SuirCon 2024: Comic Con in Ireland’s oldest city, Waterford
Last year I fulfilled another photography dream, which was to photograph a local Comic Con. As usual, I want to share the photos and stories with you.
SuirCon, as the Comic Con is called, is named after the River Suir which runs through Waterford. The first SuirCon was held in November 2018 and took a break during 2020-2021 due to Covid. We had never had a convention in the city before Suircon as far as I know.
After last year’s Imagine Arts Festival, which you can read about here, I gained confidence and decided to try to photograph SuirCon. After all these years, it was finally time.
SuirCon used to be held in a local hotel and also in the town hall, but last year neither building was available. So the convention took place in a new location. The con was created thanks to the local comic book store Waterford Comics, which also changed location at the end of last year. From a smaller shop in the city to a larger building by the park. I had never been to that building before and its space surprised me.
The owner Jonathan started telling me on the first day about his plans for the comic shop – which included a cafe with American-Japanese food (mostly sweets, which are always a bit of a treat in Ireland). I told him then, and I’ll tell you now – Waterford Comics is the biggest comic shop on the Emerald Isle. And I’m proud to have it in Waterford (it’s finally not just something in Dublin or Cork).
During the convention itself, all the spaces were used – from the artist tables on the main floor, to board games, a Viking life demonstration by Deise Medieval, to video games on the first floor, to card games (Pokémon and such) and various lectures in the mini-conference room. There was really a lot to see and do.
The con was held over the weekend, of course. On Saturday morning, not many people showed up, so I got to know the area and started taking photos and planning to take photos when there were more people. I decided that this was also a good opportunity to try out reaching out to people. In this case, I started at Deise Medieval, where I got some informative stories and demonstrations of weapons and animal skeletons from members of this local organization.
I also asked the cosplayers if I could take a picture of them, and by the end of the day I had gone up to each artist and had a little fun with them and took a picture of them as a keepsake. I won’t lie, it was a bit nerve-wracking, but I have to say, they were all so nice and incredibly talented!
I started Sunday by taking photos of the building itself. It’s not iconic, but it’s a bit distinctive and it was a nice sunny morning. Beyblades had just been added to the gaming area, so I tried to take a few photos “in action”. After that, I mostly took snapshots before a drawing workshop by a local artist started and later a cosplay competition. I ended the day by taking photos of the building again, but this time I focused on the details and views inside.
I’m so glad I had the chance to try out what it’s like to document an event like this. Even though this Con wasn’t held in the iconic locations it used to be and wasn’t very busy, it was still fun. I met some really nice and interesting people and it was something new in terms of photography.
