Isn’t the digital revolution a wonderful thing? Now anyone can be a photographer. Cue mountain, switch to black and white setting, click and voila: Ansell Adams, look and learn.
There are statues all over Korea dedicated to Admiral Yi, who was famous for attacking and defeating the invading navy of Japan in the late 1500s using a flotilla of iron-clad “turtle boats”. This one is my favourite and can be found in the park at the base of the Pusan Tower. What a guy.
Of course, this dragon did not really belong to Admiral Yi who, as far as I can tell, possessed no pets. But it’s nice to dream sometimes. I love dragons.
Ronnie Mac gets overwhelmed by pushy Pusan teenagers eager to catch a glimpse of their favourite stars at the Pusan International Film Festival.
The girl everyone went berserk for – can’t remember her name but she is huge. One boy asked me to take a picture of her – “just her” – because I was taller than everyone else there.
Andrew and Jueun try hard to look natural on a bus on the way to an outdoor movie. Their kindness in putting me up at their house will never be forgotten.
The huge outdoor screen on which trippy graphics were played while a string/rock fusion group played a medley of cinema music. The film, “The Two Brothers”, was eminently forgettable. But the occasion wasn’t.
A car covered with the distinctive calling cards of Korean call girls forms the centrepiece of a demonstration to mark the first anniversary of the Sex Trade Prevention Act organised by Sallim, a supporting NGO for women victims of sex trafficking. The area where the Film Festival was being held is notorious for prostitution.
My favourite image from Korea so far: a close-up of a mural on a wall next to the Pusan municipal history museum in Nampodong.
During my first Asialink residency I stayed in a hostel in the Jongno sam-ga (종로3가) area of Seoul.
The Jongno area constitutes the old core of the city, roughly bordered by Sejong-daero in the west, the palace district to the north, Jongmyo to the east and the renovated Cheonggyecheon stream to the south.
The entire area is a warren of alleyways and streets lit up at night by insanely bright neon signs, most of which advertise shops, bars, restaurants and PC Bangs.
This is what it looked like in 2005. God knows what it looks like now.
