Upon my returned from India I was swamped by coverages one after the other and the common theme of my assignments is: art :)
Skin Art
Its that time of the year again wherein tattoo artists from all over Asia and the US convene in the Philippines to showcase this unique form of art.
Performance Art
Kosupre(Cosplay) is a pop culture that started in Japan but growing bigger and more influencial in the Philippines. Its not only for the youth but its a form of family bonding.
Junk Art
Part of Manila Art expo is the Jeepney art festival is a showcase of different art works of jeepney from paintings to jeepney models that pays tribute to the icon of Philippine ingenuity and creativity.
Hehe I think I'm getting a hold of these lifestyle assignments ")
Last weekend held the biggest cosplay event in the country known as Cosplay Mania 2011. Cosplay is a pop subculture in which people wear costumes and portray their favorite characters from comics,video games, anime, graphic novels, live actions and movies.
Kosupre!!People taking photos of cosplayers is a common site during the first day of Cosplay Mania 2011 in SMX Convention Mall of Asia Pasay City, Philippines.
Archnemesis. Cosplayer portraying as Shockwave, the antagonist in the third movie of Transformers, performs during the Project Cosplay Solo Competition in SMX Malll of Asia, Pasay City, Philippines.
Helping out.Cosplayers help out each other before they do their catwalk
International cosplayers from Thailand perform their skit during the second day of Cosplay Mania 2011
For me the main responsibility of a documentary photographer is to share to the public the story of your subject. Tomorrow and this Sunday, I'll be having a photo exhibit on Realities- a photo story on the social understanding of the pop subculture known as cosplay.
This is my thesis during my diploma course in photojournalism in ACFJ (2010-2011), but its more than just that. For me this is a story of different people who find themselves an interesting culture in which they can share their creativity and individuality to the others.
Thanks to Project 8, Guy Singson, Zoila and Lira of UPAME and Gaz and Annie from UST and cosplay.ph .Its a privilege to document your wonderful stories guys and I hope I'm able to bring justice to it.
This story is dedicated to you and all the cosplayers in the Philippines. Keep the culture alive and let it grow for the future generation.
Many thanks to Lea Guerrero, Arthur Diono, Alex Baluyot, Gigie Cruz-Sy, Cristina Derillo, Jenny Tuazon and for all those who support my one year project :) (hehe I sound like Lolit Solis)
Kosupre or cosplay is a form of pop subculture in which people wear costumes and accessories to represent a specific character from anime, manga, video games, graphic novels and live actions. It is a performance art that started in Japan and continue to grow in different Asian and also western countries. In the Philippines, it started last 2000 as a form of hobby to a bunch of creative kids and now it grow into a kind of culture in which people of all ages can participate.
This October 1 and 2 2011, prepare for the biggest and most exciting cosplay event in the country, Cosplay Mania II. It started last 2008 as a small convention but as years pass by it continue to grow and become more popular. Now on its 4th year, this two day cosplay convention is pack of challenging competitions, creative galleries and cool merchandise.
Prepare to witness cosplayers perform at their best during the project cosplay individual and group competition. This is also the final stage for the Cosplay Tournament of the Champions or Tourch, the nationwide cosplay competition that started last August 2011. This year they also add a new competition exclusive only for kids age 12 and below.Feature also on this event is the popular Costume Building Contest wherein cosplayers will be test on their ingenuity and resourcefulness in costume building within a 5-hour limit. The theme for this year's costume building contest is "Alien Invasion."
This event will also showcase the 10 finest cosplay photos from the Cosplay Snapshot Project and the most creative cosplay video on Costube Contest.
The continue success of Cosplay Mania is brought to you by Cosplay.ph, the largest online community of cosplayers. They're consist of veteran cosplayers and professionals who aim to bring cosplay in the Philippines to its peak and to help Filipino cosplayers to be known across Asia.
The organizers forged and strenghthened its partnership to other Asian countries by bringing in international cosplayers from Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore. Watch out for Pinky Lu Xun of Indonesia, she's part of the cosplay team "The Endless Illusion" and has been been cosplaying for 13 years. From Thailand are re-known cosplayers, YukiGodbless and JiakiDarkness, who won the 2nd place at the Thailand leg of the 2009 World Cosplay Summit. For its 2nd time visit is the famous Singaporean cosplayer Clive Lee who is known from his creative mecha (robot) costumes.These three special guests will conduct cosplay workshop to share their knowledge and tips on perfecting this craft.
Truly this event is worth visiting and its always fun to learn and explore new culture and practices. Its a family-oriented event and everyone will surely enjoy it. The continue growth and popularity of this event only shows that cosplay is not just a fad but its a culture that enhance the creativity of the people at the same time help them gain self-confidence by interacting with different people.
*Cosplay Mania II will be at the SMX Convention Center Function Rooms 3 to 5, SM Mall of Asia Complex Pasay City. The event will start at 11am and run up to 9pm for both days. Buy your tickets now at all SM Cinemas or online at www.smtickets.com.For more info check www.cosplaymania.com
I'm always fascinated in the world of comics growing up reading Funny Komiks and sharing the adventures of Combatron,Petit, Tomas and Kulas and Eklok. Those light and action pack stories always makes me laugh and taught me a lot of stuff about life.
Last Saturday I attended the Metro Comic Con 2011 at SM Megamall and was able to meet up with some of the great artists and story tellers of comics. From the re-known artist of V for Vendetta, Mr.David Llyod to the promising writer Mr. Budjette Tan of the local phenomenon Trese, I was overwhelm to shake their hands and express my appreciation to their works. Then, I was able to see lots and lots of comics from the western to the local ones. Its good to see a lot of local artists selling their works (they remind me of the doujinshi event episode in Genshiken :)
I noticed that most of the local artists are still into manga or western style of drawing their but some of them have this distinctive quality that gives a feeling of a Pinoy made work like Trese. Cha my good friend told me about this comic book about a lady name Alexandra Trese who solves folklore cases in Metro Manila. Its not a first that Filipino comics made a story out of folklores but what is different with Trese is the setting of this folklore tale. Its a combination of modern crime scenes wherein the culprits are manananggals,aswang,tyanaks and other folklore characters. Its a good story for the new generation of Filipino youth to learn and appreciate our legends.
Only a few cosplayers are present in this event which are mostly western characters but with some anime and manga cosplayers. This is good change of phase for me because I've been working with them for the past 6 months ^_^
I'm happy to attend this event and its quite a breather from my hectic school and work schedules. Its a privilege to see, meet and witness the beautiful and interesting works of this master story tellers and artists.
cosplay- short for "costume play".is a type of performance art in which participants don costumes and accessories to represent a specific character from anime,manga,video games,graphic novels and live actions.
Last weekend the biggest cosplay event of the year, Cosplay Mania X, was held in Mall of Asia and organized by cosplay.ph the biggest cosplay community in the country. Its a annual cosplay convention that also showcase other stuff such as video game,anime bands,toys,etc. This year's event was also a culmination of all cosplayers nationwide for the finals of the Tournament of the Champions and the project cosplay competition.This is also a celebration of the 10 years of cosplaying in the Philippines.
The first day main event was the project cosplay competition: solo category. A total of 99 cosplayers from anime,western comics,live action and games compete to one another.Guy Singson won the overall champion, a cosplayer who specializes in making mechas(robots) and warrior type of costume.On the second day,they conducted the group cosplay competition and the grand finals of the tour of the champions.
The two days event are packed of interesting activities such as workshops conducted by different well-known groups such as 501st Legion Philippine Outpost, Tuxedo Group and Magnetic-Rose on cosplaying, portrayal of characters, and proper wearing of yukatas (a casual Japanese summer-type kimono). They also featured international cosplayers such as, Clive Lee winner of 2009 Anime Festival Asia (AFA09) and Jesuke, one of Singapore’s well-known cross- dresser.They also have a costume building contest and team cosplay checkmate, a game of chess wherein the pieces are the coplayers themselves.
They also show a video tribute to 10 years of cosplay in the philippines. Its a showcase of pass conventions since its early beginnings of 2000 and interviews from veteran cosplayers like Robert Wong, the master mecha maker, up to the most recent ones like Jin Joson, well-known cross-dresser in the country.The way that they passionately talked about their love on cosplaying was trulty inspiring.
The event was a wonderful celebration of creativity and love for cosplay.Who knows that ten years ago a hobby of a few people will boom in a kind of subculture wherein people of all ages can participate and share their passion for arts and creativity.
*congratulations to cosplay.ph and all those behind this successful event,more power to you guys :)
Five organizations from five different schools (Adamson University,University of the Philippines,La Salle University, Colegio de San Juan de Letran and Manila Science Highschool) teamed up to come up with an anime convention for a cause known as Midori Sekai.This convention is for environmental awareness for the youth. The proceeds of the tickets will go to Greenpeace and to the local tree-planting outreach of Genshiken, the organization from La Salle.
The event is full of Japanese cultured activities such as bento-making contest(lunch-making), sumo-wrestling, on-the spot drawing competition, performances of J-Rock bands and of course cosplay. Its like attending a cultural festival settings in most of anime shows that makes you feel nostalgic about your high school and college days
Last Nov. 8, 2009 an anime convention called anime overload was held in SMX Convention in Mall of Asia Pasay City. All otakus (anime-fan) gathered to celebrate a fun and very colorful anime matsuri (festival) wherein they can dressed-up as their favorite characters more commonly known as cosplaying and feast their eyes into different types of action figures such "Joker". I always enjoyed going in this kind of events because I can see the creativeness of the youth and the joy of giving your best on your interests and hobbies. Anime conventions is not just for kids its for everyone who has guts to live up on their fantasies and dreams and make it so interesting and inspiring.
