only giving me a day and a half between the two events.  I can say I wasn’t 100-percent at AwesomeCon; because I limited the number of shoots per day it was manageable.  I only did four shoots which is a far cry from the 20 I usually do at a convention. Additionally, being able to “easily” commute between the convention and homemade things better, since I was able to sleep in my own bed every night.  Finally, the convention is less crowded then Katsucon thus going a long way to making it feel less stressful overall.   

Now let’s talk some photography. For AwesomeCon I was shooting with my Canon 80D with an 18-200mm Canon lens. I had two speedlights, one on camera which acted as a trigger 90-percent of the time and one on a light stand. The one thing I like about AwsomeCon is that they do not prohibit free standing light stands.  As mentioned previously I only booked four sessions resulting in 450 images total for the convention.   I used ISO 100 and ISO 200.  My aperture ranged from F4.5 to F14 with the most common aperture being F8.  My shutter speed ranged from 1s to 1/250s with the most common speed being 1/160s.  Note, that single shot using a shutter speed of 1s was a throwaway shot.   My focal length ranged from 18mm to 60mm with the most common being 18mm.

I got to work with the lovely Rachael K Cosplay who wore a dapper day Bakugou from My Hero Academia.  It was a nice version on a My Hero Academia character, which allowed me tap into my love of pin up and classic beauty photography.  I feel I got a lot of great images from my session with her though the two below are my favorites.

I also got to work the duo Geek Belly Dance and AntipodeGeek Belly Dance in their belly dance versions of Todoroki & Izuku from My Hero Academia.  This duo is always fun to work with, plus they bring fun props that can be incorporated into the shoot.    For this session they brought large fans, which I used to simulate the characters throwing their powers.  My favorite shot of them is below. I love how the fans add movement and interest to the image, instead of it being a static action/battle pose.

Finally, this solo image of Geek Belly Dance as Izuku is one my personal favorites from the whole convention. I just love the overall mood of the image, from the pose to the reflection in the window.  It is a feel like it is an almost perfect super hero image. 

Overall AwesomeCon was a good convention, I even had time to stop into a couple panels and leisurely walk the exhibition hall and say hi to people I knew.  I do recommend this convention just because it feels like a more casual convention and it has a science and technology track.  Yes, NASA was there with a booth, several science demos, and panels.  I feel the convention has a little something for every part of geek and nerd culture/community.  However, it is not a heavy cosplay convention, which I feel that is ok as the convention caters to a lot of different interests.  I will most likely attend again, hopefully next time not two days after getting back from an international trip.