Summer in Anji is truly meltingly hot. The Choco-crunch ice cream I bought before heading out hadn't even been eaten for a few bites before it started dripping down my fingers, so we simply ran into the stream to shoot. For this outfit, I chose a dark Sailor suit, paired with Twintails and a red backpack. The red-and-black color scheme is particularly eye-catching in the lush green valley, creating a very strong visual contrast. The lower body was matched with Black stockings and brown loafers; I originally wanted to shoot with shoes on, but after stepping into the water and taking a couple of steps, I realized it was completely unstable. The stones at the bottom of the stream were not only slippery, but the current also had a certain impact force, so I simply took off my shoes and placed them on a dry rock nearby. Stepping on the water barefoot felt much more comfortable, except that the Black stockings soaked in the water gave a strange wrapping sensation.
The shooting equipment was the a6700; the autofocus on this machine is really steady. Even under the alternating light and shade in the shade of the trees, coupled with the reflection of the water surface, it could still firmly lock onto the eyes. To capture a sense of summer coolness, I held an insect net as a prop in my hand, pretending to scoop fish in the stream. I was a bit reserved at first, but later, when the splashes hit my legs, the cool-to-the-touch sensation actually helped me relax. @Jiaojiaoji on the bank kept guiding me to adjust angles, telling me not to be afraid of the water and to open up my movements as much as possible.
There are many actions of lifting the skirt hem in the photos; in fact, it's because the pleated skirt becomes extremely heavy as soon as it gets wet. Lifting it is not only to prevent the skirt from getting completely soaked, but also to let the water flow slide down along the Black stockings, and the texture of water droplets hanging on the legs looks particularly striking when captured. In the middle, there were a few pictures of sitting on a rock in the water. The surface of the rock was covered with moss and was extremely slippery. When I sat on it, my toes were gripping the ground with effort, and on the surface I looked calm and relaxed, but actually my heart was panicking like crazy, terrified of slipping and falling right into the water. In some frames, there was a red mark on the leg, which was an accidental bump from earlier, but unexpectedly it looked quite noticeable against the backdrop of the Black stockings, serving as an unexpected detail.
In terms of expression management, I deliberately made some slightly pouty or casual expressions, which, combined with the damp Twintails, created a lazy yet slightly cool summer afternoon atmosphere. Sometimes a gentle breeze blew the bangs into disorder, or sunlight filtered through the leaves onto the water surface, forming dappled light and shadow, and these accidental moments were actually the most photogenic. The high dynamic range of the camera saved me a lot of effort when adjusting light and shadow in post-processing, retaining rich dark detail even in backlit environments.
By the end of the shoot, I had completely adapted to the temperature of the stream and even felt it was a bit too cool. To capture better light, we soaked in the water for nearly two hours, and the soles of our feet turned somewhat white from the soaking. Shooting this set of pictures in the stream during summer, although the socks were completely soaked and the red backpack straps also got wet, seeing the finished photos made everything feel completely worthwhile. The entire shooting process possessed the stuffiness unique to summer, yet it was washed completely clean by the stream.