Anime Matsuri 2024
Staff photographer Alex Ventura heads to Anime Matsuri in Houston to get some coverage of the cosplays and rides at the con.
It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these event coverages, but I grabbed my gear to take some coverage at Anime Matsuri here in Houston, Texas. I went on Thursday night, Saturday, and Sunday but didn’t pull my camera out and take any photos on Thursday. The last time I came on a Thursday evening, I didn’t see as many con-goers as I did this year. I was hoping that was a good indication for the weekend.
I worked all day on Friday, so I decided to wait until Saturday to return to the con. We arrived in the late morning, and a decent number of people had already stormed the con floors and halls of George R. Brown. I decided to venture off into the exhibit hall and entered the first entrance I came across, which happened to be the entrance with the cars all lined up, perfect! This is a good place to start capturing photos; if you are new here, I started with car events, so I found it fitting. There was some lit traffic of people, so it was perfect timing to get the shots without many obstacles. After capturing that row of cars, I followed the itasha along the front of the hall. If you are not sure what that is, they were all the rides that are wrapped with anime, game, and other characters.
Now that I had finished the rides, I continued my journey into Artist Alley. At first, I walked around admiring all the artwork and snapping occasional photos of cosplayers. At this point, I was starting to get hungry, so I headed outside to check out all the food trucks they had parked in front of the convention center. I decided to go with Clutch City Cluckers loaded fries basket with extra spicy heat. Thumbs up from me, but no… I didn’t get any pictures of the food. By the time I made it to Teahouse Tapioca for an ice blend, they were all out, so I went with a basic milk tea and boba.
Now I was fueled up to go back and walk the rest of the con, focusing more on capturing more photos of some of the great cosplayers I came across. You don’t always get a yes, but for the most part, everyone I asked allowed me to snap a quick photo of them. I continued walking around and snapping photos until my daughter and friends were ready to head out. I didn’t check out the cosplay contest, so I am sure I missed some great work on stage.
We returned Sunday in the late morning; I had no plans besides capturing more photos. And that’s exactly what I did for the last day while I still walked the exhibit halls, checking everything out to see if I missed any vendors or artists. We ended up getting a few posters and other items from the artist alley. There were lots of great, talented people there. We stayed in the hall until the end, and my daughter and her friends did a mini shoot after the con ended. Before heading back, I did a few solo shots for my daughter in one of the connecting hotel hallways, marking the end of the con for us.
What was your favorite thing at AM2024?
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