Well it was supposed to be that time of year again - when the Sakura (Cherry blossoms) bloom and everyone heads up to Lake Balboa for wonderful pink vistas and hours of posing and shutter snapping. Unfortunately, it didn't quite work out that way. Anyone who recalls last year's amazing bloom (http://blanklogo.com/gallery2/thumbnails.php?album=41), will remember you couldn't walk five feet without running into another tree in full pink regalia. This year was nothing like that. The trees were sparse, the best of them being, maybe, halfway in bloom. And
waiting didn't seem to help the cause.

On Februrary 28 and again on March 15 I headed up to the park with friends and other photographers in tow. In the end there was little pink to be found and the schizophrenic weather - warm, sunny patches interspersed between harsh, cold winds - was little help.

Still, I came away with some really awesome photos, just not many with cherry blossoms in them. Got a great small Street Fighter set, a few shots of a friend as Sakura from Cardcaptor Sakura and a VERY impromptu fashion shoot. ;)

Not going to go into too  much detail on the Gathering.  It was extremely hot, but I had a good time.  This was the first event in a while that I mostly shot new faces.  I usually repeat the same group of people over and over, but I forced myself out of my comfort zone and hounded some people I didn't know this time. :D

The heat definitely sucked, but not as bad as getting MY FIRST EVAR speeding ticket 1/2 mile from my apartment complex first thing in the morning.  FUUUUUUUUCK!!!  Death! Destruction! Mayhem!

Thanks to all the organizers for working so hard to get 400 people together for the event!  It looked like everyone was having a good time despite the heat.  Thanks to my victims - the cosplayers who posed for me.  Thanks to Tony, Andy, Andy, Jason, Wayne and Erik (the latest addition to the photographer crew :D) for being cool and always worth hanging out with to steal a few shots from. ;)

After I got some aspirin and my raging headache went away (the sun wasn't bad enough, I had to bang my head on the playground equipment while shooting Pokemons), I cruised out with Rob to a friend's house and busted some Rock Band - FOR 5 HOURS! :D  Playing the guitar/bass is okay, but damn I love singing...  I'm sure the neighbors didn't get any sleep until my voice finally cracked after the 3rd hour.  Hehe.  JUUUUKEBOX HEEROOOOOOOOO!!!!

Um...oh yeah...there are some photos to show off too.

Let's start with the lovely Lauren




The rest of the gallery can be found here: http://www.blanklogo.com/gallery2/thumbnails.php?album=43.  

It's way too late to be posting these, but I'm just finishing up posting and tagging all the pix now. For everyone I shot at the Gathering, hope you enjoy the pix. :D



A few quick notes:

There were one or two people I shot at the Gathering whose real name and character name I didn't know. If I have a shot of someone you know listed a "Cosplayer", please comment/message me with the correct info.

I'm local to San Diego, if anyone would like to do a cosplay shoot similar to the Jen and Shiya Kingdom Hearts shoot on my site. I'm also particularly interested in getting in some practice shooting some cosplaying guys. I've notice a trend in my work that my shots of guys don't come out as good as shots of the ladies. Big wonder there... :) So I need some practice in that area.

And lastly, I'm going to try to make it to ALA this year. If you don't live in SD, but would like to get together for some pictures, we can plan to meet up at the show.

Mike