PIK ISSUE #9 JUNE

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P H O T O G R A [PPIKH] PHOTOGRAPHERS E R S IN IKOREA N | ISSUE K 8O, mayR 2014 E A

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[ PIK ] PHOTOGRAPHERS IN KOREA | ISSUE 8 , may 2014

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

P I K

We cannot stop the winter or the summer from coming. We cannot stop the spring or the fall or make them other than they are.

They are gifts from the universe that we cannot refuse. But we can choose what we will contribute to life when each arrives.

Gary Zukav

Photo by Martin Bennie

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ISSUE

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CONTRIBUTERS JOE WABE

founder, design & art director

LORRYN SMIT chief editor

JORDAN VANHARTINGSVELDT press sub-editor

RELJA KOJIC

photograpy columnist contributer

YEOUL PARK translator

JOHN STEELE

photography editor & consultant

[ PIK ] PHOTOGRAPHERS IN KOREA | ISSUE 8 , may 2014

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JohnJackson K.

Faulk

Bennie

Marius

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Andrew

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Stankiewicz

Jackson 6

John K.

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june cover by Martin Bennie

6ě›”

Dominic C. Harris 8

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I S S U E

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

[ PIK ] PHOTOGRAPHERS IN KOREA | ISSUE 8 , may 2014

Editors’s Choice

s k i P May

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We have been receiving excellent work for the past few months and the quality is just getting better and better. This made us very excited and we decided to feature the best of the best in each issue to show our appreciation. Thank you to each and every contributor we enjoyed seeing May from different angles!

[ PIK ] PHOTOGRAPHERS IN KOREA | ISSUE 8 , may 2014

Photo by Simon Slater

Photo by Darius Harrison

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Photo by Joe Wabe

[ PIK ] PHOTOGRAPHERS IN KOREA | ISSUE 8 , may 2014

Photo by Roxy Hutton

Photo by Pu Deth

Photo by Justine Carlyle

12- Lorryn Smit 13- Simon Slater 14- Scott Rotzoll 15- Eyok Wun Sim 16- Michael Sta Ana 17- Douglas Macdonald 18- Dylan Goldby

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Photo by Leigh MacArthur

Photo by Marco Devon

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Photo by Damodaran Pn

Photo by Yuki Eyok Wun Sim

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Photo by Martin Bennie

Photo by Will Hopkinson

[ PIK ] PHOTOGRAPHERS IN KOREA | ISSUE 8 , may 2014

Photo by Scott Rotzoll

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Photo by Pipo Gempesaw

Photo by Jayne Cho

[ PIK ] PHOTOGRAPHERS IN KOREA | ISSUE 8 , may 2014

[

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with Dorette Reyneke

1- How did it all begin?

I studied art direction at an advertising school, and we had to make a lot of our own images in order to create ads for assessments. This guided me to always look at things from different angles. We did photography 101, but I never really got into it back then. It was only when we moved to Korea and my dad bought me my first (used) entry level DSLR. I got myself the nifty 50mm f1.8 and soon after we took off for Beijing for Chinese New Year and when I saw what I could do with what I had, I was hooked.

3- What would your best advice be?

Use what you’ve got. I strongly believe that you are not defined as a good photographer because of your gear. People want more gadgets, better cameras and who knows what else in order to improve. My friend Ilze once said to me: “The best camera out there, is the one you already have”. Don’t feel the need upgrade constantly, or that you need a million different lenses. Just focus on creating an image through the viewfinder.

2-Tell us about your favorite photograph you have taken thus far? 4-What do you fear?

That’s a tough one. One is a sunset street scene that I took in George Town, Malaysia. Then there’s also a dandelion picture that I love, which I took with my Lensbaby macro when I lived on Geoje Island. I don’t think it’s something to go crazy about, but it’s just the fact that I was able to get that focused, center shot of the dandelion that made me so happy. I went at it for at least 20 minutes, and I just didn’t want to let it go.

I wouldn’t say I fear it, but being compared to other photographers.

Photography is an art form, and each photographer has a different and unique style. I also fear family members. Because they’re always saying things like, “Oh you should come to little Suzie’s birthday... and bring your camera”. Ha!

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5. What do you wish you knew when you started out?

I wish I knew back then that my cheap kit lenses are actually pretty awesome lenses to travel with because I never worry about them getting damaged or maybe even stolen. They are my carefree lenses.

I also wish that I started photography sooner in my life, while I was still living in London. That jewel of a city has endless charm and character just waiting to be photographed.

[ PIKwork ] PHOTOGRAPHERS IN KOREA | ISSUE 8 , may 2014 You can view more of Dorettes’s at https://www.facebook.com/dotsiamphotography

[ Andrew Faulk ]

Before going to uni my parents about th Leaving home, my pa to mold and craft a

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iversity, I had a conversation with he fundamental aspects of change. arents explained, was an opportunity a new identity.

[ PIK ] PHOTOGRAPHERS IN KOREA | ISSUE 8 , may 2014

In a new environment, the preacher’s son can dye his hair pink. Nickolas can decide he wants to be called Beau.

The loose girl can become a prude.

Sally can decide to stop hiding her inner nerd. The bully can correct their ways. With fresh surroundings, we are no longer confined to geographic norms or bound by parental expectation.

The conversation with my parents struck me as odd. Personally, college was not a unique opportunity to develop a fresh identity. Seemingly, my inner landscape work took place frequently and I did not need a massive life change such as a move to a university to rethink my identity. To continually modify myself was not an identity crisis but was a set of identity trials that occurred both randomly and repeatedly.

My alterations were not the “change� that my parents were speaking of. It is one thing to foster an inward identity and another to project an identity outwardly. The way we perceive ourselves and the way others perceive us are two separate and independent things. My parents were not speaking to change but to the creation of a unique, personal brand, an image that we intentionally project. It is this contrived image that we want others to consume and conjure when hearing our name.

There is a lot of talk in the photographic community about branding.

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There is little difference between branding ourselves as photographers and the branding that we engaged in during our formative years. Knowingly or not, when we share our images we are branding ourselves. This fact is one that we should remain conscious of. But our personal branding begins well before we upload our images to 500px, Flickr, Facebook or our websites.

For two years now, I have wanted to personally brand myself as a photographer. Wanting others to guzzle this, I projected the image of a photographer by talking shop, carrying a camera around and actually producing images (regardless of the quality).

Others slowly began to recognize me as an image-maker. Now that I am successfully labeled as a photographer, the blogs, websites and photo gurus tell me it is time to hone my brand so that I can compete with other photographers.

From the start, many photographers wish to develop a consistent style.

This is well and good, especially if those professionals rely upon photography for their bread and butter.

While I have great respect for those who choose to brand themselves, I do question the importance of branding for those without professional aspirations.

What happens when we affix ourselves to a certain brand? Is there a consequence when our personal

[ PIK ] PHOTOGRAPHERS IN KOREA | ISSUE 8 , may 2014

https://www.facebook.com/andrewfaulkphotography

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interests as photographers change?

Will we discover ourselves sunken so deep into our own branding that we cannot change our .com address or our processing mixology? Moreover, will our brands be so established (or engrained) that we cannot allow our fluctuating moods to come through in our images? The importance of professional branding rests solely in our objectives as photographers. The minutia of the brand directly relates to our aspirations in the field. Yet, branding is irrelevant in relation to the quality of our images.

niques. Obviously, this is just another example of an identity trial. Considering this, how could I actually brand myself as a certain type of photographer? If I cannot find a style or genre that continually captures my attention, why should I engage in the hard and active work of branding? Artists evolve and what we show today that “represents us,” will be merely be that... today’s version of us.

that the inner work I need to do is to concentrate on making images that make me happy instead of projecting a brand that will, more than likely, not suit me in a fortnight. Seeing that I constantly change, I am hereby adopting the brand of no-brand (for now).

What is important is that we are happy behind the lens. The best brand is for us to be ourselves. If we love our work, it doesn’t matter what our When it comes to my own “work,” logo font looks like. It doesn’t matter there are no prescriptions. I do not if there is no common thread or apusually have a vision of a product parent style in the photographs we when I leave for a shoot. I process create. It doesn’t matter how many according to how I feel at that given humans (or cyber bots) “like” our moment. I try (steal) others’ tech- images. Considering this, it seems [ PIK ] PHOTOGRAPHERS IN KOREA | ISSUE 8 , may 2014

[ Martin Bennie]

Being somewhat of an tography, I prefer t camera and can be qu

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an introvert with regard to my photo spend time alone when out with my quite unsociable in this respect.

[ PIK ] PHOTOGRAPHERS IN KOREA | ISSUE 8 , may 2014

My current assignment in Mokpo is providing me with a great learning ground from which to explore the vast emptiness and try to discover how to capture through photography, the essence and sheer scale of such a landscape. The search to capture this feeling in a photograph has taken me from Gwangju, to Boseong, down to Wando Island and all the way up the coast to Haenam.

Despite having Jindo Island at my doorstep, I regularly drive for hours at a time, looking for something that tweaks my interest. To reach distant points, I have driven through remote villages, circumnavigated endless paddy fields and gone deep into the mountains, via secluded fire tracks, in an attempt to find that elusive photo.

Sometimes I find myself trying to reach a single tree in a field, seen from my car from a distance, only to walk around for some time, looking for angles, lights and lines. I get so much enjoyment from wandering around like this, that the presence of another photographer would distract me from what I feel and what I wish to show in the photograph.

Having first been introduced to photography with a Pentax ME super when I was sixteen, it has taken me many years to understand that it is a mistake to take a photograph without the correct light, location and understanding of technique. This has led me to amass a collection of hard drives containing thousands of mere snap shots that I never seem to be able to delete, regardless of how bad they are. It has only been since

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[ PIK ] PHOTOGRAPHERS IN KOREA | ISSUE 8 , may 2014

my arrival in Mokpo that I find myself beginning to work at a level that I am happy with.

At present, I find myself drawn to black and white, which takes me full circle back to the time when I first became interested in photography, all those years ago. To have such rugged beauty on my doorstep and to be able to travel to places, perhaps unseen by other expat photographers, has given me new life and motivation to improve my skills. Many of the photos taken over the past six months or so have really taught me about the art of what makes a good photograph.

I am continuing to develop my own style, while trying to convey in the photograph a calmness and relaxed feeling that I myself experience while out with my camera. Photography is my own form of meditation and I spend most of my weekends, with or without a hangover, out on this elusive quest. Finding an amazing location is one of the most challenging tasks in landscape photography. This can be as simple as choosing a specific location such as the Taj Mahal or Mt. Everest or an entire country like Korea, which presents a more challenging and complex terrain to scout and explore. Finding a vantage point in these locations is a learned art. You learn to look at the scene through your lens, to compose a potentially beautiful photograph with strong and captivating foreground and back-

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drops, together with sensitive use of light to dress-up the scene.

offering. On occasions I will take my camera to work. As I have a 20 min drive through some fog shroudWhen I’m out and about, I use my ed countryside, there’s always the off navigation, check the weather fore- chance of managing to capture a good cast and generally just follow the ev- shot from the roadside, at the risk of er-changing light and cloud cover to being a few minutes late for work. try to find my way to a new location.

Often, if light and cloud cover have Having studied the landscape so improved, I will return to the site of a much around Jindo Island, I have scene shot earlier and try to improve now taken to traveling to the islands upon my earlier attempts.

Each off the coast of Mokpo to find new lomorning, upon waking and getting cations. A deep sense of history and out of bed at 5am, the first thing I do intimacy can be felt in the terrain is look out of the curtains to see what around these islands in general. The type of light the forthcoming day is simple lifestyle of the country people

in the farming community provides fruitful subject matter for future photography. For my own part, I just need to build confidence in asking people to pose for me. This isn’t an issue in landscape photography, where I don’t have to ask mountains to move to the left or right, but can merely stand waiting in silence for the right moment to come.

[ PIK ] PHOTOGRAPHERS IN KOREA | ISSUE 8 , may 2014

[ Marius Stankiewicz]

Although I greatly admir powers of some fine art more the person to appre represent a subject matt with no styling, truthfu tive of the natural worl biologist would see look scope.

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re the imaginative photographers, I’m eciate images that ter untainted and ul and representald, perhaps what a king into a micro-

[ PIK ] PHOTOGRAPHERS IN KOREA | ISSUE 8 , may 2014

The kind of photo I would accord special status would be the one not so much made by the “photographic genius” with the best gear and technical expertise but by the photographer who makes him/herself “invisible” in the field. I say “invisible” because one question that comes to mind, and I bite my tongue in contradicting myself, is how natural can a person really be with a camera stuffed in his or her face?

The photographer I admire is one who is in possession of a good eye for composition and who knows lighting; who has a serious case of the

travel bug; who follows a dusty-footed globetrotting philosophy; and who keeps a lucky talisman around his/her neck. The last point I make because I truly believe it is more luck than anything else to capture that breath-taking photo and then have it circulate around the world in the media.

The “creator” of such an image is someone who is able to capture, in space and time, in a fraction of a second, the subject’s aura and then transfer it to the end receiver—a friend or family member; a guest at a photo exhibition; or the reader of

a newspaper. To transport the viewer of the photo to the same place the ‘recorder’ did his ‘recording’ is the ultimate goal, the maxim which is followed not only in travel photography as a commercial endeavour—“I want to go there, that place looks so beautiful!”—But also in humanitarian photography—“look at how these people are suffering, I need to donate to help out!”

My interest in the pure and real can best be expressed through photos, which convey human emotion and the general spirit of the times, a spirit that causes the emotion to be

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expressed in the first place. For example, when I see photos like ‘The Burning Monk’ by Malcolm Browne; ‘The Mahatma’ by Bourke-White and ‘Lunch atop a Skyscraper’ by Clyde Ebbets I feel like somebody is literally feeling up my heart, for good or for bad. They are mood setting and of a high story-telling capacity.

real, bordering unbelievable. They appeared to me as they would have appeared to anyone else with cameras strapped around their neck, from dawn until dusk, while travelling.

In fact, I’m surprised I don’t have a hunch in my back from carrying all that weight. Though I’d prefer the hunch than the burden of guilt in missing a great photo because my Each of the above-mentioned photos cameras (and myself) were resting. are real, they are single objects, a reproduction of something that really Also, what I obsess over personally happened, which remains truest to is how much I insert myself in the its essence. Each photo is absent of moment however challenging it may neither darkroom artistry nor does it appear to be; how much I am able to display the photographer’s prejudices establish a human connection with or projects his/her feelings. my subjects—short or long, it doesn’t matter, in my opinion. I truly believe That being said, I’d like to classify—if that sometimes the shortest and most I really have to—my photos as being fleeting of moments can become the street documentary. They are not at most memorable and rewarding for all artistic but more so intrusive and both you and for your subjects. ‘in your face’ and there have been many times when I was chased or Many would also find it shameful to almost beaten for entering my sub- take a photo of, for example, a young jects’ space. A few times I was even boy with a withered hand picking at accused of stealing a man’s soul away a few grains of rice or a cyclist ridin Ukraine and Mongolia. ing his bike through floodwater into a flood hole. But why? I feel that Although nowadays one could find being shameless and a little heartmany contrived documentary imag- less are exactly the most important es, I try not to make my photos hyper skills to possess in order to capture 36

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the moment and to tell the story of what is happening. Photographers in the field must uphold certain moral obligations, of course, but asking for a photo of your subject’s plight only gives your subject the opportunity to say ‘No! Go to hell Westerner!’

I have tons of terrible photos. In fact, they outnumber disproportionately my good photos. But there are those few I cherish and constantly go back to and admire on a weekly basis. Because they compel me to work harder and to keep on shooting so that one day great ones would outnumber the bad ones. The only real objective I have with photography is to keep on travelling and to write about my being lost and never to be found. Hopefully, through travelling, I could also ignite sympathy and a touch of humanity in the hearts of those who see what I saw and “felt” on my skin.

www.mariuszstankiewicz.com.

[ PIK ] PHOTOGRAPHERS IN KOREA | ISSUE 8 , may 2014

[ John K. Jackson]

PREFACE: “In one of the e out on a limb in a huge where I attended kinder tantalizingly just out o

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MOON CASTLE LAKE

earliest memories from my childhood I am magnolia tree in the yard of the church rgarten. I am trying to reach a flower, of reach at the end of a fragile branch.�

[ PIK ] PHOTOGRAPHERS IN KOREA | ISSUE 8 , may 2014

Was it mere chance which led me to Moon Castle, the lake where I now live? The signs I followed seemed common enough at the time: a glimmer of light, a sparkle in ice, a glow from a shore. Faint impressions; vibrations pulsing in air. Tiny waves of meaning that gradually grew until they swept over me. Suddenly, as if in the grip of a powerful, unseen hand, I screeched to a stop, leapt from my car, and pulled out my Pentax.

Looking around I spied a dwelling, sitting alone on the far shore. Trembling, I raised my camera, adjusted the focus, then zoomed in for a look. Would I find, as the sign down the road had suggested, a castle before me? Alas, no banners on turrets flapped in the breeze. Fortunately, a lone banner did hang from the front.

And, on it, two words that thrilled me: “FOR RENT”.

A glimmer, a sparkle, a glow! A king- rapher. Luckily, I have numerous, dom waiting to be claimed! A sign more muniferous, spirits to assist me. with one meaning for me: “HOME!” “Folding Screen Mountain” sends them on breezes; they fill my sails.

All tales of mystery aside, Moon Cas- Sticky “Spider Web Mountain” catchtle Lake IS sweet. And the mystic in es them; I seek them out. Mother Name likes to think it was more than ture herself serves them up in sumppure luck which led me here. Surely tuous dishes; I help myself. there must have been spiritual forces at work. A grand design? Some Of course, if I can’t tune in, I’ll nevdivine plan? How else did I find this er find the table. So, the question “picture perfect” place? Destiny was for me as a photographer is: how to certainly at work. commune closer with nature? How to fine tune the heavenly HiFi so as to A Taoist sage would probably attri- better hear the song? Sure, technolobute my good fortune to “wu-wei” gy has greatly improved life in Korea.

– “non-action or non-doing” – the I no longer – as when I arrived– have potent condition that springs from to constantly yell “Yoboseiyo?” (Helbeing true to one’s nature. It couldn’t lo?) into a pay phone to check the have been my expertise as a photog- connection. Unfortunately, this won-

drous technology brings its own distracting static. Which poses a serious question for a photographer like me who depends on inspiration: how can the spirits move me if I cannot hear them?

I think it’s a matter of keeping an edge. Walking a tightrope between nature and nurture. For example, by nature I’m inclined to enjoy hiking alone, at my own pace. That puts me in the sweet spot to round a bend just as the sun sets. Confucian taught me that character is more important than refinement. So I don’t sweat the fact that my camera is sub par; it just spurs me to find unique subjects and styles as a means to compensate.

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Apart from these spirits, however, do I not also bring some talents to bear? Surely “true-heartedness” is not enough.

Three come readily to mind. First, a decision in the early 70s to devote myself to the practice of Chinese calligraphy. Some artistic seeds – an eye for composition, a feeling for flow, an appreciation of negative space must have been planted then and now appear in my work. A second experience that I feel certain comes into play is my collecting of Korean paintings in the early 80s. It was with joy, then, that I inspected thousands of paintings with a discerning critic’s eye. The childish, colorful, charming, unrefined scenes of Korea as depicted in the Chosun Dynasty folk paintings I saw then now hopefully serve as mental templates through which I peer when I compose photos. Likewise, the countless, more sophisticated classical and calligraphic paintings I also examined have influenced me and my work. As for the third influence, I tip my hat to the wise men of Korea and China whose teachings I learned to admire in graduate school during the 90s. They helped to deepen my understanding of nature and the place of man in it. On cold winter nights or when the weather turns bad, I open their classics here at Moon Castle. Their words never fail to speak to and support me. They wielded brushes; I work with a shutter. They’ve passed from this world; I still walk in it. I pray their spirits will

guide me.

EPIGRAPH: Baekdu (White Head) is an impressive mountain with a spectacular crater lake that straddles the border with China. Legend has it that this is the place of origin of the Korean people. From this head, a commanding mountain range, Baekdu Daegan, stretches down through the Korean peninsula. Off of this, fifteen smaller mountain ranges branch like limbs from a tree and extend from the East Sea to the Yellow. In its entirety, the Baekdu Daegan is considered in geomancy to be the backbone of the nation. Its twists and turns are believed in yin-yang theory to possess and transmit a mysterious “dragon spirit” (the “yang” for the rivers’ “yin”) that sustains the land and the people. “Folding Screen” and “Spider Web”, the mountains that make up the cradle in which Moon Castle Lake rests, lie on the outer edge of the most southern of these branches. As for the lake itself, well, for me it’s a lovely flower.

And, I promise to photograph, not pluck, it.

PS: “Farther East Gallery” will open in downtown Gwangju this summer.

Feel free to drop by for a further tour of Moon Castle Lake and enjoy a cool cup of makkoli. It’s one of my favorite spirits^^….

[ PIK ] PHOTOGRAPHERS IN KOREA | ISSUE 8 , may 2014

#masonrobinson

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ing in I take pictures regularly, for different reasons, but I don’t set out often enough without a real goal in mind. I don’t like to hike, play games, or the like. Wandering around on crowded streets, going to an undetermined place, taking my time, blending in or standing out; depending on the circumstance. [ PIK ] PHOTOGRAPHERS IN KOREA | ISSUE 8 , may 2014

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Being behind the camera for many years, for one purpose or another, I can relax and take time to think about things when shooting out in the street. Street photography is endless and you can never be finished.

The world is ever evolving and the pictures can always be designed better, composed better. It’s one thing to take a photo of a beautiful subject, but there is also a satisfaction in going out and finding or making a picture that is animate and dynamic.

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[ PIK ] PHOTOGRAPHERS IN KOREA | ISSUE 8 , may 2014

INTERNATIONAL PHOTO STUDIO IN SEOUL

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