Archive for the ‘Event Photography’ Category

2010 Anime on Display (AOD)

February 8, 2010

Anime on Display (AOD) is a yearly event that takes places in San Francisco. It’s a smaller local Japanese Animation convention compared to FAnime or WonderCon, but still draws an impressive crowd. Held this year at the beautiful Hotel Kabuki, we at Bui Photography was fortunate enough to receive media passes courtesy of AOD and you can see some samples of what we got below. You can also view all the photos in our gallery here. Thank you to all the wonderful and amazing cosplayers who we photographed!

Bekalou and Yukari as Maka Albarn and Black Star from Soul Eater at Anime on Display.

Yukari as Black Star from Soul Eater at Anime on Display.

Tim and Julia from Final Fantasy at Anime on Display.

Bekalou as Maka Albarn from Soul Eater at Anime on Display.

Cassy (Naxul) as Sheryl Nome from Macross Frontier at Anime on Display.

Cassy (Naxul) as Sheryl Nome from Macross Frontier at Anime on Display.

Some people have wondered why we didn’t take any shots inside the beautiful Hotel Kabuki and the gorgeous garden they have inside is because we saw and knew there would be lots of other photographers photographing in those locations and we always pride ourselves on the challenge of doing things differently, so we selected parts around Japantown. You can also see behind-the-scene photos on our Facebook page here and here.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes video that you can also find on our Facebook page:

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This past Saturday we had the opportunity to come out to Sacramento to attend the cosplay event Sac-Anime event at the Radisson Hotel at 500 Leisure Lane, Sacramento, CA. Despite the blistering heat of what felt like a desert (Weather.com observed that day as 104°F), many cosplayers came out, some in very elaborate costumes. We did our best to stay cool and avoid heat exhaustion while trying to get some good pictures.

It was a great event, we had lots of fun. Read more and see pictures inside from Sac-Anime.

The Norcal Summer and Spring Gathering are two separate events that both take place once a year. These gatherings are opportunities for cosplayers and photographers to get some nice photo shoots in an environment that is more relaxing, easy going, with a more pleasing setting that otherwise would be possible during convention events such as FAnime. So on Saturday, August 15, Eric, Lynn, Lynn’s cousin Joe, Elbert, Elbert’s brother, and I all joined up with a bunch of other photographers and cosplayers at Kelley Park in the Arbor picnic area for a fun filled day of eating, mingling, and photographing; of course we were doing the latter mostly. I do want to take a moment to thank the organizers of this event: KittyKatChi, Shinobi Yukari, and OscarC. Without their hard-work and dedication, this event would not have been possible.

The selection of Kelley Park in San Jose was an excellent choice for venue. Those who were at this year’s Spring gathering will remember it was held at Hakone Gardens which was also a great choice. Kudos to Oscar for always choosing excellent venues. It has ample parking, vast lands with plenty of foliage, lots of picturesque settings, an old town setting, and a Japanese Tea Garden; couldn’t possible ask for more back-drops. The weather was nice and warm and fortunately there were plenty of areas with lots of shade so we can avoid being sunburned and/or sweating profusely.

Nothing escapes my field of view! Photo courtesy of David Head. Thanks!

Nothing escapes my field of view! Photo courtesy of David Head. Thanks!

I attended this year’s Annual World Wide Photo Walk organized by Scott Kelby and the many Photo Walk Leaders in over 900 cities around the world with some 30,000 participants. For those who aren’t sure what a photo walk is, it is generally where a person travels around (on foot) a specific location(s) photographing anything and everything that inspires them. There is usually no set purpose of what to photograph, but rather to let inspiration and creativity inspire. I attended the San Francisco Photo Walk led by Lenny Lind. Pics inside.

Inspiration comes in many forms. Sometimes you see something as simple as an alley in Chinatown with broken concrete, gravel, parking cones, and those traffic control barriers, random strangers watching you, and you have one of the beautiful models sit down in that mess and what do you get? Something really neat:

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Inspiration also comes from photographing with other amazing photographers in the local Bay Area.

We had incredible fun at this year’s San Francisco LGBT Pride Parade. Tons of people came out this year to celebrate “In Order To Form A More Perfect Union…”. There were lots of good food, excellent costumes, excellent floats, and great people to see. The weather was nice and sunny in the 80’s with nice blue skies. You can see all the pictures in our gallery  from this year’s Pride Parade here.

Because of my sister’s graduation from San Francisco State University (SFSU), I didn’t attend FAnime on Saturday. But Sunday turned out to be quite a good turn out. Thugs started getting pretty busy around 11 AM and was non-stop hustle and bustle.

Like many other photographers, we at Bui Photography had a number of private photo shoots lined up. In total for Sunday, we did 4 scheduled photo shoots with 3 more random unscheduled photo shoots. For those who are interested in just seeing the pics, click here. To read more and see pics from the photo shoots, click in.

The 2009 FAnime is now upon us. I attended FAnime on Friday after lunch time and things got busy quite quickly. Despite being a Friday, turnout was quite high. I also did a number of photo shoots with KittyCatChi (non-cosplay shoot), MissNintendo, CherryTeaGirl5, Hikaru-Jan and Rena-Girl. You can view all the pictures from the photo shoot including just random shots here. Click in to read more and see my favorite shots.

FAnime is the largest Japanese Animation convention here in Northern California. Held annually since 1994, FAnime has steadily grown in attendance and drew a crowd of almost 15,000 last year which was also the first year I attended FAnime. The largest convention in Northern California kicks off on Thursday and does not stop until Monday afternoon of Memorial Weekend, people literally sleep there, just check out the schedule if you don’t believe me.

This year is slated to be even bigger and better and will be the fifth year at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center. This year will be a little different for Bui Photography. We’ve just received our press pass information and also Canon has been kind enough to loan me some very nice equipment to use for this event (and my sister’s graduation). They sent me a Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III and the much fabled portrait lens: the Canon EF 200mm f/2L IS USM. This will give me a great opportunity to test out Canon’s flagship professional SLR and one of their best “L” lenses (Be on the lookout for our review on the camera and lens in the very near future). We’re also be doing some private photo shoots with many very popular forum stars from Cosplay.com as well as standard photojournalist coverage of the event. You can see last year’s pics in our Events gallery. We’re going to be there all day on Friday and Sunday, if you are interested in shooting with us or keeping us company, you’re more than welcome to. You can call me at 408-209-3424 or shoot me an email at info[at]buiphotography.com.

So if you are looking for something to do this weekend and/or into the Japanese animation culture, then come out and checkout FAnime 2009. Details of the event as follows:

San Jose McEnery Convention Center
150 W. San Carlos St.
San Jose, CA 95113
Thursday, May 22 to Monday, May 25
http://fanime.com