Universal Studios was simply way too crowded—the viewfinder was packed with heads, making clean framing nearly impossible. Luckily, a vintage steam locomotive happened to be parked right below my apartment, so I grabbed my photographer and turned it into our own private photoshoot set. After all these years, I'm still deeply in love with Gryffindor, so when buying merch at Universal, I didn't hesitate to take the whole set home.
This outfit is from the KYOUKO collaboration. After receiving it, I styled it myself into an inspired Hermione concept—strictly speaking, it leans more towards everyday casual magical outfit styling rather than 100% faithful cosplay. Since this is a private photoshoot, let's dive into the outfit nuances: the red collegiate scarf is the absolute soul of the look, with high-quality fringes that pair with round-frame glasses and a wand to build incredible station ambiance. I styled my reddish-brown hair into loose waves, which caught warm, subtle gradients under the setting sun.
Even though this was described as a casual outfit, it fundamentally belongs to magic-themed cosplay photography. To complement the silhouette, I selected thick wool over-the-knee socks paired with black platform boots, a combination that kept me warm while elongating leg proportions. Shot during the late afternoon when the sunlight was gentle, the metallic body of the train created strong specular reflections; the photographer used a wide aperture to blur the background, leveraging the leading lines of the tracks and the platform steps for structured composition.
The entire shoot took around two hours, cycling through various poses like reading on the train steps or leaning against the railing pointing the wand toward the lens. A sudden gust of wind messed up my hair mid-shot, yet accidentally introduced a lively dynamic flair. Overall, I love the cool, vintage texture of this set—it feels like an ordinary station in some wizarding world waiting for the train's departure. Private shoots are always a relaxing creative outlet for me; skipping the theme park queues with this spontaneous nearby train delivered results just as stunning as official park sets.