General

This was my first year at WonderCon — I’d never been able to make it to WonderCon before. I’m glad I came! There were many great costumes, and I took a lot of photos.

I only had a few photoshoots set up ahead of time, so I tried something new for my hallway photography. I did a little of my usual hallway photography, wandering around and taking photos, but that didn’t work very well because of the crowds and because the venue is not conducive to mobile photography. Instead, for most of the convention I set up a mini-studio in an out-of-the-way (but not too out-of-the-way) location, and did minishoots with cosplayers who walked by. Several other photographers, including Mike from ConPix, set up shop nearby, and together we had an informal photography area going.  This ended up working out pretty well. The only disadvantage is that a lot of the shoots look similar, since they were shot in the same location with similar lighting.

The convention itself was very different from other conventions I’ve attended. Unlike most anime conventions, congoers for the most part seemed passive; they were here to be entertained and to shop. Unlike Dragon*Con and other fan-oriented SF/F conventions, WonderCon felt very industry oriented. The weirdest thing for me was that the hallways started getting quiet around 5pm. That’s not to say it wasn’t fun; just that if you attend expecting Dragon*Con West or Anime Expo North, you’re going to be disappointed.

I considered staying at a hotel, but ended up driving up from San Jose all three days. Parking was expensive, but not that hard to find, so it wasn’t too bad.

I’m really happy I attended this year. I spent time with many old friends and made several new ones, and I got a chance to shoot costumes very different from what I typically see at the other conventions I attend. I look forward to coming back next year!

Photos

I’m still working on processing the photos from WonderCon, but some of the shoots are finished and have been posted. Here are some of my favorite shots: (click on a photo for a larger view and for more photos from that shoot.)

More of my photos from WonderCon 2010 are at http://photo.oscarc.net/Conventions-Cosplay/WonderCon-2010.

Summary

High points:

• Lots of great costumes
• Very friendly attendees and staff
• Ability to set up a “mini-studio” for hallway photos instead of fighting crowds

Low points:

• Weather (it was raining one of the days)
• Backstage masquerade photo area
• Dealer room crowds