Spotlight (and Flashes) - Jay Tablante the Geek Photographer

Mention model photographer and one tends to imagine a stereotypical image of an arty-farty metrosexual male yelling, "Turn that way, dahling... Faaboooulous.. " while busily snapping away with his camera in a studio.

When Red Dot Diva met Filipino cosplay photographer Jay Tabalante at Geekology 101 earlier this month, she found that he hardly fits the bill.

Bright-eyed and articulate, Jay Tablante was not the affected sort at all. In fact, he was very eager to connect to the small group of cosplayers and photographers who attended the event.

True to his geek roots, he wore a black superheroes t-shirt paired with common blue jeans, and peppered his stories with amusing anecdotes concerning photography and pop-culture.

Jay Tablante's powerful sense of imagination and excitement about his work was undeniably infectious. Red Dot Diva certainly bore witness to that during the event. And one cannot deny that he has an eye for interesting photographic angles and set-ups.

NYCC 2011: Diva Shares Her Trip Planning Tips (Part 1)

If you're a Red Dot Island native who happens to be a hardcore fan of "Western" pop-culture and comics, there is very little choice but to save up and head to USA conventions for your desired geek-gasms.

In her many years of active fan-girling, Red Dot Diva has attended a few smaller and niche-market conventions in the UK and Germany before. But she has always craved for that full geek-out experience which seems to happen mainly at SDCC. Finally in 2009, she managed to truly immerse herself in a large-scale comic convention at the hallowed grounds of the San Diego Convention Centre.

The Hollywood factor in SDCC that year was unavoidable and quite overpowering. And with that, came the good and bad - much of which have already been documented and ranted about on several blogs and websites.

Compared to SDCC, NYCC (held at the Javits Convention Centre) is a much younger, less glamourous and less frenzied East Coast cousin. That does not mean that the convention isn't big though. In fact, the crowd attending NYCC has grown exponentially in the last few years, and this year's NYCC saw its largest number at an estimate of over 105,000 people! That's 3.5x more than STGCC, local peeps.

SDCC 2012: Barcoded and Ticketed.... and other convention news

Nothing would make a geek girl's weary workday instantaneously brighter other than an email that begins with, "Dear Comic-Con Attendee, Your Comic-Con 2012 registration is complete!"

It sure made Red Dot Diva go W00t-Woot when she saw those sentences in her inbox this morning.

With that precious online 4-day ticket (with preview day), she's all nicely barcoded for entry to Comic-Con 2012 at San Diego on 11-15 July next year!!

What's left about SDCC 2012 is the major question about accommodation, as most hotels in San Diego say that they are "on hold" during SDCC week.

Cosplay Photography Secrets Revealed By Jay Tablante At Geekology 101

Last Saturday, a unique cosplay + photography event called Geekology 101, with special guest and well-known photographer Jay Tablante, was held at Grid MMS located at *Scape.

Red Dot Diva decided to drop by the event after lunch and as she approached *Scape, she felt a growing sense of trepidation. No, she wasn't nervous about meeting Jay Tablante, or being surrounded by cosplayers at all.

*Scape is just one of those places that makes Red Dot Diva feel obscenely old.

The energetically youth-centric venue was a good centralized spot to hold a mini cosplay event though. Held at Level 4, there was a small exhibition of more than 20 pieces of Jay Tablante's beautiful cosplay photography. A few local cosplayers of mainly anime characters were in attendance.

Geekology 101 - A Cosplay Photo Event One Can *Scape To

So what if it rains like giant poodles and tom-cats during the monsoon season?

There are still a number of fun indoor events one can go to, and there's one coming up this Saturday -- right in the heart of Orchard Road!

Red Dot Diva strongly recommends those with a thing for cosplay or model photography (or both!) to sashay their way to Grid MMS, 4th level of  *Scape, for Geekology 101!!

Geekology 101 will be a one-day only event, featuring the work of one dude who is the drooling-envy of most geeks. See, he basically gets paid to work with beautiful ladies almost all the time!