Jerry Polence

Long overdue, I finally got around to posting about my trip to Hong Kong courtesy of the Hong Kong Tourism Board and Animax Asia as the Philippine cosplay participant. So day one was the arrival, and I got to meet the other participants from other countries at the airport.

Video courtesy of Singaporean blogger participant Elpheal “Kaika” He. Watching this video, I realize, I’m really a bit too tall. ^_^;

After we got settled in, it was a mad dash to Hong Kong Disneyland with tickets courtesy of the Hong Kong Tourism Board. I’m a sucker for details, so it was a real eye candy treat for me.XD

Special Disneyland Resort Line train. Click here to continue reading "Hong Kong Halloween Treats 2010 Day 1"...

It’s Spring, and the cherry blossoms are beautiful, amidst the very dreary weather the past weeks. They don’t last a long time, so despite the very drizzly day, we decided to go out, and take advantage of their presence before they are gone for the season. Braving the rain and being the very otaku-hearted people that we are, we went out to immortalize the very Japanese-ish scenes around the town and in Olympia.

During my last visit to the Philippines in November, I met up with Japanese culture enthusiast Archie Gavina Belardo, a mainstay and often exhibitor at local bazaars and conventions selling authentic Japanese merchandise. To my surprise, he presented me with kimonos. I wore one of them for this photoshoot.^_^

Just to test out the lighting, we took a couple of shots near the neighbor’s fence. Can you tell?

This shot was taken at South Puget Sound Community College, after which we headed to the quaint Yashiro Japanese Garden, where the rest of the following shots were taken.^_^ Click here to continue reading "Spring Cherry Blossom Kimono Photoshoot"...

This gown is based on C.C.’s artwork version in the Code Geass Mutuality artbook. I guess you can tell by now, I LOVE C.C.! These shots were taken last July by the very talented Vince Milum, owner/photographer of darkain.com. Fortunately our location, the gorgeous Olympia Capitol Building, didn’t require getting permits.^_^ We shot to our hearts’ content with the very lovely Etaru as the co-creative director of the shoot! Spoiled little me, for having one of the most talented photographers around and one of America’s top cosplayers for this one! Happiness is not enough to describe what I felt that day.^_^ Click here to continue reading "Code Geass: C.C. Black Gown Mutuality Artbook Version"...

As a second timer at Penny Arcade Expo, I must say PAX Prime 2010 was rather busy for me. Tazti Game Studios hired me to be a booth assistant or a ”booth babe” for all days of the expo, and also I volunteered to be a costume dresser for Critical Threat Theater for the very highly anticipated full theatrical presention of “Of Dice and Men“. It was truly busy, since I started my duties for the play Thursday afternoon until almost midnight for the dress rehearsals. I woke up rather early the next day to report to the Tazti booth. It was totally overwhelming to see things from the exhibitors’ eyes. A huge wave of crowds flooded the convention floors within seconds of the expo halls opening, and only minutes after that every corner was full of excited con goers. Many of them dived through the many things in store at the exhibits, such as new game releases, demos, giveaways, and so many more. For me it was exciting, fun, and somewhat scary, but after the first day, the following days felt like a routine.

So more about the play “Of Dice and Men“, the day of the play itself was right after my booth duties. I ate quickly, changed to more comfortable clothing at the hotel, and went back to the WSCTC for minor last minute preparations for the play. The play started at 7:30pm, if I remember correctly. Call time for me was 6pm, I was there a bit earlier but there was 40-meter line for groups of people waiting for the play. By nearly 7pm, the crowd who wanted to watch was INSANE! The spacious halls were filled with people, nearly no space for passersby to walk on. O.O Apparently, the turnout of the crowd was a LOT bigger than expected. They had to count people who could go in, and had to let the other people know the venue couldn’t accomodate them anymore. T-T Well, it’s sad that we had to turn down people, at the same time, that means that the theater company will expect full crowds, and probably do many shows in the future. ^_^ The play went smoothly as hoped, and I ended up going home almost midnight again. I felt really tired, but accomplished and honored at the same time, to have worked with such talented people. They were going out for drinks, but I had to decline since I had to wake up early for the booth duties the next day. Click here to continue reading "Penny Arcade Expo 2010"...

We actually went to an operational train station for this set, the Olympia/Lacey Train Station. Fortunately there were barely any people there at that time, so we were able to get some great shots. The others we took by an abandoned train track and a vacant lot at Lacey. This is my first time to do a private outdoor photoshoot with reflectors, it was fun, and I’m glad that photographers Ashley Nelson and Kristin Johnson were very open to experimenting with them. At Lacey, the lot was by the road, and there was a bunch of rubble and container vans with cool graffiti, it was interesting!

The costume itself was made during my spare time for a few months, it debuted at Sakura-Con 2010. Tailoring it was specifically challenging, since it incorporated elements that were a bit unusual. For example, it is a two-layered short skirt with frontal slit revealing the shorter white skirt inside, and back half-petticoat with a flat front, which took me the longest to figure out how to do. The top portion of the costume was a very altered Simplicity Sewing Pattern 3618. There are a few things I still want to improve with this costume, but I hope you guys like it.^_^ Click here to continue reading "Code Geass: C.C. Train Station Photoset"...