Opening that hardcover book with a vintage cover, my fingertips trace the gilded patterns, as if I could truly connect to another timeline through this book. Based on the setup mentioned in the original post, I wanted to express in this set of photos that girl who loves holding books and asking herself "what if."
This time I am cosplaying Vertin from Reverse: 1999, specifically capturing the feeling of her childhood as a young Vertin cosplay. Therefore, in terms of styling, I didn't deliberately chase after the very cold and mature traits of the original art. Instead, I tried my best to express that state of not yet fully shedding childishness, carrying a bit of confusion and stubbornness. The silver-white wig is a crucial visual anchor, and combined with that tiny hair bun on the side and straight bangs, it directly outlines the character's temperament. The white coat and inner white short skirt, adorned with a black bow on the chest, are sharply black and white, appearing clean yet restrained. The white knee-high socks paired with black thick-soled loafers on the lower body serve as a visual extension of this look, providing a great visual resting place for the entire outfit at the legs.
The location for this shoot was at the Chongqing Horizon Comic Carnival venue. Since it's an indoor venue for a comic con, the original environment was relatively complex, with exhibition hall lighting overhead and crowds of people walking back and forth along with various photography equipment in the background. In order to shoot this kind of atmospheric monochrome photo, the photographer and I found a large enough round white long-pile plush rug and laid it directly on the grey concrete floor of the exhibition hall. This rug became the visual center of the entire frame, echoing beautifully with the character's white hair and white skirt, creating a pure small space with a touch of loneliness.
For the lighting, a rather harsh highlight scheme was adopted. A high-power strobe light directly illuminated the character, fully bringing out that silver-white translucent texture of the wig, achieving a beautiful white hair cosplay look. At the same time, by underexposing the background environment, the surrounding crowds and clutter were hidden in shadows and blur, leaving only that subtle cool-toned hall lighting seeping down from the top. This high-low contrast lighting scheme allowed the entire frame to retain the realistic, bustling energy of the comic con while filling it with a certain reality-detached, dreamlike quality.
The choice of props was key. A book with a dark, gilded cover served as the core prop running through the entire shoot. When holding it to read quietly, I tried to portray a sense of disdain towards the rules in the book, as well as a longing to see the outside world through the words. In the subsequent photos, I switched to a paper airplane, which is a concrete expression of "自由" (freedom) and "选择" (choice). At the exact moment of throwing the paper airplane, I looked up at the void diagonally above, wondering if that pivotal choice point didn't have that "Storm," would Vertin standing here now truly possess unconstrained freedom.
I deliberately controlled the overall emotional line to be slightly lost yet very determined. When facing the camera, I hoped my eyes wouldn't be hollow, but truly contemplating something. For instance, holding a black ring in front of my eyes to look at the world through that tiny frame is both a vintage decorative technique and a metaphor—she is using her own perspective to examine and choose another future.
The final effect presented in the image is a very cool, restrained film-like texture packed with a sense of story. The wrinkles of the white sweater, the texture of the thick-soled shoes, and those blurred, flickering silhouettes of people in the background together interweave the unique atmosphere of this photo set. Just like what was written in the caption, perhaps the story will ultimately lead to "nothingness," but every choice and every "what if" before that are slices in this character's life worth being recorded. I hope this set of photos can make everyone feel the calm, quiet strength within this character that transcends age.