Manifest 2008 Photo Studio – Come and Camwhore!

The Melbourne Anime Festival, Manifest, is the biggest photo event of the year for me. I’ve been shooting Manifest in one form or another for seven years. Last year I took over 3000 photos, and had a great time. You can see all of the photos I have taken at Manifest in the last seven years in my gallery.

This year, however, is different. This year I’ll be doing it professionally.

You can read the details at the special page I’ve set up.

It’s been somewhat last minute – the Manifest committee contacted me fairly recently to suggest the idea – but I’m close to completing my preparations so I’m announcing the Manifest Photo Studio tonight! Anyone who is attending Manifest this year, please come by my photo studio to say hi and have your photo taken. Photo shoots are free, and you can purchase prints at a special convention price. I’ll be located in the foyer outside the main theatre (Copland Theatre) in the Eco/Com building. It’s right near where the cosplay comp will be held.

I’m taking all my studio gear, including my 3x6m white backdrop, four lights, reflectors, coloured gels etc. With this gear set up there, I should be able to get much more professional looking photos than have ever been available at Manifest before. Cosplayers and regular attendees are welcome to have a photo shoot, and my backdrop can accommodate groups of eight or maybe more!

Needless to say I’m going to absolutely flat-out this weekend, even more so since my lovely sales assistant Naomi is no longer able to attend. I’ve got a couple of friends hopefully able to come and assist, so I should be able to cope with the demand, whatever that ends up being!

This is very much an experiment. I have no idea if Manifest attendees will be interested in buying prints of photos, no matter how professional they look. Many attendees are young, or have spend all of their money on their costumes or on anime merchandise. I hope my photos look impressive enough that they think it’s worth handing over their money, rather than buying more Pocky :)

Although I’ll be very busy shooting at Manifest, and processing photos afterwards, I hope to take note of how it all goes, and learn as much as I can, not just to offer a better service next year, but also to have cool stuff to write about for you all here in the blog :)

If you want to attend Manifest, but haven’t bought a ticket yet, then you’d better get there early Friday or even earlier on Saturday! On the day registrations sell out VERY quickly! I hope to see some of you there!