On day 4 of our trip, our family dressed up in 漢服 Hanfu for a professional photo shoot.
Inspiration
Last year, my uncle and aunt went back to Taiwan and did a “wedding” photo shoot that young couples conventionally do between engagement and the big day. The two of them had left Taiwan young and poor, without the means for such luxury. Decades later they now decided to go for a makeup session. It was adorable to see folks my parents’ age putting on a tuxedo and a white dress to document their love for each other. Hong and I were so inspired that we immediately went into the copycat mindset.
Hong did suggest that, having actually done a wedding photo shoot ourselves, we should aim for something different. But what? Then a couple months later, my coworker Shun went home to Chengdu and told me about the Hanfu photo shoot she did there. Oh hmm. We’d love that, wouldn’t we?
The Search
I consulted the mighty Google and learned that Taipei was nothing like Chengdu in terms embracing the Hanfu culture. There were plenty of wedding photographers and themed costume studios, but when it came to traditional Han Chinese outfits, I was only able to find two options:
- 小時代寫真館 (The Old Days Photography) was ideally located in 大稻埕 Da Dao Cheng, a neighborhood we intended to visit. However, while I read a favorable blog post about its Hanfu photography service, the vast majority of its rental wardrobes were themed around the 1920s Taipei (Japanese Wafufu and Manchurian Qi Pao styles). It was quite appropriate for the old-timer part of Taipei, but 500-1,000 years too modern for what we had in mind. Additionally, it only had female outfits, which made it a non-starter
- 英雄薛漢服 (Hero Hsueh) was a studio specializing in Hanfu. Its website had an impressive collection of highly artistic sample photos that can pretend to be TV drama screenshots. The main downside was the studio being in 林口 (Linkou), one of those towns outside Taipei that I had heard of but could not to locate on a map. It’s like telling a New Yorker to check something out in Secaucus… The physical distance may be a barrier but the mental block is more insurmountable. They offered couples service though with some men’s outfits in stock, which means they were the only business with what we were looking for
I reached out to the latter via Line. Conducting business over a chat app felt odd to me but was the norm in Asia. Hero the photographer and a stylist named Betty were both responsive and helpful. We had a dialogue going, and they also periodically pasted in large blocks of pre-written instructions and Q&A. Thanks to them being quite flexible in a couple ways, we got a session scheduled.
The first hurdle was their standard service packages being available to either a single person or a couple. When I inquired about including our kids, they initially said that they didn’t do children, and later agreed to include them in the standard price of a couples package. There may have been an honest misunderstanding at this point. Because my profile picture in Line was a selfie with Xuan from back when she was still a baby, the photographer thought I meant to bring “children” that were merely immobile props. They did stipulate that it was on us to source clothing for the kids, which was fair.
The other hurdle was that booking a session required a 50% deposit, possible only via a bank account transfer. Understanding that we were abroad without any Taiwanese banking relationship, they suggested that it was okay if we found a friend to make a minimal deposit (~3%) on our behalf. That lower requirement made it so much easier for me to ask Ma for help.
The dialogue continued throughout the following weeks. Hong and I selected our outfits from a list of photos showcasing what they had in stock. After that, we went on Ali Express and bought the kids the closest matching Hanfu dresses. The stylist dropped in periodic reminders including what not to eat the night before and when to wash our hair. You could tell that each note was timed with intention. I was quite impressed with these people’s attention to detail, and felt great about working with this studio.
The Photo Shoot
On the morning of our scheduled session, we took the MRT to Taipei Main Station and transferred onto the Airport MRT to Linkou. After getting off at the 長庚醫院 (Chang Gung Memorial Hospital) station, it was still a 10-minute walk in the sun to the studio. We stopped at a soy milk shop for breakfast, though it wasn’t very good.
The studio was in a residential building (pretty common for small businesses in Taiwan) above an optical store, so we were asked to message them upon arrival. Hero the photographer came to greet us and immediately gave us relaxed, friendly vibes. We walked up a short flight of stairs to their spacious and comfortably air-conditioned studio.
There we were greeted by stylists Betty and Nini. You know how it can be anxiety-inducing to do something for the first time, because it’s impossible to fully understand what to expect? This was the moment the anxiety went away, because everyone on the team seemed so personable. Conversations flowed naturally from our commute in to night market snacks to the studio’s other foreign clients, as if we had met before and been friends already. In contrast to the American sense of professionalism where personal boundaries are cautiously respected, the Taiwanese hospitality assumes less distance between people. It could be off-putting for the uninitiated, but to us it just felt like home.
Betty and Nini spent over two hours on our hair and makeup. Hong and Xuan went first. Normally I would have expected waiting on the couch to bore us to death, but time actually flew by quickly. It wasn’t like we had never seen hair and makeup but… we had never seen hair and makeup in the Hanfu style. The transformation was amazing, and I suppose that was what movie actors go through. Particularly fascinating was the hair part, because they added a bunch of extensions to each person for that full, complex, braided look. What we thought was “long” hair was not nearly enough to achieve the style seen in TV dramas.
All this happened while a nice list of songs played in the background. We had never heard of any of them before, but were immediately drawn to them. I Shazaam’ed a few back to back. With contemporary music done in the traditional Chinese style accompanied by poetic lyrics, each of them sounded like the opening or closing credits music in a period piece drama. Not sure if the kids knew enough to feel this way, but it certainly helped get Hong and I in the mood to look the part.
When Xuan was done, Ting got in the chair. My turn came last when Hong was finished. I had never worn makeup in my life but found the process surprisingly enjoyable. Maybe it was just the act of being pampered? Or maybe our stylist was highly skilled? Either way, the time passed comfortably in casual chatters. Compared to haircuts, the only other time I sat still in a chair to receive service, I liked this a lot more.
I had given Betty a heads-up about me having long hair, but she admitted to assuming I meant 2-3 inches of “long for a guy” kind of hair. It wasn’t everyday they had a male client walking in with a full ponytail. While it wasn’t long enough to avoid extension (only Xuan among us didn’t need extra length), my pandemic pride helped achieve a more natural-looking integration with all the extra stuff. Betty mentioned that most of their male clients were dragged in by their girlfriends, and the studio would ask them to grow out their hair a little first. I went back to the sample photos on the website and saw what she meant. Look closely at this dude, for example, and it’s obvious that he’s got some wig action attached to the back of a business-appropriate modern haircut. For anyone with the military kind of short hair, there really wouldn’t be any styling options available.
For the next hour or so, we did the photo shoot at the two scenery stations that the team had prepared for us. Hero gave us various posing instructions for both still and action shots, while the two stylists acted as assistants moving furniture and passing props. Photographers from our experience were always rigid and awkward, so we expected an uncomfortable session as a price to pay for some artistic pictures. That turned out to be not the case here. Hero was casual, flexible, and playful, so it mostly felt like we were playing a game as a group. Even Ting, who’s not usually too keen about following directions, had a very good time.
Time flew by when we were having fun. It was an incredible experience, and I was really impressed by how good each of us looked. Not that we don’t on a normal day, but it was super special to rock the style of our ancestors (as depicted in TV, anyway).
The Cost
The couples package that we purchased was 30,800 TWD, or just under $1,000 USD. It was squarely comparable to the premium-tier wedding photography in Taipei, and more than three times the casual options such as the photo studio in Da Dao Cheng. We didn’t really think too hard about it since Hero was the only studio offering what we wanted, and everything seemed affordable relative to San Francisco prices. On the other hand, 30k TWD was the average monthly salary of a college grad in Taipei, so this service would be considered a high-end luxury. Having done it, though, and looking back at the sample photos from other photographers, we saw the quality difference in outfit, hair, makeup, and backdrop. I’m really glad that we chose to do this, and thankful that this studio provided this level of service.
Adding hair and makeup for the kids was an extra 3,000 TWD, which I thought was a good deal since it added ~50% more time to the session but only ~10% to the cost.
Because we didn’t have a bank account in Taiwan and only made a minimal deposit, paying for the service required bringing a thick stack of 1,000 TWD bills. That was something else customary in that cash-based society that I felt awkward about.
The Post Production
Four weeks after the shoot, the studio sent us a Google Drive link with all 136 photos taken. When they said they’d send us the raw photos in the original quality, I didn’t think they meant 26 megapixel resolution images clocking in at 12MB each. That was a huge zip file to download! I don’t think we care to print these into posters, but we totally could… So this was another major difference between photographers in the US and those in Taiwan. The former tend to assume copyright and makes their clients pay extra for ownership of their own images, while the latter typically include all work products in the service package.
From there, we picked our favorite 16 from that list. A week later they sent us the final touched-up version. Here are half of them. Really excellent stuff. We are so happy with how they turned out.
Final Thoughts
Doing this Hanfu photo shoot was initially Hong’s idea. Then it became my passion project to make it happen, regardless of the cost (such as having to travel to Linkou). Finally, the kids wouldn’t stop talking about wanting to do it again.
The whole family had a blast with this experience, and were grateful that we had such an opportunity. Thank you to the Hero team for offering this service, being so accommodating with us, and making it such a memorable day.
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April 27, 2024 at 7:05 pm[…] Hanfu photo shoot turned out to be a major turning point. I absolutely loved how I looked, which was made possible in […]