I saw a post on Facebook advertising a comic convention in Middletown...

Although I usually work with couples and solo portraits, I figured it would be a great opportunity to practice event photography, as well as get to meet a lot of cool people! I reached out to Joe, the person in charge of the convention, and we secured photography coverage for the entire duration of the event.

I was on site for just about 6 hours, and good thing too because that gave me the time I needed to not only photograph the vendors and guests, but also make meaningful connections with a lot of the people there!

Costumes, cosplays, artists, oh my!

I have a deep respect for anyone that puts in the effort to make a good cosplay. There were a bunch of great ones at the convention! Anyone that was there would definitely remember Prince and his "mini me". They even had a guitar with a smoke machine!

I also ran into a Harley Quinn and a Batgirl, so we had an impromptu photo session of the two of them facing off, which was a lot of fun.

I was also impressed by the sheer amount of Star Wars Universe characters - I think I counted eight mandalorians, along with a ton of other characters from the movies and TV shows.

There were also so many cool vendors! From comic books to swords to sculptors, everyone I met was super friendly and had something unique at their table. Some people were local, and some from as far away as Virginia!

A favorite of mine was The Lumbering Blacksmith, a wooden sword craftsman based out of Smyrna! They had an awesome collection on display, as well as photos of some more complicated pieces they've made throughout the years. I was especially impressed with their glider based on Avatar: the Last Airbender! If you're interested in getting a professionally made, full-size sword, definitely check them out!

I also had some great conversations with Reid Tittle of Guardian Graphics. He's an artist with a wicked sense of humor and a gift for graphic design.

I was blown away by Joe Manzo's miniature display, pictured below. The level of detail on the game boxes and the miniature miniature figurines was just absolutely insane. He had star wars figures that were smaller than a grain of rice!

It's clear that there were tons of talented people at the convention, and I'm super thankful to have been able to meet them all.

The last time I was at a Comic Convention was in the summer of 2017 in Dover. A buddy of mine got a gorilla suit to be Harambe (remember Harambe?), and I was the kid that fell in his enclosure. We thought it was hilarious at the time. I'm sure I could find a photo of it somewhere. Simpler times haha.

For Halloween one year, a bunch of friends and I dressed up as characters from Avatar: The Last Airbender (which is one of the reasons why I appreciated The Lumbering Blacksmith's glider so much). However, our costumes didn't come anywhere near the level of detail and craft as some of the guests at Galactic Con.

I had a great time at the convention and hope that I'm able to work with more events in the future! View the full Galactic Con collection at gallery.sandbergphotos.com. If you are interested in photography coverage for your event, contact me below!