Like eleven years ago, July 12 is a Sunday. While the dates and days sync up, something else doesn’t: San Diego Comic-Con concluded on this date in 2015. The 2026 gathering won’t start for another 10 days, with Preview Night. I will be there on Thursday and Sunday, my first dalliance since 2017.
The Featured Image is among the last dozen photos taken using Fujifilm X-T1 and XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS lens on this date 11 years ago. Vitals: f/3.2, ISO 250, 1/60 sec, 18mm; 1:49 p.m. PDT.
Over four days and Preview Night, San Diego Comic-Con presents people opportunity to cosplay as someone whom they aspire to be. Cosplayers are popular with any camera-carrying attendees, which could be anyone and everyone because of ubiquity and versatility of smartphones.
But the event is demanding, especially when costumes and accompanying gear are bulky or heavy. People tire, as you can see from the Featured Image, which hardly shows two people in character.
Don’t bother asking. Joe has no idea what are Link Monks–—if he ever knew. I used Fujifilm X-T1 and XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS lens to shoot the Featured Image, eleven years ago today during San Diego Comic-Con 2015.
Vitals: f/3.2, ISO 200, 1/2500 sec, 18.8mm; 10:44 a.m. PDT. The portrait is a horizontal crop from a vertical original. See how sharp the shot still is? I loved the X-T1, BTW.
Eleven years ago today, I stomped about San Diego Convention Center shooting photos of Comic-Con 2015. Next week, I return for two days—Thursday and Sunday—marking my first attendance since (gasp) 2017. Oh, I tried but failed to secure passes.
During 2015 Con, I purchased the Fujifilm X-T1, bundled with two lenses, from Best Buy and made good use of the kit during most of the four full days. I used the X-T1 and XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS lens to capture the Featured Image. Vitals: f/4, ISO 2500, 1/60 sec, 18mm; 4:31 p.m. PDT, July 9, 2015.
Let’s play memories like Facebook or your favorite photo app might do by presenting posts or pics from that day over the years. On July 9, 2015, San Diego Comic-Con commenced with Preview Night, and I was there.
In no way could I guess that the year would be my last with full attendance to the event over the full four days and evening. I did possess an entire Con pass for 2016, but I underwent cataract surgery that limited going to Saturday and Sunday; handicapped, I made no meaningful pictorial record.
For no particular reason, we spend another day looking back on San Diego Comic-Con 2015, where Star Trek-themed Uglydolls went where no plushie has gone before—sold out, if I rightly recall, before the convention ended.
In the Featured Image, Power Ice-Bat rises above a sea of OX. The companion capture presents Ice-Bat as Scotty—and the Red Shirt who defied the odds episode after episode during the three seasons. Red Shirt has become a euphemism for a pulp-media character who is killed soon after his or her introduction. On Star Trek the Original Series, they dressed in a specific color.
San Diego Comic-Con is still six months away (July 25-28). Late last year, I missed the first chance for a 2024 pass and skipped the second opportunity. My attendance days long ago ended when the convention chose not to renew my press credentials (and when I was still a working journalist). Subsequently, I wasn’t (supposedly) randomly chosen to purchase a pass.
On this fine Thursday evening, for no particular reason, let’s peek at what was SDCC before the culturally woke put to sleep my interests in participating. The Con is gone, or at least as I remember it.
I lied, but didn’t mean to. Turns out that my “Final SDCC 2015 Reflection” isn’t. I have another. Whether or not you believe in the existence of God, or some kind of deliberate creator, ponder this observation: Comic-Con, more than any other gathering, reveals how much human beings need to worship. Some evolutionist might argue that such innate genetic trait leads us to manufacture deities and religion. God believers could point to the fallen human condition and idolatry replacing pure faith.
Whether you accept either, neither, or something else, nevertheless ponder what San Diego Comic-Con and events like it represents: People gather to worship what or whom they see as being greater than themselves—fictional superheroes, artists who create them, writers who tell their stories, actors who portray them, and directors, producers, showrunners and others who bring them to film and to video.
I offer hanks to Comic-Con International and to everyone participating in and attending this year’s funfest. As a participant, I must say, and hope other attendees share similar experience: Something about the organization and flow of things during the Con felt different this year. I got into more panels than ever, and people in and around the Convention Center appeared more able to relax rather than be asked to move along. These little things shape the overall experience.
Unlike other years, I focused almost exclusively on shooting photos (when not attending panels). My initial Flickr set, which for now is organized by day, is live. I will add more captions over time and perhaps edit the flow. I posted more pics than the previous four years combined.
During San Diego Comic-Con 2015’s last day, I spotted this young woman wearing a Game of Thrones pack and Mockingjay tee. She stood in one the merchandise lines nearby the Tokidoki booth. I stopped and […]
Family Day, Comic-Con’s last, is my favorite. San Diego Convention Center fills up with locals, and most Hollywood stars have left the building. Day four is all about the fans. There’s energy in kids’ passions, […]
I spent most of Comic-Con Day 3 shooting photos with the Fuji X-T1. With the Masquerade Ball in the evening, cosplayers descended on San Diego Convention Center in large numbers. As expected, July 11th was by far the busiest—bustling crowds were everywhere, Even at my trolley stop, there were more Conners waiting than the two previous days.
Riding in, I chatted with a Twentysomething, wearing an Apple Watch. I commented how much nicer is his wristband than mine. He asked how I like the timepiece, as he only had his for four days. Turns out, the former Marine who served for 5 years after joining at seventeen works at one of the local Apple Stores. I love go-to people. He had submitted a résumé online, but didn’t get a fast-enough response. So he hauled down to the mall and waited a half-hour to see the manager. Now that is how you get hired.