The Real Impact of Cosplayers Charging For Shoots
Photo by Jay P. Photography
The latest mostly pointless controversy to hit the online cosplay community is about cosplayers charging to have their pictures taken. Not surprisingly, this is a polarizing issue, with people expounding how it is only fair since photographers sometimes charge for photoshoots, and others saying it is foolish for a hobbyist to charge people to enjoy their hobby.
As someone who has done shoots of both casual cosplayers and professional models, let me say that there is no reason at all that cosplayers shouldn’t charge for images of their craft work and be compensated for their time. That is, if the cosplayer has been approached for a specific shoot by a photographer — not for casual pics at a convention. One of the arguments against this is that the cosplayer is a hobbyist. That may be true, but from the standpoint of a paid photoshoot, that hobbyist is a model — AND a costumer AND a makeup artist. Try going to the OneModelPlace or ModelMayhem websites and find a model that will supply his or her own clothes and do his or her own makeup for your photoshoot. Good luck with that.
Another argument is that the cosplayer is not a professional model, again using the hobbyist designation. That is also a specious argument, as most of the models on ModelMayhem are not full-time professionals. Nor are most of the cosplay photographers you find at any convention. Yet people have no problem with someone moonlighting as a photographer charging for cosplay shoots — unlike the vitriol that seems to be directed at many cosplayers that charge.
Face it, most people find it easier to accept a hobbyist photographer making the move to semi-pro and charging than they do for a cosplayer making the move to semi-pro model. And that makes no sense — would you hate on a seamstress charging for costumes, or a talented makeup specialist charging for doing makeup? I thought not. So, clearly, the only part of charging for what a cosplayer does every single month again and again that bothers people is the modeling. I am sure there is a core of misogyny going on here, but that is another blog (and don’t think it isn’t coming).
However, that is enough about how misplaced the hatred of charging cosplayers is — we are here to talk about what it means.
As more cosplayers charge for photoshoots just like photographers do, expect more and more conventions to move down the path that Katsucon is far along and that DragonCon has started down — no pro shoots at the con. Frankly, that is inevitable as the hobby of cosplay becomes a full-fledged, monetizable, obsession in the overall population, beyond that of the nerd community. There is no value for a convention in allowing photographers or cosplayers to charge for shoots at the con, and some legal downside. If either side decides that a lawsuit needs to happen as a result of the shoot (it is a contractual business exchange of services after all), then the con, as the location, might find itself in an “actionable position,” to quote Silent Bob.
Despite the fact that I am often asked to do photoshoots by cosplayers, I don’t think that this inevitable ban of pro photoshoots is a bad thing. The convention scene is a place where people in one or many fandoms can come together to enjoy that fandom with others of a similar mind. At its core, the convention is a gathering of hobbyists. Once someone moves past the level of hobbyist, the convention is not the right place for the execution of his or her professional approach to the fandom — unless the convention can figure out a way to monetize that activity.
Maybe that is the way cons and pro shoots can coexist (and not like the way it happens at Katsucon, with charging shooters sneaking around trying not to get caught). The con can charge an extra fee for pro shooters’ attendance passes and have them sign all kinds of hold-harmless releases. And do the same for cosplayers that charge — the con needs to either make some cake off the business that is illicitly going on during its weekend, or ban it outright and enforce it.
Before anyone goes off on my opinion about the inevitability of this change, think about how every hobby that has gone from niche activity to great interest in the general population has become a professional operation. From sports that started as casual hobbies, like baseball in the 19th century to snowboarding in the 20th, to videogames, which started with hobbyists exchanging 5.25 inch floppy disks of the crazy ideas they turned into computer games, monetization is inevitable.
Ultimately, it boils down to what Jessie Pridemore (RuffleButt Cosplay) posted on her cosplay Facebook page earlier this week — and what I have said in print before — you have no right to determine how anyone enjoys what they enjoy. Period. If you don’t want to pay a photographer for a photoshoot, don’t. If you don’t want to pay a cosplayer for a shoot, don’t. Don’t whine about it.
