[Arknights First Snow Cosplay] A True Restoration in the Jilin Snowfields at -25 Degrees

At -25 degrees in the outdoor snowfields of Jilin, we did an outdoor photography session for this finished Arknights First Snow cosplay photoset. Jilin's temperature has been extremely low recently, and the perceived temperature on the day of the shoot was far below the forecast. I was covered in heat patches, but once the cold wind blew, the insulation layer instantly felt as thin as paper. For this shoot, I put a lot of thought into the early preparations, from braiding the wig to positioning the beast ears headpiece, as well as windproofing the entire costume. Although I grew up in Northeast China, spending a long time outdoors posing in this relatively thin outfit at -25 degrees was still hard for my body to bear.

During the shooting process, the biggest challenge was actually the hand movements. I needed to strike poses holding accessories, but my fingers were so frozen they almost lost all sensation; every time I changed poses, I had to hide my hands inside my sleeves to warm them up first. The photographer's camera also came close to striking due to the low temperature, with the battery life plummeting, so we could only keep spare batteries in our inner pockets to maintain their temperature, swapping them out every few shots. The reflection from the snow was incredibly intense, so to control the light ratio between the face and the environment, we used soft light equipment for fill light. Special thanks go to the photographer—to find a suitable low angle, he lay completely flat in the snow, and when he got up, a thin layer of ice had already formed on the outer layer of his clothes.

Regarding the makeup and hair, this time we restored the character's braided pigtail look. Because the outdoor wind was extremely strong, the wig and plush headpiece were easily blown messy. I kept a strong-hold styling spray and a steel comb in my bag at all times; after every few sets of movements, I had to immediately respray to ensure the ear accessories and hair strands stayed perfectly neat. When shooting the second picture, the wind blew up the blue ribbon on the prop. That moment was actually incredibly brief, and the photographer and I caught it purely by instinct, but the effect turned out surprisingly natural. That blue-based prop itself was quite heavy; I had to constantly adjust my grip during the shoot to make it look lightweight and natural, and after we finished, that arm was so sore I could barely lift it.

The core of this shoot was to express the crisp, clear temperament inherent to the character, and the natural backdrop of the snowfield perfectly provided an ultimate cool-toned environment. To match the pure white of the snow, I adjusted the costume's color coordination in advance, avoiding overly vibrant colors and sticking as much as possible to black, white, gray, and local cyan accents to make the screen's visuals cleaner. During the shoot, I intentionally slowed down the rhythm of my movements because walking on snow is actually very unstable; moving too quickly would easily make things look disheveled and leave chaotic footprints in the background. When sitting down on the icy snow ground to take the first picture, I spread a moisture-proof mat underneath; otherwise, the thin costume material would have let the chill seep right through instantly, which would have been highly uncomfortable for this Anime-style photography.

Although we shot continuously for over two hours in the -25 degree environment, leaving my fingers bright red and the soles of my feet ice cold, reviewing the completed photos made me feel this perseverance was truly not in vain. The final presentation of this set of scenes is exactly the character texture I hoped to restore. For outdoor photography, the weather and environment indeed bring many extra difficulties, but the process of confronting these challenges is itself a highly rewarding part of producing images. Ultimately, being able to take these pictures in a scene so close to the character design's own setting is more than enough to make me happy to capture this beautiful snow portrait.