Hello, my friends!
Here I am, back home in France after spending the weekend in Brussels for Made in Asia!
As you might start to notice, I love going to Belgium. People are really nice, and the conventions there are generally very well organised, with great opportunities to do some good-quality photoshoots — which, unfortunately, isn't always the case at some conventions in the Paris region!
This time, however, things didn't quite go as planned.
Made in Asia: Not quite the weekend I had in mind!
First, I made a logistical mistake and ended up losing half a day on Saturday. Then, to make things worse, I realised I'd brought the wrong lens!
This was a first for me, and I was pretty disappointed. Still, I decided to make the best of it with the lens I had. Don't get me wrong, it's an excellent lens, just not the one I enjoy using most for portraits.
And, as if that weren't enough, Sunday brought some very cold weather. Since I prefer shooting outdoors, this wasn't ideal, as most cosplayers chose to stay inside the venue to keep warm. In the end, I decided to leave around 1 p.m. — although I'm still wondering whether I should have stayed longer!
As a result of all these little mishaps, I missed the opportunity to see most of my Belgian cosplayer friends, which was another big disappointment (but was happy to see again 3 of them still)
But enough complaining!
Despite everything, I still managed to meet and photograph some cosplayers who were new to me. As usual, they were very friendly, outgoing and full of positive energy, which helped make up for the less enjoyable aspects of the weekend.
All in all, I took around 750 photos of approximately 40 cosplays — a little more of what I would normally shoot in a single day!
And believe me, some of the results are absolutely breathtaking. You'll see for yourselves over the coming weeks!
There is, however, a little catch: it will take me some time before I can share them with you. Here's why…
The Paris Manga photos
I'm making progress with the Paris Manga photos, although perhaps a little more slowly than I had originally expected.
I'm hoping to finish editing the photos of my new Instagram followers by Wednesday. After that, I'll move on to the two big photoshoots I did at the convention, and finally, I'll get to the photos of my friends.
Fortunately, they know how my workflow works and are patient enough to wait… so, naturally, I'm taking advantage of that! Hehehe! 😁
Wedding photography
In parallel, I'm also editing the photos from my friend's wedding, which took place ten days ago.
I'm aiming to deliver them either this weekend or early next week. It's another project to keep me busy, but I'm really happy to be working on it!
Paris Games Week: Am I going or not?
And finally, there's one question I still haven't answered: Should I go to Paris Games Week over the upcoming long weekend?
It was originally on my schedule, but my experience last year was somewhat disappointing. On top of that, I've been checking whether some of my friends are planning to attend, and so far, most of them aren't.
So, I'll probably make my decision at the last minute — on Wednesday!
Well, that's all for now, my friends!
I hope you all have a great week, and that you're enjoying the photos I'm sharing on Instagram. There are more to come, so stay tuned!
Cheers,
Khaled
