There’s nothing I like in video games quite as much as a tough chick. In honor of that, GEN’s first ever Cosplayer Spotlight presents five friends who brought Mirror’s Edge to life with spectacular results.
Jesse, Yen, A.J., David and Kyle, hailing from Florida, say they posted their shots from their Mirror’s Edge photoshoot on Flickr on April 28. The pictures attracted 10,000 hits within a week of being posted and now boast more than 130,000.
Meet Jesse (primary photography, post processing, costumes), Yen (Faith cosplayer), Kyle (makeup and SWAT cosplayer), A.J. (secondary photography, assistant, lighting and technical) and David (additional lighting).
Q: Can you tell us about the costumes for this shoot and how they were constructed?
Jesse: Faith’s (Yen’s) hair was real. The costume for Faith was all pieced together. It seemed straightforward – white baggy cargo pants, red shoes, red glove, arm band, black tank top – but when it came to actually finding these things it was a challenge. I don’t know how many Web sites I visited trying to find the red shoes. It’s not really a common thing. They were not 100% spot on with the game, but unless we had had them custom made they couldn’t be.
The all-red glove proved to be impossible to find, so Kyle (being a body paint expert) just airbrushed Yen’s 
hand, and brush painted the details.
There were three guns used in the shoot that were air soft but looked very real. Jennie had two of them with her SWAT costume and I purchased the M16 for the shoot. We were a bit nervous taking these out in public, but we were shooting in an isolated situation so there was less chance to freak anyone out. We left the tips painted orange in case the real police showed up. I just changed the color in the post process.
Q: Are you all Mirror’s Edge fans?
Yen: I’ve never played the game before, but prior to the shoot I immersed myself in lot of game footage and concept art.
Jesse: I played all the way through the game before the shoot. I absolutely loved it!
A.J.: Mirror’s Edge is a VERY exciting and challenging game with excellent visual effects and graphics. I love that when Faith is walking a ledge or crossing over something while free running I actually get dizzy. I remember Jesse and I sitting down in his living room and playing the game on the day of the shoot while Kyle was doing his make-up wizardry on Yen, and I couldn’t get over how amazing the game actually was.
Kyle: I am not going to lie. I enjoy the game. It can get really intense when falling to your death!
David: My schedule at EA Tiburon has kept me from yet experiencing Mirror’s Edge first-hand, and I look forward to checking it out soon on a white sandy beach with laptop and refreshing tropical beverage.
Q: What kind of planning went into this photoshoot?
Yen: I met Jesse’s wife on a photoshoot. She told me I was potentiality what her husband was looking for, a small Asian girl.
Jesse: I had been trying to come up with a subject and theme to photograph like a movie for a long time. I contacted A.J. because he had recently posted some photos of cosplayers from Megacon in Orlando. We started brainstorming on how to bring a character to life.
At the time I was playing the Mirror’s Edge almost every night and it seemed like a plausible world to 
recreate. I ran the idea by A.J. and he started sending me images he found online of the character. We also ran across the inspiring photo gallery by Pixelated Girl (http://pixelatedgirl.com/2009/02/mirrors-edge-photoshoot-part-2/) who had already done two Mirror’s Edge photo shoots. At that point we knew what to shoot for, what would be possible. It was then I decided I had to add a SWAT character to make the images different that what had been done before.
A.J.: One day around April, Jesse and I were on a phone talking photography and discussing shoot ideas we were both researching and pursuing individually. As someone who has great respect for Jesse’s experience and work as a photographer and graphic artist I am always amped to be involved in any way (photography, assistant, post, what have you) in a project with him.
This was Jesse’s dream, which he invited me to brainstorm with and research a month or so before the actual shoot. Jesse’s a very patient and thorough photographer who wanted to have the concept all down and finalized on paper before bringing the idea to life.
David: Mirror’s Edge redefined a genre, and while we didn’t get to work on this particular game, the shoot was a chance to pay a compliment to its creators and tip our hats to them. I’m also a big fan of portrait and fashion photography, so when Jesse mentioned his concept for a “movie-style,” wide-screen photo shoot based on Mirror’s Edge, how could I say anything but, “count me in”?
Kyle: I decided to do the shoot because of the possibilities and outcomes. I know of Jesse’s work and I knew it would turn out amazing. I also saw the model and knew she had what it took.
Q: Let us in on some of the behind the scenes work that went into this.
Jesse: I was the primary photographer but there were times when I had to help Yen with a trick (the Perfect Weapon image) or be an extra SWAT character for variety. During those times A.J. took the shots.
We had this shot list we just went through and everyone just kind of picked something they knew they could do best from shot to shot.
A.J.: As a secondary photographer, I took it upon myself to try and capture the behind the scenes mostly to try and capture the day as it unfolded for all of us. As an assistant I tried to keep tabs on the shots according to storyboard to try and ensure a schedule, and that the shots were being captured.
David: When you’re outdoors, timing plays a huge role, and the majority of the shoot was during “the magic hour” just before sunset. Jesse has mastered fill flash outdoors, so I was able to take note of his flash placement and lend a hand when more elements were required to make a given shot work.
Q: Where did you do this photoshoot? The locations are perfect for the game and the situations. Did you need permission to use any of these places?
Jesse: Getting permission for a location really is one of the harder aspects of doing a photoshoot like this. The photoshoot was done in the parking garage of a business center. I had to get permission from management and facilities to shoot there. Security knew who we were and what we were doing. Being that we had a fake SWAT officer that was critical, or I am positive the real cops would have been called because we were in direct view of many offices (though we did this project on a Sunday afternoon).
The cities in the background of these images were from a second shoot that I did in downtown Orlando just specifically to build backgrounds with. They were then added in post process using masking.
Two of the background cities were in China. One was a stock photo I purchased (Army of One), and the other (Perfect Weapon) was a photo I had snapped myself a few years ago when I was in China. I thought these cities looked far more sci-fi than little Orlando.
Q: Could I ask how old you are and what you do when you’re not cosplaying?
Yen: I’m a hairstylist at a salon called Cielo in Orlando. If I’m not in the salon I’m knee deep in styling hair for photo shoots!
Jesse: I’m 36 and I work as a director of audio production in the video game industry. Outside of my day job I do freelance commercial photography, mostly exotic cars. This was the first shoot of this nature for me.
Kyle: I am 19 and living out my dreams. I left as soon as I graduated high school from Lebanon, Ia., to follow my dreams as a special effects makeup artist. I attended Joe Blasco East and graduated shortly after in November 2008 as an advanced Special Effects Makeup artist. I started working for Universal Studios while attending Joe’s. I started there as an airbrush makeup artist for Halloween Horror Nights, and I kept thriving, now working there and as a freelance make-up artist.
Q: I’m also very interested in the technical work that went into this. I saw in some of the photo descriptions that you, Yen, were in some photos three or four times as multiple characters. How did that work?
Jesse: The technical part of this project was a big reason why I did it in the first place. I wanted to learn new things.
For the multi-SWAT pictures we photographed Faith alone or with one SWAT character. A.J. would mark their positions with tape and we would set up for the next location, each time making sure the camera never moved an inch so I could layer and digitally mask out a hole in the primary photo for each position in the post process without worrying about scale, lighting or composition changes. I locked the exposure and focus on the camera for those shots to ensure all settings were based on the first shot of the composite.
David: That aspect was a lot of fun. Hey, you don’t always have the luxury of getting an entire S.W.A.T. Team to show up for your shoot — who would cater?
What you don’t see is perhaps even more magical: for “The Perfect Weapon,” our very own Jesse is actually supporting Yen during her kick and he was then painstakingly painted out of the shot later (i.e. The Photographer Vanishes).
Also, hats off to Yen who was very athletic and would kick or climb up on anything, and dealt very well with the “Ok-now-imagine-there-are-six-of-them-here” bit.
Q: What was the most difficult part?
Yen: I was pretty challenged in every aspect, from embodying the character to running, jumping and climbing.
Jesse: For me it was just getting schedules to align and of course getting permission to shoot on the property.
A.J.: Honestly, for me it was the ending, as the day was so perfect it was hard letting go and slowly coming down off the high we were all on!
Lighting wise, the day worked well with us, considering we were on the top of a concrete parking garage in the middle of a classic Florida spring day. The lighting kept changing pretty quickly closer to late afternoon, so we were all running around with reflectors as best we could trying to compensate and maximize all the directional light we could to make each shot pop.
Kyle: The most difficult part of the photoshoot was not having too much fun. The shoot was a great time and I cannot figure out a time where I was stressed or not having a great time.
David: The toughest part of any shoot is always coordination, communication, and making sure that your model is willing to do anything, is completely fearless and stays safe and “modelistic.”
As for lighting, my biggest concern was that we hit the right time of day, and as the schedule happened to work out we were very fortunate to have the shoot start at a great time and had a nice “HDR sky” with clouds that looked cool in the background and diffused some of the sunlight — meaning I could assist Jesse and A.J. to get all the right fill as needed.
Q: What was the most fun part?
Yen: Probably once we were on location and Jesse was setting up his equipment. I started doing calisthenics and flimsy martial art moves to get into the mood. I’m not a very athletic person, so this was amusing and fun for me.
Jesse: I really enjoyed the process of the actual shoot because the team chemistry was so great. The post process was fun in a different way, in that it seemed with every image I was learning something completely 
new.
A.J.: For me it was the whole process, from having been there at the concept stage to seeing the end result. Pretty dreamy… And Jesse treating us all to Chipotle afterwards.
Kyle: I would say the best part of this shoot would be covering Yen’s tattoos. After covering her tattoos and applying her make-up she really was in character as Faith. I also liked being in the SWAT outfit and getting beat up by Faith.
David: There’s no way to answer the “most fun” question without sounding really cheesy and cliché, but probably the most enjoyable part was working with such great, talented people on a really innovative and over the top project. And telling jokes on the set. There was a lot of laughing going on between set ups, and it was great watching Yen go from totally giggling and stealing Kyle’s gun one second, to being completely 100 percent in-character the next when the camera snapped.
Q: Do you have any advice for other cosplayers?
David: Everything is more fun when it goes to plan, which means having a plan in the first place. Know your final image up front, and things will fall into place. Imagine you are the character, feeling what the character is feeling.
Kyle: Go after it and have fun. Like I said: follow your dreams. I would also say be prepared in advance. I met with Yen in advance and figured out everything I needed. I matched her skin color and found out how many tattoos I would need to cover. I would also say be clean… that’s my number one thing if you’re a makeup artist!
Yen: Have a very authentic costume and study your character, such as expressions and attitude. It really is up to you how much of the character you want to embody.
Jesse: Most cosplay photos I see are just snapshots at a convention or whatnot. On the cosplay forums they really aren’t that inviting to serious photographers. Actually many of them have polices against photographers asking to do projects with cosplayers. I am not sure why this is but it makes it very difficult as a photographer to even propose an idea. This Mirror’s Edge project was done just for the sake of being creative. There was no money involved at all other than us purchasing what we needed to make this shoot happen. There was no end goal other than the experience we gained. Our payment was simply just to have people see and appreciate what we created artistically. It’s very much in the sosplay spirit.
What is possible with sosplayers and their amazing costumes is so much more exciting to me as a visual artist than the cliché model shoot. I strongly encourage cosplayers to reach out to local camera clubs if they want to do a project like this. I am sure a creative-minded photographer would be more than happy to help bring your vision to life and offer up ideas you likely never thought of.
On location, treat the shoot more like acting in a motion picture rather than posing as a model.
A.J.: A good storyboard and research never hurts. In all seriousness, the openness and communication, mainly between the photographer (Jesse) and models (Yen, Kyle), lent itself to such a relaxed atmosphere that the trust behind, as well as in front of the lens, facilitated in everything being 2nd nature.
Want to see more from any of crew? Check out the links below!
Jesse:: http://www.flickr.com/photos/savage_land_pictures/
A.J.: http://ajpomales.com/
http://www.flickr.com/people/ajpomales/
David: http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidjcalabrese
Kyle: Myspace.com/blast_fx
ModelMayham
Facebook (as Kyle Vest)
Do you know a cosplayer who deserves to be featured? E-mail me (tusense@hotmail.com)! We’re always looking for more cosplayers to feature. And be sure to check back next month for July’s feature.
June 8th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
This is awesome! Looking forward to this feature from now on.
Great job!
June 8th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
Great job! This is amazing. I’m very much looking forward to future instalments
June 8th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
I adored this game, and this cosplay makes me want to play it all over again! Ugh, I wish I liked somewhere cool where I could do cool photo shoots T_T I love the music to the game, too <3 Such awesome pictures!
June 9th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
Fun article! How about the Bayonetta girl from E3 for the next one?
June 9th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
This is SO cool!!!!
June 9th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
I can’t wait to read more; this is such a sweet article! Kudos!
June 10th, 2009 at 12:25 am
Awesome interview! Their shots look absolutely stunning.
June 10th, 2009 at 4:22 am
This is really excellent showing how there is more than just a good costume involved in getting photos done. I was very lucky when a friend tipped me off to Model Mayhem and I found some local photographers that were really excited in doing cosplay shoots. I would have loved adding in makeup artists and especially other people to play off of but it’s a lot of coordinating.
June 10th, 2009 at 6:28 am
love this interview
thanks for sharing it with us
excellent shots too
June 10th, 2009 at 7:34 am
This was badass! Great idea, and I loved all the pics.
June 10th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
Wow, great attention to detail!