Books and Cosplay 2025

 In a few hours the Book Fair Leipzig (Leipziger Buchmesse) is about to start. As usual the Manga-Comic-Con (MCC) is part of it as well. 

After doing a poll about the reason of visiting the event the majority voted for meeting friends/community ativities (52%), photo shootings and location (39%) and a few to meet me ;), but nobody choose shopping or program. Therefore the question might be, do we need so many shopping booths for merchandise?

Yes, but No, simple and precise, I know.

The people in my "bubble" are primarily Cosplayers, so their focus are costumes, crafting and sewing tools or materials, their needs / main interest is costume-based. On the other hand you have those fair goers who simply want to get to know the latest merchandise, manga or anime and are willing to spend their saved cash on plush dolls, figures or just enjoy. We may not forget the fact that's it's a trade fair, too, mostly for books - who wpuld have guessed that - but also for video game publishers. I am looking forward to see and visit the booth of NINTENDO, should be a guaranteed hit, although I think I already know all the presented games or own them.

I am also happy to meet my friend from Games Room SVVAMP, it's been too long since I met him. Talking to him will create a few Monster Hunter flashbacks, because they are having a Monster Hunter community meetup and some sort of challenge aside the many offered tournaments with amazing prizes.

But every trade fair, especially otaku conventions, have a huge program and many shows, there are show groups and other acts, but the highlight of that is always the cosplay contest. Some cons call their contests championships, but there is only real championship, the DCM (Deutsche Cosplay Meisterschaft), all the others are copycats that try to blow up their relevance by using such a name making it sound bigger, more important and better, but when there are 5 championships, there is no championship, so it's just a regular contest.

Beside the MCC hall my main interest is the central glass hall, because I will pack a punch of taking thousands of pictures and normally the available light there is just perfect, so you don't need any flash and the ISO can stay low.

I will take a break of those shootings by visiting WirMachenDruck, they are some sort of business partner, because they print my books. I will also have a look for the travel section hoping to maybe find a publisher for one of four books or any of the 3 that are "work in progress".

I am quite excited and will have some difficulties to get a rest. I am ready and all my gear is packed, my batteries are charged and my SD cards are not completely empty, but I have ~400GB of available space, this should work.

ENJOY LBM 2025!

MASKED

MASKED: The Art of Cosplay – A Unique Cosplay Artbook Project

Cosplay is more than just costumes – it’s an art form, a passion, and a way to step into a world of imagination. With MASKED, we’re pushing the boundaries of what a cosplay artbook can be, blending photography, creativity, and storytelling to create something extraordinary. This 280-page premium artbook features 20 models (19 talented cosplayers and one non-cosplay model), showcasing intricate costumes, breathtaking photography, and the depth of character that cosplay embodies.

---

Why MASKED Stands Out

MASKED isn’t your typical cosplay photobook. Inspired by Japanese idol artbooks, we’ve taken the concept of a portrait collection and elevated it to the level of fine art. These pages aren’t just photographs – they’re carefully composed visual narratives, with every frame capturing the essence of the character and the cosplayer’s vision.

This isn’t our first venture into this realm. MASKED builds on the success of our first cosplay portrait book, DRESSED, which featured 10 cosplayers over 234 pages. Now, with double the models and 280 pages, MASKED is an upgrade in every sense – more talent, more artistry, and more passion.

A Glimpse Behind the Mask

Cosplay is about transformation, stepping into a new identity, and bringing fictional worlds to life. The title MASKED delves into this transformative power, exploring the idea of not just physical masks but the metaphorical masks we all wear. Cosplayers embody traits they admire or wish to express, creating personas that often reveal more about themselves than they conceal.

This project is deeply personal to me as both a photographer and a former cosplayer. My own journey began in 2004, participating in and eventually hosting cosplay competitions, and it has remained a central part of my life ever since. MASKED reflects my connection to the community and my desire to showcase its artistry in the most professional, captivating way possible.

---

Why This Project Matters

Cosplay is a global phenomenon, but the way it’s documented doesn’t always match the skill and artistry involved. In Japan, idols – often including cosplayers – are celebrated with beautifully designed artbooks, bridging the gap between fandom and fine art. In Germany and beyond, this level of recognition is rare, and MASKED seeks to fill that gap.

Every photo in this book is meticulously crafted, from the composition and lighting to the layout and design. The result is an artbook that stands shoulder-to-shoulder with high-end fashion collections, fine art photography, and museum-quality works.

A Limited-Edition Collectible

This isn’t a mass-produced project. MASKED is a limited-edition release, making it a rare and valuable collectible for fans of cosplay, photography, and art. With only a small number of copies available, this is your chance to own a piece of cosplay history.

---

Meet the Team

This project wouldn’t be possible without an incredible team of 21 people – 20 models and myself as the photographer. The team includes 19 cosplayers and one non-cosplay model, ranging in age from 18 to 38, representing a wide variety of fandoms from games, anime, manga, and more. Each individual brings their unique creativity and passion, making MASKED a true collaboration.

---

My Journey as a Photographer

Over the past two decades, I’ve honed my skills as a professional photographer, focusing on landscapes, portraits, and cosplay. My previous works include two Japan-themed photobooks:

• "Japanese Castles" (日本の城 – Nihon no Shiro): A detailed exploration of Japan’s historic castles.
• "Japan – Black White" (日本 – 黒白 – Nihon – Kuro Shiro): A hybrid of photography, travel anecdotes, and guidebook inspiration.

MASKED brings together all my passions – cosplay, photography, and Japanese culture – into one ambitious project.

---

Join the Journey

MASKED is more than just a book – it’s a celebration of creativity, identity, and the global cosplay community. By supporting this project, you’re not just purchasing an artbook; you’re helping to elevate cosplay to the realm of fine art and supporting independent creators who pour their hearts into their work.

Don’t miss your chance to be part of this unique project. Limited editions sell out fast, so secure your copy of MASKED today and experience the artistry of cosplay like never before.

DRESSED

It's been a little quiet lately, but that doesn't mean stagnation or stasis.

It has just been a focus shift to other platforms like INSTAGRAM.

Yet still I haven't been standing still, so I want to use this post to share my latest project.

Over the course of the last 15 months I have been doing hundrets of photo shootings with a large ammount of Cosplayers. This collection of over 20.000 pictures was used to pushing forward my idea of an artbook for Cosplay portraits. Beside the many opportunities on conventions I also did a lot of private shootings around Germany, e.g. in a park close to the main station in Erfurt or in several places in Leipzig and Berlin always trying to perfectly match the location and season with the Cosplayers and their costumes. Before I go on, here are a few examples.

Those handpicked pictures and the selected people are pieces of fine art. In late 2021, but actually efficiently in 2022 I really had my first chance of taking pictures in the exact style that I wished to take them. The reason for that is my CANON R5 in combination with my SAMYANG 85mm F1.4, as well as the 24-70 F2.8, 70-200 F4 and a few more from CANON.

This portrait artbook is a piece of passion.

This Book is MORE than just a few portraits of Cosplayers. 

I hope you enjoy the idea of that book.

Here is the Link to that new project - DRESSED - Cosplay Portrait Artbook - preorder your copy on Kickstarter now.

New Year - new projects

The new year has just started and it's time to get creative again.

Once again I am working on a book, this time it's about places in Japan that are somewhat connected to a story and not just being nice or sightseeing spots.

The book is called "Japan in Black and White" and is live on Kickstarter like the last one already.

I decided to select monochrome pictures, because they deliver a stronger feeling, which is some times quite melancholic depending on the memory, e.g. 

• sleeping in a tree house in Winter with -20°C
• getting a heatstroke and collapsing in front of a temple during my pilgrimage and ending up in hospital with a small kidney damage resulting in being "homeless" and sleeping in an internet café for 3 days
• almost breaking my leg while snowboarding
• being "arrested" for flying a drone in Tokyo
• being "stranded" at night in Okayama - walking and dancing in the streets for 8+ hours
• sleeping in an office

 

The book will contain at least 200 pages and will feature 100+ photos of 100 spots and stories.

Because of Japan's borders still being closed this project is also a way to fight my wanderlust making it some sort of art therapy as well as the book from last year. Being unable to make new memories, discover new places and gather new materials I am forced to stick with my current stock and getting creative with it.

Beside the book project there are 2 more campaigns that I support as project manager:

• Make 100 - Origami Earrings - Make a Wish
• the inspiration was taken from the myth of being granted a wish when folding 1000 origami cranes - 200 of those cranes, using 3,75x3,75cm sheets, will be used to create earrings - in addition there's an addons to buy a set of origami figures on top making it possible coming closer to 1000

• MAKE 100 - Handdrawn Portrait Prints
• after editing photos in too many different ways I reached a "limit" until I rediscovered drip painting - I always liked that abstract painting technique but was never able to paint it digitally until I bought a graphic tablet and Clip Studio Paint and found a way to combine that technique with editing my portraits
• 100 different portraits are offered as 15x15cm high quality prints on cardboard

Maybe you like these projects and consider supporting them, I would be happy.

Thank you in advance - Enjoy!

日本の城 - Launching next week

After setting up everything we will finally launch 日本の城 - Japanese Castles next week.

I've been working on this artbook about Japanese castles for a few months now and after receiving copies for proof reading last week we can finally go live next week. In this book I share over 400 pictures of 19 Japanese castles on 292 pages.

The Kickstarter campaign will be launched next week: https://lnkd.in/dxFyw86 Please join and support my project to help me publishing this book and make my dream of self publishing come true. Thank you for your support

Last Week I finally finished the book and already ordered a copy for proof reading.

As soon as everything is fine I will start launching this project on Kickstarter.

Here's a preview of some of the 400+ pictures of "日本の城 - Japanese Castles" of 19 castles on 292 pages. Launch on Kickstarter will be in April. Enjoy! 

Only 4 castles left

Still Working on my Picturebook for my upcoming Kickstarter campaign, a few more castles are finished now, currrently there are ~40/290 pages left: Fukushima, Nagoya, Matsumoto and Kishiwada

To finish up that entry I hereby present Fushimi castle with a mixed abstract Background and the family crest of Toyotomi mixed with Matsudaira.

Join my project on Kickstarter - coming soon - April 2021 - https://lnkd.in/dxFyw86

BookOff - What's that?

Bookoff / Book Off is one the biggest brands for used items in all of Japan. It's famous across the whole country and one can find those shops in every region, from small town shops to big size stores in metropolitan areas.

From used books over to CDs, DVDs, games and other used items like smartphones you will find the perfect preowned product for you, very often in a condition that seems to be new.

Before going to Japan for the first time of my life in 2010 a good friend of mine recommended me to visit a shop called BOOKOFF, he went to Japan several months before me and he loved the shops offering many games and old game guides,I remember he talked about and presented to me a guide book for Fire Emblem 6 Sword of Seals (Fuin no Tsurugi) and I was almost instantly on fire to get my hands on my own copy of the game and this particular guide. And at the end of that vacation in 2010 I had the game for ~3500Yen and owned the guide twise with a third one already being shipped to me from Amazon.co.jp, because I found the book in an average condition at a store in Shinjuku, close to the JR Yoyogi Station (〒151-0053 東京都渋谷区代々木１丁目５８−1) and I wanted to get a better one, which I found on Amazon, purchased it and chose delivery to Germany. Unexpected and maybe karma related I saw a nearly new version of this guide and bought it thinking I could still cancel my Amazon order - pas possible - so I have 3 now.

Whenever I'm in Japan I need to visit those stores beside the big tourist attraction and sightsseeing spots because they always offer a good bargain.

The awesome item condition, the nice prices are the wide variety are just a few reasons to make that stores worth visiting, I've already spent hundred of hours there and found many treasues, mostly games and game guides but also "normal" books, e.g. a few F.R.I.E.N.D.S "encyclopedia" books or a SEINFELD script from the US.

Just to give you an idea, here's my 2010 LOOT:

I'm looking forward to my next visit and the items that I can find. It's hard to decide for a favorite store per region, because the stock always changes and it also depends on your target ignoring everything else, but the one in Tokyo Akiba is a very big one with 6 floors but it got famous abroad and not just throughout Japan so the prices are a bit higher than elsewhere. Ueno and Ikebukuro are pretty good as well, in Ikebukuro I almost everytime found and bought something (more or less) useful, sadly the one with 40.000 foreign books in Tokyo close to the Shirokanedai Metro station is closed.

In Osaka the one in Namba is quite nice. During my working holiday in 2015/2016 while I was in Yufuin I did a Bookoff tour in Oita and Beppu for one day finding treasures like Castlevania Symphony of the Night for 2000Yen and other cool stuff.

Beside the Bookoff shops there are Hardoff, Hobbyoff and other brands that all belong together.
Here are a few pictures of my early years:

Shinjuku

Ikebukuro - Sunshine City

Already closed - Shirokanedai

Gotanda -nice one

Ueno

To round up the BOOKOFF shops and to give a hint about the item variety of the stores and to make you laught I linked the current coomercial campaign, the reactions of the customers in video 3 and 4 are gorgeous

That's all 4 now - See you soon at Tokyo Game Show 2019 or any Bookoff close to you.

[Treasure-Thursday] - Dragon's Dogma Official Design Works

It's Thursday and I guess you know what it means, time for Treasure-Thursday.

Today's treasure is the Artbook: "Dragon's Dogma Official Design Works"

The Artbook presents official artwork and concept arts for the Action RPG Dragon's Dogma.

The game is about an endless circle of the title giving Dragon and the Arisen, both of them are the main characters.
I only give you some screenshots and let the moving pictures speak for itself ;)

And here's the Video of the Artbook - Have Fun!

I'll play a round of it this evening, these pictures inspired to play it again.
See you soon again, when the next treasure is "released" and for sure when the next [RePlay]

videos are uploaded.