I did not really want to write an introduction for the Figurative Story posts but I realized that I left out an important part in the previous post mentioning the narrative-based shoots – the appreciation part. How could I forget something as important as that? This post, and the three coming ones, could not have been possible without the great help of Wcloudxkumo, who provided his knowledge and camera help; Squee, for his camera and also help with the shooting of the figures; Justin for his expertise in photoshoots and his shots during the Fantasy theme shoot, and finally the other members of Team Blue (and anyone else) who joined us in those gatherings and shoots.
I am no longer able to write narratives as well as I used to, and any image that looks bad can be attributed to my poor Photoshop skills and not to any of the above-mentioned people. After the jump, it is all about the narrative, and I will no longer do introductions for the other posts. Also, I am continuing directly from the narrative in Blanc Neige’s shoot, which is linked at the end of this post.
Cheers, I hope this will be of great interest to figure collectors around the world. All pictures in this post were taken at the Japanese Garden locally, and the only camera used was the Nikon D40.
**********
“Well, that certainly took some time! Really, how long did you want to make us wait?” Elwing pouted as we both made our way back into the pavilion that was our temporary shelter for the remainder of the day. I mumbled an apology, realizing that though my favorite girl of the day was Blanc Neige, there were still the other girls that I also had to help with their shoots of. After all, the invitation had been sent to all six of them, not just Blanc Neige.
“Is there a need to get so upset about it, Elwing? We didn’t really take that long,” Blanc Neige came to my defence, slowly moving to get a seat opposite Elwing.
“Well, I want my pictures taken too! It isn’t fair if you went alone the whole time Blanc Neige.”
“We weren’t going to take the whole day, and you knew that. Why not go with him now then?” Blanc Neige took off her cloak as she sat.
Elwing was about to say something when Mao jumped up, “Hey, it should be our turn! Come on now, how can you leave out the bubbly girls first!?”
“Right right!” came the fourth member of the group, Suzume. “Mao and I want some done of us too!”
“Not fair!” Elwing instantly replied before anyone could say anything. “It should be my turn!” She then turned to the fifth member present. “Say something, Kureha!”
“Well, I don’t really think there’s a need to rush. Since Mao and Suzume want to go first, why not let them? We can always take ours later, Elwing, and I don’t think Amethyst minds too.” Ah Kureha, always the appeasing party, soft and sweet. Elwing found no retort to that, while Amethyst merely nodded her head. And thus I was dragged off by two upbeat catgirls insistent on me taking their pictures, as we left Elwing sulking in a corner.
“This spot looks good!” Suzume exclaimed after we walked not too far from the pavilion. Glancing at the background she had chosen, it was indeed a fine selection, for the trees behind afforded some cover to whatever was behind, becoming a natural backdrop for the two girls’ pictures. I nodded my assent, and Mao went, “Alright, here we go then! Oh, and remember what we wanted, Suzume?”
“Sure do!” and the two girls posed. I sighed inwardly, and started clicking away.
I glanced at my shots, and then told them, “Um ladies? Could you get a little closer?”
“Oh! How close do you want it? Like this?” And Mao went right up to Suzume, and I must have blushed upon seeing them initiate actual physical contact in the chest area. Giggling, Mao said, “Ok ok! How’s this?” I looked at them again, and said, “That’d be best.” Suzume laughed at my awkwardness.
Taking shots of the two catgirls made me realize we were leaving out an important member who was also, technically, a catgirl. I turned to call for Amethyst, and she left the pavilion shortly, carrying her sword with her as always. Her movements were sleek; her combat form was obvious.
“Oh why bring it Amethyst, we’re not going to be doing any fighting. Leave the sword behind will you?” Mao said.
“It goes where I go. That is all,” came the somewhat cold reply.
Suzume shrugged. “If she wants to, Mao. Besides, not like it’s going to get much in our way. Come on Amethyst, come in between us!” And so she did. I hastened to prepare myself for the shots, and in so doing, accidentally snapped a shot.
“Hey! We weren’t ready!” Suzume shouted.
“Yeah I know, sorry, it was an accident…”
The girls finished their posing, and Suzume and Mao said in unison, “Ok, let’s go!” Amethyst remained quiet, never smiling once all this while.
“Oh look, Elwing’s getting really impatient,” Mao grinned. We looked back at the pavilion, where an exasperated Elwing could be seen talking to both Blanc Neige and Kureha. “Should we continue?”
“Ladies, we need to be fair. Besides, I am not sure how long this will last, remember I still have to head to the beach later on,” I replied, hoping to avert further disaster. It worked.
“Oh well, if you say so,” Suzume sighed. “Amethyst, can you go call for Elwing, and I think she wants Blanc Neige to take shots with her instead of doing it alone. Me and Mao want to move around a lil’, take a look around the place. Thanks!” And off she went with Mao without even waiting for Amethyst’s consent.
Without even so much as an expression of emotion, Amethyst headed back to the pavilion, and Elwing gushed forth in her enthusiasm at her turn finally arriving. Blanc Neige took a more leisurely approach, opting to walk the short distance unlike Elwing, who ran.
“So, where do we shoot? What do we do? How do we pose? Come on, come on! Don’t just stand there, tell me! Do I do this, or that? Or like this? Or what?” The torrent of questions made it impossible for me to answer at any rate.
“Calm down, Elwing,” Blanc Neige said. “It’s not like he’s running away.”
“You don’t want individual shots for yourself, Elwing?” I asked.
“Not really, I think I did one before, and besides,” and she dragged Blanc Neige closer, “it’s better to take pictures together!” I could find no objection to that. The cute and the beautiful in a single picture. What more could a photographer ask for?
I noticed Elwing was now looking away from the camera, but before I could determine what it was that had made her do so, I decided to snap one more shot of her at this angle.
“So, can I join in?” Kureha’s words suddenly came from behind me, startling me a little. So that was what had made Elwing look away.
“Of course Kureha! Hey hey take some of me with her, pretty please?” Elwing darted to Kureha’s side. Of course, I could not refuse, though I looked to Blanc Neige first. She seemed indifferent to the sudden shun. Probably used to it, I thought.
“Oh, Blanc Neige! Come and join us, the three girls here of Wind!” Elwing waved.
“Three?” Blanc Neige asked as she moved closer. “Aren’t you forgetting someone else?”
“Oh! But she isn’t here at the moment. Let’s just take some together first, ok?”
“Well, if you want to.” Without her cloak, Blanc Neige continued to look radiant. “You don’t mind right, Kureha?”
Kureha shook her head slightly. “It’s better with more people, I guess. Let’s start.”
“Hey hey! That isn’t fair! You gals are trying to take pictures of the present Wind members without the leader of Weissritter?” Mao appeared from out of nowhere, and I was unable to take any more shots. Suzume appeared behind her.
“Well, you were wondering around and we didn’t know where you were. Besides, it would have been a hassle to chase after you just for pictures.” Blanc Neige must have been hiding a smile, I was sure of it.
“What? Too much of a hassle to look for your leader? I can’t believe this!”
“Well, you can always join in now,” Kureha added, and Elwing chipped in a “Yea, yea!”
“You all are just teasing me right?” Mao gave a glare, though it was all in jest. I got ready to take shots of the available girls from Shining Wind at hand.
I suddenly had an idea, as Suzume and Amethyst were both nearby. “Say, why don’t we try with a group shot of everyone?” I asked.
“What? Are you sure that can be done?” Suzume asked from the side.
“We could always give it a try, it’s better than nothing. Any objections, girls?” I turned to the group.
“Not really, I’m fine with it,” Blanc Neige said.
“I’m ok with anything too,” Kureha added.
“The more’s the merrier!” Both Elwing and Mao said at the same time. Amethyst seemed indifferent or distant, I was unsure which.
“Ok, let’s give it a shot then.” I arranged the girls as best as I could, but it was still quite the trick. At last though, we did make do with what we could, ending our time at the Garden of Fantasies.
I was packing up even as I asked the girls, “So who’s going to the beach later?”
Most of them shook their heads. Elwing said, “Well I’m going, but I’m not sure if anyone else really wants to come.”
“I’ll come. It doesn’t seem like I have much else to do anyway.” Blanc Neige surprised me with this statement. Of the girls available, she was among the last I would expect to see at the beach. The thought of seeing her in a swimsuit nearly choked me.
“Yay! I’ve got someone to accompany me then!” Elwing beamed. “But we’re all going to meet again tonight, right?”
“Yeah,” Mao answered, “at the garden of the Palace of the Gods. Amethyst, Suzume and I will make our way there first then, see you guys!”
Ah, the wonders of a shoot with beautiful girls, I thought, as I left the Garden of Fantasies.
**********
Related Posts
The Garden of Fantasies Full Album
Figurative Story Part 2 – Beach Bikinis
Figurative Story Part 3 – The Palace of the Gods
A Dark Cat – Shigyoku Lynx
Elven Beauty – Elwing la Sylphis (Figure)
Auburn August – Touka Kureha
White Snow – Ira Blanc Neige Gardenias (Figure)
White Snow – Ira Blanc Neige Gardenias (Night Figure)
Team Blue’s Figurative Story
Related Reviews/Links
AkibaHobby’s Blanc Neige Review
Foo-bar-baz’s Blanc Neige Review
HappySoda’s Blanc Neige Review
Wcloudxkumo’s Blanc Neige Review
Blanc Neige’s Review @ Exelica Meteor
Shimbori baron’s pavilion’s Blanc Neige Review
Tsundere’s Blanc Neige Review
AkibaHobby’s Kureha Review
Foo-bar-baz’s Kureha Review
Danny Choo’s Kureha Review
AkibaHobby’s Elwing Review
Foo-bar-baz’s Elwing Review
Wcloudxkumo’s Elwing Review
Lsio’s Elwing Review Part 1
Lsio’s Elwing Review Part 2
Foo-bar-baz’s Mao Review
Foo-bar-baz’s Suzume Review
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Eh, why so many repeated shots?
That was… long… lol
Nice shots there panther, I like the last shot best, but could be better if it was shot a bit farther I think, and fixed the angle a bit. Seems unbalanced…
tl,dr ^^
Did you think of the story afterwards or did you already know what you want to shoot beforehand?
How long did it take you guys?
@double -
Actually they were slightly different shots, it was difficult enough “posing” them, it was near impossible to take good pictures otherwise. I just took the best of which could be used as close-ups, or as profiles, and asked for pictures accordingly. This was more a “fit to the camera” thing.
@Kazearashi -
Almost impossible. The lack of a good location to place all six figures, and the fact that some of those figures were in unfriendly poses, and had ultra big bases for their small size (especially Mao), made it very difficult to take different shots. I would have shopped them individually but that would take too much work. The enlarged pictures look better, at least.
Also they were meant to be taken from a low position, but the rock itself was already pretty low, so that was difficult to pull off too.
@Blowfish -
The hell, tl;dr? There are 4 parts to this, 5 if you include Blanc Neige’s first.
I thought of the narrative using the pictures I had at hand, instead of bothering much about the poses at first. Some of those pictures were thanks to the first night shoot, which will be featured last, where we got some ideas for the shots. The fantasy one was roughly 2-3 hours at least in the day. Beach was another 2-3 hours, night shoots were easily a combined 6 over 2 days.
Kureha is so tall! 8D
And from the thumbnails, looks like Amethyst is smiling.
I like the Elwing + Blanc Neige shots. Must’ve been hard taking pictures of Elwing, considering the angle her head and gaze are facing. ^^;
@Mizunaga -
I have the figure so I know, Shigyoku is not smiling. Kureha is a 1/7, so yes, her size posed quite a few problems during the shoot.
It was, but it was harder to do the triple shots of the Wind girls, the quad shots, and the final group shots were almost impossible.
it seem >_< there are having a booby competition
@Kippei -
No they are not! What makes you think they are? :(
That Mao figure looks better then the prototype pictures gave her credit for. She was the ONLY Kotobukiya Shining lady I was unsure of if I wanted, but I ended up pre-ordering her anyway because it’s be a shame to be 1 short of the complete set. I’m glad I ordered her your pictures are assuring.
@lovelyduckie -
Haha my pictures are also not the actual review, check out FBB’s review for better coverage. In Shining Tears and Wind, I only am interested mainly in these 4 girls, and Celestia (who is not yet out).