A Successful Year


Nekocon has come and gone, and so ends my convention year! I've only started doing photography at cons again and I feel I'm more equipped to be successful at future conventions. But before next year, I want to recap the past few months.


A Light(ish) Schedule


My personal life has gotten extremely busy since the semester started, with my service fraternity literally relying on me to survive and rise from the ashes, to my classes demanding a lot of time, I wanted to make sure I had enough time and energy to be able to get to Nekocon in one piece! I feel like I did a pretty good job up until the last week of October, the week of Nekocon and my "Hell Week" (I'll go into that in a future blog post!). A lot of family things emerged that week and I wasn't truly excited for Nekocon until Friday morning. Even then I was still struggling to find the spoons to get hyped up for the con. But I managed to take a couple mental health days right before con and that's what I needed to have the energy to attend the con.


It's Nekocon Time!


I ended up only booking one shoot this time, but we all have to start somewhere right? It's helping me figure out some things I want to change for my next convention. My clients were very patient with me and I hope to post the results soon! The way I work is my clients get as many of the photos that I find are good quality after editing, resulting in no less than five images they can post to social media. I may change the length of time the shoot is based on this first experience, but my late husband Miguel never wanted his clients to only have a few shots; he wanted them to have as many as possible, and that's something I'll never change from his business model.


Post-Con


Now that the con is over, pictures are slowly getting posted and edited. I'm actually working on my last photoshoot set (I took the photos for 2 of them, one of which I hosted!) and then I'll be posting them! How was I able to get through them so quickly as a full time student?


I caught Covid.


Yep, three and a half years getting away without catching it and I caught it right after the con. Based on my symptoms I caught it before con; likely at school. And even though it was mild symptom wise, I barely catch the regular flu, so when flu-like symptoms hit me, they hit me HARD. I slept in the Monday after con, went to my second class that day, then my fever hit that night; I had planned on going to the optional rehearsal on Election Day for my choir concert but my fever hadn't broken without medication so I was unable to go.


I'm past my 10 day mark so in theory, I'm good to go now and can put this behind me.


Looking Forward


What are my goals for 2024? I have a few, especially because I'm now able to start taking some of my entry-level photography classes. First one up is to book at least one photoshoot at each convention I attend/staff. Those are:

  • Katsucon (Staffing)
  • Animazement
  • Otakon
  • Anime USA (Staffing)
  • Nekocon

I might return to Tidewater Comic Con as well, plus if Superstar Anime and/or Beast in the East don't fall during my family vacation this year, I'll be able to go to these easily since they are all local.


Another goal is to branch out and do more shoots outside of conventions. This may mean I make new social media accounts (maybe a Threads? Twitter's (or X, it's always Twitter to me) and maybe a VIP group on Facebook. I have a few things lined up (Like a holiday shoot for a family!) but let me know if you think this is a nice benefit.


Finally, and I know this goal is going to be resolved with my photography class next semester, I want to learn my camera better. I shoot mostly in my camera's auto mode without the flash so I want to learn more technical terms and how to figure out when I need to change those settings. With that knowledge I feel I can bring my photography to the next level!


Here's to a great (and hopefully better) 2024!