Pietas Cosplay
Nik and Julia are extremely generous and they spent a lot of time getting everything just right. Their friend, Vlad, also helped, and I wanted to give a quick rundown of what each person did to make this cosplay a success.
Julia
Julia stood on a stool to get some shots, and she would hop down, straighten a lock of Nik's hair, step back, straighten it again and then get back up on the stool and snap the picture. She'd turn him left or right just a bit, take a few pictures, and then move him again. She sat on the floor for some images and the angle (a "hero" shot) produces fantastic results. Having seen the images, I can tell you she is effective at getting just the right aspect of Nik's face and body on camera. She knows him well. They've been together many years. You can tell she knows all his best sides, and gets him to show them off.
Vlad
Nik's friend, Vlad, also a cosplayer (and a flatmate to Nik and Julia) live-streamed the cosplay. He also played music for the scene (Rammstein - a fave of mine as well as Nik's), and he narrated the comments. It was interesting to hear my name with a Russian accent. It comes across as "Ki-ell" (long I) versus "kay-elle" and it made me smile every time I heard it. I almost prefer it!
Nik
Watching Nik perform is so amazing that while I was watching live, I forgot to comment most of the time. I did respond with things like Perfect! Which isn't all that helpful, all told. But honestly, I had no need to direct. Nik and I had emailed about 20 times setting up the various aspects of the shoot and getting the props and poses right. I sent him a link to a few examples of poses that I would like and he did it perfectly. There's that word again. Nik doesn't think of himself as "perfect" but to me, there is no better Pietas. When I think of my character, it's Nik as Pietas that I see -- except that he's seven feet tall!