Setting off at two in the morning and wrapping up at seven in the evening, with five hours of driving in between and climbing across four mountain peaks, this was probably the most hardcore Outdoor location shoot I've ever done. Before leaving, I thought the weather would be quite nice, but only upon reaching the summit did I realize the sun here was far more brutal than on the plains. Ultraviolet rays hit my skin without any shelter, and after a whole day, all exposed areas—arms, neck, calves—developed distinct tan lines. Looking in the mirror at home, I was several shades darker and am now frantically slathering on soothing cream.
The wind was utterly uncooperative as well. The large hat is the soul accessory of this look, yet it proved to be the most difficult partner to handle. It's too bulky and lightweight for the wig to hold securely, so whenever a mountain breeze blew past, the hat threatened to fly off like it had wings. Throughout the entire shoot, I practically held on tightly to the hat brim with my hand, afraid to let go even when changing poses. A few times when gusts were particularly violent, the hat broke free from my hand, and I had to chase after it several steps to retrieve it—a scene that feels both chaotic and hilarious in retrospect.
Climbing the mountain took far more physical endurance than expected. The four peaks were not scenic trails with paved steps, but primitive mountain slopes where wild grass grew past ankles and loose rocks tumbled everywhere. To ensure clean background angles, we had to keep hiking higher. Sometimes a single shot required moving across three or four camera setups; running back and forth while holding up the broom to maintain posture left my legs and waist thoroughly sore. At peak sunlight, ground temperatures soared, making the grass hot to touch. Dressed in this heavy black-and-white outfit with unbreathable lining, sweat dripped down my back while my head inside the wig felt like a steamer.
Downhill was the most terrifying part. We shot until around 6:30 PM as twilight approached, but to capture that last sliver of blue-violet dusk, we shot for a dozen extra minutes. By the time we packed up gear and started going down, it was past seven o'clock. Night falls fast in the mountains with no streetlights at all, rendering phone flashlights barely useful on that rugged slope. Loose soil blocks and hidden potholes lay underfoot; I stumbled several times, leaning backward, and if the photographer hadn't pulled me from the side, I might have tumbled straight down. That descent felt longer than going up, taking every step with heart in mouth. By the time I sank back into the car seat, my legs were trembling.
Yet frankly speaking, when I saw the finished photos on the computer screen, all fatigue and complaints vanished in an instant. Blue skies, white clouds, green grass, along with the wind-blown skirt hem and that captured moment holding down the hat—the sense of freedom and vitality radiating from the images was precisely the feeling I wanted to convey. Although the shooting process felt like a battle, the photographer's timing and composition were truly phenomenal, framing both the vastness of the mountain wild and the details of this Marisa Kirisame cosplay styling together seamlessly. That moment with the broom laid across the grass and the skirt fluttering in the air is my personal favorite in the whole set; its dynamic tension almost conveys the crisp scent of the mountain wind.
That's the essence of an Outdoor location shoot: you never know how the wind direction or lighting will shift the next second, but it is precisely this unpredictability that makes every shutter click full of anticipation. I truly love outdoor shoots—loving the process of wrestling with nature and racing against light and shadow. Hard work aside, bringing a character I love into real scenery and leaving behind such frames makes every bit of effort completely worth it in Touhou Project Cosplay photography.