PAX East 2026 Friday Gallery Part 1
After taking more than double the number of Thursday photographs at PAX East 2026 versus the previous year, I was a bit apprehensive about what we would face on Friday. The new room was essentially the same size as the room we were in last year but arranged differently to allow for more people waiting for photos to congregate. I did, however, have an ace up my sleeve if the crowds became overwhelming, as nearly happened on Saturday of last year — a second photographer, David of D Lockhart Photo and tehori93.
David has been shooting conventions and cosplay for nearly a decade now and has worked as a staff photographer for Granite State ComiCon for much of that time. I recruited him to be a staff photographer for Anime Boston in 2023 when I was the Assistant Manager of the Photo Dept. there, so I know his work well. He was my first choice for a second PAX East studio photographer, and I was thrilled when he immediately jumped at the opportunity to work with us.
All of the first of five Friday galleries linked below are photos I took, from when we opened to when David took over at 11 a.m. The next three galleries are almost exclusively from David, as he was having fun and wanted to keep shooting until his shift ended at 3 p.m. Oh, and because I really needed to do some crowd management starting around noon. More on that in an upcoming article.
Helping out at the table for much of the day was friend of Nerd Caliber Cailin, with assists again from Clever and Victoria. With Nana once again out on the MCEC floors hyping up the studio, it became clear that the rush of people waiting for the doors to open at 10 was not going to slow down.
In this first of five Friday cosplay galleries you’ll find cosplayers magicalwarriorscosplay, bulletdancercosplay, blueeyedsirencosplay, ashesdaphoenix, ixneedxaxlife, carrascomargomi, _mycabbages, minkthesatyr, natsufredneel, elsiethewitch, a.norris60, johncenafan69x, skulryk, CJ Baker, Carl Baker, rubyspectercosplay, yeti_mike, ladyangelarose, vlibzixz, kurygeon, cdbarlow5334, craftycontraptions, mrpancakes007, sanlaysa_solhawke, and many more.
We use Smugmug to present cosplay photo galleries. To view the entire gallery, just click on the image below. If you are pictured in any of our galleries, feel free to download the images and use them non-commercially on social media, with appropriate credit.
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Also, High-res images for sale is back!
If you are pictured in any of our galleries and want the high-resolution (3200 pixels at its widest by 300dpi) download for yourself, we can make it available via a private Smugmug link, for $10 per image. Just send an email to editor AT nerdcaliber.com. Currently limited to only photos taken by FirstPerson Shooter (aka Rodney Brown).
