- November 18, 2024
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Batman strutted around Palm Coast making stops at Palm Coast Ford, the park and Lowes among others. His entourage followed him, complete with Palm Coast photographer Amanda Rollins. As they traveled from location to location, Daniel Driscoll’s homemade Batman costume slowly lost pieces, but the photographer got the shot.
Rollins’ project of photographing cosplayers in various environments started as her senior thesis project at UCF in 2013. Her professors thought the project wasn’t serious enough for a fine arts thesis, but Rollins didn't want serious. The project as fun and quirky, and the idea had stemmed from her childhood.
“No matter what I did, I was bullied; because of the way I dressed, the music I listened to,” Rollins, 23, said as she sat in a booth at the BeachHouse Beanery, wearing her deathly hallows earrings.
Months after she graduated college, Rollins applied for the LeakyCon arts fellowship. LeakyCon is a conference born out of “Harry Potter” fandom and named for The Leaky Cauldron. It’s about celebrating the art of storytelling and the magic of reading. It encourages people to be who they are no matter what other people think.
The $5,000 fellowship was awarded to one artist whose project aligned with the conference’s ideals.
“I was extremely excited when I won the fellowship,” Rollins said. “I just wanted to just show people you can go out in these costumes and be yourself.”
Since being awarded the fellowship, Rollins said she has seen her project blossom. She and her costumed players are broadening where they go, not just sticking to afterhours places, but embracing the town and its residents.
“At first just wanted it to be about the character, but now I’m incorporating other people,” she said.
The fellowship funds have also allowed Rollins to travel to different conventions to seek out more players for her project.
Rollins will present her project July 31 to Aug. 3 on the main stage at LeakyCon in Orlando. But the presentation of her project does not mean it’s over. Rollins plans to take the project further by creating a photobook and incorporating quotes from the various cosplayers. She hopes to eventually sell the book and donate a portion of the proceeds to an anti-bullying campaign.
Email [email protected] to become a cosplayer in the project.
