How do i describe 2018. I’ll start by saying, I spent all of 2018 all of it unemployed but no need to give me too much sympathy. I have moved in with a couple called “Mum and Dad” and they are always there to give me a deaf ear about my loser life style. (Lol, I’m joking.) Going to talk about some highlights of the year for myself.
I spent the beginning of the year in Hong Kong so did a lot of exploring around the country, filming a few things for the social page but found no motivation to edit them together. I still plan on putting these video together still.
First Comic Con event
…was in Birmingham MCM in March and I felt a bit rusty about my skills behind the camera. I’m not saying the photos turned out bad, but I always have this feeling that I could have/should have done better. It’s very hard to enjoy comic con events for me as I’ve been going for over ten years, so unless there is a drastic change in the event, I hunt down the new things at these events. I tend to really enjoy these events now when I meet up with friends and have a nice chat.
Locations
I’ve done a lot of location shoots this year, which was a nice change of pace for me and growing more and more in confidence. I’ve always enjoyed these type of location shoots/projects as they are rarely ever the same and do like to travel. I do feel like at comic con events, I don’t get to spend time with the person I am shooting with. I’m very fast paced and structured at comic con, especially when I have a schedule as I don’t want to waste people’s time where they can spend time at the comic con.
Spending it with Friends
One of the funniest moments was arranging a meal with Titans of Cosplay and favourite Uncanny Megan….I might have forgotten to tell ToC of this arrangement. The face he gave me when he saw Negan walking past the restaurant window was so funny and really made spending time with my friend and at Wales Comic Con so memorable. I have so many stories of me tormenting ToC but it comes from a place of love. *if anyone reading this and want to wind up ToC, ask him about the “Head shot” story at MCM London.
Favourite Events
One of my favourite events which I can’t separate were all abroad of Comic Con Germany, Gamescom and VienCon. Comic Con Germany has special meaning as I was celebrating my last working day in 2017 as I went from leaving work for the final time and straight to Comic Con and I knew life was going to be ok for me. The event is just as friendly and chilled as MCM London and any Brits going to this will just feel at home. Gamescom is an event I just didn’t expect has vast it was. I thought I knew what big was but nothing could prepare me for this event, it just blew my mind. A special thanks to Lilly Fortune for inviting me over to this event. VienCon was I will admit, I had low expectations for, but I was glad I was wrong about. It was an opportunity to do something completely different to what I was used to.
Challenges to improve
In a previous post, I set myself challenges to improve myself and though I don’t think I completed fully, there are some aspect I feel like should I take further I’d won’t be as troubled to attempt in the future. The one thing I am most proud of for me, is finding alternative editing style and also editing in sfx effects. I know my style isn’t in full composite edits but adding an effect here and there, is what I want to achieve. The editing style of split tone and crop ratio is something I have been using when I feel like the photos needs it.
Admission of difficulties
It’s not all been great things for me this year. In the latter part of 2018, I’ve found my confidence could be easily knocked from most people, even those close to me. I don’t suffer from anxiety or any other medical condition, but I think the lack of income has started to hit me and has weighed on my mind a lot. I was never good with my money but 2018 was tough on me trying to watch my money but also try and have social life. I still find it hard to talk to people and tell people what is going on but I am slowly dealing with that and hoping to make better improvements in my mental care in 2019.
Website and beyond
Last thing I want to talk about is the website. We’ve had the website for a number of years but 2018 was the year I really took the website into a new direction and give it a purpose. For now, I wanted the site to be a one stop shop for everything, costume reviews, tutorials, discussion articles, movie reviews, and many more to go with the CotW. I would love to expand the site more with article input from anyone who needs a platform to spread an idea. I’m really proud of what has been achieve but I know we can do more. If you fancy writing for us, details can be found here.
Just want to say a MASSIVE THANK YOU to all who have support me over 2018, either sharing my work, supporting me via patreon, interacted with our website, recommending me to other models/cosplayers for photoshoots, etc, this really has meant a lot to me and hope this continues in 2019.
