A poolside strip in the Hong Kong heat

Green fronds crowd the edge of a pool, and she stands right in the middle of it, easing a small top off her shoulders and letting it fall. What follows is a striptease built from tiny decisions: a hip angled toward the lens, fingers tracing her ribs, a held pause before the last piece goes.

Older stock lends the picture a warm, slightly soft grain that suits the humidity of the place. She holds the camera’s eye through most of it, more amused than solemn, and by the close her hands are doing the work the clothes had been doing.