Had that in my Recon armor (Halo), too. Had an ODST, a Hunter, Miranda Keyes, myself and Master Chief literally just having a chat to one side of the main entrance...Some body approaches us and asks for a photo so we pose...15-20 minutes later I physically had to leave because I was bored beyond belief.

I've had one.

All I was wearing was a bunny hat thing and my normal clothes. The guy asked me something to which I can't recall at all or my reply. I do remember him then going "Oh" and asking for a photo. My reply was "Er no mate, I'm not in cosplay"

Seemed a bit spaced out guy. But it was weird

'cause I work at the cons, I don't usually have to rush anywhere, but I have said no if a) I'm clearly working and/or not in cosplay, and b) if they've asked me to do something wholly inappropriate.

Someone at MCM Telford last year asked me to do a 'sexy' pose. I did do a fairly vanilla-cheeky one, and then he had the gall to complain that "everyone always did that pose" and ask if I could do something sexier. Hell to the no.

And at London Anime Con Feb 2011, a guy asked if he could do some jump shots. I was dressed as Sailor Jupiter, and it was clear what he was after. So that was a resounding no as well.

So yeah, I say no when it's either not appropriate or I'm not at all happy with the tone taken.

As to the SLR argument - I can totally see why people bring them to cons. At my first MCM there was a Sailor Moon meet, and I was told we were also having a photographer. When he turned up with a little compact camera, I actually got more concerned because the implication had been that he was being photographer because he had some decent kit. I sort of then questioned why he was photographer when he clearly didn't have kit any more advanced than my own, and he didn't know anyone in the group.

Next time, my boyfriend acted as photographer, and brought his DSLR, and we got some fantastic shots. Would've been better if there had been a bit more of a mix - we had 4 Sailor Jupiters!

i had to ask people to wait once /turn them down, purely cause ,when i was pac man in 2010 ,as soon as i entered the main hall i was swamped by people wanting a photo , not all asked but i was happy for them to take photos the only reason i had to kinda decline was because as a full size (mascot type) cosplay i had to stick with my group so they could guide me round so i didnt bump into anyone and such .(aslo as my first expo i wanted to stick with people who knew where to go ,etc) however one girl followed me around i didnt even notice she got her photo as soon as i realised whe was there .im always up for a photo since thou. unless im rushing to the loo hahahah .

I had never said no

I can be a little wary of things such as bad cosplay blogs and /cgl/ so I am a bit careful sometimes . I haven't ever said no , but I often worry because of things my friends have told me about /cgl/ I don't really want photos of me on deviantArt with out my permission.

A time I have said no is when a creepy guy approached me at expo when I was wearing Lolita and wanted a photo with me which I felt uncomfortable about.

If I have somewhere to be then I say that I'll be here all day, and sorry. But there was this one time, and I was sitting down in my Agito/Akito cospaly eating melon bread. She came up to me and asked for a picture. I stood up still chewing with my cheeks filled with bread, and dusted myself off. I tried to say one moment (of corse I couldnt) and she said "Dont worry about it! Sit down and keep eating! I wanted to take a picture of you like that! Its so cute!"

It wierded me out a bit, and embarrassed me....
Ive also gotten pictures taken of me while I was sleeping

I've never said no, but I've had a few times (last year at MCM in October) where it was so cold I had a hoodie on top of my Roronoa Zoro cosplay, and a couple of impatient people just kind of... walked off when I said 'give me a minute' and went to take my hoodie off.

Kind of rude, I guess, but if they didn't want to wait that's up to them. I'd rather have a good picture of my cosplay than let impatient people take pictures of me in glasses and a hoodie.

Otherwise I'm very polite and I will most always agree to a photo, even if I'm walking somewhere or going to eat. I've yet to have anyone refuse me when I've asked for a photo, either.

Was this back in October 2010 when I was Neo Queen Serenity?

That was May 2011, when I was ChibiUsa but you didn't go - the photographer was great, I didn't realise he was Claire's girlfriend!
Plus, lots of the group had either an SLR or Bridge camera, which made for some awesome photos of cosplayers photographing cosplayers XD

The photographer for October 2010 really wasn't so great, so I'm glad most of the group had their own cameras!

I haven't refused anyone who's asked but I dislike photos being taken from afar or being followed around and snapped, it's like 'as if I can't see what you're doing'.

I've only had words with one guy who was taking a photo without permission of a very tired me trying to read, eat and generally have some down time. I worried afterwards that I had been rude but then I figured it's just common curtosy to leave someone alone when they're eating or something, right? Of course it'd have been a different story if he or anyone else I am thinking of would have just asked, I could have either said 'Oh, maybe not now but in a minute okay?' or put my stuff down and been ready for it.

Usually I wouln't say no to a photograph. But at may expo and with the heat, I found myself more and more turning photographs down in my Sir Percival fursuit as we were just too hot and more often than not we were trying to get outside/somewhere cooler.

However though, me and my group ave always had the rule that if a young child asks us, we'll stop for a photo for them as its awul to see a little kid crushed if you turned them down >.< the only problem with this though when you have a large group is that one photo can attract many others an in the end we couldn't turn anyone down!

I'm yet to go to a con in cosplay, but I'm really worried about asking for pictures as I really don't want to bother anyone! Especially if they're cosplaying a really popular character (like Naruto) I can imagine they get asked for pictures and hugs allll the tiiime... :/ I know they'll always be really nice, and that you'd have to discern the moment, but still...
Sorry, I'm really inexperienced.

99% of the time, cosplayers have no issue with stopping for photos (if asked nicely) and the majority of them enjoy that they have recognition. The key is not to ask when they're obviously busy with something - ie eating. Also, adding "Do you mind" or "If you don't mind" to the sentence usually results in it being positive too.

Don't worry! We don't mind being bothered! Bother away!

^^^ What she said!

After the insane popularity of our Assassin's Creed cosplays at Expo in May my mate and I had to re-think our posing strategy as it meant it took us over and hour to walk from the hall to the balcony due to stopping for every photo request, and often getting stuck for ten minutes or so at a time, and we were rather warm in all those robes!

But as has been said time and again in this thread, don't ask if they're eating or clearly in a hurry to be somewhere else, and you'll be fine! Most cosplayers want their costumes to be recognised and appreciated, and it's flattering that people want to take a picture to keep for all time. Or until they delete it to make space on their Hard Drive

I recently had a chat with someone at Manchester Expo over this.

She told me how it was her first expo and she was worried about asking cosplayers for photos. I told her how most of the time they say 'yes' because asking for a photo is a compliment, and that if someone says 'no' it's usually because they're busy or in a hurry.

She replied with 'Actually I was wondering if I can take your photo..'

Of course I got giddy and told her I am flattered she asked and would love to. ..'but first I need to.. *points at ladies restroom*' xD; (To be fair we were both in the queue)

I also had a talk with her and another new expo goer about those ninja photographers. How I feel that it is very rude to just walk/sneak up to someone and snap a shot. Sadly I've seen it happen a number of times. I've only seen it happen at expos but the last one had the most!

However I have seen friends do this to each other which I'm okay with. Does anyone feel different about a ninja photo if it's between two friends?

I've never said no to a photo, as I usually don't mind. I tried saying no once when I was asked for a photo halfway between the loo and another room, as I'd left my gloves in the other room (it was catsuit which looked weird without the gloves) but the photographer already had his camera out, so I just had to hide my hands ^_^'

I personally don't mind 'ninja' photographers either. One of my friends is constantly snapping photos of our group, and you get some really interesting ones. I've also seen people take photos of just the whole mass of people in the hall etc, which you can't really get people to pose for. I kinda view tham as the same as people who, once you've posed for one photographer, come up behind them with a camera and start taking photos too.

While I don't object to being stopped for photos, I do object if someone tries to, for example, put their arm around me for photos. I'm a bit funny about personal space, so it really creeps me out when people do that. Luckilly I've never had anyone who kicks up a fuss when I ask them not to. One of my friends unfortunately had someone try to grab their rear when getting a photo taken with them though >_<

As someone who takes photos I ask permission, the only times I don't have been when a group is already posing for other people (seems a bit silly to ask them then). Never had anyone say no to me either.

The other day I had to say no without saying a word really.

I was in Starbucks the other day having a break with my other half, and I noticed a woman holding up the camera at me....So I gave her a bit of a glare as though to say 'what the heck do you think you're doing?' and she put it down and turned away. Only for a few seconds later for her to hold it up and look again (I think she had expected me to stop looking) but I busted her and glared a little more harshly. Only afterwards I noticed that she was in fact an attendant to MCM, but she wasn't in cosplay and Ive had occasions where regular civvies have tried to take photos without our permission. If she'd asked I would have had no problem, but just doing it without my say-so was just rude.

Anyhow, I got my ass out of there. She didn't ask, and I wasn't bothered again.

I can't speak for everyone, but how I see it is: you're in fancy dress (apologies to anyone I've offended here). People in fancy dress look different and weird, and unlike normal dress-up parties, the fancy dress is elaborate and unusual.

If you're in cosplay, you're looking for attention as far as I can see. Otherwise, why not just wear a tshirt with the character on it?

This does *NOT* justify inappropriate photographers, unexpected or unwanted photos or 'free hugs' and such like but the above is why I wouldn't refuse a photographer. I've dressed up for the love of the character and getting my photo taken, so why say no?