Cosplay & Photography Shoot-Out at PAX East 2023
Once again, the cosplayers and photographers at PAX East brought their A-game to the Shoot-Out. 2023 was our third year running the Cosplay & Photography Shoot-Out at PAX. This year, the amazing programming folks gave us 2 full hours to run the panel. Which meant we had ample time for more audience participation and a record-setting 13 teams! That means we had 13 photographers and 26 cosplayers for a whopping 39 shoot-out contestants. And they all gave us some fantastic creativity and ingenuity.
Quick recap: the Shoot-Out randomly pairs up to two cosplayers with a photographer; the panel gives them a theme, and the teams have 30 minutes to create a photo that captures that theme. Panelists pick one winning team; the audience picks their favorite team. Sound easy? Trust me, it ain’t, especially in a crowded convention center with weird lighting and tons of people.
The theme this time was “Fantasy.” Teams could interpret that however they liked, and create a photo they felt best expressed the concept. And create they did! Teams made incredible use of available light and vendors’ booths. Two teams used forced perspective beautifully, something we’ve never seen at the Shoot-Out before. All that creativity made it tough to chose a winner. Our incredible panel — Mink the Satyr Cosplay, spectra_v3, and Rodney Brown aka FirstPerson Shooter, (along with me, Gregg Snider, aka Wonderllama Photography) wrestled with some great entries and picked the team we thought best captured the idea of “fantasy.”
Everyone from both winning teams got some fantastic prizes from our sponsors: a fantastic gaming-themed mystery box from Double Midnight Comics; a $25 gift card from Nerd Caliber; and a half-day open studio day at Red Raven Studios.
Below are all of the wonderful photos created by all of the teams. They are unedited straight from camera. Enjoy!
If you like our work and want to show your appreciation, feel free to tip us at Ko-fi or become a patron on Patreon.
Judges Choice: Team 13 – tehbowtie (photographer), smulbeana (cosplayer), missnikkimuffin (cosplayer)
Audience Choice: Team 10 – gamenightguy (photographer), ashleydarkphoenix (cosplayer), zhobiii (cosplayer)
Team 1 – skreevrs (photographer), murder_drone_n (cosplayer), devinpd15 (cosplayer)
Team 2 – Will (photographer), Izzy (cosplayer), trynasaurus.cosplay (cosplayer)
Team 3 – prettynerdyphotography (photographer), starrymariofficial (cosplayer), gray_gim_ (cosplayer)
Team 4 – fstopfanatic (photographer), demonichipster (cosplayer), worldofsveela (cosplayer)
Team 5 – anthonyduplayee (photographer), Matt (cosplayer), trynasaurus.cosplay (cosplayer)
Team 6 – team_splenda (photographer, and last year’s winning team photographer), Alexis (cosplayer), Jessica (cosplayer). The other cosplayers were on-spot recruits.
Team 7 – brdf8 (photographer), open.vaults (cosplayer), ashleycox94616 (cosplayer)
Team 8 – thomase.wheat (photographer), Cassandra (cosplayer), heavenlysaturncosplay (cosplayer)
Team 9 – sjo_011 (photographer), doodlejumpguy (cosplayer), cos.doc (cosplayer)
Team 11 – tenfingerstentoes (photographer), Dylan (cosplayer), Sam (cosplayer)
Team 12 – marshalofthelaw (photographer), Rachel (cosplayer), rennova_mocs (cosplayer)
