Harvest

 

Hoesan Neighbourhood, Gangneung.

A lot of Korea looks like this now. A rice harvesting machine has gone through the fields to take the grain and leave the straw. Another machine comes later to roll the straw up into bundles and wrap them in plastic. If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you might see some of those bundles in the far background.
   A long time ago I stayed on a friend's small family farm for a few days in October and helped to harvest the rice with a short sickle. It's back-breaking work, and I can see why so many old people in the countryside are permanently bent over. Also, so many spiders in a rice field! Yikes! I don't know who jumped more often - the spiders or me. I also used a flail to get sesame seeds off their stalks. Also very difficult work. My friend's mother's cooking was a great consolation, and every meal was a feast. Rice, soybean paste soup, sesame leaves in chilli sauce, large blocks of warm tofu, some beef that my friend and I brought with us, fried shark, and various other side dishes. Work hard, eat well.

Downtown

Some people post photos and write very nice stories about what the locations, people, and objects in the pictures mean to them. I just looked over these photos of downtown Gangneung and couldn't even remember why I had been there. It took a while to remember that I wanted to go shopping at Homeplus and went early to make some photos before the supermarket opened.

This isn't my bicycle, but I did ride my bicycle and park it in the proper spot at the store. This one is just chained to a fence out back. This photo isn't spectacular, but to my mind it's a success of sorts because of the micro-composition.

The exit from the underground parking garage. I like all the lines, the strong contrast, and the colours of the booth and the barrier machine. (Surely the 'barrier machine' has a proper name.) Nikon's Vivid setting was made for scenes like this. This one will get printed.

The promised land of the Homeplus Building. 'CGV' is the name of a multiplex chain.

The pink building is a market built on the site of the old train tracks. The large building in the background is the Hana Bank Building. The bank is on the first floor, and the upper floors have a lot of medical clinics.

A closer view of the Hana Bank Building. The thin structure, I think, is one of those parking garages that keeps cars on rotating platforms. I'm sure there is a proper name for that. My active vocabulary has shrunk considerably since I came to Korea many years ago. My English is getting worse, my Korean isn't getting any better. Soon I'll speak no language at all. (Apologies to Dickens.)

City bus and suicide scooters. A new law says you're not allowed to ride these on the sidewalks (good!). But riding them on the streets is madness. It's tempting to rent one, but . . . .

A sign marking the end of a school zone. This is on a new bridge on my way home. Lovely blue, eh?

Dogs run out to greet you when you come home. Cats probably don't even know you left.

Well, there wasn't much of a story here but I think we all learned a lot.

 

Enjoy Your Stay

 

Anmok Beach Warning Signs

Waiting

 

Gangil Transport Bus Stop

The more I use it, the more I think the Minolta X-700 might be the best film camera I've ever had.

Two Walls

 

Hotel wall near the former bus terminal.

A collage of walls in a residential neighbourhood.

Garden Pots

 

Wolhwa Park, Gangneung.

This kind of pot is usually used for fermenting and storing gimchi, chilli paste, soy bean paste, soy sauce, and other foods for winter. They also make decent flower pots.

Hoesan Neighbourhood

It's been raining and cloudy for the past couple of weeks. A good opportunity to get out and make some photos. The top two photos were made on HP5+ and the last was made on long-expired FP4+ that a friend from England had lying around for about twenty years. Still looks fine.

 Speaking of old things, this tractor's brand name is Goldstar. You might remember their televisions and stereos. In the 90s, Goldstar merged with Lucky to form the Lucky Goldstar Company. Commonly known as LG.

I've photographed this house, tree, and fence quite a few times, but I think this latest version is my favourite.

One of my favourite recent photographs. I might need to darken up the hills on the right a little bit.

Thanks for looking.