Fragments from South Korea II: places

Despite the collection of people and street captures from my previous post, during my trip to South Korea last March there were also the customary cultural visits; what could be called as the landmarks trip was, no doubt, also plan of my program: I wanted to see the monuments and places that have shaped Korean history up to now, and those places were unavoidable. Today's post will be, in consequence, all about them: the old palaces, the traditional houses but also the new, modern buildings that coexist next to each other will appear here with no clear separation between them, as that is how I found them: unplanned neighbors that, altogether, form the broader picture of the current Korean landscape.

Changdeokgung Palace, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Gyeongbokgung Palace, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Grey spring, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Dry ivy, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Cable car, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

There were sunny days and cloudy ones; cold and warm afternoons, days with company and lonely walks, coffees and teas, beds and futons, brick hostels and hanoks (traditional Korean houses), yet a sense of familiarity soon grew within me as I traveled the country; despite the rapid modernization and the diversity of the places and even the costumes, Koreans possess (and exhibit) a very compact culture and, no matter where you go, you will see it clearly. They have embraced the new era but they haven't forgotten their roots, and I could see as much with clarity in every city (big and small) I set feet on.

Resting hut, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Horizontal & vertical, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Greenhouse, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

DMZ, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Lonely stroll, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

A conversation between nature, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

The calendar said that spring had just began, and the most South I traveled, the clearer this was to spot: Seoul was still shaking the colds of winter off its body, yet down in Gyeongju a warmer weather welcomed me and started awaking the flowers in the trees; they were still shy and sparse, yet sprouts and blooms could be seen here and there giving the landscape a much needed bit of color.

Blossoming, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Patterns, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Warm afternoon, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Sunset & flowers I, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Sunset & flowers II, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

The queen of the park I,  GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

The queen of the park II, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Nights were still cold, however, so my days tended to end up right after dinner or not much later after that, thus my photographies were taken mostly at daytime, but some places had a special glow after sunset and I didn't want to miss the chance to see them and capture their eerie beauty with the artificial lamps that were illuminating them as all other natural lights faded into oblivion.

Night trees I, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Night trees II, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Night trees III, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

And finally I reached my Southernmost destination: Busan. Not that many km from Gyeongju, or from Seoul for that matter, yet the weather was completely different (hot and windy) and the skies a much brighter blue, devoid of all traces of grey clouds and haze, which invited people to go out much more. Signs of a life lived outdoors could be spotted everywhere (from retired heaters to incipient crops to exhibitionist bar terraces) and that, in turn, infected me as well and invited me to walk much more than in previous, uninviting days.

Yellow, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Winter is gone, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Waiting for warmer days, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Time to sow, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Someone's at home, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Yes, spring had reached the South of the Korean peninsula at full throttle already, and nowhere could this be seen more visibly than in Dalmaji-gil, an upper-class neighborhood on the steep slopes of Dalmaji hill, facing Haeundae Beach, where hundreds of blossomed cherry trees exhibited their flowers to hordes of tourists (mostly locals and Chinese) walking up and down the lane under the soft shade of the trees.

Cherry orchard, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Cherry claws, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

The cherry tower I, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

The cherry tower II, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

The cherry tower III, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

The cherry tower IV, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

And thus my trip ended in a warm, colorful note. A perfect farewell for a trip long time in the making that finally came and went in the blink of an eye.

Fragments from South Korea I: people

South Korea was the first Asian country I got in touch personally with when I was still living in Spain, thanks to a good friend that had been born in that faraway country yet whose family had emigrated to Spain when he was still a toddler so, despite his looks, for all intents and purposes he was, and is, Spanish. After him I met a few other Koreans that were in Spain for different reasons and my interest and appreciation of their country never kept on growing. Strangely enough, however, once I had the chance to finally move to Asia (and that was already 8 years ago) I never visited South Korea to pay a visit to the culture that, very probably, started it all. But finally, in my last holidays, I put an end to that unfair delay and I flew to South Korea for a 2 weeks trip that would let me see first hand if all my imagination had been accumulating these years had any resemblance to the real deal or not.

Walking on red, Lumix GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

No way out, Lumix GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Passing through, Lumix GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Music for everyone, Lumix GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Probably, the main source of the mental image I had of South Korea didn't come directly from the Korean people I have met throughout my life, but from the cinema, since I'm a big follower of South Korean cinematography, so it was only natural that the first thing that caught my attention when I landed in the country, more than the landscapes or monuments, was the people; during the 2 weeks I spent in different cities of the country, from North to South, I kept walking the streets, letting the vibe of every place fill me and fill my camera. People of all sorts and conditions, walking or working, aware or unaware of me, in full color or in black and white.

Straight ahead, Lumix GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Subway jaws I, Lumix GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Subway jaws II, Lumix GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Intermittent shadows, Lumix GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Lost, Lumix GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Despite my preconceived and cinematographic image of the country, I didn't shoot in a wide aspect ratio and I stuck to my camera's native 4:3, both horizontally and vertically, which may indicate that I primarily saw things with my own eyes, later translating those images to my camera, and not the other way around, which is the way that the cinema works, imposing its rules and formats to create stories built around them. In a sense, I could say that this was more a realistic portray of the things I encountered than a creation of an idea of my own. 

A message of steam and aroma, Lumix GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Robot body, Lumix GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

The mender, Lumix GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

A world of her own, Lumix GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Sunset ascent, Lumix GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

In & out, Lumix GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

I won't try to make a study on Korean people here, because 2 weeks (or even 2 years for that matter) are not enough to comprehend the diversity and complexity of any society, so there won't be statements or analysis here; rather, I'm happy to present a humble recollection of captures of people of different sorts in different arrangements and environments, each one of them totally individual and idiosyncratic. I believe photography is not about generalizations but the total opposite: every frame is an independent slice of life, and the associations that may arise from the order of captures that I follow in this post don't intent to extract any conclusions or deeper meanings; the only grouping factors I have followed are two: color vs. monochrome, and single people vs. groups of them.

Before mass, Lumix GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Crossing, Lumix GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Flows, Lumix GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Out of the darkness, Lumix GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

The bride, the couple, the photographers, Lumix GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Avoiding stereotypes is, nevertheless, very difficult, and some common places always find their way into any travel album. I'm not exception, and since stereotypes are, for better or worse, part of any culture and society, it's futile to try fighting against them, so whenever I encountered myself in a situation where I had to shoot one of those talked-about places, I just tried my best to show them in a different light rather than avoiding them completely. Landmarks and traditional costumes ended up in my camera, but with a bit of creativity, even the most repeated cliches can be turned around and shown in a slightly different way. 

Evening romance, Lumix GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Hanbok couple, Lumix GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

The model in the palace, Lumix GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Modern anachronism, Lumix GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

But faces are not all that a traveller sees during his trips, so in order to see the landscapes and monuments I encountered during this trip, head to this post here. But today, the faces and bodies remain the only participants of our little conversation.