Yes, this is admittedly in light of the recent fiasco of what happened on Twitter regarding well known cosplay photographer Martin Wong. I saw the post myself, and was quite disgusted with his apparent "joke". And his apology was not an apology. The Tweet in question was this one here. I was not personally offended by it, as I have no right to be, but I found it to say the least in poor taste and quite disgusting. He did post an "apology" to it, over 24 hours later and many replies from many people expressing the hurt, disgust, and more about the post. His apology essentially is an attempt to excuse his post from the views of many. Personally, I don't think he realizes how much this has damaged his reputation in the community, something that was already being damaged by his decisions to not work with plus size models, or POC. Diversity and respect for other people goes a long way, and honestly if your work is essentially repeats of the same thing over and over again, it doesn't look good. I have seen a variety of people posting recently about him not working with plus size or POC cosplayers or models, and honestly I find that to be quite disheartening. I will admit that as a photographer, I admired him for his work. But it's become quite lax there as of late with everything looking the same over the last year from him. As a cosplayer, I had wanted to work with him eventually. But when I learned that he primarily will not work with people unless they're under a certain size, or seem to look a certain way, I lost some respect for him there. I've seen it a lot lately of male cosplay photographers coming under fire in the last couple of years, and they all seem to be for more or less one of the following reasons:
And this list seems to grow and evolve every time I turn around. Working with POC: First of all, they are all wonderful people. I've heard the excuse of that shooting with someone of colour is a challenge. And editing the skin is too difficult. I'm going to say right now that that is a load of shit. I am not the most skilled of photographers, and I will admit that I am still learning - although life should be constant learning - but shooting with them and editing is not difficult at all. For example here, this to the left is a photo I took of my good friend Mahogany Severia a little over 2 years ago during a photoshoot for her and her husband. I did do minor editing on her skin, defining certain things better, bringing out highlights more, things I would generally do on a person with lighter skin like myself, just with being extra cautious of highlighting so as not to accidentally white wash - which is really only done with over-editing, and if you do that... you're a jerk for white washing someone's beautiful dark skin. I still admire to this day all of the work that Mahogany put into her Effie Trinket cosplay, and she continues to amaze me with the evolution of her work over the years. Everyone deserves beautiful photos of their beautiful faces in their beautiful costumes. And if they are willing to pay you for it, then damn it you shoot their costume and you put your heart into the work that you give back to them. Plus Size: There is nothing wrong with a plus size model! If you have issue with them, that is entirely on you as a person and your own prejudices. I've worked with cosplayers who are very thin, and not so thin. And there is honestly no difference in shooting the two except maybe watching angles more. And that would be it. One of my favourite cosplayers to work with is my friend Chibi-loli, I have done shoots with her for the last few years at every Otakuthon, and this past year she shot with me every single day of the convention. She is one of the kindest, sweetest, and purest cosplayers I have ever shot with and I'm so glad I became friends with her over the last five years. I have shot with more plus size cosplayers than just her, and all have been such wonderful people and I love all of them. Your size does not indicate your skill or beauty. Everyone is beautiful. In all honesty, I will probably never understand the insanity of refusing to work with cosplayers based on the colour of their skin, their dress size, or level of attractiveness. In regards to the other things that have arisen over the last few years that seems to be primarily associated with male photographers, that's just gross and you all need to be better. Stop making these alleged "jokes", stop threatening people, and stop trying to push the people you shoot into having sex with you, or doing sexual favours for you. Be better than that. Be decent human beings, it's not that difficult. In short, be respectful of your fellow cosplayers, and people in general. Be above the disgusting behaviour that we associate with the lowest of people. And if you say something and it's not taken the way you meant, just properly apologize and say "I'm sorry for what I said, and I will do better."
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