Cosplay Weekend at the TexRenFest 2022

The fifth weekend of the Texas Renaissance Festival was themed as Heroes and Villains. It is their cosplay weekend.

For the festival, I shot 591 pics and 4 videos. I also shot 377 pics of the Tease of the Seas show for a total of 968 pics for the 2 days. For the TOTS show, the total number of pics that I took was 560 and I cut it down to the 377. I was snapping a pic every few seconds of their act and shot them from almost every position.

I enjoyed shooting their show but the editing took a few hours. I think the end results were worth the time.

On Saturday morning. I arrived early and once again I was the first one to the parking area.

Yes, I believe in Auto Advertising.

I usually get up about 4:30am to be at the festival this early. I leave my place at 6:30am and have an hour’s drive to TRF.

One thing on my morning rotation is to get a pic on the throne. I wore my cop shirt for Halloween weekend and was the bad cop that had pink fuzzy handcuffs. That line worked a lot.

On Heroes and Villains weekend, I wore the shirt again and was the villainous cop that didn’t arrest people but gave spankings. That line worked well also.

I have to get the pic of the front gate beefeaters early because they have morning inspections now.

It was overcast this day, but didn’t rain.

The beefeaters undergo inspections by the patrons each morning.

There was a film crew at TRF this weekend. Here they are preparing to shoot video of the morning cannon. I told them everything that I had learned and it helped them out.

The camera man jerks as the cannon fires even though he knew it was coming.

Queen Juana ready to spank anyone that gets out of line.

A very good Penguin.

Tinker Bell is fun to shoot. She always poses well.

Case in point.

The King and Queen are always very nice to pose for me.

A good pic of them.

I photograph these ladies every weekend and their pics always come out good.

At his usual perch.

TRF entertains thousands every weekend. People dressed like this are a big part of it.

Rudy plays Hamish MacGregor. He entertains the patrons before the festival opens. Then he leads weddings with his bagpipes and also the daily parade. A very nice guy.

I stop by Ravenswood Leather each morning. It’s a favorite shop of mine.

The staff is one of the nicest at the TexRenFest.

I started getting pics with MJ last year and now do it every weekend.

Ravenswood Leather has a lot of great merchandise.

They have just about anything you could want for your RenFest outfit.

Mary wears the best hat and looks great in it.

I met Rebel at Comicpalooza during the Summer, but didn’t recognize her until she told me what character she had been playing at the con. She’s a great cosplayer.

This cute girl works at Tea and Strumpets. I try to get her pic when she’s not busy with customers.

The morning dance.

Elizabeth stops by Lady Iris’ booth for face and body painting each morning.

Chelsea is such a sweetheart. And fun to chat with.

The staff of Catskill Mountain Moccasins.

Becca and Sara. I gave them each a STORM Factory beanie for the cold days of Winter.

Greg is another great cosplayer that I see on the comicon circuit.

I stopped by the Wyrmwood Public House for my daily kamikaze.

Mickey has been giving me free drinks and I appreciate that. I take a lot of pics of the Wyrmwood staff so maybe that’s the trade off. I like that arrangement.

Johnny Bravo. Love the hair.

On this day, a friend, Kasia, introduced me to a TRF Legend.

I had the pleasure of meeting Ligia aka the Empanada Lady. She has worked at the TexRenFest for 46 years. I was 11 years old when she started.

Ligia treated me to some of her famous empanadas. We had ones with bananas and others with beef.

I loved them both and will have them again. I preferred the beef because I loved the well seasoned meat. The banana-filled empanadas are great for breakfast. They were hot, fresh and delicious. Yum.

Ligia and I enjoyed the empanadas and she told me about her history. She has lead an exciting life that started in Bolivia.

Ligia owns 15 booths at TRF, including the Red Lion Tavern, the Polish Pub and the new Thirsty Pirate Pub. Without her and her family, TRF wouldn’t look as good and be as much fun. We should all thank her.

I’m very happy to have met her and I thank Kasia for making that possible. I intend to try more of the food from Ligia’s many booths so I can photograph and taste it for future blog posts.

Kelsey and Alex always look very cute.

TRF has mostly women servers at the food and drink stands. And I for one prefer it that way. A man with a hairy chest wearing a corset just doesn’t do it for me, lol.

The Cajun Booth has a great staff and really good food. On a colder day, I’ll have some hot Étouffée. They have shrimp and also crawfish.

Catalina Longview never disappoints.

These ladies are fun to photograph.

As a kid, I would have loved this experience.

My morning rotation always includes the Thirsty Pirate Pub.

I tried the meatballs on a stick and it was very good. You’ll see that pic later.

Shane always has time for me and I appreciate that.

Margot has a great accent. I think she’s from France.

The Thirsty Pirate Pub has a fun, friendly staff that works hard for long hours, but they always have a smile on their faces.

Elizabeth was a cop on this day also. But if she stepped out of line, I would have had to spank her, haha.

She makes a cute cop. Maybe I should have let her arrest me.

Love this pic. Such a fun girl.

I think this is a new sign. I don’t remember it from previous weekends.

Ligia’s son designed the Thirsty Pirate Pub and oversaw its’ development. Such an awesome job.

Michael always has time for me also and I thank him for that.

I met Bones Bojangles. His band shares stage time with the Tease of the Seas show. Good band.

If you haven’t seen the TOTS gallery of pics, you should check it out. Lots of great photos of these lovely, talented ladies.

There is also video of their entire act in one weekend gallery. I’ll load all of my TRF videos onto my YouTube channel after the 2022 season. I expect the TOTS videos to get a lot of views.

Captain Abigail Cadabra.

Valentina J’adore.

She’s never far from her bottle.

Men love hard drinking women and I am one of them.

Cara Cherie.

I have heard many men say that she is their favorite.

I have no clue why that is.

But if I had to guess…

I was in the front row and she looked right at me for this pose. Great pic.

The bendiest buccaneer that I know.

Captain Cadabra has a great wardrobe.

She leads the show with the voice of a sea siren and a body of a warship.

If you haven’t seen their show, you are missing out.

It is a must-see if you attend the TexRenFest.

They always play to a packed house.

At one point in the show, they bring up two audience members. This guy sure wasn’t shy about it.

I think that I covered their show well. And better than other photographers.

Sexy pose.

Who doesn’t love a woman with a drink and a whip?

Crack that whip girl!

Another great pose.

The ladies of TOTS also invite people up to dance.

Here’s to you, ladies of TOTS.

I was keeping my eye on them in case I had to deliver any spankings. Maybe next year, if I’m lucky, lol.

A colorful couple.

Good cosplay.

There is always a crowd at the Sea Devil Tavern area.

Julie looked great as Maleficent.

A rare photo with her. One of my favorites from the whole festival.

Going to get married.

I stopped by the Polish Pub.

Another very friendly staff.

The Polish Pub is a favorite stop of mine.

Ewa is always ready to serve it up with a smile.

Kasia has been such a huge help to me in doing my job at TRF. I can’t thank her enough.

I see this couple several times a year.

This guy always looks great.

A very cool steampunk pirate.

I think Haley was cosplaying Poison Ivy. She looked fantastic. As always.

A nice group shot of this staff.

Back to the Wyrmwood.

Sara makes a mold of the customers feet so that their new moccasins fit perfectly.

Cookin’ it up.

Kevin always looks great. He’s the only pirate that I know that wears green. He stands out.

Two good-looking pirates.

Good pic.

You may know the drill by now.

I always try to get a pic of a pirate’s rings.

Kevin’s also.

A good collection.

A fun group.

The Sea Devil has a great place for a photo op.

I saw these girls walking by and asked for a pic.

Someone’s cups overfloweth.

This lady said her chest was cold. It think her friend took care of that later.

Here is the meatballs on a stick.

Hot and tasty.

The Pub Crawl about to head out.

Still a lot of people coming in as I was leaving.

Saturday had a good crowd.

Lady Iris always has a line at her booth for face-painting.

A smiling face to greet you as you leave.

If you arrive later in the day, you may have quite a walk from the parking area.

This concludes the pics from Saturday.

I hope you enjoyed the look at this day.

On Sunday morning, I arrived first again.

Thousands will enter these gates on this day.

The beefeaters were wearing flowers in remembrance of the military.

Willie got one also.

The beefeaters call the gates holes. I heard Willie say to one beefeater, “Which hole do you want to be in today?”

Morning throne pic.

Morning inspection.

That film crew shot video of the beefeaters’ morning rituals.

The Queen lit the cannon on this day.

This lovely lass oversees the photography crew.

This young lady always looks great in her hat. I have photographed her several times.

Elizabeth getting her morning paint from Lady Iris. Lady Iris has worked at TRF for 29 years.

Rudy looking stylish with his pipe.

The cast of characters all froze in one place as the film crew went around filming them. It was cool to see them frozen in place.

Two tough looking characters who are as nice as could be.

I shot a pic of the people who take photos of patrons as they enter. After I snapped their pic, I jokingly said, “That’ll be $10.”

The lady in the middle said, “You could get $20.” We all laughed.

I told them that their pic would be on my website. As I was walking off, I heard one girl say, “We’re going to be famous.”

Glenda the Good Witch.

An even better shot of the Penguin.

The King and Queen ready to start the day.

Love the ‘stache.

Cruella DeVille and her brother.

Jade always looks great in her many costumes.

The band playing music for the morning dance.

The dance happens every morning and the patrons love it.

It was a little overcast this day also, but it never rained.

Ravenswood Leather staff.

MJ and moi.

You can see Mary’s great hat better in this pic.

I asked MJ to pose with the merchandise.

She made a joke that she was doing her best Vanna White, lol. She looks great.

I ran into Rebel as she was heading to work. Nice pose.

The Thirsty Pirate Pub all clean and ready for a busy day.

Smiling, happy faces.

The flower wreath employees are always happy to pose for a pic.

Three bills for a dill.

Catalina Longview is always on my morning rotation. Can you guess why?

Julie and Kylie always take a great photo.

Julie is another favorite of mine to photograph.

Kylie, her daughter, is very photogenic also.

Kelsey and Alex.

I stopped by the Polish Pub for some staff pics. A fun-loving, friendly group of people.

Kasia is the manager of the Polish Pub and does a fantastic job. I consider her a new, good friend.

I mentioned last week that I was going to try the coconut water. On this day, I did. The vendor gave it to me for free because I take his photo often. They keep the coconuts in a cooler so the water is chilled.

It was good. The vendor told me that an aspirin and some coconut water is a good hangover remedy. And now you know.

The staff at the Red Lion Tavern.

Haley looking as cute as ever.

Such a pretty girl.

Some of the Spanish Court. Queen Juana and company always look grand.

I was told about the parfait on this day. It is mashed potatoes and pulled pork that is layered in a cup. I will try that this upcoming weekend. Looking forward to that.

Nuria and her husband Chris. A great couple.

I’ve known Nuria for a while now. I first met her at a comicon. She also looks great as Wonder Woman.

Allen is always such a pleasant gentleman. He works the door at the Wyrmwood Public House.

Know when to say when.

I stop by the Asgardian Armory each day to get a pic of Erika. She wears such great outfits.

She always lets me get a pic with her also. So nice.

I’ve never photographed the little stand where Chelsea sells the bird whistles.

Another good friend that I made last year at TRF.

The final look of Lady Iris’ artwork on Elizabeth. A variation of Spiderman.

You don’t have to walk far to find beauty at TRF.

Exactly.

Her line should be, “My eyes are down here.”

Two more lovely ladies.

The food at the TexRenFest comes in many variations and it’s all very good.

The crowd grew as the day wore on.

On one of my favorite patios at TRF. Tea and Strumpets.

Three very colorful ladies.

Skidmark in his office. A kid came up to him and said, “You have a dollar on your head.” He replied, “That’s my overhead.”

The staff of Catskill Mountain Moccasins.

I stopped by the Wyrmwood for a drink.

Allen and Travis. Two great guys.

A nice staff photo.

Julie let me try the fried shrimp on a stick.

It comes with onions also and was delicious. I love fried shrimp and these were very good. A must try if you attend the festival.

With Amanda at the Glory Hole bar.

It looked like it would rain, but thankfully it never did. It turned out to be another good day to be in New Market Village.

Bones Bojangles and his band.

Elizabeth looked fantastic as an Aztec Warrior.

Great pic.

Funny.

Margot looking good in her hat.

Too old for this, but the kids love it.

This too.

Johnny Danger asked the pretzel vendor to get in the pic and it turned out good.

This lady’s pic got a lot of responses on Facebook. I wonder why.

I stopped by the Polish Pub for some pics. They have an attractive, friendly staff also.

Kasia had her staff serve me the pulled pork sandwich. Such a beautiful server.

The sandwich was awesome. Hot and delicious… a good combination.

The pickle stands have great color to them. I love the green and yellow together.

Savannah always yells out, “Spider!” when she sees me coming to get her pic.

Coconut water. Tried it. Like it.

Lots of people enjoying the great food.

Plenty of seating to enjoy your meal.

A fun couple.

A great dress.

Emma was on her swing in the Wyrmwood. I shot video of it.

The Wyrmwood bartenders are very cool dudes.

Having a drink under a beauty on a swing is a very cool experience and should be tried.

The Wyrmwood serves real liquor and has great ambiance. A visit here is a must on your next trip to TRF.

Here is the video of Emma on her swing.

A fun staff.

Alex will be wearing something similar for this upcoming weekend. It would be too cold for me to do that. I’m a wuss when it comes to the cold weather.