What The F-Stop?

Snow and Daido Moriyama

2010-12-08T07:44:00.000-08:00

My co-worker introduced me to the work of Daido Moriyama yesterday. He is a Japanese photographer famous for high-contrast, black and white images. He tends to shoot in 1600 ISO to overexpose the photo, and then overdevelop it in the darkroom making for a really interesting effect. But the coolest thing about this kind of work is that it's incredibly easy to imitate on your own. Since his style is not so much using a tripod and lining up each shot with precision, but more of a haphazard kind of shooting style, you don't need any special equipment and you can shoot as you walk along the street (moving), even at night. The high ISO speeds will let you use slower shutter speeds for surprisingly clear shots at night. Then you need to boost your contrast and sharpness (I opted for highlights over sharpness because the sharpness tool on my photo editor is really terrible) on your camera or in the post processing. It's basically night photography made simple. These are some of the best shots I took tonight in the snow:

Let me know how mine stands up to the master... This was my first try..

세미원

2010-07-11T07:55:00.001-07:00

Outside

2010-06-13T05:29:00.000-07:00

A trip to the boyfriend's grandfather's grave left me with nothing to do while the menfolk took care of the grave maintenance. So, I pulled out my camera :-) Just as a note, I didn't do any post-processing on any of these photos..

My new sneakers. They are very bright pink...

Playing Pool

2010-06-08T17:15:00.000-07:00

While out last night, we stopped by Friends bar in Itaewon to play a little pool. The lighting was great here so I had to pull out the camera. All these were taken at 400 ISO.

As always, let me know what you think!

Back Alley

2010-05-31T07:43:00.001-07:00

Back alley not far from my house. It's a nice place to find some 돼지머리 or pig's head for sale. Always a lovely sight... and smell...

Dongdaemun At Night

2010-05-25T07:23:00.000-07:00

While waiting for the boyfriend at Dongdaemun, I decided to fool around with the camera a bit. I've wanted to fool around with the shutter speeds at night for a while. This was a good opportunity. Now, unfortunately, I don't have a tripod, which makes this kind of photography really difficult with my shaky hands. I had to balance my camera on a fence and set the timer to 2 seconds so that hitting the button didn't shake the camera. Even then 10 minutes of taking photos resulted in only 3 clear photos.

According to the stats on Flickr, these photos were taken between .5-.8 seconds at 100 ISO.

Most of my photos came out very blurry like this next one. I guess my hand just can't stay steady...

How did it turn out for my first time? Any recommendations for this kind of photography?

Images from Hadong

2010-05-13T06:27:00.000-07:00

Pagoda

Tiny cute Buddha

Entrance to the temple

Tea Ceremony

Roasting fresh picked green tea leaves

Long time no post. Sorry about that. Anyway, you all know I always update my other blog, http://smileyjkl.blogspot.com, right? You can see more details about the trip here.

Backstreets of Jongno

2010-03-21T07:42:00.000-07:00

If you walk around the back streets behind Jongno, you'll find some funny little places. This neighborhood was full of old style homes. It was rather strange, though to walk around. There seemed to be a large concentration of ajosshis drinking at 3 in the afternoon on a Sunday. Anyway, definitely worth the walk, just watch out for strange men stumbling through the streets on a Sunday afternoon.

Hammering Man

2010-03-11T06:39:00.000-08:00

Tuttle from The Seoul Patch clued me in on what has been a big mystery for the past year an a half. That strange moving statue near the Seoul History Museum. It is eveidently part of of a series , of sculptures, created by Jonathan Borofsky, called Hammering Men, built to celebrate "the worker". Wikipedia has a decent write up about the topic if you're concerned. You can find other Hammering Men in cities around the world.

Kyobo

2010-03-01T02:11:00.000-08:00

This should be enough reason to avoid Kyobo bookstore on a holiday...

Boston

2010-01-28T16:11:00.000-08:00

I'm back in Korea again, but I guess I never got around to posting these photos from Boston.

Waiting area for the Fung Wah Bus

2009-12-31T11:30:00.001-08:00

NYC Fung Wah Bus waiting area. This is why it's only $15 each way.

Kids...

2009-12-05T07:38:00.000-08:00

These were my kids from pre-school. They drove me nuts, but they could be super cute when they tried..

Hyo-Eun, my superstar

Jae Hoon always photographed well

Song Lee my beauty queen (and she knew it)

Jae Hoon again in another priceless moment

Just a moment in time

Alcatraz Prison

2009-11-23T22:33:00.000-08:00

A welcome to Alcatraz Island. Remnants of the prison, and the Native American occupancy from 1969-1970.
Guard Tower
From inside the dining hall

Don't help the prisoners escape!

Picking Persimmons

2009-10-26T09:07:00.000-07:00

Praying Mantis and His Prey

2009-10-19T19:48:00.000-07:00

Eyes

2009-10-03T08:57:00.001-07:00

I saw someone's photo on Flickr of a really cool eye shot and I wanted to try my own. These are just Ok... I want to try with some eye make up and see if it makes a difference...

Actually, I thought it would be cool if you could get a reflection in the eye, but I didn't succeed this time. Maybe I'll try again later...

Bali- Kuta

2009-10-03T08:50:00.000-07:00

These are some of my favorite photos from Bali... well, actually, I have a lot of favorite photos from Bali...

Suwon and Hwaseong Fortress

2009-10-02T06:38:00.001-07:00

This first photo was taken in the market near Paldalmun in Suwon. This man is making custom designed stamps on the street.

The rest of these photos were taken at Hwaseong Fortress. If you want to know more about my trip, see my other blog.

Some more photos from Bali... Nusa Lembongan and Ubud

2009-09-29T06:32:00.001-07:00

I've been quite lacking in inspiration lately, but I found some more nice photos from Bali that I never got around to posting, so enjoy!

Architecture of Bali

2009-08-02T01:48:00.000-07:00

Bali's unique architecture style struck me immediately. Compared to all the other places I've been, this style really stands out in the mind. I took these photos while passing by temples and homes. Seeing as how most Balinese are Hindus, their style is strikingly different than Korea, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, and even Vietnam, which are traditionally Buddhist countries and are all heavily influenced by Chinese architecture style.

If you haven't noticed, I was trying lots of different angles while shooting on this trip. I'm so tired of my boring photos where everything is taken straight on. There's no character. Let me know if I succeeded in taking more interesting shots this time around... If they are too dizzying, let me know too for next time...

Statues of Bali

2009-08-02T01:28:00.000-07:00

I was so fascinated by the stonework in Bali. Every restaurant, temple and even nicer homes had many beautiful statues. They often put their daily offering and incense on or around the statues, as you'll see. Most people in Bali practice Hinduism, unlike the rest of Indonesia which practices Islam. It was so amazing to see a different culture. I'm so accustomed to the Buddhist style that I've seen in every other country I've been to here... it was so refreshing to see something new.

Bali Dance

2009-08-01T23:42:00.000-07:00

I just returned to Seoul a few hours ago from Bali, and I have a lot of things I want to post, but I thought first I'd share some beautiful photos I took while watching a performance of Balinese dance on Friday night. All I have to say is that I love the zoom on my camera for letting me get such close up shots...

Bongeunsa

2009-07-23T04:46:00.000-07:00

I recently went on a temple stay at Bongeunsa. I had a great stay, and I was able to get a few decent photos too.

No matter how many photos I take of lanterns, I can't get enough of them...

Evening drumming ceremony at 6:00. This drum saves all the land creatures who hear it.

Rear view of the future Buddha in the early morning. Buildings of Seoul in the background.

Buddhas of Gyeongju

2009-06-11T05:01:00.000-07:00

On a recent trip to Gyeongju (a city 4 hours south of Seoul) I was able to get lots of great images of Buddha. If you want to learn more about Gyeongju, go to my other blog.

Jump!

2009-06-11T03:18:00.001-07:00

While in Gyeongju (Southern South Korea... see my other blog) we climbed a mountain called Namsan. We found this gorgeous viewpoint and we decided to see what we could do with some jump shots....

Jump shots are hard to get... there were a lot of flops....

Everland

2009-05-30T20:25:00.000-07:00

This weekend I went to Everland. Here are some of the photos I took. They had a decent zoo here too in addition to the theme park!

A Revisit to Namsan

2009-04-26T07:24:00.000-07:00

Here are some fun photos I took on my second visit to Namsan (with camera this time... my phone camera just doesn't do the trick)

At the Ball Game with my new camera!

2009-04-21T04:29:00.000-07:00

Sunday evening I went to check out a ball game at in Jamsil. While I was watching the game, I took some time to test out the zoom on my new camera. My Canon Powershot SX200. I decided this would be the best time to test out the 12x zoom. My camera also has a 4x digital zoom, which I sort of forgot about. So, anyway, I found that when you zoom out, it stops at 12x, the end of the optical zoom. But, if after it stops, you push it more, it moves into the digital zoom mode. Now, granted, I wouldn't want to use the digital zoom if I were doing anything important, but boy, was it fun to play with. 12x optical zoom x 4x digital zoom = 48x maximum zoom. Do you know how close you can get to the players using this? Well... let me just show you. And let me emphasize that these photos were not cropped, or edited at all, these are the original photos.

Just some shots to give you an idea of where I was sitting.

Maximum zoom: 48x
Pretty clear... I think, at least

30x zoom... I think

Some photos of home plate. You can kind of make out their faces!

Cheerleaders

The cheerleaders (yea they have cheerleaders at baseball games here) were in the stands along the 3rd base line. This is the full 48x zoom. See if you can find where they are in the photo:

I also found how to select only one color to display. But... I couldn't figure out how to change which color was highlighted....

The final decision....

2009-04-11T21:46:00.000-07:00

I've finally decided to buy the Canon Powershot SX200. It's small and compact, but it has a 12X zoom, and more importantly, it has full manual controls, plus aperture and shutter priority. I know it's not a perfect camera. People's main concerns seem to be the flash that pops up automatically (though I found in the shop if you cover it with your finger you can keep it from popping up.. as long as you don't move your finger) and that it has no viewfinder. But... I've probably used the viewfinder on my camera about 2 times in the 7 years I've had it... so... really I'm not concerned about that. The cover for the USB port seemed quite flimsy, but I guess that if it did fall off, it wouln't be the end of the world. The one on my camera is fairly flimsy too, but it's never given me a problem over the years....The controls, though, seem ultra easy to use when I tested it in the store, and that's my biggest concern with cameras. I don't want to be searching through menus for 5 minutes to take one shot.

I went to the Canon shop in Shincheon on Saturday. They were sold out, but I put my name down for the shipment coming in on Monday. It's going to be 468,000 won, wich is $351.00 USD today with the exchange rate. So.. basically I get the same price. I may get a memory card with it, though, which in the US, I guess you can't get for free anymore. My friend bought an IXUS while we were there, and they gave her a 4GB (!!!) memory card for free!(!!!). I'm hoping they'll do the same for me. I'll def buy an extra battery to go with the camera, since I don't want to risk running out of juice on a trip. Those cost about 47,000. I wonder if I can get that cheaper online or at Yongsan? I'm also wondering if I can get a small tripod... but that's something else I'd be better off getting in Yongsan... but... would I really use a tripod though???

Here's the CNET inital preview of the camera:

By the way, the IXUS my friend bought, while I would never buy it myself because it has very few options to play with (of if they are there, I couldn't find them, which is basically the same thing to me), actually takes some nice photos. She had it out last night and she took some amazing low light photos with no flash and they are as clear as day. I was shocked. So, if you are just looking for a point and shoot, this might be a good line to look at. I forget which model she got though. I think it's the newest one. It seemed a little pricy for what it was, and it doesn't take AA batteries, but it's another option out there.

Around Anguk...

2009-04-06T07:43:00.000-07:00

Yes! Spring is here!

Some cool, atypical shoes I found...

One of the traditional neighborhoods in this area...

Boy on the Chongyechong

2009-04-03T20:36:00.001-07:00

Motorbikes of Taipei

2009-04-03T20:30:00.000-07:00

Before I went to Vietnam, I thought that Taipei had more motorbikes than I'd ever seen before in my life. Yea, people do drive plenty of cars there, but they have entire parking lots just dedicated to motorbikes (something Seoul could use actually). Here is one of my favorites from Taipei...

Changgyeonggung III

2009-04-03T20:21:00.000-07:00

Here is yet another photo I took while at Changgyeonggung. Though it was December, there were still leaves on the trees. I played with the exposure on this one a bit. What do you think?

2009-04-03T19:46:00.000-07:00

Again it seems as though my best photos are taken by coincidence... This photo was taken at the DMZ between North and South Korea. This soldier is making sure no one takes any photos beyond the line, because on the other side is an incredible viewpoint of Kaesong in North Korea. I guess taking photos could somehow jeopardize.... something the South wants to keep secret..... anyway... whatever. I was on the other side of that line here.

Black and white is a slight improvement

2009-04-02T04:32:00.000-07:00

I've been so uninspired by my photos lately... Nothing I take seems blog worthy. I haven't really been anywhere too interesting lately anyway. Here's another photo from Hong Kong from when I went to the Big Buddha. There's something about the angle of the photo that I really don't like. But, I do like the statue a lot, and I like that little pagoda in the distance in the background..

Changgyeonggung II

2009-03-31T05:37:00.001-07:00

I found another photo from my trip to Changgyeonggung a few months ago. I cropped it a little, and I like it now:

Views of Hong Kong Island

2009-03-31T05:22:00.000-07:00

Hong Kong Island from Kowloon. Hong Kong has, by far, the most incredible cityscape that I've ever seen. Night or day it just took my breath away....

A view from the Star Ferry, crossing from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island.

I'm so fickle....

2009-03-31T05:00:00.000-07:00

Now I think this is the camera that I want. The Canon SX 200 IS. It's got almost everything an SLR has, but in mini form. Maybe it doesn't have everything a DSLR would, but it's probably smaller than my crappy camera now. One hitch? It's not released yet.... There's no reviews yet...

Supposedly it was supposed to come out at the end of this month. But every website I look at says 'temporarily out of stock'. IT'S MARCH 31st!!!! The month is over. Waaaa... what do I do???? Well, anyway, this is the runner up: Canon Powershot SX10 IS

Samsung VLUU WB500

2009-03-19T17:09:00.000-07:00

So... does anyone know anything about this camera? It's Korean... Samsung. Probably only sold in Korea, because I can't find any reviews on the typical camera review sites. I did find this one blog entry about it on Naver: http://blog.naver.com/meancoco/130042068988

What do you think?

Camera buying opportunity

2009-03-17T04:52:00.000-07:00

I've got the opportunity to buy a used Powershot s5 IS here in Seoul. The offer is 500,000 for the camera, all the included software and manuals, two memory cards plus a battery charger. The camera is about a year old. Is it worth it? Here are the specs: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons5is/. I'm going to check out the camera on Saturday.

And... cropped...

2009-03-09T09:07:00.001-07:00

Ok, it's later. Not really, ok, so I cropped it. What do you think? I'm really not sure...

Guardians

2009-03-09T09:01:00.000-07:00

So, I was just about to go to bed when I stumbled across this photo I took in January. I don't think I liked it at first, but the more I look at it, the more I like it. I just wish that stupid streetlight wasn't in the frame... maybe I'll crop it out or something later.....

Inwangsan Shamanist Shrine

2009-03-08T04:41:00.000-07:00

I didn't realize until after I came home and uploaded this photo, that you can see all the rays of sunshine. I really love this. It's not often that you can get a close-up of a rooftop. But, the hill was so steep here that I was walking right next to the roof from the house below. I wish that this was a little straighter. I didn't line up the roof tiles quite in line, it's slightly off-center.
A view of Namsan and Seoul Tower from Inwangsan.

2009-03-06T09:54:00.000-08:00

Swan boats in Yeouido on March 1st. Looked a little choppy out there, I'm glad I wasn't paddling around....

From the Top of Hong Kong....

2009-02-16T07:59:00.000-08:00

In case you can't tell, that's a dragon in the foreground here. In the background is a view from the top of Victoria Peak of Hong Kong Island. It was quite a nice site, though it was a little cloudy...
If it had been a clearer day, this would have given you a nice sight of the city scape of Hong Kong Island. I can't tell if I like this photo or not. I had to do a lot of post processing to get it to come out like this. With the contrast from light to dark, all the Chinese script up top was lost in shadow. Is it too grainy and unnatural looking now?

Quick snapshot turned portrait

2009-02-15T08:46:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo of a guy I met in Argentina. I didn't ask his permission to post this pic, so I don't know if it's weird, but it looks good I think.

Tian Tan Buddha

2009-02-02T08:41:00.000-08:00

As far as this trip goes, I was a little disappointed in the photo department. I was hoping to get some great shots, and I didn't shoot many that are up to my higher standards. I was also hoping to get a camera, but I was too scared to do it there. I guess I'm just going to do it here in Seoul. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

This is the Tian Tan Buddha, located on Lantau Island in Hong Kong. While it's only a 20 minuite cable car away, it is very remote and located far away in the mountains. Fortuantly or unfortuantly, however you choose to look at it, it is now very accessable by tourists by bus and cable car. On New Years day when I went, it was feeling a little crowded around here with all the visitors for the New Year.
I like this one. For once, I feel like the clouds actually help me out here.

2009-01-21T07:50:00.000-08:00

A little graffiti I found in Mendoza, Argentina. I don't think I need to translate.

2009-01-19T08:23:00.000-08:00

I thought this was a cool shot from the back of the taxi in Nha Trang. You can clearly see that it's been raining... which unfortunately was the hallmark of our trip. You can also see all the motorbikes. What a cool place.

2009-01-15T07:44:00.000-08:00

Some motorbikes in Ho Chi Minh City. Note the confetti on the ground. Probably left over from New Years festivities the night before.

Rather unoriginal... but still fun...

2009-01-14T06:34:00.001-08:00

Ok, ok. I know whenever anyone goes to a temple in Asia, they always get one of these photos.... but I had to do it too. Here are lanterns that people hang for good luck:

Turtles

2009-01-13T18:43:00.000-08:00

This shot may not be my best, but I just thought it looked interesting with the reflection in the water and the turtles in the foreground.

Hopefully this weekend I'll be getting a new digital camera... and when that happens... all bets are off! I also think I'm going to Hong Kong for Chinese New Year, so if that happens, I hope to get some amazing shots... lets hope I don't bring rain there too.

My newest, coolest new toy

2009-01-11T04:19:00.000-08:00

Today I discovered flickr.com. This is a very fun site for photography enthusiasts. Not only is it a web album, but it allows for lots of interaction with other users. I've already joined three groups. There are many groups for all sorts of photography and photographers.

Feel free to check out my photostream on flickr by clicking here. Add me as a friend, my screen name is smileyjkl. Just write to me and say that you found me on my blog.

Go now and sign up!

Here's today's photo:

This was taken in the Templo Motivo de Maipú in Santiago de Chile. I really like how all you can see are the windows because it was so dark in this part of the church.

2009-01-05T18:40:00.000-08:00

The old biologist in me may be repressed, but not gone. here is a tree I found by the beach. My guess is some sort of Arucaria. But, don't quote me on that.

Dinner?

2009-01-05T08:58:00.001-08:00

I came across this interesting scene only feet from the giant Buddha statue at Long Son Temple in Nha Trang. They were all standing around this chicken in such a way that I had to wonder if it was going to be dinner.

Do you like color or b&w better?

Up close and personal with Buddha

2009-01-04T08:03:00.000-08:00

While in Nha Trang, we took a rainy day to go on a tour of the city. Our first stop was Long Son Temple. We climbed the stairs to find these gargantuan statues of the Buddha.

Sleeping Buddha

Monks with Buddha

Gautama Buddha

Gautama Buddha up close

While it fortunately wasn't raining while we were here, the skies were ominously gray. I think I've decided I don't like photographing when the skies are like this. wouldn't this photo be amazing with a brilliant blue sky behind? Too bad we didn't see any brilliant blue skies during our time in Nha Trang.

Motorbikes of Vietnam

2009-01-04T04:22:00.000-08:00

Ho Chi Minh City is a city filled with motorbikes like nothing I could have ever imagined in my wildest dreams. With few exceptions, the only cars on the road belong to taxis and trucks. Everything else is motorbikes. To pay homage to this phenomenon, I have dedicated this post the motorbikes of Vietnam.

Boys in Nha Trang

2009-01-04T01:48:00.000-08:00

I just came home from 10 days in Vietnam. Hopefully over the next few days I will be posting my better photos here.

I took this photo of some boys playing on the beach in Nha Trang. I cropped it a few different ways, but I can't tell which I like the most.

Here is the original photo.

Here is a slightly cropped photo. I like the clouds in the background.

Here I cropped the image down so it's just the boys on the beach. Which do you like best?

Seoul Land at Night

2008-12-21T19:03:00.000-08:00

While walking home from the Museum of Contemporary Art Sunday night, we passed Seoul Land all lit up for the night. This is an amusement park that steals some of Disney's ideas. My friend suggested a photo as we were walking past, so I figured I'd give it a shot. I like the reflection on the water and the outline of the buildings in lights.

2008-12-20T21:39:00.000-08:00

I really like this photo for some reason. I think it's the contrast between bright red and fluorescent white. Besides, writing in other languages is always more interesting than in our own language. Would this be nearly as interesting if the signs were in English?

In the subway

2008-12-20T20:48:00.001-08:00

These are all photos I took while in the subway. They aren't really my greatest shots. They seem a little dull to me. And they came out so blurry. Hopefully I will get a second shot at this when I get a new camera.

Ok, this doesn't look like a subway shot, but I actually took this while riding over a bridge over the Han river on Line 2. I had no idea there was a fence here, because when you're going that fast, your eyes can't distinguish that. I like this photo because of the brilliant blue of the water in contrast to the white fence. I also like that you can see the shadow of the cable on top of the train on the fence. It's really the only hint that you're on a train other than the fact that the fence is slightly blurred.

At first I didn't like this shot, but the more I look at it, the more it grows on me. This man looks a little sullen and just lost in his own world. Again, the photo is grainy and pixilated. This could be so much better.

Another boring, blurry photo from the subway that I took while waiting for my train in Dongdaemun Station.

I like these two photos because they are good perspective shots. Unfortunately, there is nothing interesting about them besides that.

Street Vendors

2008-12-20T20:34:00.000-08:00

I always walk by street vendors and think that they would be perfect subjects for some shots. Unfortunately, I don't have the courage to go up to them and take their photo. Is it proper etiquette to ask permission? Either way it seems a little awkward, especially since I have no idea how to say that in Korean.

Yesterday I grabbed these two opportunities to take photos of vendors. In both cases they had no idea I was photographing, so I felt OK doing it. Does that make it better?? Or am I just now a creepy photographer who sneaks up on strangers??This is the fruit vendor near my house. I've always meant to buy something, but I hardly ever buy fruit, and when I do it's usually at the supermarket. Work seems to get stocked on fruit occasionally, so that's where I got my fruit fix. This photo was shot at about 6:00 in the evening. I wasn't sure whether or not to lighten this photo because it makes it a bit grainy. But, once I lightened it, you could see the writing on the boxes and the shine from the sewer cap, which I think makes it a little more interesting.

Here are some snack vendors in Myeongdong. They were so busy that they didn't even notice me right in front of them snapping this photo. I like this photo because this sort of cart is so common here, especially at this time of year. Chestnuts, especially roasted chestnuts are so popular with the Koreans. I tried my first chestnut a few weeks ago. I wasn't that impressed.

A Huaso in Chile

2008-12-16T07:18:00.000-08:00

A Huaso is the Chilean version of the cowboy. These men are skilled horsemen and are often romanticized in the folklore tradition. My first week in Chile, I was able to view this demonstration of huaso horsemanship (is that a word?). The things this huaso could do with his horse were amazing.

2008-12-15T05:55:00.000-08:00

Playing with colors... Here are some wooden figures that I found in the Korean Folk Village in Suwon. I don't know much about these figures, but they are very interesting. Anyone know anything about these guys? I was playing around with the colors on this photo, but I can't decide what looks best. What do you think?

Canopy Walk in Costa Rica

2008-12-13T19:39:00.000-08:00

Canopy walk in the rain forest in Monteverde, Costa Rica. It was raining, but it was still spectacular.

Waterfall in Torres del Paine

2008-12-13T10:27:00.000-08:00

This photo was taken in Torres del Paine National Park in Patagonia, Chile in March 2006. I'm glad that there is a person down there by the falls to give you some perspective to the size.

Changgyeonggung

2008-12-13T03:56:00.000-08:00

Today we headed down to Jongmyo and Changgyeonggung and I was able to get a few good shots. The skies were a little cloudy, but but there were so few people around that I was able to take lots of photos. Unfortunately, my camera batteries died half way through the palace, so these are what I was able to take.

A sun dial that is way to complicated for me to figure out

Front gate to Changgyeonggung

Brick wall inside Changgyeonggung

A structure inside Changgyeonggung that struck us as more intersesting than most of the other buildings.

An ajumma and two ajossis sitting outside Jongmyo

Typical Korean palace eaves. They generally follow the same color and pattern in every palace and temple.

My Digital Editor

2008-12-12T18:09:00.000-08:00

No, I don't have Photoshop, or any other fancy editing software. I use the newest edition of iPhoto. While I realize that you can do amazing things with Photoshop, I'm just an amateur, and I don't see the point of shelling out all that cash to get the fancy software. iPhoto lets me do 95%of what I want to do. Now with this photography blog, I've been spending more time in iPhoto trying to make my photos look more decent. I've just found some new features that I never noticed before. You can straighten images, reduce or increase shadows, sharpen (which sometimes looks good and sometimes just makes your photo look unnatural) along with many of the normal features like reducing red-eye, B&W, Sepia, etc. I really like this straightening feature. Check out what I was able to do with that photo with the boys at the folk village with this tool.

My Camera

2008-12-12T07:40:00.000-08:00

I have to say, as sad as my camera seems sometimes, it has treated me very well over the years for what it is. Its 3.2 megapixels wasn't even high class when I got it about 5 years ago. It doesn't help that I've been taking most of my photos on the lowest resolution possible to maximize the space on my 512 mb memory card (I have about 1,000 photos on that thing, not including at least 10 videos). I complain a lot about my camera, but it really has been a good friend to me over the years.

I've been thinking recently that it might be time to invest in something a little more advanced. I've been shopping around. I don't want a DSLR, because as much as I like photography, I admit I'm never going to take the time to use it like it should be used. That being said, the more I investigate, the more I find some quite affordable cameras that have aperture and shutter priority.

Canon has two cameras that looked manageable for me. Does anyone know about these cameras, or other cameras? I don't want anything too bulky, or complicated. In theory I know how to use an SLR, but I was never great at it. I need something that gives me enough options that I can play around and have fun without getting lost and bogged down in some instruction manual. My camera knowledge is sadly lacking in many areas.

Powershot SX110

PowerShot A590

Boys Playing At The Korean Folk Village

2008-12-12T07:30:00.000-08:00

I really like this photo I took at the Korean Folk Village in Suwon. These kids look like they are just having a blast with this mill. I know that stylistically this photo has some issues, but I still like it.

Seoul Station

2008-12-12T06:26:00.000-08:00

This is a photo I took on my way into Seoul Station back in July. Seoul Station is a large station where two subway lines meet and where many intercity trains arrive and depart from. This photo doesn't have much soul (no pun intended) but I feel as though it would look great on some website advertising the station.

Images from Gyongbukgung

2008-12-11T18:11:00.000-08:00

On a beautiful, but blisteringly cold day, I made my second trip to Gyongbuk Palace in Seoul. The skies were much clearer than the first time I went last summer and my photos came out much better.

On the roofs of many buildings within the palace walls, guardians such as these protect the royal family's residence.

Here is the front gate to the palace. I cropped more sky out of this photo because I was not sure if there was too much blue in the other photo. Here is the original. What do you think?

Part of me sort of likes this one better........

Here is a flag belonging to one of the palace guards. I took this during the changing of the guards ceremony. The wind was whipping so strongly that I could barely open my eyes because of the dirt blowing in my face, but I did snap this photo. I really like the clouds and sun in the background, and the flag itself is really fun. I wonder if the ugly buildings in the background detract from the photo though? And what about the fact that the upper corner of the flag is cut off?

Arco Iris de Patagonia

2008-12-11T17:55:00.000-08:00

One of my all time favorite photos. I dare not touch it in editing because this captures exactly what the scenery looked like at the time. This photo was taken on a boat in Patagonia, Chile in March 2006. The water truly is this color due to the minerals from the glacier melt. Amazing.

Tomb Guardian

2008-12-11T17:50:00.000-08:00

I took this photo on a beautiful day in October. Here in Seoul, there is a park not too far from COEX mall where the tombs of several kings of the Joseon dynasty are held. This is a guardian placed in front of the tomb of King Sejong, the greatest king in Korean history. He has been credited for many of the achievements of Korean civilization, such as hangul, the Korean alphabet.I don't know much about digital editing, but does this look better with a color boost?

I don't know much about digital editing, but does this look better with a color boost?