San Diego Comic-Con 2026: Three Days of Cosplay, Cameras & Creative Chaos

TaylorTigerlily

Jul 27

5 min read

Looking for the photos from this year’s Comic-Con?

You’ll find them at the bottom of the post.

I've lived in San Diego for a decade now, and somewhere along the way, going downtown during Comic-Con with a camera became a tradition.

Badge or no badge.

Every year, the Gaslamp and the area around the Convention Center turn into something completely different. Thousands of people show up wearing things they've spent weeks, months, and sometimes probably an unreasonable number of late nights creating.

And I get to walk around with a camera.

Obviously I'm going.

This year was a little different, though.

For the first time, I had a badge.

I finally got to experience San Diego Comic-Con from both sides of those doors, while still spending Friday, Saturday, and Sunday doing something I've loved doing for years:

Photographing the people who make Comic-Con look like Comic-Con.

Sometimes You Get Two Clicks

There isn't exactly a photoshoot schedule happening outside the San Diego Convention Center.

My approach throughout the weekend was basically some combination of eye contact, smiling, pointing at my camera and hoping the universal want a photo? gesture translated.

Sometimes I'd spot someone I really wanted to photograph and actually walk over or call out to see if they had a second.

And, surprisingly, sometimes people came up to me.

There was something really nice about that.

In an environment with thousands of people, cameras everywhere, and approximately seventeen things happening in every direction, having someone look at me and decide yeah, she seems approachable, I'll ask her felt pretty damn good.

If someone had poses ready, I'd let them do their thing.

Give me a few.

Show me the character.

If they weren't sure what to do, I'd make adjustments and give them some direction.

And some photographs weren't posed at all. Someone would be walking past, I'd see the moment, and that was it.

Because sometimes you have plenty of time.

And sometimes you get two clicks.

You'd better know your camera.

Comic-Con Does Not Care About Your Perfect Shooting Conditions

The crowds come in waves.

One minute I could move around someone, change my angle, let them give me several poses and actually think about what I was creating.

Five minutes later, there were bodies everywhere, somebody was trying to get somewhere, somebody else was walking directly through my frame, and I had approximately three seconds to make the photograph happen.

You learn to be flexible.

You learn which lenses actually work when you don't have twenty feet of empty space behind you.

You learn your equipment well enough that changing something doesn't require stopping to think about where the button is.

And you learn very quickly that whatever perfect little shooting environment you might have imagined does not exist here.

This year also happened to be hot.

So I intentionally set myself up to do most of my photographing in the shade around the Convention Center whenever I could.

Apparently that was one of my better creative decisions because more than a few cosplayers thanked me for not asking them to stand in the sun.

Which, considering some of the costumes people were wearing?

Fair.

The Year I Finally Stopped Being Afraid of Flash

Every Comic-Con I've photographed has pushed me a little outside of my comfort zone.

That's one of the reasons I keep bringing my camera back.

Over the years, I've figured out which lenses make sense in a crowded environment. I've gotten faster. I've learned to work with whatever space I'm given. I've gotten more comfortable approaching complete strangers and asking them if I can photograph something they've clearly poured a ridiculous amount of work into.

This year gave me another one.

Flash.

I've worked with lighting and flashes in the studio before, but taking an on-camera flash outside and actually incorporating it into the way I photograph?

I avoided that one for a long time.

So naturally, right before Comic-Con, I bought one.

And now I love the damn thing.

It changed the way I photographed this weekend, and in a surprisingly short amount of time, it opened up another piece of photography for me that I'd spent years unnecessarily keeping inside the studio.

That's kind of what Comic-Con has always done for me.

Every year I show up knowing a little more than I did the year before.

And every year it finds another way to make me level up.

But Can We Talk About the Cosplayers?

Because holy shit.

The work.

That's always one of my favorite parts.

Some costumes are enormous. Some are incredibly detailed. Some are funny. Some are beautiful. Some involve armor, wigs, props, makeup, prosthetics or pieces that somebody clearly spent an absurd amount of time figuring out how to construct.

And then they become the character when the camera comes up.

That's the part I love photographing.

Someone can be standing there talking to their friend one second, and then I lift my camera and suddenly their entire posture changes.

They're ready.

And whether I know exactly who they're cosplaying or simply think I need a photograph of that, I get to make something with another person who showed up because they love something enough to create around it.

That's pretty fucking cool.

I'm a Nerd. Obviously I Love This.

I'm a nerd.

I'm a geek.

I'm a weeb.

Pick whichever silly internet word you'd like.

I love anime. I love gaming. I love movies and television. I love comics and manga.

Comic-Con puts me in the middle of all of it.

People come to San Diego from all over the world because they're excited about the same things. You people-watch. You meet strangers. You find someone dressed as a character you love. You discover something you've never seen before. You have conversations you weren't expecting to have.

You never really know who you're going to meet.

But I think there's another reason this weekend has remained so special to me.

Photography is my career.

I love that I get to make a living doing this. I love creating for my clients. I love directing shoots and building ideas and making photographs that eventually become part of someone else's story.

But photography was a hobby before it was ever my business.

And for one weekend every year, I get to let it be that again.

I'm surrounded by thousands of people enjoying their hobbies while I get to enjoy mine right alongside them.

No collection.

No session clock.

No shot list.

No expectation that any of this needs to become anything.

Just people who made cool shit and a photographer who really wants to take pictures of it.

Same Time Next Year?

Oh, absolutely.

Badge or no badge, I can't really imagine Comic-Con weekend happening in San Diego without eventually finding me somewhere around downtown with a camera.

I'll photograph the costumes.

I'll meet some people.

I'll probably discover another piece of photography I've been avoiding for no particularly good reason.

I'll definitely be hot.

And hopefully I'll come home Sunday night with a memory card full of photographs that couldn't have happened anywhere else.

Until next year, Comic-Con.

TTYL,

See someone you recognize? I’ve linked cosplayers when I was able to find their socials. Give them some love. A ridiculous amount of creativity went into what you’re about to see.