pik november 2013

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[ PIK ] PHOTOGRAPHERS IN KOREA | ISSUE 2 , NOVEMBER 2013

P I KP H O T O G R A P H E R S I N K O R E A

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http://www.photographersinkorea.com

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P I K[

You Focus.

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P I K[ ]+

We Share.

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Only a little bit more than a month has passed but it feels like it’s been so much longer since we started the project. We’ve received so much work and have created such a big network that it’s not easy to accept that it has only been a few weeks. We all have ideas, we all create on a daily basis, but it’s not always that ideas pick up so fast, and turn a baby into a teenager in a blink. Regardless of the speed we welcome the rhythm, we enjoy the challenge. This new fall issue is full of what autumn is famous for: a variety of colors. Colors have meanings and feelings attached to them, they affect the way we feel. We wanted to give a little extra, and prepare you for the upcoming white months. The year has been saving up for its grand finale: an amazing autumn. Enjoy fall. Enjoy issue 2.

P I K[ ]+

Joe Wabe

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P I KCOLLABORATORS JOE WABE founder, design & art directorLORRYN SMITchief editor JORDAN VANHARTINGSVELDTpress sub-editorRELJA KOJIC photograpy columnist contributer COREY MALCOLM LAJEUNESSE photography editor & consultantMARK EATON photography expert JOHN STEELE photography editor & consultant

WE RECOMMEND READING PIK IN FULL-SCREEN MODE IF YOU ARE ON A PC. ALTHOUGH NONE OF OUR CONTENT COULD BE REGARDED OFFENSIVE IT DOES CONTAIN NUDE PHOTOGRAPHY. MINORS SHOULD READ UNDER ADULT GUIDANCE.

ISSUE 2

p h o t o g r a p h e r s i n k o r e a . c o m

Joe Wabe

cover by a.c. parsons

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DIRK SCHLOTTMANN RICHARQUIS DE SADE MATTHEW THERONGERMANY NEW ZEALAND SOUTH AFRICA

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e d i t o r @ p h o t o g r a p h e r s i n k o r e a . c o m

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MATTHEW THERON

ENGLANDSIMON BOND

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PI

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Featuredphotographers

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e d i t o r @ p h o t o g r a p h e r s i n k o r e a . c o m

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COVER CONTESTOCTOBER PIK

Near Greenland Abandoned Amusement Park.Bomun Mountain, Daejeon

Nikon D8018-55mm Nikon DX Lens

1/500, f/5.6, 40mm, ISO 200

Gwangju downtown during The 10th 7080 Chungjang Recollection Festival.

Canon 60D Canon EF85mm f/1.8 USM

1/500 sec at f/2.0, ISO 100

During the month of October we ran a picture contest , looking for the best picture to feature in our November issue cover. We received an amazing amount of photos on a daily bases. We had very difficult decisions to make but it ultimately came down to one cover favorite and four honor-able mentions. We were drawn into our cover choice due the uniquenss of its compostion.We were incredibly grateful for the level of photography that was sent to us and we look for-ward to the next contest.

WINNER

Photo By A.C. Parsons

Photo By Reuel Lontoc

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Andong Mask Dance Festival - Hahoe VillageCanon 5D Mark IIIEF 70-200 f/2.8L IS II USM + 2x EF Extender III (Teleconverter)1/1250 sec at f/5.6 300mm ISO 1000

NamguCanon EOS Rebel T3iCanon 24-105L47mm, f6.3, 1/160Alien bee 800, 47” Octobox and a Vagabond Mini portable power

Yangsuri - DoomoolmeoriNikon D600Nikkor 14-24mm17mm, F13, 1/60thsec, ISO 100

Photo By John Steele

Photo By Antwon Maxwell

Photo David Baas

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foliage: the big four

With the summer humidity thank-fully gone and the crisp autumn mornings upon us, landscape pho-tographers will finally be coming out of the woodwork and once again traveling about the peninsula to cap-ture the very best of the fall colors. This season is the best for landscap-ers, in my opinion, what with the dramatic cloud formations, the vivid foliage, and a much higher chance of morning mists. I myself love finding lowlands brimming with undulating fogs, the peaks of small mountains the only things cresting through the eerie blanch.

The “big four” when it comes to what I’ll term foliaging are – not surpris-ingly – all mountains: Seoraksan, Jirisan, Naejangsan, and Gwanak-san. This is not to say the mountains around Korea are not worth investi-gating (you may, in fact, prefer to visit one of those to avoid the crowds), but these are guaranteed to give you the best foliaging across the peninsula.

Listed below are the four National Parks, their attractive qualities, and directions courtesy of the Korean Tourism Organization.

By Jordan VanHartingsveldt [email protected]

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Seoraksan in Gangwondo

Possibly the most iconic autumn peak on the Korean peninsula, Seoraksan is also famous for its mineral springs. A long soak after a strenuous hike along the trails would do wonders to rejuvenate the creative soul.

How to get there:From the Sokcho Intercity/Express Bus Terminal, take Bus 7 or 7-1 and get off at Seorak-dong.

Jirisan on the borders of Gyeong-sangnamdo, Jeollabukdo, and Jeol-lanamdo

The “sweetheart” of many Korean philosophers, poets, and sages, Jiri-san is a very close second to Seorak

when it comes to fall foliage. The Piagol Valley in particular attracts many sightseers every year.

How to get there:Take the Express Bus to Gurye. Take a bus towards Seongsamjae and No-godan from the Gurye Bus Terminal and get off at Seongsamjae Parking Lot. The Bus runs eight times a day at 04:00,06:00, 08:20, 10:20, 11:40, 13:30, 15:40, and 17:40 and takes between 50 minutes and an hour to arrive.

Naejangsan on the border of Jeolla-bukdo and Jeollanamdo

Even at the best of times, life can interfere with established plans. If you’ve missed a majority of the peak

foliage, fear not: the best colors don’t come until the first week of Novem-ber at Naejangsan.

How to get there:From Jeongeup Bus Terminal, take Bus 171 to Naejangsan National Park (내장산).

Gwanaksan in Gyeonggido

People who can’t afford the hours of travel required for the Seorak, Jiri, and Naejang Mountains will be happy to know that a famous foliaging site, Gwanaksan, is accessible by the Seoul metro system.

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get up early!In last month’s article, I talked about shooting at twilight to get those beautiful sky colors in your land-scape shots. This is the time of day when the light quality is at its best. In order to make it for the morning twilight, you have to Get Up Early!

There is no way around it. Depend-ing on the time of year (sunrise time) and how far away the location is, I regularly wake up at 2-3am to get to the spot. If I am going farther, say more than one hour away, I typically leave late the night before or around 12-1am. In addition, I arrive at the location at least an hour before twi-

light, and in this article I want to out-line the reasons for doing so.

1) Prepare for the unexpected – Sometimes when going to a location, something unexpected happens. I remember one time a few months ago my friends and I were driving to a mountain top in Pyoungchang to shoot star trails. Halfway up the mountain the road had been closed due to heavy rains, so we had to move on to plan B (always have a plan B!). If we did not arrive early, this would

not have been possible.

By John Steele

https://www.facebook.com/jasontealephoto

http://www.johnsteelephoto.com/

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get up early!

2) Claim your spot – Many of the places that I shoot in Korea are well-known among photographers. Even when I arrive at 4am or earlier, there are usually 30-50 photographers al-ready there, and only a limited num-ber of prime shooting spots. One trick that I use if I am expecting such a crowd is to bring 2 tripods. I have a really cheap, plastic one that I set up and use to claim my spot and I use my nice tripod to shoot pre-twilight shots as I look around the area.

3) Familiarize yourself – When you go for a morning shoot, more often than not you are going to the place for the

first time. If you get there early, you can locate the subject that you came to shoot, and find the best shooting spot/angle. In addition to this, you have time to look around the area and find other interesting subjects to shoot before twilight comes. At this time (pre-twilight) things look re-ally different, almost otherworldly, and you can get some amazing shots. The shots highlighted on these pages were all shot during this time.

4) Get your settings right – In the ear-ly morning, even if you’ve had your coffee, your mind can be a little fuzzy and there are a lot of things to think

about as far as settings go. If you ar-rive early you will have time to get your settings and filters sorted out, take some test shots, and make any necessary adjustments. As you can see there are a number of reasons to get up and arrive early. These tips have helped me to get many early morning landscape shots with amazing light, and I think they can help you as well. So next time, set your alarm clocks and you will be rewarded!

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[ dirk schlottmann]

Dirk Schlottmann is a German photographer based in Korea since 2008. The main subjects of his photog-raphy are people and documentary.

Asian Spirituality

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[ dirk schlottmann]

His work revolves around connecting and capturing the essential human spirit through the perception of an ethnologist and the heart of an artist. For the last few years, his visual an-thropological work centers essential-ly on the relation between man and the sacred.

Asian SpiritualityTheyyam Dance

Theyyam-”dance of the deities”is a several thousand year old tradition of sacred performances in Kerala. In Theyyam, the male performer – in whom the deity manifests itself – is dressed in a sophisticated costume to identify the particular entity. The ritual violence that can take place at Theyyam demonstrates the kind of power that these gods are believed to possess. They can be dangerous, tem-peramental and wayward.

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Korean Shaman

Korean shamanism has adapted to modernization without abandoning its spiritual and religious function. Lee Hae-Kyeong is a modern shaman who promotes her shamanic activity through various media, but her rit-uals (gut) maintain the strict, tradi-tional sequences of the ecstatic

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Asian Spirituality has been a long-term project since the beginning of the millennium. The goal of the project is to give an impression of ecstatic rituals, ceremonies with elements of trance, and shaman-ic practices in Asia. The work has been a journey through the strange philosophies of different Asian cul-tures. An end to this journey is not yet in sight.

As long as the photographer is still on the move, you can follow the tour on his blog: www.photoanthropos.com

Naga Baba in Varanasi

In Hinduism, the word sadhu (“holy man”) is used to denote the ascetic monk renouncing worldly pleasures in pursuit of higher values of life to at-tain enlightenment. The Sadhu tradi-tion in India has a long history which can be traced back to the Vedic Age. The defining features of Naga Sadhus include nudity with long hairs knot-ted with different metals and a body smeared with ashes.

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[ richarquis de sade]

The great big miniature world of macro, a place most people pay little attention to. Since I first became interested in photography, I have been constantly drawn to macro.

Big Miniature World

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[ richarquis de sade]

There are a million photographers taking great landscapes, doing won-derful street photography, creating amazing Photoshop design work, and everything between. Those are all great things, but macro is my pas-sion. I love the complexity and detail of a world that is right there under our noses, every second of our lives, but goes largely unnoticed by most. Shooting macro comes with its own unique challenges. With such small subjects, you need to shoot right up close. Combine such small distances with high magnification levels (true macro lenses, by definition, have a magnification level of at least 1:1 at their minimum focus distance) and your depth of field becomes extreme-ly shallow (my lenses have a DOF of less than 1mm at minimum distance.) The slightest movement of your sub-ject, or your camera, can ruin a carefully composed frame.Big Miniature World

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Many macro shooters employ focus stacking, a technique which requires them to take multiple exposures of their subject, refocused each time, then combined in Photoshop to cre-ate a final image that is in full sharp focus from front to back. This is where a good macro rail is essential.

Personally, I can’t be bothered with focus stacking. I love the challenge of finding the most interesting focal point, and getting the shot in a sin-gle frame. Also, as I only like to shoot insects that are alive, I don’t have the luxury of having them sit still long enough to do that. Capturing their living, breathing essence is the back-bone of my preferential way of work-ing.

Lighting can also be a difficult task. You will often be so close to your subject that much of your required light may be obscured by you or your camera. Insects will not sit still long enough for a long exposure shot set as compensation for the low light. An external flash, or a dedicated macro flash, is often essential, as is a good tripod.

Expensive macro lenses aren’t essen-tial, however. Extension tubes, add-ed to a regular lens, make a much cheaper alternative. They move the lens further from the sensor plane, which increases magnification. I pre-fer a proper dedicated macro lens, but they are not cheap, so tubes are the more reasonable choice for most people.

If the idea of macro interests you, I say go for it, but don’t expect it to be an easy ride. It requires specific gear and an extraordinary amount of pa-tience. The results, however, can be startling. The wonder of being able to make out the individual segments of an insect’s eyes or count how many hairs it has on its front leg is endlessly fascinating to me.

My macro rigs, are a Canon EOS 60D; a Canon EOS 5D MkII; a Canon EF 180 f/3.5L 1x macro lens; a Can-on MP-E 65 f/2.8 1-5x macro lens; a Canon 580 EX speedlite; a Shock-wave radio triggers; a Horus Bennu macro ringflash; a Horus Bennu an-gled viewfinder; a Velbon macro rail; a Manfrotto 190X PROB tripod; and a Manfrotto 322RC2 trigger head.

https://www.facebook.com/richarquis

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[ matthew theron ]

Cosplay conventions are unique events presenting a whole range of new opportunities for photographers, including hundreds of models dressed up and very eager for you to photograph them.

Cosplay Korea

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[ matthew theron ]It is the perfect situation for photog-raphers of any level to get out and practise their skills.

So what is Cosplay? Cosplay; a short-ened term for costume play, is where people get dressed as characters from comics, anime, manga, television or just about anything.

Cosplay in Korea is quite active with events being held almost every month in Seoul and Busan, attracting everyone from amateur and hobbyist photographers to professionals with lighting equipment and pro gear.

Cosplay Korea

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A few Do’s and Don’ts

Do be friendly and always ask before photographing a model. The models enjoy being photographed, but do remember to show them the photo-graph on the camera afterwards and if possible, get their contact details to either send them the actual images or a link to view the photos.

Distributing business cards or papers with the link for your website is of-ten the easiest way if you don’t speak Korean.

Don’t walk through or set up your gear in the middle of someone else’s shoot. If a photographer is already busy with a model, don’t just start clicking away; ask the model and the photographer first or wait until the photographer has finished.

Equipment and shooting tips

Seoul’s cosplay events are usually held at the SETEC in Gangnam or the AT Center in Yangjae; both having rivers and parks behind them as potential backdrops for the models. In Busan, however, they are held at BEXCO, leaving a large glass and steel build-ing in the background of most of your shots. This makes equipment choice very important.

Getting a shallow depth of field to blur out most of the background re-quires lenses with apertures of F1.4 / F2.8. Whether in Busan or Seoul, there will be a large amount of people in the background, making a shal-low depth of field very important, as well as an awareness of what is in the background.

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Always remember that the back-ground is just as important as the sub-ject, since you don’t want anything dis-tracting your viewer from your subject or focal point.

If you plan to only shoot portraits, a 50mm or 85mm lens will be ideal. But if you would like to fit the whole mod-el, a wide angle lens with a focal length of 16mm or 24mm is a good idea.

A flash/speedlight or a reflector is handy in helping to eliminate the dark shadows caused by shooting in direct sunlight. A great method for filling in the shadows without blowing out highlights on your subject is to set your flash compensation to -1.

Cosplay events are fun for everybody, so bring your camera to the next one and experience it yourself. For information about upcoming events go to:

www.comicw.co.kr www.facebook.com/KoreanCosplay

https://www.facebook.com/matthew.theron.50%3Ffref%3Dts

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[ simon bond ]

In my formative years I’d always wanted to be a sci-entist, perhaps because my first science teacher was such a good one and inspired me. I also had a good photography teacher but he got there second and so it was I went to university to study not photography but biochemistry.

simple scene, sensational shot

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[ simon bond ]

It wasn’t until I arrived in South Ko-rea in 2006 having decided to leave my science career behind that I start-ed to become more and more serious about photography.

As it happens perhaps it benefitted my photography that I studied sci-ence, as it has allowed me to approach photography at a different angle than other people. I’m still a scientist at heart, and love to experiment but now it’s in the field of photography.

I got my first dSLR camera just prior to arriving in Korea, my Granny had passed away that summer and left me and my sister some inheritance mon-ey. My family told me to spend the money on something meaningful to me, and so I bought a camera. I felt that taking photos with the camera was a nice homage to my Granny, though I have since upgraded my camera I still keep the one I bought with that inheritance money.

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As a photographer I was quickly told I had a style that was recognisable as my own, and that this style was very graphic. I never felt my style cut me off from any particular type of pho-tography though as I like all forms of photography from street to HDR, rather I always looked to apply my style to the different genres of pho-tography out there. This eclectic ap-proach to photography did leave me lacking a signature style though, but that would arrive in 2009 when I started using a crystal ball. The use of a crystal ball felt like the distillation of everything I’d done in photography, and really thrust me forward into the public eye. It’s true that others had also used crystal balls in photography before me, but I was able to apply my style to this area and make something that was uniquely mine.

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“ ” This was recognised only a few months into this project through get-ting published in 2 national newspa-pers in the UK, the daily telegraph and the metro.The next big project I’d work on was to publish my first book, and interestingly the reason I had the chance to make that book was for first being noticed for the refraction work I’d previously done. The book was called “simple scene, sensational shot”, and is aimed at those who are new to photography. The book was a

good chance to get down in writing everything I’d done for the last few years in photography; it was a great way to consolidate my knowledge. Upon finishing the book I was able to go travelling for an extended pe-riod for the first time and explore the world with my camera. I’m now back in Korea, but my heart will al-ways be on the road as a travel pho-tographer.

As it happens perhaps it benefitted my photog-raphy that I studied sci-ence, as it has allowed me to approach photog-raphy at a different angle than other people.

https://www.facebook.com/369photography%3Ffref%3Dts

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best of

On September 5th, , 2013 photo enthusiasts took part in photo walks around the globe. The walk is a social photography event where photographers get together in any public area to walk around, take some photos, and generally have fun with other photographers. Four expats led walks across Korea: Joe Wabe (Gwangju), Matthew Theron (Gwanghwamun, Seoul), Zelri Coetzee (Gangnam, Seoul) and Jason Teale (Ulsan).The walk presents the perfect op-portunity to capture Korea at its finest in the beautiful October weather, while everybody is going about their everyday life.

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GwangjuPhoto By Simon Bond

Photo By Chanelle Marais

Photo By Joe Wabe

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Gwangju

Photo By Jordan VanHartingsveldt

Photo By Ek Sisamout

Photo Dan FranshamPhoto By Relja Kojic

Photo By Lorryn Smit

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Photo By Peter DeMarco

Photo Mcbeth Omega

Photo by Vincent Carvalho

Photo By Jeff Freeman

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UlsanPhoto By Jason Teale

Photo By Scott Rotzoll

Photo Mcbeth Omega

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Seoul

Photo By Mark Barnes

Photo By Roche Meggersee

Photo By Shawni Danner

Photo By Stephanie Anglemyer

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Photo By Mark Barnes

Photo By Jamie Keener

Photo By Glenn Sundeen

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Gangnam

Photo By Rainiel Ladia

Photo By Jeku Arce

Photo By Jihyun Jung

Photo By Shawni Danner

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Gangnam

Photo By Daniel Spink

Photo By Mitzie van der Merwe

Photo By Alfie Gempesaw

Photo By Bryan Marte

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SimpleIdeas

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What started out, as a simple idea has become a style that I have been devel-oping, and a skill that, as it develops, will hopefully become something of a niche?

Back in the beginning of the year, I had an idea. I was looking at some stickers of Chinese opera masks that I had picked up in Hong Kong a few years back. I thought, “What if I painted these things instead?”. So I picked up a couple colors, had some friends volunteer their faces, and then painted my first make-up ‘mask’. From there, my influences became masks from other cultures, jewelry designs, and animals. Then one day, as I was reading the news online, I came across a news article about the contesting of the sale of tribal masks in the UK. I looked at those masks,

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read what it was all about, and was in-spired to create a whole series of paint designs. After getting the first sketch on paper I asked myself why I should stop at the neck, and proceeded to de-sign entire body designs.

Armed with several colors of profes-sional body paint, a few brushes and sponges, and a willingness to cre-ate something new, I got a bunch of volunteers. 30 shoots later, I had my series, and am set to start exhibiting this winter. Upon completion of that series, I wanted to continue to devel-op my skill with body paint, so I start-ed to design ‘super hero’ and ‘pin-up’ body paint designs as well.

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The rest, as they say, is history. I in-tend to continue to challenge myself with increasingly complex designs, including movie/book characters, fantasy, and a variety of themes. I hope to be able to offer body paint/photography packages for sale by the beginning of 2014.

Also, look for my Native American mask inspired body paint/photo se-ries entitled ‘Spirit of Nature’ to be on display at venues in and around Seoul in the coming months.

https://www.facebook.com/events/173780272823968/

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Ohlens baby

Oh Lensbaby, I have such a love/hate relationship with you. I love how you open up new creative possibilities in my work. But I hate the extremely meticulous approach I need to take in order to get acceptable work out of you. Allow me to elaborate:

I own a Lensbaby Composer Pro with the Edge 80, Sweet 35, and fish-eye optics. Along with those, I have macro extension rings and a variety of ND and polarizing filters. This is all kept in an awesome little system bag that Lensbaby offers that is su-

premely handy. I shoot all of this on an old Nikon D90.

In my time with the Composer Pro, I’ve come to a simple conclusion; I need a new camera. Now don’t mis-understand and think that I’m stating that the D90 is incapable of working with the Lensbaby system. Just that MY D90 is incapable of doing so due to a drift of autofocus accuracy that means it consistently back focuses.

“But the Lensbaby is entirely man-ual?” you say. “It doesn’t need auto-

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By Relja Kojic [email protected]

focus!”. Well, when you’re focusing manually through the viewfinder you’re looking at a focus indicator on the bottom of the viewfinder to tell you if you’re in focus. This is the same indicator that tells you when your AF is locked on. Which means that if my D90 continually back focuses in AF, it will back focus when I’m manually focusing. But why don’t I just eyeball it through the viewfinder? Because DSLR viewfinders are not optimized for manual focus. They don’t have the split screens of the SLRs of yesteryear.

The sum result of this AF conun-drum is that I am usually forced to slow down, open live view, zoom into the subject in the frame, absolutely set the right focus using the zoomed in image, zoom out, check my com-position, and finally take the photo. That’s the procedure for when I shoot the fisheye optic, since it doesn’t re-quire any lens movements. The list is longer and usually includes the use of a tripod for the Edge 80 and Sweet 35. Also, throw exposure into that list too since the D90 can’t meter without CPU contacts from the lens.

But when I get everything just right, the Composer Pro is a dream come true. The Edge 80 and fisheye optics are my particular favorites. The Edge 80 because of the beautiful sharp-ness wide open and spectacular blur when tilting. The Edge 80 truly is the cheapest option for anyone wanting to try tilt photography that produces miniature effects. Of course, you can do it in post. But I’ve always loved the satisfaction of getting everything right at the location.

The fisheye is a blast since it gives me a new perspective to explore. It’s not supremely sharp by any measure, but if you already own a Lensbaby, then buying a fisheye optic is the cheapest option if you want a fisheye lens. It’s a ton of fun and the fisheye definite-ly spends the most time in my Com-poser Pro. It’s convinced me to buy a dedicated fisheye lens further down the line.

I’ve only owned the Composer Pro for just under a year now and it’s a constant learning experience. Once I overcome the initial dread of the amount of work I need to do to get the images I want, I usually have a blast. My advice for purchasing? See if you can try it out first. It’s not for everyone. But I can guarantee that you’ll definitely go “WOW!” the first time you put any of the optics in your camera.

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Help Gwangju’s underprivileged children enjoy a visit from Santa.Volunteers will be given an orphan’s name for whom they will purchase

a specified gift, roughly between 20 and 30 thousand won. The gift will be given to the child around Christmas time.

For more details visit : “Adopt a Child for Christmas” – Gwangju page on Facebook.

2013 Adopt-a-Child for Christmas

https://www.facebook.com/groups/426585294073867/

pik november 2013

Documents

p i kp h o t o g r

p h e r s i n

korea issue

c o m7 pik photographers

p i kyou focus

issue cover

c o mjoe wabecover

new fall issue