Arboretum Photoshoot
Today Michael and I went to the Japanese Garden in downtown to have a photoshoot of our AX cosplays. ^^ We didn’t know that there was a Sounders game that day, so we ran into quite a bit of traffic commuting hahaha. The bus was completely packed with Sounders fans!
We took an uber to the garden and had a nice chat with our driver, who asked us if we were both Japanese….. LOL since we were going to the Japenese arboretum….. anyways….. To our surprise, professional camera equipment + photography wasn’t allowed inside the actual arboretum, so we walked over to a nearby entrance and began looking for spots to take photos LOL! The gentleman at the kiosk was very nice, and let us know you had to pay a membership fee in order to be able to enter the garden itself… Next time I’ll research our location a bit more ;w;.
It was a really hot and sunny day, which can be good or bad for a photoshoot because direct sunlight creates a lot of harsh shadows. Not only that, we ran into another problem…. there were no public restrooms where we were LOL but we managed to find a very large Honey Bucket which was…… better than nothing HAHAHAHA. I got changed into my costume first, and got to give Michael tips on how and where to shoot ^^ It was really fun, and I think he has a knack for photography.
I brought my Kotori Minami cosplay in her idolized Cheongsam outfit ^^ it makes me a bit self-conscious because there are a lot of pieces to the costume, and it’s very short… but I feel really pretty in it at the same time. And the photos Michael took of me in the costume make me really happy ;o;. Thank you again!!
We lugged around a lot of stuff…. not knowing we had to walk along trails, up and downhill LOL….
Next we wandered around trying to find the hydrangeas, which ended up being along a popular path… so we had to keep shooting even with people stopping to stare ^^;
they were so lovely though! Definitely a pretty area to shoot, even though we were standing inside the bushes HAHAHA.
My rose pin was a bit too loose haha ><
The lighting here was my absolute fave ;^; it created a lot of gentle colors.
By this time my legs were hurting a bit from crouching for so long, but it was so worth it!!
Next we took a small snack break while Michael got into his Slaine cosplay ^^!
very prince-like~
There are some other shots I want to add here later, but I have to fiddle around with the lighting some more ^^;
We decided to move back to the gazebo for more shots.
kya!
There were a lot of people around, also sitting in the gazebo from time to time, so it was awkward… but we did our best to not feel too self-conscious haha!
As the sun was getting higher and higher, it was a little harder to shoot Michael’s Shirou cosplay in this area >< but we did our best!!
His weapons are soooo cool ahhh!
We ran up and down hills trying to get scenic shots, but our creativity and energy died down at this point… hopefully we can do more photoshoots in the future — this time with my Saber cosplay too *^*!!
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After tiredly walking downhill back to the main road, we took another uber back downtown and headed home!