Because taking photos during the masquerade itself is challenging, most conventions have a pre- or post-masquerade photo shoot. This allows photographers to get “clean” shots of all masquerade participants in a controlled environment. Because most shoots are restricted to press and official photographers only, I’ve never been able to take pictures at any of these photo shoots. (Well, I did take pictures at the post-masquerade photo shoot at the Anaheim WorldCon, but it was more or less open to all photographers.)

This year, I decided that since I had a blog and a long history of shooting conventions, I would request access to SacAnime’s pre-masquerade shoot. To my surprise, my request was granted, and I was able to join two other photographers backstage to take every group’s photos. Afterwards, during the masquerade itself, I was also given front-row seats from which to take photos. Despite having to deal with a loose flash bracket and a lens with focus issues, I think I did pretty well for my first time shooting a masquerade as an “official” photographer.

Because of the number of photos from SacAnime, I’m splitting them into three galleries. Here are my favorites from part two:

You can see the rest of the January 2009 part 2 photos at http://photo.oscarc.net/gallery/7100851_uRGaF. Barring any unexpected issues, part 3 will be posted this weekend.