Karaface.com

Evolution 2009

What an amazing eSports event Evolution 2009 was! The biggest fighting game tournament in North America took place this past weekend (July 17-19, 2009) at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino. EVO 2009 definitely lived up to its billing from start to finish the venue was packed with spectators and energy that kept growing as the event continued to its main event, the Street Fighter IV finals.

I was able to photograph EVO 2009 thanks to the help from the organization who asked me to be their official photographer. They were nice enough to provide a hotel room for me at the Gold Coast, right across from the Rio. Not exactly the most magnificent room, but given the amount of time I spent inside it really did not matter. Most of the time I was at the venue, when I was at my room it was just to pass out and sleep to rest up for the next day.

A typical day for EVO consisted of waking up around 6AM, showering, getting dressed and meeting with the staff at 7AM for breakfast. Breakfast was a time to discuss about the event and what needed to be done that day, it was also important for me to attend so I would know which events to focus on and to know an overview of how the day would be run. By 8AM, we would be at the convention hall to setup for the day. For me it would mean charging my backup batteries, uploading any remaining photos from the last day on my laptop and checking out the lighting conditions. Then from 9AM till the end of the day, it was taking photos or uploading photos with breaks to get lunch and dinner to keep documenting the event without passing out.

The event itself was a smashing success. Never had I been to an event that ran as smoothly as EVO 2009 or the energy of the crowd all of Championship Sunday. The hype was so tangible during the Street Fighter IV finals between Daigo Umehara and Justin Wong, at time I caught myself staring at the match and missing some photo opportunities. The tension of the match at times was so thick it could of been cut through with a knife, especially when Justin had to win rounds to extend the match. In the end Daigo pulled off the close victory to be named the first Street Fighter IV champion of 2009.

All in all, I loved my time at EVO 2009 and am already looking forward to shooting EVO 2010. Perhaps I will be able to shoot another big fighting game event before the close of 2009? One can only hope so!

Evolution 2009 photos can be found here.