Whenever I look at my Instagram profile, I enjoy the fact that it’s a varied feed of different cosplayers and I’ve done this on purpose. I don’t want to be seen only working with one or two people or even seeing the same set of people on my feed.
I think it’s very important to show the diversity in who I shoot with, both in gender and race. This is due partly to the schedule slots I do at MCM London where anyone who wants photos from me, there isn’t any prerequisite needed to shoot with me, I don’t believe in having any threshold to shoot with me, if you’re happy with your cosplay then I’ll be happy to shoot your cosplay. At other events where I don’t have a schedule, I try to shoot with as many people as possible. Most of the time, when I photograph cosplayers, I tend to see the costume first before seeing who the cosplayer is, and because of that, I hope my feed is more varied.
I’m under no illusion that there aren’t certain people who I do work with regularly as either they constantly grab a slot from me at MCM London or at other events they find me to shoot with. I do enjoy working with people who I’ve shot before as it does become easier to shoot with as we both know what to expect. But I want to shoot with new people so that I’m not settled with how I shoot photos, that it pushes me to shoot in a style I’m not comfortable with and get more knowledgeable.
From time to time, I do look at other photographers’ profiles and one thing I look for is the diversity of people they shoot with. If I saw that they only shoot one person or a small set of the same people, I wonder a few things. I can see working with the same people can improve the photography output but I also see that it makes other people looking at their profile feel like they are unable to approach either photographer or Cosplayer to work with them, as they feel like they are not good enough.
I know it’s a personal choice who you work with or what photos you upload to your profile but I hope this encourages people to work with more and different sets of people, cause you never know what experience from working with different people.
