Waiting for Buses

 A few photographs made over a couple of days while waiting for buses in downtown Sokcho.

I posted this same scene not too long ago, but this time I composed a little better for the left side of the frame and waited for a bus to enter the reflection.

If you're standing at the Sokcho Market bus stop and you turn around, you'll see a dingy, dirty alley where smokers often go while waiting for a bus. They seem to think that cigarette smoke doesn't move more than a foot from their bodies when, in fact, it sails right out of the alley and into the bus shelter. I looked up on this day and made a picture of the walls, the roof of the house at the end of the alley, and the street light.

Made at the same bus stop. I composed using the Hipstamatic application on my iPhone and waited for a bus to pass by. Perfect timing on the first attempt! Someone get me a hero biccy. (What's the proper spelling of 'hero biccy'? As in 'biscuit'? It was said all the time when I was young, but I can't find the phrase in my dictionary or on the Internet.)

Cherry Blossoms Visual

Someone in a comment to my last post asked if I had any pictures of the cherry blossoms. I only had a couple of snapshots to show some friends, so this morning I made this photo from my balcony window.

iPhone 6s Plus, Hipstamatic.

Cherry Blossoms

The cherry trees in front of our apartment are in full bloom, so I've taken to sitting in the balcony armchair to enjoy the blossoms while I can.

I am fortunate - some people drive hundreds of kilometres through frustrating traffic to look at the flowers in Sokcho and other cities. Why they would do this, I don't know. All Korean cities have flowering trees, but the blossoms are pinker on the other side, I suppose.

The cherry trees around nearby Yeongnang Lake are impressive, but there are crowds and young women yank on the branches to make 'blossom snow' while their boyfriends make Insta-shots for them. A must-avoid for me.

The trees are probably happy when they have dropped their flimsy spring gowns and can start feeding from the sun with their newly-grown and non-socials-worthy leaves.

Sangdomun Village

In addition to Sangdomun, there is also a Jungdomun and a Hadomun. These mean Upper Domun, Middle Domun, and Lower Domun. I visit Sangdomun because it has lots of stone walls, traditional houses, and cats.

I've posted photos of the village a number of times in the past, but a few here are different than what I've done before.

Home and Council Office

This is what I see when I get off Bus 7 at the village. The closest building has a traditional Korean roof, but the rest is more modern. The ground floor seems short and may be storage for farming equipment. The next floor looks a normal height. There might even be an attic, judging by the window.  The building in the background is a local government office for the Daepo Neighbourhood of Sokcho. Although it's a 'neighbourhood', in the rural areas of a city it can contain many villages. I like that the building is not grey like most government buildings.

Eastern End of the Village

This is the view of some of the village from the road through town. This house is another 'hybrid' traditional style. It irks me that the tip of the left utility pole is sticking up slightly over the mountain line. Alas, there was nothing I could stand on to fix that.

Café Cat

I often meet this cat when I pass the café. It's a bit shy, so I don't approach it. It took me a little while to make sure all the verticals and horizontals were straight. I rather like that a traditional roof is well-framed in the window to the right.

Stone Wall and Clay Jar

This jar is at the entrance to a property and appears to be decorative. The yellow line might be meant to show up in car headlights in poor light.

Korean Wall, Western House

The tiles on this western-style house look like they are made of sheet metal or perhaps plastic rather than traditional clay. On the left, you can see a traditional house in the background, though I think its roof is made of sheets of moulded metal. It continues the line of tiled roof into the left part of the frame. Which is repeated in the tile covering the wall.

Road and Wall

I rather like the composition of this picture. The left and right sides of the frame are balanced by utility poles, I made sure only the roofs were above the stone wall, and the stone wall is mirrored by the dark line of asphalt running down the centre of the road. I didn't want the top of the wall on the right to cover the edge of the roof, but if I had stepped left to separate them, the edge of the roof on the far right would have gotten 'tangled up' with the utility pole, and I thought that would look worse.

Old General Store

You can't see it in this picture, but fading signs say that this place used to sell film, stamps, food, meat, and general goods. Agfa and some company called First Synthetic Fibres sponsored the sign. 'Samsung Colour' is written on another part of the sign, which means film might have been developed here or, more likely, sent it off to some photo lab called Samsung Colour. I didn't include all that because I was just interested in the Agfa sign, the wood frame window, the clean white wall, and the bench.

At the upper end of the town there are some metalwork animals attached to a bridge rail. The building in the background is the Domun Centre for Agricultural Song. More generally, I think, a place for preserving and learning traditional arts.

Painted Cat and Empty Lot

There are lots of these rock painting cats in the village. Some birds as well. There was a derelict Korean traditional home on this property, but it was recently torn down. A sign says that this is now a free parking lot for locals and tourists.

All photos straight out of a Nikon Z50II. Straight out of camera because I can't be arsed to post process anymore, and the small Z50II because I'm tired of lugging around heavy equipment.

Canopies

 

At one of the parks next to Cheongcho Lake there is a wide section of boardwalk that has benches with colourful canopies that can be raised and lowered depending on the weather. I've photographed them unsuccessfully a number of times. The problems with photographing them include the untidy background of a hotel, trees, boardwalk railings, and utility poles; the legs of the canopies making a micro-composition mess with the legs of the benches; and showing up when the canopies are down.

Last week I was looking at yet another failed attempt when inspiration struck and I covered the bottom half of the picture with my hand. A-ha! Cut out all the messy stuff and only include the canopies and a light pole. So I went back to the park and tried again, making certain the light pole rose out of a suitable place between the canopies. I like it, but the only problem is that at a 75mm (equivalent) focal length, it's difficult to get everything inside the depth of field. The light pole is a bit out of focus, but fine if you squint a bit.

Nikon Z50II with 16-50mm kit lens. 

Keep At It

 

Utility Poles, Yongchon Village

Farmer's Shed, Yongchon Village

I've been to this village scores of times and I've probably posted these same scenes before. But every time is a little different, and on this morning I was there for some good light. Also, I think this is the best photo of the shed I've made so far because I stepped back and included the pothole. A nice bit of balance. And I rather like the shadow of the fence splitting the road. A complement to the cracks already splitting the pavement.

Man Passing Convenience Store

 

This was a throwaway photo for Instagram I made while sitting inside a convenience store one chilly morning. I usually delete Insta-Snaps from my phone after I post them, but I rather liked this one and kept it. I suppose it's the repeat of the foreground in the background, the decent composition, and the luck of having this cold-looking man pass by.

After I dumped all those photos in my previous post, I thought about quitting the blog again. I've been reading articles and watching videos about how most things on the Internet are made of throwaway information, like the pictures I post to Instagram. So I wonder if I can create something that is of use or interest to the future instead of just posting something that will get a glance and then a click-away. Something to think about.