You Dressed for This. I Was Ready.

Some subjects walk into a frame and the only appropriate response is to get out of the way and let them happen. The elaborately constructed costume that took three months to build. The character so perfectly realized you forget there's a person inside it. The creative vision so fully committed to that it demands to be documented properly.

These are subjects who have made an extraordinary creative decision about how to present themselves to the world — for one night, in one room, at full intensity. My job is to honor that decision with an image that matches the ambition of what they've created.

I've photographed fantasy and costume events across New York City for years — Halloween galas, cosplay gatherings, and nightlife parties where the dress code is essentially "be extraordinary." I always bring my own lighting and I'm skilled at combining it with the ambient light of whatever space I'm in — finding the combination that makes something interesting rather than just something adequate.

Because a look this good deserves better than a phone snapshot.