Celebrity panel coverage at GalaxyCon Columbus 2025 — peak audience interaction. Editorial photography by Brian Mullin, Pause Studios.

The shoot

Editorial, not
commissioned.

GalaxyCon Columbus 2025 was not a commissioned shoot. I attended as a regular convention guest — paid admission, no press pass, no media credentials. Just a camera, the same access every other attendee had, and an eye for what was actually happening in the room. The frames here are editorial, captured during attendance, owned by Pause Studios.

Conventions are one of the most honest places to photograph. The energy is real because there is no agenda for the photographer to serve — no client deck to fill, no brand to dress up. The room shows you what it is, and the work is to be present for it.

The frames below are a small selection from the weekend — the panel hero, four portrait moments on stage, and the convention atmosphere that made the event what it was.

Main stage and audience scale at GalaxyCon Columbus 2025. Editorial convention photography by Brian Mullin, Pause Studios.

Photography: Brian Mullin / Pause Studios  ·  Columbus, Ohio  ·  2025

The work

Candid-first.
From floor to stage.

The approach inside a convention is the same as a gala or a brand activation — get out of the room's way, watch for the moments the room is giving you, and shoot them as they happen. Posed portraits get hour-long lines; the real frames live in the seconds the talent forgets the camera is there.

Convention coverage at Pause Studios is two things at once: live event documentation and entertainment-facing portraiture. The frames have to work for both — newsworthy enough for editorial, polished enough to license, honest enough to feel like the event actually was.

For organizers, sponsor teams, and talent-facing operators, that means one gallery has to hold stage scale, fan energy, floor culture, and usable celebrity frames without splitting into separate visual languages.

Coverage

  • Panel appearances & stage coverage
  • Celebrity portraits — Eman Esfandi, Tyler Hoechlin, Tommy Chong, Rosario Dawson
  • Cosplay floor & convention atmosphere
  • Color + black-and-white selects
  • Editorial use — Pause Studios archive

On stage

Four portraits from the floor.

Eman Esfandi at GalaxyCon Columbus 2025 — portrait during panel appearance. Editorial photography by Brian Mullin, Pause Studios.
Eman Esfandi  ·  GalaxyCon Columbus 2025
Tyler Hoechlin at GalaxyCon Columbus 2025 — portrait during panel appearance. Editorial photography by Brian Mullin, Pause Studios.
Tyler Hoechlin  ·  GalaxyCon Columbus 2025
Tommy Chong at GalaxyCon Columbus 2025 — portrait during panel appearance. Editorial photography by Brian Mullin, Pause Studios.
Tommy Chong  ·  GalaxyCon Columbus 2025
Rosario Dawson at GalaxyCon Columbus 2025 — portrait during panel appearance. Editorial photography by Brian Mullin, Pause Studios.
Rosario Dawson  ·  GalaxyCon Columbus 2025

The floor

What the
room was.

Cosplay culture is the part of a convention that explains why people travel for it. The work isn't celebrities — it's the people in the room who built costumes for six months and walked in to be seen.

A separate set of black-and-white frames documents the energy moments — the seconds where the convention is loudest and least composed. Those are the frames that tell you what the weekend felt like.

Cosplay floor atmosphere at GalaxyCon Columbus 2025 — convention culture documentation. Editorial photography by Brian Mullin, Pause Studios.
Candid energy moment at GalaxyCon Columbus 2025, black and white. Editorial convention photography by Brian Mullin, Pause Studios.

Photography: Brian Mullin / Pause Studios  ·  Columbus, Ohio  ·  2025

This coverage type

Conventions and celebrity coverage.

Convention work is its own discipline — fast-changing light, no second takes, recognizable subjects who've been photographed ten thousand times. The bar is to find frames that don't look like everyone else's. That happens in the seconds between the posed moments — the panel laugh, the off-cue glance, the unscripted handshake.

Pause Studios covers conventions, fan expos, and celebrity-anchored event rooms across Columbus, Cleveland, New York, and Toronto. It is the same candid-first system used for live event coverage and entertainment events where sponsor visibility, audience scale, talent access, and recap usability all matter at once.

Build Your Estimate → Convention Coverage → Entertainment Events → Columbus Photography →

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All notable work

Clients, collaborations, and coverage across 10+ years.

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