November 19, 2012. Sweeps and Scoops.

Call me ignorant, but I don't really get the point of sweeping up all of the leaves during fall. They are natural, and biodegradable, not to mention fun to kick around. Why waste all of that effort picking up leaves and not, say, all of the trash on the ground??

November 18, 2012. Holes in the Sky

Colors, perspective and falling temperatures.

November 17, 2012. Variations of Expression.

Graffiti, perhaps controversial but it's an art form that speaks to the crowd a lot better than those high end, extravagant and strange art forms that seem simply odd rather than well-thought but are almost impossible to understand.
Of course not all graffiti is good, like those idiots who will simply badly sign their nicknames or write profanities on walls, but you can tell when the effort is there and when behind that effort lies a meaning. Graffiti is an urban art of expression, thus is often portrays urban themes. Many people who live in the city could not imagine living outside of it, they fear the outside, without their luxuries, comfort, technology... and that will sometimes stop them from thinking critically about the city they live in. Sometimes graffiti reminds us to think critically, and not just be mindless monkeys.

November 16, 2012. After School Play

Those after-school afternoons with friends, when the day's busy grind is gone and the wind blows cool.

November 15, 2012. So Instagramy

Going with a cliche shot with a cliche effect, and I'd like to talk about cellphone cameras.
"The best camera is the one in your hand." -Chase Jarvis
Many phones have better cameras than point-and-shoot cameras were a few years ago, and although they don't have most manual controls, if you compose your pictures well you can still have something worth someone else's time. In the end, a phone is a handy, portable device and you're more likely to be carrying it around than your camera, be it a DSLR or point-and-shoot, thus more photo opportunities are likely presenting themselves to you when you have only your phone at hand.
Now, I still took the photo above with my camera, I mean if I have it around there's no reason to use my phone, but I very well could have taken it with my phone, or a much more expensive camera and the differences would be minimal. You shouldn't judge a photo by the camera it was taken with, nor a photographer by his camera. I know a couple people with a good eye and they turn out good pictures even if it's just with their phones, and I've seen photographers here with giant lenses and expensive cameras taking bad graduation pictures when their money would've been better invested in some lights than pretentious gear.

November 14, 2012. These Crazy Coffee Shops

Oh I'm not saying I don't like them, it's actually quite interesting to find these quirky coffee shops hidden in back alleys. All of the main street ones are usually large franchises that carry the same, stale design and feel (and bad coffee). The best coffee I've had in Korea comes from the small, individually owned places where the walls and the people have character. Though I can't say I've tried the coffee here yet, it's still a nice place to stop by and stare at.

November 13, 2012. Mushroom Clouds

You've seen this cityscape before, but with the sun aligned like this I had a couple minutes to capture this interesting pattern before it disappeared. Sort of like a cloud of doom, mimicking a mushroom cloud, letting us know we are bringing about our own destruction.

November 12, 2012. Cold and Gray

An exhausted old lady selling magazines on a cold Monday afternoon.
For the supposed superiority of the elderly in Korea, we regularly see them working low end jobs in the streets, selling magazines, passing out flyers and pushing extremely heavy garbage and recycling carts around, sometimes so large you cannot see them behind it. These are jobs you will never see young people doing, so they are shunned on those who have no choice as nobody else will give them a job and they have no money.
It makes you wonder about their families, if they have any, and how they wound up where they are. Was it poor life decisions, or an inevitable ending to their situation from early on?

November 11, 2012. Interlude

Ok so here's the last I'll be posting of the shoot, this one in color and much calmer.

November 10, 2012. Thick Strings

Another photo from this set. Thanks to Ming Rui for lending us his base.
We had to get some rock music going but once she was into it we got tons of great shots. It was really hard to choose so Yvonne had to give me a hand. There's really not much more to say so play your rock music and enjoy!

November 9, 2012. Classic Rock and Roll

I'd like to mention some thanks first, to Rick for letting us use his studio room for the awesome black backdrop, to Jazzmin for the great modeling, Keena for giving a helpful hand and Yvonne for the great rock and roll makeup.

It was quite a shoot and we really brought out her rock demons. Though the lights didn't really go as planned we got a lot of good shots, so instead of only posting one photo from this shoot I will post two more this weekend to give myself a break as I have lots of things to catch up with. I hope you like it!

November 8, 2912. Blue Fog

 A busy long day, a friend asked us to model as a couple for a magazine cover, and I took advantage to get some shots down by the river since I don't go there much.
A funny story: As we were shooting, two drunk men come loudly down to the water, swearing and holding each other by the collar. To everyone's surprise they walk straight into the water (it was about 6 degrees out) and look like they were about to drown each other. Seems one was trying to force the other to swim across, but later was saying "lets cross together!" smiling but also swearing. After a while they finally sat down on the edge, wet, talking and occasionally going up in anger flares, yet you could oddly still tell they were friends. We left before them.

November 7, 2012. Yellow

Reconstruction and renovation happens at a rate that you don't even notice it anymore. It's ridiculous that you can't remember what used to be there before they even finish the new place because places pop up and go down like weeds and daisies.
Trees grow slowly, change at rates we don't notice, and become sturdy and reliable. The rest goes down and is placed in the trash. We should learn to grow like trees.

November 6, 2012. Children Don't Play When It's Cold

It's that time of year again when holding my camera for over a minute is long enough to freeze my fingers stiff, making it really painful to open the clips of my camera bag.
I think this fall brought disappointment to a lot of us. Like spring, it's the perfect weather topped with the beautiful scene of trees changing color, when you can comfortably go out with a light sweater and enjoy the great outdoors. Yet most of us have already pulled out the winter clothing supply.
Dear fall: I want my excitement back.

November 5, 2012. Long Way Home

I don't like riding buses, I always end up looking like that guy on the left if the ride becomes too long due to Seoul's long, winding, curvy roads. I'd much rather take the subway. Which do you prefer/use?

November 4, 2012. Crimson Leaves

They are a strong, ruby red and make me think of grapefruit, cranberries and red gatorade.

November 3, 2012. Red Road

Enjoying more of fall.
Actually today's photo was going to be of the lantern festival but there were way too many people, and it was a very large line to get in so I figured I'd go back on a later day when there's hopefully less people. So for today enjoy more of the falling leaves!

November 2, 2012. Evening Magic

The tiniest of tiniest of little glowing creatures that come up when the sun goes down, they hide under leaves when you're looking for them but they reveal themselves when you're not.

Locations I had scouted at the park on Monday had already lost a lot of leaves due to the windy weather which made the photoshoot a little more difficult. This was our first real shoot with a location and the lack of assistance made it tricky. The snippy cold weather wasn't helping either but we managed to get shots I'm pleased with.

November 1, 2012. The Future In Your Hands

I've never checked out fortune telling in Korea but it's too suspicious when there are so many of them. That's when you know its a scam, specially those over-decorated rooms with well-dressed ladies with too much makeup. In the end it's usually a girl thing to have their fortune told, as they want to know things like when they will meet their true love and when they will get married, and guys get forced to go with their girlfriends. Since even the people here know it's fake, they say you have to go to 5 different ones and if anything they say coincides then it's supposedly true.
I'm not about to pay 5$ per session for that though.