Costume, props, photo & editing: Chris | Black Heaven
Worn by: Trish
Worn by: Trish
Every attempt to do a blog wrap up catch up has been pretty much thrown to the wind coz I just suck and I really haven't done or gone anywhere worth talking about other than my Vegas vacation and even then there really wasnt much done then QvQ;; so I might just skip those all together....
Instead of catching up on old photoshoot sets I'm gonna take a pause as well and just talk about the recent one I did last weekend lol...
Moving on...
It took me about 2-3 weekends in total to put this shoot together. Thank you to squad and Trish for braving the cold with me and helping paint the rest of the items so this shoot could happen. If you follow me on social media you know I'm a big kantai collection fan *v* though 赤城 isn't my favorite ship...I still enjoy the series very much and wanted to do my own kantai shoot for the longest time.
Instead of going for the typical 'glamour' style photos I decided to forego that and really wanted to go for a shoot that evoked feelings and pushed the boundaries for the cosplayer a little bit more.
I made the costume from scratch using 100% cotton fabric (which allowed me to burn it. If you used a blended fabric it will most likely melt not burn). I first made it all nice and clean (a photo of it is on my facebook page prior to it being wrecked) Once all the components were sewn together we took to my backyard, armed with a lighter and cigarettes I went about to burning and ripping the fabric on the costume.
I appreciate Trish who had a good wide range of emotions during the set, and I think it helped that we were all tired (we did an all nighter) and went straight to the beach without sleep. Originally my plan was to shoot this at morningtwilight, as the sun was rising but we arrived a little too late...whoops. I will know better to budget time better...
we dressed the set with old bottles painted to look like torpedos and rods. My whole premise for the shoot was as if a night battle had just occurred; hence the tired and battle worn Akagi 赤城
Yes, we did get into the water and yes we shot this in December as the sun was rising. Honestly, the water wasn't as cold as we had anticipated. The rest of the crew was in wet suits. Myself, another photographer and Trish were not. But we made it out alive. Though I would advise to please exercise caution when shooting in mother nature!!!
I don't have much wip or BTS to share this time around but here is how I made the bow. Originally I had posted another tutorial on my Instagram on how to make the bow out of wires and paper machete. I was running really low on time so I scrapped that idea - plus it was getting really cold and there wouldn't be enough sunlight to dry my paper machete so opted for a long PVC pipe. Heat it with a heat gun (you can use direct heat but it will take longer) bend it and I also piped out glue on the edges to give it the ridges like how bamboo would. Painted it and string!
I hope you guys enjoyed this set. I was really happy with the outcome of the photos. I'm excited for future projects to come. And of course I'd love to shoot more Kancolle girls! (or guys ayeee)
Really cool and beautiful photoshoot!
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