Mike, you’ ve been a long time favourite of us here at Live Magazine and Cosplay Live, but cosplay is not your only photography passion, what else are you doing?
It’ s always great to be a part of Live Magazine and Cosplay Live so I’ m really excited to be involved with this new venture!
Cosplay is what originally got me into photography but I’ ve been starting to mix it up a bit lately and trying out new areas. I’ ve been doing a lot more with effects makeup( everything from horror to blacklight / neon to bright colors, paint and glitters), experimenting a lot with new lighting effects and incorporating a lot of the tricks I’ ve learned over the years. It’ s been really refreshing and a nice change from shooting almost exclusively cosplay photography! I’ ve already gotten quite a few styles that I loved and trying new things makes it a constant learning experience which is incredibly rewarding.
Is photography your full time job?
MIKE
ROLLERSON
Not at all. My full-time job is in Quality Assurance and quite a difference from photography. This works out as it makes photography much more enjoyable and more of a hobby. A lot of the photography-related jobs are focused towards areas that don’ t interest me as much( wedding photography, for instance). While I’ ve shot weddings, live events and portraits in the past, I’ ve always felt that when it’ s a job you’ re being hired for that it’ s much more difficult to deliver the same quality results that you create when it’ s something you’ re truly passionate about. While I do take on different photography related jobs throughout the year, I make sure to limit it to those that actually interest me rather than taking on all of them. It keeps it enjoyable and keeps me shooting any free chance I get!
You’ ve been working on a Polaroid project for a while, tell us about that.
Next month will be the 1-year anniversary since starting my Instax( instant film) project. It originally began as a way to get a few fun behindthe-scenes shots while at shoots. I’ ve always been a big fan of printed photos and this seemed like a great way to get an instant take-away from every shoot. A one-of-a-kind shot to keep alongside the digital files. I quickly grew to love the format and over the last year picked up close to a dozen different Instax Cameras, each with a different look and feel to it. I’ ve shot a bit over 3,000 frames in the last year at live events, conventions and photoshoots. It’ s definitely become a regular addition to all of my shoots and gives a fun little takeaway. I post many of the photos online after each shoot and have just started creating large-scale albums to keep around the studio.
How do you find using the Instax?
Instax was definitely a learning experience for me. I grew up shooting mostly digital, so moving to a filmbased format with limited control over the shot was difficult. You begin to think like the camera, determining how it sees lighting around you since anything from a small light source to an overcast day will have a much different impact on the photo than you would get with a digital camera. Many of the higher-end Instax cameras offer multiple exposure, bulb mode and macro modes which are all fun to experiment with but incredibly difficult to master. A handful of the larger cameras allow for a flash-connection, letting you trigger the same studio strobes you use with your digital camera but having it transferred to an Instax photo. Watching the film develop over the course of a few minutes and getting a really cool one-off shot is very re-
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