Anime Central is a huge anime-centric convention, with tens of thousands of attendees. It’s held every year, and there’s a dazzling array of costumed people that show up!
The effort some people put into their outfits is staggering. I was more interested in the people themselves that went, though, rather than their costumes. What drives a person to dress themselves up and make themselves up – sometimes extremely elaborately – in some fashion and line up for hours in frigid weather? I took headshots of some of the people that I met – through these portraits, the overwhelming emotion I sense is pure joy. This answer might be facile, but I think the simple answer is that doing this makes them genuinely happy! By and large everyone was exceedingly friendly and eager to have their portrait taken 
I’m definitely full of gratitude for having total strangers open up to me, just for a minute, allowing me to, well, do what I do.
To see all the photos, check out the mega gallery on facebook!
