Regent Place has been around for some time, and given its location between Town Hall and the main cinemas in the Sydney CBD, the foot traffic should be pretty good. Unfortunately, narrower entrances and relatively subtle facades means businesses have not had a good run there. A large Asian supermarket which used to dominate the bottom floor died and was not replaced, and shops on the ground level have come and gone for lack of business.

Chefs Gallery opened just the other week, and replaces a Malaysian restaurant, which again, was deathly quiet, not helped by the dark interior decor.

To increase the visual impact of its frontage, Chefs Gallery opted for a relatively brighter interior, a very visible kitchen, as well as its name in a large, bright font. The top of the facade also fades in and out in different colours.

In a way, Chefs Gallery’s main competitor would be Din Tai Feng, located at World Square. Both restaurants have the visible kitchen aspect, and both received a roaring welcome from the Chinese community when they opened. In fact, queues have been pretty long at Chefs Gallery since it opened as everyone rushed to try the new restaurant.

Chefs Gallery opens at around 5pm for dinner, and by 6pm the queues would have started forming. There is no reservation (it doesn’t make sense for popular restaurants to reserve seats anyway). We arrived at 5:30pm for a party of nine. Unfortunately, the restaurant defaults to tables of eight maximum but they squeezed an extra chair in, and since the chairs are pretty spaced out anyway there was not too much of a crush.

Service, as expected from restaurants of this calibre, was excellent, although many of the wait staff are not too fluent with English, and some did not know the nature of some of the dishes. A few nice touches include a cover for the back of the seat if you hang your coat there. Additionally, staff in the kitchen do not use the usual face mask, instead opting for a transparent “mouth guard” which allows clear communication while combating contamination risks.

The menus have very good English descriptions and I think we would be hard-pressed to find any instances of Engrish here. Fairly simple, the menus do not have pictures of the dishes, and in fact there were no pictures of the food that I could see in the restaurant. It fits in with the style of the decor, I suppose.

The selections are mostly variations on a theme, and while the list is not as extensive as some restaurants, that’s not a bad thing, since it makes choosing that much easier.

The important part are the desserts, of course. While the cold desserts are quite tempting, we found most of them were various types of ice creams with different toppings. For true uniqueness, the hot desserts are the ones to go for.

Decor-wise, Chefs Gallery utilises lighted showcases of various Chinese objects including antique vessels and books. Lighting is pretty good, provided by rows of warm spot lights overhead, as well as bounced strip lights at strategic places. The only problem I really have is there is not much leg room under the tables.

A bar runs along the perimeter of the kitchen, and I took the opportunity while it was not too crowded of going up there to take some photos.

The mouth guards I mentioned earlier are visible here. As with Din Tai Feng, Chefs Gallery seeks to maximise the visual impact of the making of the food, including hand-stretched noodles, which is its specialty.

This noodle comes in pumpkin soup, and a side of fried chicken. Unlike the pumpkin soup of the Western tradition, this is slightly thinner and less rich, as well as being not too sweet. The chicken, despite its appearance, is actually quite light.

The pan-fried dumplings take on a slightly elongated form.

The steamed dumplings are fairly standard in presentation. The skin, while excellent, did not stand out for me as Din Tai Feng’s did (admittedly, DTF specialises in dumplings).

This green bean dish comes with thin pancakes to wrap them in, resulting in a very nice texture.

The fried rice with three types of eggs contains chicken egg, salted duck egg and century egg. It looks pretty normal, but if you are already acclimatised to duck egg and century egg, it’s an excellent dish with a great taste combination.

Otherwise, the normal fried rice with pork or chicken will serve as well, although after the triple egg rice, this felt like a bit of a let-down.

To spice things up, I added the spicy pork belly, which was very tasty, as to be expected from such a dish.

Prawn spinach noodle comes a striking green colour, accompanied by the prawns, as well as mushrooms and various types of seafood. The noodles are given extra texture by the mentaiko-type roe stirred into the dish.

The pan fried buns have a very good filling, while retaining fluffiness outside. Despite the fact that it is pan-fried, it is unlike the offerings of other restaurants and does not exude the overly-oily feel so common with this dish.

Desserts: we opted for peanut and walnut pastries, which come pretty small. They are very good, however. The walnut pastry, in particular, comes shaped roughly like a walnut, and contains half a walnut within.

The ice creams come with various types of toppings for the different types. The mango one has sweet potato, for example, while the green tea one uses Japanese style. I did not try them.

A highlight in desserts is the pig face sesame bun, which comes in a pair (one female and one male). The coloured parts are just coloured bun pastry. The black sesame filling is rich and very fragrant.

Another which is worth trying is the steamed pumpkin pastry dumpling with lotus paste inside. The menu said it is a “beautiful piece of art” and I concur. The pumpkin pastry itself is not too sweet, and this provides a moderating accompaniment to the more intense lotus paste.

Overall, I found the servings are pretty small, especially if shared among nine people. With smaller groups, however, they would provide the right ratio between being able to sample a wide variation of dishes, and having enough of any dish to feel substantially filled. Overall, the damage was around 22 dollars per person, which is not bad for a night out.

The staff were also very obliging in helping us keep a birthday cake in the fridge, and they brought it out with lighted candles and sparklers, and also gave the birthday girl an extra dish of the pig face sesame buns, which was a great touch. We also appreciated that there was no fee for this service, and tipped accordingly.

Of course, this is not going to be a regular occurrence. My life is not that interesting that I would foist photos of it on my blog readers every week, and during the ordinary working week, it just becomes the same thing all the time.

The report starts on Saturday, during a cosplay photoshoot at a secret location. We were catching the sunset in the tall grass and the cosplayers wanted to do a “jump sideways while shooting a rifle” shot. We, the photographers, demonstrated. The shot on the right is of peppanda, the other photographer. There are no photos of me in this post.

Food represents a change of date, with my father’s birthday cake, and then brunch the next day at Chinatown.

We then went to the first location for the shoot, which was to be nature-themed.

Extremely rugged landscape, and since it was near the sea, very exposed to the wind. Of course, as the photoshoot was a family affair, I had an assistant to help hold the lights.

It’s a long way down to the sea from a bridge used to access the peninsular.

The peninsular has very nice rock formations, and a view back to the “mainland”.

Two panoramas of the vista. Some of these photos were taken via my DSLR, while many others I took on the Sony NEX-5 camera with 16mm f/2.8 lens. The NEX-5 is sufficiently small that I bring it everywhere I go and has some nifty functions like the sweep panorama mode, used to generate the above.

En route back from the shoot.

Of course we stop for some food. The lamb hotpot is apparently a Chinese staple for winter, though to be honest I have never had it until that day.

Once again, food marks the division of the day. Portuguese style egg tarts (I believe that’s what they are) which I found superior to just normal Hong Kong style egg tarts in terms of the lightness of the pastry and the sheer silkiness of the filling.

On yet another cloudy morning, we visited Adriano Zumbo for a sweet breakfast. The cafe had moved so we just got stuff from the patisserie.

Any self-respecting Sydney-sider will recognise where the above photos are from (Galeries Victoria, the same building as Kinokuniya). It’s always quite an entertaining game trying to recognise as many of the anime on the Tokyo International Anime Fair poster. Of course it’s easy to cheat since the answer is written on each of the hexagons.

Kinokuniya tends to not really have much in terms of what I look for, but occasionally a cover with catch my eye. The NieR game book for example, prompted me to find the artist for that game.

That day ended up not too eventful for me, since my sister had to arrange some of the other wedding stuff.

The next day actually started with another photoshoot, but I did not take any documentary photographs until lunch, at a Japanese restaurant called Masaka.

Their food was a bit slow in coming but pretty darn good.

With storm clouds gathering, we went to the next location. This place has been sorely overused by cosplayers, but not, as far as I know, for wedding/engagement type photos. We couldn’t get in on the day, because we lacked the determination to do so, even though there was a way in. Just shooting the wall/doors outside, however, I got some good results. Above: my “assistant” holding my current light modifier of choice to prevent strong winds from knocking it over.

Stuck my camera though the gap in the door to photograph the inside. It then rained on us, so we went home and then out for dinner again.

After dinner, a third shoot for the day, with the sky clearing up. A great view of the city for our only night shoot, though in the actual shots all the lights are massively bokeh’d. One thing I have noted from shooting portraits during the night time is that city lights tend to be mostly made up of street lights, which lend an orange glow to the scenery. It is therefore important to modify the light emanating from whatever light source is illuminating the subject to match this.

The next day was a Vocaloid cosplay shoot, but my memory card was carried off by one of the cosplayers for editing. I will edit and upload the photos for that day on Pixels when I get it back.

The next day started with yum cha and then a shoot at a park, once again in defiance of the rain, which actually started pouring down in earnest following the shot above. Oh well, a cloudy sky means I did not need to use light modifiers to any great degree for the natural look, since the entire sky supplies a nice soft diffused light even at noon. An interesting effect on the left photo when I focus just on the reflection in the cup.

I’m not sure why we went to a nursery after that, but there was no way I was going to execute a photoshoot at a plant shop.

The night ended with my mother’s birthday cake, while today started with me making scrambled eggs and cracking open an egg to find a double yolk. So Intense.

So what this post was, was an excuse as to why I didn’t do anything on here until today. I hope that explains a few things. Real life is pretty hectic.

It was with this acquiescence that I flew into Hong Kong. No longer a denizen of that metropolis, I must needs play the part of the tourist, the documentarian, the curio-seeker. Where a less mature shadow of myself from years past would have shirked from the grimy realities of my birthplace, I, recognising the Hong Kong of today as a place and people heretofore unknown to myself, set about rediscovering anew.

My first glimpse of Hong Kong proper, outside of the homogenised environs of airports and planes, confirmed my previous expectations, a place where darkness is kept at bay by the all-too-sodium-yellow sunlight of street lamps.

The real sun still shines above the low cloud cover which covers this land, but only showed its presence on this one day. Be it smog or winter cloud, the constant greyness of the sky reduced the vibrancy of the colours.

The inhabitants of this territory mostly dwell in high-rise, high-density apartments, which add a textured verticality to the cityscape. It is partly this which gives so much rich detail to Hong Kong. To the attentive, there is never a shortage of things to see.

Details and layers, for the city constantly builds and rebuilds upon itself. While buildings get torn down and new ones take their place, in some parts of town, the artefacts of different times overlay each other like layers of nacre.

From the chic and polished parts of the city, it is but a short walk to the backstreets. Yes, the government might have beautified some parts of Hong Kong, it might have demolished multiple streets in the previous red light district of Kowloon to make way for a towering vertical shopping mall, but beyond the mirror facades of steel giants, the rust quietly trails down cracked faces streaked with the tears of rain.

Before I took this trip, I chanced to read William Gibson’s controversial Disneyland with the Death Penalty, wherein he looked in vain for a way beyond the “glassy simulacrum” of the city, to better find its ghosts. The soul of Hong Kong may be somewhat buried with the constant developments and redevelopments, might be under layers of commercial varnish, but it’s here, in the bent backs of the old women serving at restaurants, using poles to carry bundles of cardboard boxes, sweeping the streets clean in the early morning.

It is a place where tradition and superstition coexist comfortably with modernity and technology, where the sheer amount of stores selling electronics, clothing, jewellery, antiques, birds, beads, fabric all scream out for your attention with red lettering, bright neon drawing the eye away from the weathered buildings they hang off. Here, as in nowhere else, one wonders at the modern miracle of economics, is overwhelmed by the complexity of the logistics networks and profit margins which surely lie behind each and every store.

Whether you see the detail in the shadows cast by the traditional New Year peach blossoms, or in the lines of modern architecture, the complexity integral to the city is visible at every turn to the observant.

Despite the complexities, everything works. The various transport options (subway, trams, buses, taxis, mini-vans, ferries, etc) run on time, and almost everything may be paid for using the Octopus card (which, by the way, you should really get if you visit, as it saves juggling with coinage).

Chinese people, as much as anyone else in the world, and perhaps more so, are very concerned about food. I conservatively estimate around a quarter of the stores I see on the streets and in shopping centres are for food of some sort, available better and cheaper than what I could find in Sydney, especially after applying currency conversion.

Tourists and migrants alike have turned Hong Kong, whether it touts it or not, into a more-or-less multi-cultural place. While it is not so much a mixing pot (to use a woefully cliched metaphor), the native Chinese and the foreigners of all colours pretty much slide past each other without too much friction or interaction.

Go to Hong Kong island’s Central, pretty much the central business district of the city, then find the Mid-Levels escalators. Ride them up and up, one after another, and look at the scenery on both sides. Bustling streets, narrow alleyways, crumbling high rises on one side, trendy fashion boutiques and cafes on the other.

Businessmen and women stride about in their career-boosting suits and shoes, traffic moves in frustrated streaks, and in a store off the well-lit streets, the owner sets out his millionth paper cup of herbal tea, as his father has done before him. Stock traders, returning home from a day at the pinnacle of the modern economy, stop for a cup of that bitter brew, perhaps first formulated thousands of years ago.

Perhaps the same overworked businessman starts his morning by stopping, on his way to work, for a meal of congee, the traditional breakfast for hundreds, if not thousands of years, served in a grimy road-side store by hard women who ladle the boiling creamy rice reduction onto raw meat and raw fish, the red turning to cooked grey with a stir of the spoon in the chipped bowl.

Chinese New Year uncovers long traditions still adhered to by the modern inhabitants of the city. Families go out to buy blossoms, which hopefully bloom in the home to welcome the New Year, good fortune and luck. Flower markets throng with those who seek the healthiest branches to take home.

By the side of the park, rain-damaged flowers lay in neat bundles, but no one takes them. My father tells of a story where one New Year, the blossoms they bring home bloom into dark flowers, prompting his father (my grandfather) to immediately toss them out. That same year, my grandmother died. Flowers these may be, but in the psyche of people, omens accompany these delicate displays of colour.

Night falls, and the streets light up, warm veins throbbing, bringing life to the towering giants.

Crowds continue to press as a phantasmagoria of fluorescent colours strobe along the street.

In brightly lit shopping centres too, the night is kept away, and the day’s activities go on.

And fireworks, a Chinese invention from the 7th century, frighten away the night with aplomb, bidding the old traditional year adieu, welcoming the new with roars which echo amongst the glass giants and stained concrete.

For a more chronological documentation of my trip to Hong Kong, including a visit to the anime paradise of Sino Centre and an attempt at a maid cafe, check the gallery of 271 photos (and some panoramas). The photographs are captioned with commentary, which pretty much cover what I did for the whole trip.

Having fond, if embellished, memories of the place I was born, I was of course unpleasantly surprised to find that I could recognise almost nothing from my childhood.

In fact, starting from the airport, everything felt so commercialised, the inhabitants so unpleasant and beaten down, and the surrounds so dirty, it was almost depressing to be in the place. The beckoning beacon of Japan also tended to prompt comparisons between the countries, and I must say I feel more at home in Japan than in almost any other place, a phenomenon which still holds true today.

This time round, I returned more prepared, in a way. While nothing can really "prepare" me for somewhere as confronting as Hong Kong (everything still feels very abstract right now), I came to this city with the mindset acknowledging that I am an outsider, that I know nothing, but nothing, about this place. Therefore, as an explorer and an observer, I now looked at the city through the lens of my camera, not the distorted lens of idealised expectations.

The first thing I noticed, as one would in most cities of any age, except for the most sterilised ones, was the contrast. The contrast between the young and well-dressed population, and the older, middle aged, shabbily dressed, poverty-ridden, bent-back denizens of the city. Between the towering buildings of sky-mirroring glass, and the cracked edges of ricketing and ageing residences, streaks of dirt and rust bearing witness to the endless rains and pollution weathered by this economic miracle.

Connected to this contrast is the other thing I noticed: Hong Kong is a very layered city. This is most visibly represented by the neon signs which seem stacked on top of one another whenever you walk into a street. Walking to the harbour at Kowloon, the metropolitan part of the city with its modern architecture and polished Victorian era styles is but a street or two away from the rundown flats and ramshackle street markets. Riding the long escalator up the mountain on Hong Kong island, rustic European style cafes and bars exist as the front facade; behind them are narrow alleys and more of those stained high-density residences.

It's such an organic structure, one can almost feel how the oldest structures were built, then half torn down and newer ones put on top of them, everything building up into the current chaos and complexity of the city.

This complexity means Hong Kong is full of hidden places, dark alleys, and secrets. Navigating it requires, I realised, a completely different level of skill. How does one keep orientated amidst the swirl of people and traffic around? It is almost possible to get vertigo waiting in the middle of the street, as a canyon of double decker buses and traffic engulf you from both sides.

Yet despite this, Hong Kong's many systems work. Its trains come on time, its economy keeps ticking, the mini-vans run alongside the double-decker buses, and the Octopus card works almost universally. Within the chaos of the city, its residents have sculpted efficient systems which weave in and out of the city with practised ease.

Started the afternoon with some high tea at Swissotel’s Crossroads Bar. I thought it was going to be danky backpackers place (since I didn’t do any prior research – it was a treat) but I was really surprised to find quite luxurious surrounds.

High tea was mostly sandwiches with deserts and tea. Fairly relaxing and quiet atmosphere.

Of course, hotels would have their Christmas trees all out and twinkling, and I can’t believe I got that family at the side all with their picture-perfect smiles without staging the photo.

For some reason my eye was drawn to the textured artwork and its reflection on the ground.

Madara and Nadleeh then changed into cosplay (Ranka; Miku, World is Mine version), and because I did not plan the day, we eventually meandered to the rose garden at the Botanical Gardens.

Ah, 7fps.

We also hung out around the outside of the Conservatorium of Music for a bit.

While the cosplayers got changed, I scoped out the Intercontinental Hotel.

Before anyone says “insta-art”, this was shot in colour but visualised in black and white – what I wanted to capture was the play of light from the window on the wall and off the furniture.

Managed to sneak into a ball-room kinda thing, which was being prepared for a graduation ball.

Some nice vintage elevators.

Brick arches and columns, a pretty nice skylight.

Focus test.

On the way to dinner, took a photo of the bird cage installation at Angel Place – used to be Tetris hung up there. Bird cages are more intricate and somehow feels a bit like HK.

Dinner at Kasumi restaurant (now a favourite haunt for the cosplay group). It was a “surprise” early b’day dinner for Straw (her b’day is later on this month). Had takoyaki roulette amongst other things (did not get the wasabi ball, lucky!)

Also had cake (shared b’day cake for Straw and I)! First time I had a b’day cake done at a restaurant. This one is not a lie.

“Shantiti & Ne-jyu”

While this is a pair of figures, they do not really interact with each other in any significant manner. They sit side by side, and the bases fit together so they sit closer together. In any case, reviewing two figures at the same time can be a bit difficult for photography, so I chose to photograph the figures separately most of the time.

During the course of photographing for this review, I managed to stuff up quite a bit. In my first shoot, I used a black background, but I decided to change it to white in a second shoot. It is thus quite easy to tell which photos came from which shoot, as I decided not to waste some of the shots from the very tragic first session.

While the blame for the screw up must be apportioned to me and my poor skills, I must note that these figures are of a quality considered normal for Clayz, which is really a B-tier manufacturer of figures.

Since I had a number of super-bright LED lights lying about (used for light drawings, occasionally), I decided to go with the crystal theme and light up the structures in the figures’ bases. They turned out pretty nice.

Chief among my concerns: A fairly large flaw on Shantiti’s leg, casting deficiencies causing dimples in various parts like the hair and clothing, a fairly poor paint job on the clothing, flimsy cocktail glass for Shantiti, and very reflective decals used for the eyes.

The flaw on Shantiti’s leg is visible in 07.jpg (left, above). It’s like some glue dropped on it and dribbled downwards. Additionally, the cocktail glass for her to hold is rather too weak, with the plastic bending of its own accord. Probably can be fixed with a hair dryer. I must also note a lack of attention to detail, as the “liquid” in the glasses are level, as if they were being held totally upright, not tilted, as the characters are doing.

In terms of sculpting detail, this is a fairly standard job by T’s System, with fairly realistic fabric folds. However, since there isn’t much by way of clothing, I didn’t expect to be blown away.

Despite all the flaws I pointed out regarding Shantiti, I actually like this figure more than the Ne-jyu figure. Her face and just the overall feel of the figure gives a much more Tinkle-like feel. This is actually a figure which you can look at and identify the original artist from.

One last look at the face of this figure. I must note that the shiny decals used for the eyes were extremely frustrating, because they would reflect the lights and cause a glaze effect. Repositioning some of the lights and/or the figure helped, but it was seriously a pain.

From the get-go, Ne-jyu suffers from a number of technical problems. First of all, the hair is far too shiny. If Clayz had done a matte-spray or changed the nature of the plastic used for the hair, it would look much better. In fact, I considered doing a matte-finish myself, but decided it wasn’t worth the risk.

From the above pictures, there is a visible flaw on the little crown hair ornament which Ne-jyu wears. There are also casting artifacts on her hair, and the paint job on the hems of her clothes leave a bit to be desired.

As you might have noticed earlier, these figures are true to form for Tinkle’s artwork in terms of pantsu.

A look at the crown, with the flaw very visible.

The stem on Ne-jyu’s cocktail glass is much more robust, and holds its form well.

My problem with Ne-jyu is that her face is really hard to get right. First of all, I always get distracted because she looks like Rika. Secondly, her face only really “works” from a VERY limited selection of angles. In fact, she looks weird if I shoot from a level angle, and extremely weird if I shoot from an angle on the right. This might have something to do with the fact that her eyes seem to be looking sideways.

While the figures come on their base, I think there are definitely opportunities to take them off the base and have them sitting on level surfaces. Given the fact that their legs actually hang off the surface of the bases, doing this causes a change in their sitting angle, but it works if you think of them doing crunches or relaxing.

In fact, I think, given their costume and cocktails, they would work well at a poolside or at the beach, if you are inclined toward outside shoots.

While the coloured LED thing was a pretty good idea, the colours didn’t really come out in the lighted photography.

Turn off the lights, however, and you get a pretty good result.

Overall, while the figures are pretty cute, and I especially like Shantiti, they are plagued by all manner of technical problems. For the collector who is used to quality like the GSC Saber Lily, this can be quite shocking. However, I actually have a number of Clayz’s figures, and while I am disappointed they have not brushed up on their manufacturing quality (especially for exclusive figures), I am not surprised.

That said, I was really pleasantly surprised by how well Tinkle’s work survived being ported over to the 2.5D form of figures, especially with Shantiti, whose face was exceptionally well-done.

While personally, I thought the 15,000 yen was well spent (being a past expense, and a premium to pay as an avid Tinkle fan), I think the more level-headed consumer would be hard pressed to shell out over 7000 yen each for the figures at retail. I think a more reasonable price would be around 5600 yen each (this is of course, discounting the limited availability status and fanboyism).

Technical: A number of previous figure review shoots were done with three halogen lamps (one through an umbrella, another reflected on a smaller umbrella, and a third small one diffused through a Lightsphere), but since these were all mounted on my desk, there was limited flexibility in the arrangement. For the second shoot for these figures, I took one of the lamps and put it on a jury-rigged tripod to make a “light stand”, took out the smaller halogen lamp, and used my flash gun+diffuser/reflector combo, tethered to the camera with a control cord. This solution, while working quite nicely, has a deficiency which can be seen in a number of photos, namely, different temperature lights coming from the halogen lamps and the flash.

Most of the photos I took were of cosplayers (heck, let’s just say all of them). It never ceases to surprise me the quality of the cosplayers at the cons, and I think Moe Moe Rabu’s adun has it right in that many of the quality cosplayers do not enter the competitions, so doing the rounds on the floor is very important, and should in fact take higher priority over the competition.

Saw some pretty awesome children cosplayers as well. This one from day 1, and a Cardcaptor Sakura one from day 2.

Some may recall I had pretty dismal results from shooting previous conventions, but a perusal of photography forums led me to the shutter dragging + rear sync technique which wedding photographer use (similar conditions to a con). The effects of this practice are most clearly visible in the picture below.

When it was time for the cosplay competition on day one, I was positioned up front with my standard zoom lens (had been using a 24mm for the floor shoots). This made for an angled perspective and the bottom of people cut off by the raised stage, but overall the results were good.

By the time Saturday had finished, I was pretty exhausted. This meant reduced performance for Sunday, which was also a bit quieter for the con (although crowds still built up toward the middle of the day). Since I hadn’t reviewed my Saturday photos, I set the ISO up to 400 for the second day, and this produced much noisier photos.

I really loved the lighting near the windows.

Sunday may have been quieter, but it by no means meant the cosplays were of lower quality.

Perhaps the best Black Rock Shooter cosplay I have seen thus far.

Madara et al did a Kuroshitsuji group.

I didn’t take a lot of the competition because this time round, I was standing near a column, which meant I could see the whole stage, but had to snipe in the telephoto range. Managed to catch some cosplayers after the comp.

More of two of the cosplayers below (Straw and Minami) will be posted on Pixels later on in the week (did a Code Geass shoot with them the prior weekend).

After hanging out a bit outside, I was feeling decidedly tired, so I retired.

Although the venue was good, in terms of negatives, I think an issue has to do with the food stalls, which were located within the exhibition hall. Despite the venting systems used, the smell of oil and fried food was still quite dominant at the con. This could be resolved perhaps by running a more effective ventilation system to pipe the cooking fumes out through one of the side doors.

Technical lessons learnt:

- ISO 200 + shutter dragging + rear sync is the ideal combo for my equipment

- Natural lighting is a blessing which should not be underestimated

- Despite disadvantages of being up near the stage, the results tend to turn out better than sniping

- 24mm (36 on crop) is great for cons. All hail 24mm

- SpectraLight diffuser is easier to cart around, more portable, more flexible and less obstructive than the Lightsphere. It will serve as my primary portable flash diffuser.

Other coverage:

MoeMoeRabu

Crescent Elusion

The White Lion

So what exactly is “The White Lion” cited in the book (sub-title: CHOCOLATE SHOP PRODUCED #31 2009 SUMMER)? Well, from what I can see, it is a female character CHOCO claims is a “Goddess of the Belief”, with an unbreakable weapon.

Yes, we get CHOCO’s great style again, with the first half of the book being populated by colour illustrations. There are two spread illustrations to start (though the first isn’t really).

I was pleasantly surprised with the scans, as it turned out that like the previous Tinkle release, the book was printed in such a high quality that there was no visible screening (except in one of the pages).

And two single illustrations, these being the other characters featured in the spread above (I think). We could be possibly seeing the beginning of a series, with these two characters getting figures in the future.

And the illustration section closes with the centrefold spread, perfect for wallpaper.

The next part of the book is about the figure, its parts, how to use it, etc. Note that some parts of the figure are interchangeable with the articulated MMS type figures. I actually have two of those, but they are in my figure storage archive boxes, so if I get them out I could play with them.

Some design notes about the weapons.

And we end with some iPod-ad like shadow renderings of the character cradling her weapons.

The next part of this post is the figure review. Note that my Comic Market 76 version has yet to arrive, so the version of the figure featured here is the Toranoana colour version. This version has a darker blue uniform (compared to the almost lilac purple of the C76 exclusive version), and also, the hair is of a lighter (white) shade, and the eye colour is red, compared to the blue of the event version. If anything, this makes it even cooler.

Standard rotational figure shots, as required in a figure review.

Points of articulation: head (ball joint, removable), arms (cylinder simple joint, removable). Hat is an accessory which just plunks down on the figure’s head, falls off a lot.

I could not help being impressed by the details of this figure, despite its small scale. The white parts of the costume are made of a pearlescent kind of material which shines under the light.

We have the signature CHOCO eyes, which is insta-win.

More of the uniform.

The right hand of the figure, which is configured to hold both the CMG-1 White Lion rifle, and the CQC sword The Black Lion.

The figure is inserted into a base block, which has slots to put the weapons in. The long black katana “Aka Shishi” (Red Lion) has the most difficulty with this storage system because it doesn’t lock in at all. It just sits, then falls out whenever it is moved.

The details on the weapons are quite something too. The CQC sword’s grip actually looks like a grip polymer material.

It takes some wrangling to get the weapon gripped, but once it’s in, it’s pretty secure and looks very nice. The base provides sufficient balance when the figure is carrying the long weapons.

Of course, changing weapons is more pain. I had some uncertainty as to where the figure should hold the sword, but I ended up at more or less the right area. The area to avoid is the very end of the “handle” side, because apparently there’s a small knife there.

Once more with the eyes. Note also the figure’s mouth is just a tad weird. But she might be summoning judgement, so I guess it kinda makes sense.

Photos were taken with a 50mm 2.8 lens. For the full set, and to download the 2000 pixel (long side) versions, head over to [the Pixels gallery].

Gallery summary:

85 photos for SMASH! day one.

78 photos for SMASH! day two.

22 photos for a mini Prince of Tennis shoot which took place during a short period outside on day one. This has been put into a separate gallery category for organisation purposes.

Despite the growth of the convention, the Roundhouse at UNSW remains a very viable venue for this event. Some of the sessions have been pushed outside the Roundhouse to a linked building with corridors of classrooms, and this area got less traffic.

The maid cafe has been relocated to a more private area upstairs and from what I can see, the operation has definitely grown, with more dedicated staff (the ladies and gentlemen from the photo above), higher quality costumes, much better promotion, and I think better food. I didn’t actually go in myself, but from what I saw on the first day, I think they are getting cakes from 85 Degrees, which is expensive but quality (just what one expects from a cafe, maid or otherwise).

From what I gather, the logic behind SMASH! is for there to be a smaller anime/Japan-culture related convention for Sydney, as opposed to Animania (coming up September, mini convention earlier this year), which has been subject to various criticisms, mainly to do with costs (tickets, stall costs, etc). Of course, I cannot make a judgment on experience differences until the full weekend Animania takes place, but the mini-Animania was not the best quality convention I have been to, due to the venue and staff management.

As per usual, I was there documenting the event on a non-official basis (I don’t think I’ve ever done anything “officially”), mostly on cosplays. I didn’t manage to do anything with the photos in the intervening period between Saturday and Sunday, because I was simply knocked out by the end of Day 1. Foolishly, I had skipped breakfast of any sort, and when I’m shooting, I don’t take lunch either, so basically I went the entire day without eating anything and ended up with a massive headache at the end of the day.

Again, I decided to let a great number of photos through the editing and culling process due to the documentation nature of the task. Needless to say, in the rush of a con, with busy strangers yearning to move on, dim lighting, and a phalanx of other photographers jostling for a shot, photos don’t have the polish that a relaxed shoot would yield, so please pardon me if the pictures show up the true amateur within.

Technical:

In a way, the SMASH! 2009 convention was the first real test for the Lightdome system by me. I had decided to get a more serious diffuser system after problems with the built-in reflector card in the Supanova 2009 convention. While the Lightdome did help quite a bit, I think my technique is still rather primitive, so in a lot of photos, the flash is still very obvious. I also found it works best in areas with a lower ceiling, so I can bounce, and get the diffusion from the sides of the Lightdome at the same time.

I brought along with me my Sony A350 DSLR, a Minolta 24mm f/2.8, a Minolta 70-210mm f/4, and the standard Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5 zoom which has been my main workhorse lens up to now.

I fitted the Minolta 24mm f/2.8 as my run-around lens…yes, a prime as a primary for a con. I found it wide enough (equiv 36mm on crop sensor) for most of my purposes, and unlike the previous cons, I changed my modus operandi to a more portrait mode, as opposed to always having to get the full body shot. Of course I still had a few full body shots, but I was much less fussed about that this time round.

The Minolta 70-210mm f/4 (the “Beercan” as it is known to Minolta users) was used for longer ranges, such as when I was shooting off a staircase banister at the Prince of Tennis cosplayers on the grass downstairs, and during the competition on the first day, when I decided to shoot from farther away, while using direct flash and ISO 100 (thus the look on those).

I must say I really love the Beercan, and I am looking forward to exploring more of its capabilities in a more relaxed setting. It is very sturdily built, and very heavy, and I noticed on Day 1 that when it is fitted on the camera, the battery drains a lot quicker (possibly due to the power needed to move the elements).

For Day 2, the Minolta 70-210 f/4 stayed in my bag, while I used the 24mm for the earlier part of the day, before switching to the trusty Sigma 17-70mm zoom for the cosplay competition, positioning myself on the front row of the seats and using more diffused lighting from the Lightdome (though still pretty strong light). I left the zoom on thereafter.

One thing that SMASH! 2009 forced me to do was to play with the manual settings of my flash unit. Up till now, I had been happy to use TTL automatic on the flash, but from now on I will be tweaking the power settings, the zoom and learning some of the other settings. Learning the manual settings of the flash has been something I have been meaning to do for some time.

Other coverage (not a comprehensive list of links):

Shin @ Atarashii Prelude

Optic @ The Dis-Jointedzone

Bubby

Adun @ Moemoerabu

Due to my focus on taking photos, I did not really go to many of the events or panels being held at Supanova (though I did expect this, since I wasn’t really looking forward to most of them).

The calibre of the cosplayers at Supanova was something to behold (I don’t know why I am constantly surprised), but some highlights of the weekend include:

Dude seriously looks like someone I know.

The little old man, and VERY excellent YuGiOh (reprise possible).

Dude I called “Master Chef” by accident due to lameness. And BIOSHOCK, yes!

Nothing like having a gun pointed at me while two security officers look on. And possibly the first Touhou cosplayer I’ve seen in Australia. Saw another one later on the stage but that was trap.

Kirakishou (Rozen Maiden), under good lighting circumstances, and one of the better Cloud cosplayers out there.

Two Chiis

Haruhi group.

Crossplayers make the coolest guys.

And of course, the Gundam 00 group, winners all.

This is but a small selection of the madness which went on at Supanova. Check out the Pixels gallery for the rest.

Overall, my skills fail quite badly, especially with the use of the flash (which up until now I had been using mostly for fills during daylight only). It looks like I’ll need more practice in low-light conditions. This also represented my first excursion out of constant ISO 100 territory, visiting a very vulnerable area of my equipment. While I found ISO 200 to be acceptable, ISO 400 starts becoming quite noticeable.

For other coverage: Bubby and Adun