[Atri Cosplay] Pure White Wings on the Ruins and 2025 Portrait Photography Summary

Looking back at these 18 portrait works of 2025, I spent basically every month taking photos, and counting them up at the end of the year, I accumulated a total of 100 finished photoshoot sets. Although it was exhausting, each time I pressed the shutter, it was deeply memorable.

The first five photos are from a collaboration with @四七啃啃_ (Siqi Kenken). During the cherry blossom season at the beginning of the year in Chongqing Nanshan Botanical Garden, we wanted to capture that bright, dynamic movement style from Akebi's Sailor Uniform (明日酱). We planned and referred to several original illustrations, and under crowded park conditions, we finally managed to capture these compositions, which met our expectations. During that period, I also tried to recreate last year's shooting spot in Daxigou, but got baited by a so-called Xiaohongshu (RED) 'perfect spot.' Fortunately, the alternative location we found on the spot turned out unexpectedly well, catching the flying hair on the overpass steps under the sun.

Around July, I shot a set of white-studio photos with @艾落 (Ai Luo). This was my first official photoshoot after switching to the Nikon D850, and also my first time planning a white-studio lighting setup and complex scenery by myself. Halfway through, the studio booking ghosted us once, but thankfully the shoot eventually went smoothly. In the same set, there was a photo shot in Chongqing's outdoor 40°C+ heat. Searching for the perfect spot alone took two to three hours, and post-processing a single photo took about an hour. Shooting in high temperatures and intense light in the summer is a dual test of equipment and patience.

At the end of the year, I shot a set of night scenes with @梨梨原上草 (Lili Yuanshangcao) at school, and the result was surprisingly good. Among them, there was a background set that was demolished the very day after our shoot, making it an accidental 'extinct' scene. We didn't use any external lighting during the shoot, so you could say the final output relied entirely on ambient light and our deep mutual trust. In the second half of the year, I went to an amazing convention. Because the venue allowed us to set up lights, the lighting conditions were perfect, and I took a set of photos with satisfying light-and-shadow effects. I switched to a 35mm prime lens for that—my first time changing after getting used to the 50mm, which brought a very fresh creative perspective.

Another highly memorable shoot was Atri with @Rice, a project for the anime ATRI -My Dear Moments-. I had planned this character for a long time. Since inland Chongqing has no sea, to recreate that seaside ruins atmosphere, we stubbornly searched and found a similar environment on the riverbank during the dry season. Around that time, I was testing out a Sigma 150-600mm Contemporary lens to see what bird-watching felt like, but because of the slippery rocks by the river, I fell twice. My knees got several cuts, and one wound happened to be right where I had a recent surgical suture, which hurt so much that it took me a while to recover.

Shooting with @湿屁屁小猫 (Shi Pipi Xiaomao) was also a challenge. My friends and I rented a car to drive into the mountain forests to find locations. The hardest one was Roxy with @今天吃鱼米线 (Jintian Chi Yu Mixian)—climbing the mountain tired me out so much I almost questioned my life choices, but the resulting picture texture perfectly matched my expectations. I also shot a character with @绫濑优_Yuri (Ayase Yu Yuri) that we had prepared for a year and a half, ranging from location hunting, hand-making props, to Yuri travelling specifically to Chongqing for our meetup. When we shot the Lycoris (彼岸花) set, it was late at night, and while searching for the flower field, we were mercilessly bitten by mosquitoes, leaving my legs covered in bites the next day.

Throughout the whole of 2025, I basically traversed almost every bridge underpass, park, and ruin in Chongqing, big or small. Looking at this year-end collection, some are painful yet happy documentaries, and some are records right before scenes went extinct. My next shooting plans will focus on more fantasy-oriented scenes, slowly translating my new year's goals into reality through the viewfinder.