A-Kon 24 has come and gone! Boy, what a doozy it was XD

Jason and I got to the hotel on Thursday afternoon just in time for check in. After relaxing for a bit we hit up the con to explore the rest of the hotel I didn't get to see when I made a site visit with *Velours-Requiem about a month prior.

THE PRE-REG AND ON SITE LINES WERE SO DAMN LONG. I was lucky enough to have gotten our group badges with ~Izayachan, so she picked them up for us and no gross line waiting had to take place!

Thursday Preview:


After my shoots were done, ~Rambid and I met up with my best little bat *ChibiChise and her dude ~CoughffinKnail to go wish *Velours-Requiem, ~FyreGothChylde and Sly a happy birthday~ After being pummeled with balloons and getting to talk with the lovelies of room 704 we headed back to the hotel room and settled in (aka I edited photos while we watched Deep Impact ). *Velours-Requiem got me the cutest chibi Misato and Kaji keychains <3

Friday was pretty insane. I shot from around 11 to 11, with an hour break. There is something extremely satisfying in knowing that I can tackle that amount of shooting and come out all in one piece! I got a lot of great shots and got to chat, meet, and catch up with tons of people so that was great I really put my new umbrella to the test (thanks to the amazing ~Rambid for being an awesome assistant), and it really payed off. I love the light it gives. I'm still learning about flash and whatnot, balancing ambient with artificial and stuff. It's a learning process, but definitely something I am growing increasingly comfortable in doing. I shot with a much wider lens than I am used to, so this con was kind of a double challenge for me. I normally work outside, shoot with a prime and stay away from con grounds. I was all up in that hotel, shooting almost wide angle, with smaller apertures and a five foot diameter umbrella. IT WAS INTENSE, YOU GUYS.

Friday Preview:


I… honestly don't even remember what we did Friday night after I got done, LOL. I wanna say I called it a night around midnight because I had to get up early for Saturday shoots and shenanigans, but who even knows. Saturday morning was started extra early so I could get in some shoot time before I took 5 MILLION YEARS to put on PB. Oh man, the con was also so busy on Saturday. I really had to use my brain and timing to make sure my shots didn't have randoms in the background. It was a challenge, but like I mentioned that's always nice to have instead of playing it safe all the time ;D

Saturday Preview:


As you can see, a much shorter queue of photos! And I'm glad too, because time really flew when I was painting myself up for Bubblegum. Here's a pic of the finished cosplay:



The dress, purple leggings, and pink tights were store bought, and the rain boots were a find by my Marcy on ebay. I made my wig (OMG THAT THING TOOK FOREVER IT FEL T LIKE), crown, hoodie, and sewed tights into gloves for my hands. Technically this was a pretty closet cosplay, but man that wig and face paint was definitely a challenge. I don't even know how long the wig took me. I worked on it off and on for about 3-4 weeks. I've never done anything like this before, and to be honest I had some reservations going in. BUT it's amazing what you can do if you just keep at it!

Super duper thanks to *ChibiChise for getting me into my wig, and helping to pat out the splotches in my base makeup before I added blush and the like. I FELT LIKE I WAS AT THE CHISE SPA. VIP access where Bri pampers you members only no guttersluts plsthxbye. After we were both done getting ready we floated around the con, met up with ~pockypants and got some pics done at a booth and did some video work for ~pancakemix. I have to say I was extremely surprised that we hung out in the grass around 6pm and it was perfect weather. I could have fallen asleep! After some more chilling, delicious banh mi, and the cutest little boy ever bashfully wanting his pic with us, we retired to the room, ~Rambid and ~CoughffinKnail ran off to do their boy thing with Glen and Co., and had some awesome girl time :U I love my little mohawked Bri.  Later we regrouped to get some drinks with ~Supa-Tsuki, ~pancakemix, ~lilylighting, ~Kikala and others. Ended up having a super late night. I think I went to bed at 5 am XD

Sunday we packed early, I did a shoot in the AM and we wandered around the con for a bit. I don't have any previews up for this shoot yet, but it was for sure a first (: I cannot wait to get to editing these later on. They used their wedding dresses, so it was really neat!

Overall I had a really great convention. We stayed at one of the hotels next door, so we had no issues with our (free!) parking, elevator waits, fridge and microwave, and it was only a small walk away. I definitely will be trying to stay there again if I visit A-Kon in the future and it's still at the Anatole. The con itself did seem to get superfluously crowded on Saturday, despite the bigger venue. I'm not sure how they can correct that, but it was tight o_O That's really my only complaint. But I did LOVE being able to book it from one end of the con to the other in less than 10 minutes, so I guess you win some you lose some. I didn't attend any panels or contests, so I can't chime in on those.

Many, many, many thanks to Jason for not only being my assistant for shoots but knowing what he is actually doing when it comes to lighting. And also to Bri for accompanying us on a few shoots as well! And ~CoughffinKnail for sitting on Jason's shoulders so that we could get the light where it needed to be for some shots. Super duper thanks to all of you cosplayers for letting me take your photos! I was even tipped by a large group and it was so humbling and I felt to lucky to be surrounded by creative, awesome and appreciative people. YOU GUYS AND GALS ROCK!

Now that the con is over, ~Rambid and I are going to work on our house, prepare for our wedding, do some stuff for AnimeFEST and enjoy the summer!

See you guys at AnimeFEST ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

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☮ & ♥
Ashley