MFA Photography Alumnus, Alify Nasution, has been nominated by Cosplay Gen Magazine as one of the top 15 Best National cosplay Photographers of 2016. Nasution is a fine art photographer, specializing in conceptual portrait photography. He’s been shooting since 2009 but found a passion for photographing costume enthusiasts, otherwise known as cosplayers.
Cosplay is a design driven art form where fans create costumes based off their favorite characters. Media from which characters are pulled range from anime to video games, comic books, and even real people. Sometimes cosplayers take two characters and create a singular hybrid. This new age art form allows fans to demonstrate their incredible creativity and innovation.
The costumes can take hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars to create. For many in the community, it’s more than just a hobby; it’s a lifestyle. Before turning to photography Nasution was a cosplayer. His first costume was Rogue from Ragnarok Online.
Back in 2005, when Nasution was getting started, there was no such thing as cosplay photography. Photographers would simply go to conventions and take ‘documentary-style’ photographs of the convention goers.
This is when Nasution realized all of the efforts poured into making costumes and role-playing characters could be better appreciated if photographed professionally. He saw how he could combine fashion photography, fine art photography, and portraiture to properly document these unique pieces of art.
In 2015 Nasution began his journey to become a professional photographer. He moved from Indonesia to Los Angeles to study Fine Art Photography and in 2016 he graduated from the New York Film Academy receiving his MFA in Photography.
While at NYFA his knowledge of photography increased tremendously, both technically and theoretically. During his studies he was able to explore vast concepts from political to fantasy, eastern and western culture, every race, creed and nation. Nasution remains steadfast in his goal to introduce cosplay photography to a global audience. He doesn’t just take a beautiful photograph; he preserves a story.