So after working my backside off for a large proportion of the month, I was ready for a breather. Hibana was intended to by that breather. However, because work was rather intense over the last month, I almost forgot about it. Not helped by accepting a last minute shift and procrastinating over packing, I kind of had to throw in a weekends worth of clothes and other supplies to be used into a suitcase, took every single gadget and charger I might even have a hint of needing to use and had 3 hours sleep when really I needed at least 5.
5AM on a Thursday rolled around. At the risk of waking everyone else up in the house, I got myself sorted to leave for the train station. Dragging a heavy suitcase through the freezing streets of a small Scottish town in a dark morning isn't fun. About 6:20 AM, I was on the train to Glasgow to change to another train to take me all the way to Milton Keynes. Before we even left Glasgow, the UK's under-invested, overstressed rail network reared it's ugly head. WE were warned the train will be delayed by about 40 minutes due to some emergency track work and we were being diverted the long way around the problem area. 5 hours passed and I was in Milton Keynes.
Despite the earlier delay, I arrived relatively early and thankfully it was relatively bright still. After catching up with two of the Basingstoke circle and helping Pouncy, long time attendee and fellow photographer, move stuff into the venue, we went to a restaurant recommended by a long time attendee and gopher who we joined to sit down to a good dinner before returning to the hotel to help out the committee with moving some of the equipment required for the weekend festivities. This was a bit of a bizarre moment for me. Even though I volunteered, knowing most of the committee and them knowing I was trustworthy, it still felt odd as my day job has me watching out for dodgy activities during loading in events and not so much doing loading in activities. Afterwards, I retired to my room to settle in for the night.
Except, I didn't. It turned out due to me catching up with friends and helping move boxes and trolleys about, I didn't notice some small problems with my room that all snowballed. The door wouldn't close properly without slamming it shut. That in itself wasn't too much of a problem. A previous request for a non-slip mat, put in roughly an hour before I left for dinner, wasn't fulfilled. OK, this wasn't unheard of. It might be tomorrow before that is fulfilled. However, the air conditioner for the room seems to have given up the ghost. On switching it on, it would remain operational for two minutes at most before it would stop, flashing an error message on the control panel. OK, this isn't the height of summer, so I can just about cope as long as I use the window. Except the window was facing a back alley past the hotel into a plaza full of bars and restaurants, resulting in a lot of swearing and what sounded like the odd bar brawl breaking out in the street. This wasn't the height of summer, so having a working air con unit was not a priority, but I would rather have it for some air ventilation in cases where I would rather not have the window open, like now. Also, a working air con would be useful to cool down when I have been running about the convention floor which inevitably gets very warm.
The staff at the reception were understanding and after an attempt to reset the air conditioning in my room didn't help, I was offered an alternative room. Due to the lack of capacity in the hotel, no doubt due to various fellow Hibana attendees arriving, I was given a free upgrade to one of the fancier rooms on the upper floor. Result! I would've been happy with another normal room as long as it had a working air con. But I guess the hotel was keen to keep my custom. The only annoyance here was the need to quickly vacate my old room and wrinkle my carefully ironed shirts...
Day 1. Registration was opened. Picked up my badge and started to look for photo ops. They were rather lacking due to the majority of people planning to arrive later in the day, but I did get some cool shots in the fountain outside. It was fairly quiet and a lack of panels to attend made it a slow build up, similar to last year. This was not a bad thing. I was still having fun. But the inner child in me was so used to the lunacy of MCM Scotland that any smaller con would feel slow.
Unfortunately, I did not see as many of the Basingstoke Circle as I would've liked, mostly due to a large majority of them being in the committee and they were very busy running the event. The rest fragmented due to conflicting schedules. Sitting down to dinner in the hotel restaurant gave me a chance to catch up with two of the committee, the President and Events Officer and feedback my immediate views on the vent so far as well as have general chit chat. They needn't have worried. No major complaints and I was still enjoying the event. After a bit more hunting for photo opportunities and some chit chat, it was time to retire to bed.
Day 2. There was a lot more going on. I attended the Cyberpunk panel where me and a friend had a good and informative time snarking on some of the genres of "Cyberpunk derivatives" we never thought existed. And ones that probably should never exist...
Took the opportunity to catch up with more friends outside of the Basingstoke Circle and get more photo ops. It was fun to spot Cosplayers dressing up as characters from older and more obscure series such as the seminal classics "Cowboy Bebop" and "Neon Genesis Evangelion". After the flurry of picture taking, I decided to take advantage of a lull in proceedings and don my own "Cosplay" outfit. This was to be a dry run in preparation for the theme of next Minamicon in 2019. I admit I was extremely nervous, having concerns about body image and accuracy as well as re-purposing work clothing and having paid for two commissions rather than creating the outfit from scratch. But after some hesitation, I decided that it was "now or never" and if I didn't take that first step to try out the hobby, I will never have the confidence to do so ever.
On went on the Cosplay. No turning back and I didn't dare look in the mirror until the full ensemble was prepared. The transformation was startling, looking better than even my overactive imagination could've come up with. The idea was "Generic Background Male High School Student" and with a disposable surgical mask to represent the "cost cutting measures" to avoid having to "draw/animate" the face of a background filler character, the look was complete. This wasn't "xahldera", the con attendee and photographer in the mirror any more. It was an Anime/Manga character staring back at me. Not a major one, sure, but still a character come to life. Finishing touch was provided by an old leather satchel I bought previously, which was useful as it helped store some of my belongings when I decided to move some of my stuff to a smaller camera bag.
I do admit I was a bit concerned about embarrassment. This wasn't helped by my journey back to the con floor. On the way back down from my room, the lift stopped to pick up two confused gentlemen who were probably wondering what was with my outfit. But I managed to keep my nerves in check and just silently stood there until the lift arrived at the convention floor and walked out. I can't remember if they left before I did but either way the confused looks were amusing.
The computer museum panel was a lot of fun, hearing about ancient technology and I took a lot of pictures of what was the 80's idea of a "portable telephone" which is a car battery with a handset attached, along with a defective handle that wasn't strong enough to support the weight of the entire unit. An impromptu joining of a Nier Automata photo shoot that ended up with some very atmospheric shots in one of Milton Keynes various underpasses, much to the confusion of many passers-by. This was probably not helped by the fact that we weren't the group with the same idea.
The masquerade, as traditional in events of this type, was a fun event to watch and another opportunity to take more pictures and make the Cosplayers look epic. Paul Flannery was a good laugh and brilliant MC for the evening. The night was rounded out by dinner with the committee's Dealer Liaison and Social Media officer and some other friends. Although slightly spoiled by my minor altercation with a lampshade in the restaurant...
Day 3. More pictures, a drop into the Anime Ltd. Q&A panel. I knew Pouncy would be opening his photo shoot studio soon, so I took the opportunity to get changed back into the "underclassman xahl" outfit while there was a break in proceedings. Although it clashed with some panels I wanted to see, I had a lot of fun recording the antics of the "Cells at Work!" meet up, even under the stress of a time limit due to a shot being staged with a lift...which promptly did the clichéd thing of shutting far too soon before we could frame the shot properly...
At Pouncy's studio, the infamous Dab move made it's appearance, and then it was time to keep snapping pictures. Ended up getting a ridiculous number of shots and also learnt that the flashgun on my DSLR wasn't as heavy duty as I would've liked, overheating several times. And the live sensor readout nature of the electronic viewfinder meant that setting the F stop really low made it difficult to see anything (Although later I would figure out that there was a setting to avoid this and allow the camera to be used for studio work). My years of experience with no flashes and available light only did help here.
I was hoping to get a few shots of my own Cosplay, so while there was a lull in the surprisingly large number of people showing up to the photography studio, I took advantage of this and found myself in front of my fellow snappers cameras. I'll admit this was a bit of a scary moment for me. For a long time, I have been ironically camera shy. It's one thing for it to happen in the course of my workplace and when walking through public areas, but one of the many barriers to Cosplay to me, aside from general anxiety and confidence issues, was the lack of confidence to pose for others. Having been used to being behind the camera rather than in front, it was a bit unnerving. At first, my fight or flight almost kicked in, with me unable to look straight ahead. After a few seconds though, I managed to get over the fear and get more into character, holding my head up. Probably helped that due to the design of the character, I was wearing that surgical mask. Those studio lights are a lot brighter when they are illuminating you! I would say the experience was still hair raising for me (What little hair I have left!) but a lot of fun.
The Closing ceremony was a bittersweet moment as it was sad that our weekend was coming to a close, but the comedy Pirate Themed Musical act, "Jolly Boat", gave me a good few, if somewhat controversial, chuckles. Dinner with more remnants of the Basingstoke Circle and it was back to the hotel for me to get some more shots of the Cosplayers in more formal dress as the ball was taking place. Even took advantage of another lull to get some more shots of myself with a pose idea using some props borrowed from the Committee. Afterwards, the rest of the night was spent taking advantage of the remaining few photo ops before it was time for bed.
It was mixed feelings leaving Milton Keynes. On one hand, it was sad to see the weekend go past so quickly. Convention weekends always feel like they are taking forever and then they go by like a blur. On the other hand, the venue city's architecture and lack of help for those less fortunate outside meant I wasn't keen on staying there unnecessarily. This is no fault of the committee. Just a sad indictment on society outside of the geek scene. This was a problem I ran into last year when the streets had a lot of homeless living in the underpasses of the city. There were still many there but not as many. I would like to think this was due to positive action by the local council, but I suspect the truth is more likely due to forced removal or discouragement policies. However I still enjoyed my time at Hibana and the banter with a friend on the walk to the train station helped lift spirits.
This Hibana will be particularly special for me as it was the first time I attempted to Cosplay. For a long time I wanted to join in the fun of dressing up but various factors always stopped me, be it money or confidence. However now I have taken that first small step, I can see why people do it. I can also see how it can be fun to pose for pictures, rather than taking them. I will still always be a photographer first, but I might be tempted to roll out the Gakuran at other events.
I would like to thank the Committee and Gophers for their hard work.
- Chris for being the instigator of the madness.
- Other Chris for being the technical backbone of the operation.
- Joe for his part in keeping us attendees excited during the events and organising them.
- Rick for keeping the dealers coming.
- Mike for manning ops and putting up with my random visits to top up the gopher and committee snack stockpile and generally blether.
- CaptainTylor for the games room, even if the presence of a VR headset put me off!
- Simon for being a good laugh and regaling me with stories of fandoms past.
- And all others on the Committee/Gophers who I don't know the names of. Your work is appreciated.
Also would like to mention my friends in and out of the Basingstoke Circle.
(If you prefer to be known or tagged by a different name please let me know)
- Kate for her usual insight and funny stories.
- Robert for his awful dad joke level puns.
- Marcus for being the charming gentleman he usually is and bringing a level of class to the Basingstoke Circle.
- Nevets for being a fellow photographer.
- Ian for being yet another fellow photographer.
- Pouncy for being yet another fellow photographer (I know, shocking!).
- Harriett for being yet another fellow photographer (See a pattern?).
- Jeff for being a good laugh and helping bolster the Scottish contingent.
- Trichromatix for some help pre-con and being a generally cool person at the Crunch Party.
- Shiona for some other pre-con help and for rustling up that Cells at Work meet.
- Rhiannon for just bringing generally cool cosplays to the con scene.
- Danny for being a friendly face who took interest in what I was doing.
- Russell for being another friendly face even if we didn't hang out much at this con.
- Nert for being yet another fellow photographer (!).
- Keith just for showing up even though again I didn't spend that much time in his company, him being busy and all that peddling Anime.
- Angela for being a generally cool cosplayer as well and for again adding to the Scottish contingent.
- Rin for the cool Mortal Kombat cosplays and for being a fun cosplayer to work with.
- Anyone else who I met throughout Hibana and forgot to mention and/or tag here.
- And every single attendee, especially those who's cosplays I've taken pictures of. You folks rock!
Until the next time.
xahldera/X-ray Alpha Photography
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