Dragon*Con was interesting and in some capacity I’d like to return in 2013. A four day badge is only $65.00 when purchased far ahead of time and the convenience of this seems like a good benefit versus the possibility of not attending next year.

I spoke with a number of photographers about their craft and next year I’m going to bring a flash come hell or high water and preferably a soft box.

My two favorite photos are characters out of character where someone breaks costume to eat something or talk to someone and cross-over ideas like Steampunk Rorshoche. A lot of people in costume would instinctively pose when I pointed the camera at them and I’d have to ask them to unpose so I could get Leia taking a call or Q smoking.

While Dragon*Con was full of nerds, I considered few people there to be “my people”. I don’t participate in any sort of Fandom. There is no nerd culture item about which I maintain encyclopedic knowledge nor are there any figures where I’d spend more than an hour in line waiting to shake their hand. Costuming seems interesting but I much more enjoy capturing others’ work. On reflection I feel a guilty irony to my dislike of arts that are ultimately imitative yet very much enjoy photography. Maybe this is why I so much more enjoy costume variants than people who go for spot on recreation.