PMX 2011: The Zombie Fish is born

So PMX was here this last weekend and I was fortunate enough to go up with Anime Conji for some photo coverage and to help promote Anime Conji 3 (March 16-18th at the Town & Country resort in San Diego!)

Had a blast the entire weekend - got to spend some time trolling around with , , and Jon (Jon doesn't have a dA, but he has a pentax).

Jon, Darryl and I were pretty much doing photoshoots non-step the entire weekend (and I've gotta give a huge shout-out to Darryl for all of the help with setting these up - couldn't have done it without him, and he definitely kept us busy the entire weekend!). This was my first year attending PMX, and I was really surprised by the different locations they had available on the 3rd floor - apparently I wasn't the only one, since a number of people we did shoots with in these areas commented about not knowing these existed here.

Lots of great cosplayers to be found and met a bunch of cool people throughout the con - a huge thanks to all the cosplayers we were able to work with this past weekend, the photographers who hung out with us to talk gear and everyone else we were able to meet just hanging out enjoying the con!

Being the only out-of-town convention that I've gone to at a hotel, I had to appreciate the fact that it was just taking an elevator downstairs to get to the con floor (opposed to waiting around for the con shuttle and going for a 20 minute drive each way). Definitely worked to our advantage as we had shoots anywhere from 10AM until as late as 2AM for some (the 10AM ones were definitely the hardest for me. I'm definitely not a morning person!). Despite some rain, wind and just general coldness throughout the con, all the cosplayers were more than willing to do shoots outdoors with us, so I owe them all a huge thanks for that!

I tried to be prepared for everything this time and ended up walking around the entire weekend with 4 cameras, a lightstand and literally a jacket full of Flashes -- fortunately they all came in handy and even allowed for some fun shoots late at night:



We were also fortunate enough to do a different shoot just about every day with with & ... Heartbreaker Pro ... and & (I'll still never understand how some of you guys can go through 2-3 costumes per day at a con!)

I ended up with around 2,500 shots from the weekend, which wasn't too bad. Brought the 3D camera along this time and ended up with some fun shots (editing 3D pictures with red/blue glasses on for more than 15 minutes will result in seeing pretty much everything in purple and green for at least 10 minutes once you take them off!)

After the last shoots of the night, hung out with the people above talking about who-knows-what and editing photos until about 6AM. Another exciting moment for me came the day before the con, when I hit 1,000,000 views on my photos (at Flickr)!

Only slight downside (and this is where that title comes in!) -- during the last day, shooting at the outdoor areas I got a little too close to one of these walls and brushed up against it:



..and for those familiar with Fisheye lenses, they're rounded in the front and impossible to protect the glass at times. Found a few scuff marks on the front that just wouldn't buff out, and show up in photos. Not a total dealbreaker (they can always be fixed with a bit of editing), but enough to make it an inconvenience for regular shooting. And for anyone who has seem my shots over the last year, you know how much I use that thing at conventions, cosplay shoots and other events!
New one should be arriving today, and it's not a total loss -- the scuffed-up one just gives me more opportunities to do stuff I wouldn't normally do with a "new" lens (blood on the lens during zombie walks? using it for some of the more 'dangerous' shots? Maybe even an underwater lens at some point)

And considering how many times I've bumped into things/people with that (it's hard to tell distance when looking through it!), I'm surprised it held in there for so long - definitely got my money out of it though!

Overall a great weekend hanging out with everyone -- seeing old friends again and meeting some new ones.

Next cons will be Anime LA and Anime Conji. I hope to see some of you at both (particularly Anime Conji!) - if you ever spot me at a con, flag me down as I'm always up for doing a photoshoot, chatting or just saying Hi.

With all that said, here are some shots from this past weekend -- more are available on my Flickr page: www.MikeRollerson.com and Facebook: www.facebook.com/media/set/?se… & www.facebook.com/media/set/?se…