About emerald coast cosplay photography: A brief history

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Emerald Coast Cosplay Photography was started by Michael Smith in early 2011 after attending one of his first anime conventions and taking several photos of fans in costumes. Realizing he enjoyed this new hobby, he started the Emerald Coast Cosplay brand, and began traveling to many conventions in the southeastern United States, making connections, and making new friends.

Between 2011 and 2019, Michael did countless cosplay photoshoots with several cosplayers and costumers at several conventions and events.

During this time, Emerald Coast Cosplay began promoting "Cosplay iDOLS", which were cosplayers Michael worked with often and began a working-relationship bond with. These iDOLS were selected to help represent the ideals of Emerald Coast Cosplay due to their all-inclusive attitudes, varying skills, and great personalities.

In 2014, Emerald Coast Cosplay started a series of Cosplay Music Videos, called iMV's (short for iDOL Music Videos). Nine of these videos were created between 2014 and 2018, along with a couple of spin-off compilation videos. In late 2019,  a 10th iMV was in the planning stages to begin shooting in 2020, but this was shelved due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and never rematerialized.

In 2020, partially due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Michael took a break from Emerald Coast Cosplay Photography along with photography in general. Once convention activity resumed in 2021, Michael attempted to get back into the photography saddle, but quickly realized he's not as young as he used to be, and decided to "soft retire" from photography altogether in 2022.

Beginning in February 2025, while Michael is only doing occasional photoshoots on a case-by-case basis, EmeraldCoastCosplay.com has begun conversion into a "nerdy news" website mainly focused on local nerd and pop culture news along the Emerald Coast and Florida Panhandle.