Dokomi is one of the largest (maybe the largest?) anime and manga convention in Germany. Since 2022 I've been volunteering to do photography work every year for their social media team. In other words, I take vacation from my day job to go work for free, kind of. Either way, it's a blast every year and I'll probably keep doing it for a while longer.
I've learnt a lot of things working there over these past years, both in terms of people skills but also on the photography side of things. Be that finding a workflow from start to finish, figuring out a shooting style, learning what is important all the way to dealing with unexpected situations as well as approaching strangers. The latter is still a monumental task for me, but I got a job to do and so I do what I need to do. Tell that to me 5 years ago, he won't believe you.