Anime Oasis, which I attended starting in 2003, is unique in that you could call it an "indy" con. They are a non corporate, non industry sponsored convention for the most part. They are in complete control of the con, and though the basic rules and policies are in place, they like to take chances with unique events such as 18+ cosplay contest, cutey/sexy events such as the anime swimsuit contest and action packed events such as the original homegrown Battle Cosplay. Also in order to attempt to appease more people and make events more fair, they will experiment with how they run it or judge it, which generated a bit of controversy in the past.

As such being independent, it's a smaller convention and smaller attendance. But as the years went by attendance grew and grea and became the mainstay in the Boise area, and it always had that intimate personal feeling for a convention that you cannot get at larger cons. As for cosplay shoots during the con, there weren't any for a while until later when they got more organized. So 2008 you had to wing it, which is what I did, and just spot and stop group cosplayers for photo ops, and do the usual "hallway" shot as well. Thanks to a fellow photographer, I did get involved in one special private anime swimsuit shoot with two wonderful ladies as you see below. This made these cosplay photos a bit better than previous I took at earlier AO's and Sakura Con.