[Honkai: Star Rail cosplay] From Surface to Soul: All My Photos from the Past Half-Year Are Here

Shooting this collection over a span of nearly ten months since the beginning of the year made me feel the magical change of what it means to "become familiar with the photographer." Back then, I was a rookie running all over conventions needing the photographer to guide every pose. Now, I can quickly catch the rhythm during shoots, even grabbing the photographer to say, "Let me get one more shot from this angle!" That sense of familiarity—growing from awkward strangers to close friends—is clearly stamped on every single photo.

To put it more bluntly, every shoot over these past months was a clash between my "cringe history and evolution history." Looking at the sets from the first few months—the blue hair look in January, the white-blue hair in early March, and the pink hair at the end of March—even though the wigs, makeup, and my state of mind back then look a bit novice and stiff now, those are actually the most genuine marks of my cosplay journey. Sometimes I feel my performance back then wasn't relaxed enough, but that's precisely what photographers call "surface-level"—overall very tidy, but missing a bit of the soul and personal interpretation beneath the surface. It wasn't until May and June, when I tried livelier looks like the twin-tailed sailor uniform in May, blending visual effects with casual posing, that I gradually built up chemistry with the lens and truly found that natural feeling in candid snapshots.

Across the entire shooting span, the one that fits my aesthetic best is probably the elf-themed set shot in September. The lighting that evening was truly fantastic. I wore a white shirt with a backless black vest, paired with a black leather skirt, a black tights outfit with platform high heels, and a huge purple lace parasol. The photographer kept snapping photos from the stairs, and we shot continuously for nearly two hours just to capture the most natural moment when the wind blew through my hair. That moment—walking into the wind while wearing black tights and high heels and holding an umbrella—really brought out the character's agility and cool charisma. In the photography community, people often talk about "hit rate" and "vibe." The vibe and light/shadow control in these photos largely credit the photographer's mastery on set. The photographer helped manage the parasol's balance and light reflection, and minimal post-processing was used, preserving a lot of natural skin texture and lighting layers.

By October, I shot two vastly different styles. One was a look with black-rimmed glasses and prayer beads in hand, paired with a black wide-sleeved robe, carrying an entirely different vibe. Right after, I seamlessly changed into a top hat, sunglasses, leather gloves, and long straight black hair, brimming with punk energy. Delivering two totally different shoot sets in a single day really tested the makeup artist's speed and the photographer's quick response to lighting. Then there was the white techwear look shot in mid-October filled with red ambient light. The direct clash of red, black, and white while holding a black umbrella turned out amazingly well in terms of both lighting structure and my modeling performance.

Finally, there was a casual set at the end of October, which was actually candidly snapped while passing by a pedestrian bridge. Wearing a gray knit cardigan over a white shirt and tie, casually holding a schoolbag, and leaning against the railing when tired of walking. No props, no wigs—completely a Cosplayer daily life state. Yet, precisely this burden-free state truly witnessed a convention lover's evolution from "high characterization" to "everyday naturalness."

Throughout this whole year, every Anime-style photography session was a process of rediscovering different sides of myself. Some say cosplay is just an upgraded version of "playing house," but I feel it's more like briefly touching another character's soul in the real world, with the photographer's camera acting as a time capsule preserving it for me. From being terrified at first to developing muscle memory in front of the camera where even my smile doesn't freeze, this progress brings far more joy than simply producing one pretty photo. To me, cosplay is not just changing outfits and makeup; it's a constant reconstruction and renewal of my inner state.

I hope to maintain this seamless synergy with photographers and continue recording more characters with diverse textures and more wonderful experiences through light and angles with the camera.