When making his intimate portraits of cosplayers at New York Comic Con, photographer Senén Llanos shuts out the chaotic surroundings and concentrates on the windows to his subjects' souls.
"I do the best I can in isolating the background from the subjects and showcasing their costumes," he said in an e-mail to Wired. "I also try my best to make sure their eyes look as impressive as they can."
Llanos spent his second year at the annual convention shooting dozens of impressive portraits. "The way I photograph is very simple," he said. "My lovely assistant and fiancée carries a softbox we set to everyone's side when we shoot." Shooting dozens of portraits a day, Llanos documented some truly amazing costuming again this year.
"It's an almost surreal experience, where everyone takes their inner geek for a ride," said the 33-year-old photographer, who said he's quickly grown to love New York Comic Con. "It's a real joy seeing everyone show off the fruits of their work and get into character."
Originally from Puerto Rico, Llanos moved to New York a year and a half ago. "I work IT at Columbia University," he said, "sleep in Long Island City and breathe photography."
Aside from a few spontaneous outbreaks of Gangnam-style dancing at this year's convention, Llanos said most of the people he saw were "nice and relaxed and enjoying their cosplaying."
"In terms of costumes, I was very impressed by a man cosplaying as a female Captain America," he said (see an image at right). "His shield was now a lovely hand fan and he had many little details that added to his costume. I really liked the originality in the execution and wished I captured more photos of it."
See more of Llanos' amazing portraits on his website (pictures from Saturday and Sunday) or on his Flickr photostream. Want even more? Here are some of his portraits from New York Comic Con 2011.
All photos: Senén Llanos
