Usually in photography, I take the role of an unilateral observer documenting the world; however, half of my work are portraitures, staged performances involving other players trying to convey a specific concept. Of those, many are of what is called cosplay, in which individuals dress up to portray various characters and recreate fictional scenes.
Wikipedia defines cosplay as such:
Cosplay (コスプレ kosupure?), short for “costume play”, is a type of performance art in which participants wear costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea
The definition isn’t perfect, but I will elaborate on the concept, and why I spent so much time on it over the years in a later post.
Cosplay constitutes half of my work in photography, so I feel it deserves equal recognition as my other images. For this, I am starting a parallel series Cosplay Photo a Day. More work for me, more beautiful photos for you.
The first in the series features HIKO, a prominent Taiwanese cosplayer. I am dedicating the inaugural post in this series to her as today (02/04) is her birthday!
Funny thing is, prior to the event, we’ve both heard of each other, but never had the chance to meet in person until a recent event in Singapore. While this is an atypical photo for cosplay photography, it conveys the context of our first meeting. Perhaps one day, I can share a photo of a closer collaboration.