Tractor and Sand

 

Goseong County

Not buried - just hidden behind a sand dune. This tractor is used for lifting and moving fishing nets for drying and repair.

Cameras Past and Present: Casio QV-2000UX

I bought the Casio QV-2000UX because I couldn't get a refund on a photo printer. It was my first digital camera, which probably makes you wonder why I bought a photo printer before getting the camera. I had no interest in buying a digital camera and I hardly knew they existed back in 2000, but I had a camcorder and I wanted to print screenshots from it. I did some online research and then went off to Seoul to buy an Epson photo printer at the famous Yongsan Electronics Market, 5,000 shops crammed into 20 buildings where you can buy everything from stereos to all the little bitty parts that go into computers.

I found a shop selling the printers and realised that it was grey market. The buttons and manual were all in Japanese with not a bit of English or Korean to be found. I mentioned this to the seller and he said, "No problem. You can get an English manual online." Like a fool I believed him and went back to Andong with my printer. And soon realised that the printer was made for the Japanese market and no English documentation was available. I could manage to print a screenshot if I connected the camcorder and pressed a big green button a few times, but I had no idea how to change any settings. Useless. So I asked a co-worker to call the shop and tell them I was coming for a refund.

But they said they didn't do refunds. After much bickering back and forth I asked if I could exchange it for something. Yes, fine. But what? More online research where I found that a Casio digital point-and-shoot was about the same price as the printer. So it was off to Seoul again where I exchanged the useless printer for a very useful camera. I met my former co-worker in Seoul and I made my (probably) first photo with the camera in the subway.

With Monty in the a Seoul Subway train. I haven't seen or heard from Monty in over twenty years. He was living in Taiwan the last I heard.

The camera was handy to use on trips. I didn't have to buy or develop film and it gave good results with its 2 megapixel sensor and auto-everything setting. There was a menu where I could change photo size and picture styles, but, as far as I remember, I set everything to standard and didn't think about it.

A driving trip around Yeongyang County in my Kia Pride, AKA Ford Festiva AKA Mazda 121. 

The entrance to Haein Temple

The entire Buddhist canon carved on over 80,000 wooden blocks in the 13th century.

On an island boat tour off the west coast, a fishing boat pulled up and sold sashimi to passengers.

Often I used the camera as a way to remember things and people.

Students in my class. I wanted to take their photos as a way to remember names. It never worked.

A house in the neighbourhood where I used to live over twenty years ago.

I took this picture to show students back in Korea what a Canadian winter looks like.

A restaurant near a Korean university that I frequented many, many moons ago.

The new (at the time) Arts Building at the university where I studied. It was nicknamed The Hanging Garden of Babylon.

One summer, the university where I worked had a cultural exchange programme. I photographed some of the events.

Ancestral Rites

Cooking contest

1999. Got a perm but it didn't hold. My hair was flat on top and curly at the edges. So I got my head shaved. You can probably tell from the background I was single at the time.

Another one from a trip to Canada. My teacher friend and I goofing around in his classroom one evening.

I used the camera to take pictures between filming when I was working on a television show in Daegu. My co-host and I travelled to traditional-style restaurants to learn about the food and try it.

I think we were waiting for the cook to bring out the meal.

At the television station. Left to right: My co-host, studio host, me, writer, studio host

One of the last photos from the Casio. It died that day of static electricity shock from the dry winter air and my wool jacket.

I wouldn't mind having another digital point and shoot, but so many of them don't have viewfinders. Or don't slide nicely into a pocket. I was a bit sad when the camera died, but oddly enough I didn't go out and buy another digital camera. I went back to film but upgraded from the Pentax point and shoot to an SLR. I'll write about that in the next post of this series.

Rocks and Shadows

 

Nikon F6, Kodak Gold 200 Film

I edit photos by looking at them now and then over the course of a week or so. I give three stars to pictures that have some interest for me, like a holiday snap or a picture of my cat. I give five stars to pictures that I might like to print out and put on my wall some day.

Posting pictures here is a part of the editing process. I become much more critical of a photograph once it is on the blog for the world to see. This results in quite a few demotions. The above picture had five stars until I uploaded it to Blogger. Then I noticed that I should have maybe put some of the shadow outside the bottom of the frame and given more space to the grass.

Expo Tower, Sokcho

 

Nikon F6, Kodak Gold 200

The Expo Tower was built for the 1995 International Fisheries Expo. From what I can find on the Internet, the IFE appears to be a Korean expo with other countries invited to promote the Korean fishing industry.

More Beach and Rocks at Munam

 

Nikon F6, Kodak Gold 200 Film

I posted a similar photograph not long ago that I made with a Nikon D850 digital camera. To me, the scene looks 'drawn' on film and 'reproduced' on digital.

Sokcho Market

 

Clothes Store, Hairdresser's, and Jewellry Shop

What to do while waiting for a bus home? Take my phone out of my pocket and make the gritty look grittier.

Hipstamatic on iPhone 6s Plus

Hidden Harbour

 I'm not sure harbour is the proper term for this space between rocks that can't be seen from the shore. Cove, perhaps? I don't know who built this metal wharf or why. 

Beach and Rocks at Munam

 

This is the view from a small bridge for two lanes of traffic and pedestrians across a small river rather grandly called Great Munam Bridge. There is an older and larger bridge that carries four lanes of highway traffic over the same river close by called simply Munam Bridge. I guess the council thought it was great they had a new bridge. 

Reminiscence Pork Cutlet

I like to walk along the coast from Baekdo Harbour to Cheonhak Pavilion. At the end of my route is a Chinese restaurant called Agyeong that I sometimes eat at if I arrive near midday.
There was a new item on the menu the last time I was there. A bright yellow sign on the wall announced the restaurant was now serving 'Reminiscence Pork Cutlet'. (It sounds less awkward in Korean, and I was tempted to translate the word as 'Good old days'). I have good memories of eating pork cutlets in restaurants with friends in years past so I ordered that.

From Top Left: consommé, pickled daikon radish, rawa onion, black soybean paste for the onion, macaroni salad, fruit cocktail, cabbage salad with mayonnaise sauce, rice ball covered in dried laver, pork cutlet and brown sauce

The man and woman who own the restaurant must have very recently added the cutlet to the menu because the woman served me and then hovered a bit. She asked me if it was any good and did I need more sauce. "Very delicious," I told her. "And there's enough sauce." She immediately went into the kitchen and reported my positive remarks to her husband the cook.
I wasn't lying about the food. The cutlets were a decent thickness and the panko breading was crispy. The sauce was flavourful without being too strong and the side dishes were the ones I remember from when I arrived in Korea many years ago. I plan to order it again the next time I'm in the restaurant.

Sokcho Joyang Archaeological Site

In 1990, a team of archaeologists were doing a pre-construction dig on a hill in a new residential area where they discovered the remains of seven bronze age dugout houses and two dolmens. They also found some pottery and a bronze axe from the same era. Evidence suggests that people were living on the hill in the 8th century BCE.

Sokcho Joyang Neighbourhood Prehistoric Archaeological Site. Archaeological Site No. 376

The city or the state registered the hill as an historical site and park before developers could bury it forever under apartment buildings. In 2014 the city was convinced to relax the height restrictions on buildings surrounding the hill but I guess high-rises won't appear until the lower residential and commercial buildings in the neighbourhood are torn down for redevelopment.

Five of the seven houses were reconstructed and the pottery and axe moved to the Sokcho Museum. I couldn't see the dolmen in the park. I may have just missed them or they've also been moved to the museum. I should go to the museum soon to have a look.

I visited this site once last year but I didn't get any good photos because it was a very bright day and the contrast was too high. Also, I wasn't sure how to photograph the houses. But on my return trip I had better weather, I avoided getting the sky in the photos as much as possible to avoid the bad contrast, and I decided to go for form rather than content. The results were much better.

My favourite composition of the day

Pits were dug about 40-60 centimetres deep and covered with fine clay. Then the structures were built over that.

I was trying to create interesting design rather than documenting the site.

Ah, the sky! It wasn't that late in the morning, but the contrast was already quite high. But it worked in this photo to separate the roof from the ground and walls.

I made these photos with a digital camera, but I actually went the day before with a film camera when the weather was wetter. I don't know what the pictures are like because I haven't got the film developed yet. Probably not as good because I had cheap film in the camera and I wasn't as sure what to photograph. I'll share later if there is anything good. I guess I will visit this place again, possibly in winter when it looks different. In the meantime, I'm happy with the pictures I've shared in this post.