M - Mode Photography

Kite Runner

2009-03-14T07:24:00.000-07:00

Have you seen the movie poster for Kite Runner? Well I saw a dude at Castle Park flying the most complicated and deluxe kite I have ever seen. This kite was so powerful it almost lifted him of the ground. So I knew this would be a perfect moment to create a similar shot to the movie poster.

The original Movie Poster

From buffer

Anyways.... Here is how I took the shots. I first put my camera on shutter priority @ 1/200 and then metered my camera for the bright blue sky. It gave me an aperture around f11.0 (I think). Because the sky is much brighter then the ground, any object in front of me would be under exposed. To correct for under exposure, I attached my speedlite. I then adjusted my speedlite to properly expose object with in 6 feet of me. As you can see by the pictures both the sky and the guys' arm are in good exposure levels.

Home Renovation

2009-03-05T16:58:00.001-08:00

I have been extra excited about flash photography recently since I saw that the company Pocket Wizard created a TTL version of Pocket Wizard that would work with my Canon speedlite. So this whole week I have been trying to find excuses to shoot with a flash so that I might justify purchasing the pocket wizard.

These pictures are of my friend Johnny, he is in the Home Renovation business. About a week ago I asked Johnny to come over and fix my fence and drink some beers. However instead of helping I started to go trigger happy and started to take pictures.

This first picture was taken at f11, 1/250sec, ISO 100. What I did first was set my exposure 1 stop down for the blue sky. Because the sky was much brighter then the area Johnny was working in, I needed to use my strobes to fill-in the light artificially. I used two strobes connected wirelessly. I placed one about 6 feet up on johnny's 10 o'clock and placed the other strobe on the ground at Johnny's 2 o'clock. I dont think the bottom strobe helped at all. The top strob was set to half power.

From buffer

This second shot was with natural lighting with my camera at Aperture priority -0.7ev, f2.8, 1/3200, ISO 100. I find whenever the sky is really nice blue it is best to under expose the image or the blue will get washed out and look white.

From buffer

Port Hardy

2009-02-18T21:43:00.000-08:00

I went to Port Hard over the weekend Feb 16-18. My cousins and I decided to go so that we could go digging for GeoDuck Clams. As usual I brought my camera and was annoying everyone one with shots.

Here are a couple of pictures that I took

From buffer

Blackcomb and Snow Photography.

2009-02-08T14:07:00.000-08:00

About a month ago I went to Blackcomb for the first time this season. I must be getting old because my legs could not keep up. These shot below were my favorite for the day.

Because it was a bright sunny day I decided to bring out my polarized filters. After I took the first couple of shots I realized with so much snow reflecting the sun my camera was metering the light way too strong. The camera was trying to balance the exposure of the snow and not the person I was trying to take a picture of. So instead of changing my metering to "spot metering" I just adjusted the exposure to +1.66 and it seemed to do the trick. The subjects were in good exposure but the snow was completely blown out. Which is fine because no one care how detailed the snow looks.

From buffer

Panning & Scanning

2009-01-05T00:36:00.000-08:00

Have you ever seen some action shots where the subject is perfectly frozen but the background has motion blur. Most likely the panning technique was used. What is panning? You might ask....

No Panning

From buffer

Panning!

From buffer

Both pictures were taken at 1/100 shutter speed. For the first picture I am stationary and perfectly still as the scooter passes me. The scooter looks like a blur because the camera at 1/100 of a second is unable to freeze that fast of a motion. Now look at the bottom picture, I was using the same shutter speed of 1/100, but this time as the scooter travelled down the road, I got the scooter in my viewfinder and moved my camera horizontally to match its speed. At the exact moment the scooter passed me and as I was matching its speed I took the shot. The scooter and my camera were moving at the same speed (relatively speaking) and was able to capture the main subject matter clearly.

Try it your self. Put your camera to "Shutter Priority' and choose a shutter speed between 1/60 - 1/200 and start practicing "panning" with moving objects and time the shots

Rear (2nd) Curtain Flash

2008-12-23T10:10:00.000-08:00

From buffer

There is one style of flash photography I really like. It involves capturing movement with your flash. A rear curtain flash is a flash that is fired as your shutter is closing. As oppose to a front curtain flash that fires right as your shutter is open. You might ask your self what is the difference?

The best way to think about rear curtain flash is to image 2 photos being over imposed on one another. The first picture is whatever you set your camera up for. But the second picture is a movement frozen in time, captured and placed on top of the first image.

So lets look at this picture I took (free hand without a tripod). I set my camera to 0.6 seconds and f5 to capture the ambient lighting and stationary scenery at ev=0 exposure. The first part of the picture captured the scene. The second part of the picture is produced right before my shutter closed and the flash is fired. This flash acts like an instant image capturer and imposes the final captured moment on to the original image. As you can see there is a stream of light following the biker. This stream of light is from the motorcycle's headlight. the reason why the light streaks across the picture is because the frame was open for 0.6 seconds. During that 0.6 second my camera was unable to grab a frozen image of the actual biker. However, once the flash fired it burned the frozen moment in time on top of the existing image. That is why you see streak of light as well as a perfect image of the biker.

Lighting with the Dogs

2008-12-15T04:41:00.000-08:00

As some of you already know I have 2 dogs. These dogs tend to be my test subject whenever I get new equipment or lenses. Luckily they love the camera and I think they like the lime light.

These two shots were taken with my recently bought Sigma 24-70mm f2.8 lens. I had it on my 30d Canon and typical stupid Youn left the ISO at 800 and forgot to bring it down. I was happy with my lighting technique but when inspecting the shots on my computer it was bit too grainy for my taste.

I used an el'cheapo wireless flash receiver/transmitter similar to a pocket wizard and set up two 430ex flashes. the first flash was placed to the dog's right, infront and at a 45 degree height with a beer jacket snout attached. The beer jacket snout are those foam jackets you wrap around your beer so it stays colder. The snout makes less cast off and gives a more spotlight effect. Also when you place the light source at that 45 degree angle aiming downwards it is called the "Rembrandt" lighting (I think, don't quote me). I then placed my second flash on the floor at the dog's left and at the dog's eye level but made it bounce of the wall. If you see the dog's eyes, the catchlight is different in each eye depending which flash reflected.

I went to full manual and shot at f9, shutter speed 1/200. The flashes were set on manual as well and I had them set at 1/8 power. For the second shot I increased the flash on the dog's left to increase the fill light.

The only post production work I did on the shot was some sharpening and vignette.

The Ring To My Heart

2008-12-11T04:23:00.001-08:00

So I saw a similar shot in a photography magazine while I was waiting for my plane in Australia. I decided I would reproduce it for this weekly photography contest I am apart of.

First I grabbed a hard cover book and my keychain ring. I placed the ring in the centre of the book. I then got my desk light and placed it so that it would cause the shadow to cast along the seam.

I then got my Canon 30D and Sigma lens 24-70mm f2.8 and set it to Aperture priority. Then I set the dSLR to ISO 250 and f5.6 to give a moderate shallow depth of field. I then took a couple shots at exposure ev±0 but found it was coming out too dark. I wanted to have a very sharp contrast from the white and the black shadow so I put the exposure to ev+1. I also followed the rule of 3rds.

I then uploaded the image into Aperture 2.0 software and increased the black levels, added sepia and vignette.

I then finally got the above result.

If you are a rookie when it comes to your dSLR check out http://dslrrookie.com for an in-depth guide to photography.

TTC Head Pop

2008-12-05T08:28:00.000-08:00

So here is a shot I took in August 08. I tried to take this shot 3 times. So 3 different subway carts came and went. The first time the guy stuck his head our only for a second. The second guy yelled at me and said I was not allowed to take pictures in the TTC and lastly the thrid guy looked at me like I was total douche and viola I got my shot!

I used a canon 70-200mm f2.8. On aperture priority at f2.8 and exposure set at 0. ISO was around 400. (I think) I placed my self right along the subway cart and set my focus for centre shot and waited till the conductor stuck his head out and turned back. I corrected the WB afterwards

Check this out. I usually look at this one website called http://wvs.topleftpixel.com/. It has daily images of Toronto Life. I really like the photographers ability to capture candid moments. Well I came across this picture and realized we took a very similar shot. Ussually I scour the internet and if there are any cool shots I try to reproduce them. But in this case, I just saw an opportunity and I took it. It made me happy that at one brief moment I thought like a good photgrapher.

Here is his photo

Getting Soaked for The Shot

2008-08-19T14:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday in Toronto we had a crazy lightning storm and instead of cowering into a house I decided to go to the Lake Shore and take some pictures. I had Grace come along with me and she was my assistant. As I was setting up, huge fork lightnings were happening all around me. But typical Murphy's Law, once my camera was set up and the tripod was out the lightning stopped and it just rained for 10 minutes. I decided to hold out and after 10 mins the lightning came back. There was one point I was starting to get worried as the lightning got closer and I realized I was standing on open flat beach with a metal tripod and electrical equipment. The last shot you see is when I decided it was time to be concerned about getting hit by lightning and decided to pack up.

My set up was f6.0, shutter 30sec, ISO 100

LA Golf Trip

2008-08-18T19:43:00.000-07:00

I went to LA for a couple of days last week and I really enjoyed the trip. During one of the days my father, 2 uncles, 2 cousins and me decided to go golfing in San Diego. These were my favorite shots of the day.

To take the shot below I got super close to the ball with my wide angle lens and was being constantly sprayed with dirt when the club would take the divet off the grass. Then my cousin (who by the way is a great player) took this shot on a par 3 and really kicked up some dirt. But it made for a wicked shot.

One Step Closer, to being better.

2008-08-04T23:38:00.000-07:00

I realize the blog has gotten boring ever since I came back from Korea. What do you expect!!! I'm back in Vancouver and everyone works during the day. However when the weekend arrives all my friends come out and play. On the weekend I went to a softball game and I wanted to try to see if I had any action photographic skills. It turns out I really suck. I would like to say I need a better telephoto lens, but how can I justify myself to buy a $2000 Canon 70-200mm f2.8L IS lens if I have never even sold a shot. I guess I'll keep practicing with shitter equipment and when I get better lenses it will be worth my while.

After the game I went with everyone to Milestones. I tried to eat healthy so I ordered a salad. What a huge mistake. What they saying about salad is true, "You don't make friends with salad". This salad was an abortion of a salad, with combination of certain sauces and vegetables that led me to believe the head chef was trying to poison me. Word of advise don't order the Tai Salad at Milestones.

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On the long weekend I decided to give the bike a spin but the weather was so perfect I thought this would be a good opportunity to take some shots of my friend riding his bike instead. I thought it was going to be easy but holy fuck was I wrong. Firstly my telephoto lens is kind of shitty (as mention above) and does a really slow job tracking the image as it moves. So when the bike would rip past you at 100km/h my lens would be about 1 second too slow tracking the bike making all the shots out of focus. I had to go to manual mode and wait for the motorcycle to enter my field of focus and then I would take the shot. I will admit all the skills I ever learned came into play that day.

These were my favorite shots

This is me!! I setup the camera and told my friend where to shoot from. I also said when here hears a honk from my horn get ready to shoot. He did a pretty good job. Only if that car wasn't there.

Wedding Season

2008-07-29T02:16:00.001-07:00

I was a grooms man for my friends wedding and everthing went well and ran smoothly. It was on top of Grouse Mountain and the ceremony had Vancouver skyline as a backdrop. It was suppose to rain that day but we lucked out and didn't see a single drop.

Here are some of my favorite shots. I didn't take too many shots because I was a part of the wedding party and needed to help out.

I took this shot at 1:00am when i was really drunk. i put the f20.0 and the shutter speed was set to bulb. One of the best long exposure shots I have ever taken.

I believe this is a classic wedding shot.

I wanted to put the dolls in a compromised positions but I don't think that would go over so well.

Steven helping out anyway he could.

Click here for more pictures

Hard Days Work

2008-07-25T17:03:00.000-07:00

So during the day while everyone is working I get really bored and try to find new things to do. So one day Johnny asked me if I wanted to stop by on one of his renovation jobs. I of course agreed.

Luckily there was beer at the site and I was trying to pretend to help. But in all honesty I just wanted to see people work hard while I drank beer on a discarded lawn chair. After about 2 hours I decided to whip out the ol' camera and fire away.

I went on a beer run with Johnny's Van. Surprisingly it ran really well. It felt weird driving again after 3 months of not.

I use to remember when I was younger and our school would alway put out bulletins of perverts trying to abduct kids in a van with no windows or tinted windows. So every time Johnny parks his white work van with no windows by a school it makes me think that someone is going to report him.

For all of you with a sharp eye. The blades are not spinning. However when they are spinning they spit out so much water that they mist the shot and it comes out cloudy.

Kids Toys in Korea Are Way Better

2008-07-24T00:50:00.000-07:00

Kids in Korea and most Asian countries have way better toys then us. They have the toys that if used incorrectly can cause serious bodily harm and maybe death. Check out this kid that just came out of school carrying his toy M16 Automatic rifle.

It looks FUCKING REAL!!!

At first I freaked out and ducked for cover. But this kid slung the rifle as if it were a backpack and teachers and other kids were not even remotely phased by its presence. After I realized it was fake I decided to take a picture.

Funny enough, the whole situation reminds me of a time when I was in grade 8 and my cousin came back from Korea and he bought me a Glock handgun replica. It shot those white BB's and it was freaking awesome. Being in grade 8 I didnt understand the seriousness of having a replica when walking down the street. Well anyways, one day my cousin and a group of friends were all at Central Elementary and shooting off this BB gun. About 10 minutes into shooting, 3 police cars came barreling into the driveway of the school. They got out of their squad cars with their guns drawn and shoved me down to the ground. What made it worse was when I saw the cops coming I chucked the BB gun into a near by bush making it look even more suspicious. regardless to say the cop found the BB gun and started to bitch me out and said,

"You stupid fucking Kid, I would have shot you. Look at how real this gun looks"

After the commotion died down, I realized my lesson....... BB guns are more fun then I thought!!

My Legs Hurt and Mr. Fuzzy

2008-07-21T15:51:00.000-07:00

Everyday at the temple I would have to do 108 full bows at 3:00am in the morning. The first day I did this I almost fainted because the constant rushing of blood to the head and then the immediate drain when I stood up would cause me to feel sick. After the first 50 I said to myself, "Ohh crap. what have I gotten my self into". As the day progressed a fellow temple stay patron came up to me and told me that I was doing the bow completely wrong. I almost was offended that he would say that. Im Korean for god sakes, I have to bow all the time for ceremonies and festivals. He then told me that when bowing try to think of your blood as energy and that you want to keep your energy at the center of your body (gut). So a proper bow is when your knees hit the floor first and keeping your torso upright. Then as the knees hit extend the arms and place them on the floor. Keep your back straight, rock back making sure to keep your back horizontal to the ground. Before this lesson in bowing I was doing it completely the opposite way. I would bend my torso first place my hands on the floor and then my knees would follow. So basically my head would be inverted for most of the bow. This caused the blood to pool in my head. Anyways, once I was shown how to bow correctly I thought my second day would be easier. I was wrong again. Basically the new way of bowing uses more leg muscle and by 70 bows my legs were cramping. Having stiff legs would have been Ok to deal with in any other normal circumstance, However or zen room was 2 flights of stairs up and our dorms was 3 flights up as well. So every day I would be walking up and down stairs with sore legs. By the fourth day I swear my legs were jelly.

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So one of the funniest parts of this Korean Buddhist temple stay was out of the 15 monks and 20 patron, me and 3 other people were the only Koreans. Most of the patrons and monks were from Europe and Russia. It was funny to see all these white faces in a Korean monastery. What was initially funny, quickly turned to embarrassment on my part. All the monks and most of the patron knew more Korean then me and could read it better then me as well. I even walked by this one room where they had tutors teaching the monks Korean on daily basis. I then thought to myself, here are these Russian and European monks that are being taught how to speak Korean and here I am a full Korean that doesn't even know how to count to 100. SAD!!

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Here are some really small points I will cram into this section as I am tired of writing about temple stay.

During tea break I use to keep the one mini size snickers bar they gave us. As the day would progress I would look at the snickers bar and consider it my treat for completing one day. It was really weird, I never looked at a candy bar with so much joy in my life. I would giggle like a school girl every time I would look at the snickers bar.

So our shower stall was this one room about 10 feet by 6 feet. The only problem was both shower heads were placed right beside one another. I hope you as the reader know where I am going with this story. Basically we had to shower within inches of a fellow person. The awkward part is when people would talk to me in the shower as I am scrubbing down. They would actually try to carry on full conversation with me as I was buck naked. After a couple of days of this male bonding, I started to embrace this way of showering and started to also have full conversation in the buff. Its amazing what people will talk about when your butt naked. We talked about family, relationships, what we want to do in the future or the hardships (no pun intended) we encountered. I guess men are the most honest when there balls are exposed (literally and metaphorically)

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The story of Mr Fuzzy

So about 2 days into meditation and I was starting to go crazy. If you remember my previous post, I had 10 hours of meditation a day. The first 3 hours were ok but the remaining 7 would kill me. Then something occurred that saved my meditation life. As I was looking at the floor in front of me I saw a huge piece of fuzz. Either because of the extreme heat or the hours looking at the same spot on the floor, it seemed that the small piece of fuzz was moving every so slightly every couple of minutes or so. This would make me smile ear to ear. As my meditation approached into the hours I would look forward to see this piece of fuzz move a millimeter at a time. It brought me so much joy that I had something to root and cheer for. About an hour before our meditation was about to end I started to get worried that when everyone would stand up this piece of fuzz would be blown or kicked away. So right when the meditation was over I quickly grabbed the piece of fuzz and hid it under my meditation mat. Everyday afterwards I would pull Mr Fuzzy out of the mat and place him on the floor in front of me. I would make up Lord of The Ring style adventures for Mr. Fuzzy. I was literally going insane like Tom Hanks in "Cast Away" and would talk with Mr. Fuzzy. The saddest day was when I walked back to my mat and tried to look for Mr. Fuzzy but he was gone, I actually felt sad that I lost friend and got mad a myself for not taking care of him. But then I met his cousin "Mr. Lint From My Socks" and the adventures continued....

As you can tell my Temple stay was a weird experience and I wouldn't recommend it to everyone. But the few that are willing to open their minds and truly try to live like a monk all I can say is, when you leave your mind will feel sharper. The only true valuable lesson I learned was the past is not important and the future is unpredictable so don't stress over it. Ohh yeah and the "spoon" doesn't exist

Calgary

2008-07-15T04:30:00.000-07:00

So I arrived in Toronto on Thursday after a 14 hour flight from Korea. Then on Saturday morning after a heavy night of drinking with my cousin, I went to Calgary with Grace and then on Sunday left for Vancouver.... I've spent too much time on an airplane!!

Anyways..... I went to the fairgrounds in Calgary to have a fun day at the carnival. There was a BMX show, some games and some eats. Afterwards we went to Grace's friend Brant's apt. This apartment was pretty happening and his red G35 Infinity was nice as well. Brant has lived in Calgary for about a year and lets just say he is making "Black Gold" money out here in OIL country Alberta.

These were my favorite shots of the day

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PS. When I was leaving Calgary I looked out the gate window and took this picture.

The flight was experiencing delays and it really made me feel safe that I was about to go onto a plane that was basically being worked on by mechanics that have all heard about the upcoming job cuts.

Info About Temple Stay

2008-07-13T14:21:00.000-07:00

Some people were upset at me because I haven't updated my blog in awhile. And by some people I mean my mom. Im glad I have one reader! I was in Gangnam for 4 days after my temple stay and an old friend was able to put me up in his place for the short time I was down. His place was awesome because of one thing, AIR CONDITIONING. Its super muggy and hot in Korea and it gets a bit hard to deal with. Anyways I bet my "one reader" is wondering how my temple stay was. Well there are many things that happened, some spiritual, some funny and some enlightening. I broke it up into a couple categories and I'll post each section one day at a time so that you don't get bogged down with an overload of information. Just as a general overview this was my daily schedule.

3:00am - Wake Up

3:25am - 108 FULL BODY BOWS. That is no mistake 108 full bows early in the morning. I would be covered in sweat

4:00am - Chanting. This was cool cause it was like the movies where monks chant

4:30am - Meditation. Standing still cross-legged and thinking about nothing.

6:00am - Formal Silence Breakfast

6:30am - Work

8:00am - Break

8:30am - Meditation

11:00am - Lunch

11:30am - Break

1:30pm - Meditation

4:30pm - Dinner

6:00pm - Evening Chanting

7:00pm - Meditation

9:30pm - Lights out

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Today I will talk about eating at the temple

When I was younger I use to think Asian's had no manners when it came to eating because they would chew with their mouth's open, reach across the table for food, elbows up, shovel their food into their mouth and slurp. I now know that Asian don't necessarily focus on the actual eating aspect of the meal but their are a ton of other small things that you can do at the dinner table that would be considered "bad manners". For breakfast and lunch our meal were formal, meaning that we had to obey the rules of meditation and be in complete silence. We all have our own dishes that are wrapped up in cloth. To eat breakfast or lunch there is about 20+ different steps you have to take Just to eat your food. Luckily when it comes to food I am quick learner.

1. You wait for everyone to be seated

2. The teacher hits a stick and everyone bows

3. You unwrap your 4 bowls and cutlery

4. Then you wait for the teacher, he hits the stick and you bow again.

5. An assigned person gets up and walks around to each person and offers them water in their rice bowl.

6. That water is then poured into each bowl until all the water is in your last bowl.

7. The stick is hit again

8. An assigned person gets up and picks the rice porridge pot and goes to each person a places the pot next to them. That is when you can scoop your own porridge.

9. Wait for the stick to be hit. During this time almost all the white people put peanut butter in their porrige. I thought that was gross as hell but they seemed to love it.

10. Now you start to eat. For every 2 people there is a mini table with vegetables and other side dishes you can eat. Typically it is very bland and not that filling.

11. You shovel your food as fast as possible. You don't want to be the last person finish because everyone else sits their in silence waiting for you to be done.

12. Another hit of the stick and the assigned person pours really hot rice tea.

13. Each person gets the rice tea poured into their rice bowl. Now comes the interesting part.

14. You use the hot tea to clean your bowls. There is no typical dishwashing afterwards so you have to be very careful you clean your plate well. This is basically what you have to do. You get a piece of kimchi and with the hot tea you wipe down the bowls you used. Its actually really fun to do. This why it is absolutely important to eat every last morsel of food as you don't want to be dealing with huge chunks mixed with hot tea. As you use the same rice tea to clean each bowl the last bowl becomes quite dirty. Then you drink the floaty dirty water.

15. After you drank the sludge water, you then use the regular water you got in the beginning and start the whole process of rinsing your bowls all over again.

16. Once they are all clean you use a cloth to dry off your bowls and cutlery

17. You then wait for the stick and then you push away the small table.

18. A huge pot comes along and so you can pour the excess water into it. However, you have to do it as silentlly as possible and there can not be any food in that water.

19. You then start to repack your bowls. But this also has to be done in utter silence. I remember one time as I was re-stacking my bowls and one of the bowls slipped and it came crashing down making the hugest amount of noise. The head Zen Master looked at me in disgust. It was as if I just spat a loogie on baby Jesus, or in this case baby Buddha.

20. We then bow and wait for the monks to put away their dishes.

21. We bow and then pack away ours.

After experiencing that way of eating it really gave me an appreciation of the importance of treating food with respect and the importance of eating everything on your plat. I now understand why Korean people consider it "bad manners" to leave any rice.

Jeeze that was a lot to talk about. Next blog will be about my my friend Mr Fuzzy. (You might ask who Mr. Fuzzy is, don't worry you'll get to know him in the next post)

Free At Last!!!

2008-07-05T16:25:00.000-07:00

Free at last, Free at last! Thank "Buddha" Free at last!

So the last week I went to a Buddha-Dharma monastery to live like a monk. A ton of things occurred and I just don't have the time to write about it as I am going back to Seoul to get ready to leave Korea. However when I am on the plane for 16 hours to Toronto, Ill be sure to write about it. All I will say now is, being an actual Buddhist monk is no easy life, because pretending to be one was hell.

I also made sure that I didn't go trigger happy and start taking thousands of pictures which would have taken me away from living and enjoying the moment. So I kept the pictures to a minimal and only took pictures for 2 of the 7 days I was there.

PS. I cant wait to get back home and talk about my spiritual awaking on Buddhism over some herbal "Chinese Tea"...... Just kidding, lets go for beers or as I like to call it "Cold Brew Tea" and shoot the shit.

Completely isolated.

I wont lie, it looks as if I took the shot while walking, but I staged the picture so my foot and staff would be in it

I saw these shot all the time on flickr and I finally got an opportunity to take one. I was really happy.

This cool guy I met name Jonathan. He was a yoga instructor back in the states and even at 47 he had way more energy then I do now at 27.

Gone For a Week

2008-06-27T05:27:00.001-07:00

I don't want to get into the details, But I will be gone for a week and you will not be able to contact me in any shape or form, nor will I post anything.

Hopefully I come back with a clear perspective on life and I also free my mind of the pollutants that cloud it.

I left you something to watch for the time being.

What a wicked adventrue!!!! It was really cool too see this video and I wanted to share it.

Eating For Free in Korea

2008-06-25T20:21:00.001-07:00

I have started becoming a little more savvy in Korea. For instance, I usually eat for free or next to nothing.

Well first I start off by eating really cheap/but fresh Kimbap (Korean vegetable sushi roll). I then go to Shinsegae (the Holt Renfew of Korea) and go to their grocery department. As I walk through the aisles I approach every free sample stand and eat to my hearts content. Its basically like going to Costco on a Saturday and getting full off free samples. But the cool part of these free samples are they are really high quality foods. For instance last time I went, I ate thinly sliced pork, marinated beef, sausage, breakfast sausage, hamburger with cheese, kimchi, tofu, rice balls with seaweed and seasoning, mango, banana, pineapple, steamed clams, bread, sundried shrimp and a couple other things.

Here is the really funny part.... They usually cut the samples really small and I use to only eat one portion and then move on. Then I kept seeing senior citizens taking like 5-10 potions at a time with out any complaints. So I said to me self "When in Rome..." I started just hanging out by the sample stands and eat about 5 portions from each booth. I would leave FULL. Great way to eat in Korea. Oh at the end my free buffet, I would buy a beer for $1.50 and drink it in the mall.

This was the meat section. Look at all those mini stalls offering different samples of all different meats. Awesome

Elephant Nuts Shot

2008-06-25T19:43:00.000-07:00

I went searching for universities that offered beginner Korean classes. I've been thinking about going down here in September and taking an actual structured course to learn Korean. However I started getting side tracked as usual.

Instead of looking for classes today I was lucky enough to ride some elephants while I was in Korea. In fact, I became some what of an elephant trainer and the elephants could tell I was not to be messed with. But to initially show my dominance, I kicked the alpha elephant square in the balls to show him who was boss. After that a power struggle occurred and I had become the new pack leader. I was so well accepted as the new leader that I was able to ride on top of their baby elephant with no complaints from the protective mother. Here are the shots.

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As the day wore down and before I went to the Jim Jil Bang I decided to do an "oldie but goodie" of a long exposure trick shot.

I tried to spell Korea. I thought is was ok

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On my to the Jim Jil Bang I passed by this hole in the wall very small pub. I looked in and it reminded me of pubs back at home. It had this legit North American feel too it. So I decided to walk in and it was really cool. There were Indians, Japanese, old English guys and young Americans partying it up and taking shots of tequila all night. It was by far the most diverse place I have seen so far in Seoul. In fact the bartender was a Philippino women and has been living in Korea for 8 years. Her Korean was almost fluent, it was really cool to see.

Shot of the pub

More Side Dishes, These Are Not Enough!

2008-06-24T02:35:00.000-07:00

On June 22, I was trying to sleep mid afternoon due to the muggy and hot weather but then my aunt woke me up to go to a sight seeing Buddhist temple. I really didnt want to go because I knew next week I was gonna get the full experience, but she promised me food so I decided to mosey along.

I got some nice shots while I was there, but I had a moment of zen/epiphany/clarity as I checked out one room in particular. I went inside the prayer room with 3 huge golden statues and plastered everywhere was "no pictures allowed". It made me realize that by putting my eye to the glass for the last year I have lost the ability to experience the moment for what it is, instead I've been only looking at events in my life as photo opportunities and nothing more. It was the first time I actually felt like a whore for trying to take shots of everything. Why don't I just experience the moment and enjoy it for what it is? When I left the room I felt glad that I never took a picture of the prayer room, and I hope I never feel the need too.

However, that being said I did take pictures of the other decorative rooms that were meant for tourist and where photography was allowed. (Guess my moment of Zen was short lived. ) (Sad on my part)

-----------------

So I went to eat at this restaurant and my Aunt insured me that I would enjoy this restaurant. So we go into this room and waited for about 10 minutes and there was no table in sight. Then all of a sudden 2 women came in carrying a huge table with all the food already on it. There were so many dishes that it made more logistical sense to bring the whole table then a couple dishes at a time.

Winning Gold at the Special Olympics

2008-06-24T02:32:00.000-07:00

I've been so bored in Daejeon that Facebook has become my only friend. But as everyone on facebook already knows it sometimes becomes like heroin and you feel gross for even participating in it.

So my drug of choice was making mean (yet really funny) comments about peoples pics. I say if your gonna post for the world to see you might as well expect a jerk (like me) to say something.

However my addiction to crackbook is now over as I am heading down to Seoul. Jim Jil Bang here I come!!! As this time in Seoul I truly have no where to stay and I don't want to spend the money for a motel. This should be fun.

In Sa Dong - The Art Centre of Korea

2008-06-19T08:06:00.000-07:00

Crap!!!!! My mom finally decided to read my website and she loved it! You might ask why I would say crap to that? Well my mother told her sister (the Aunt I am staying with) how bored I was in Dae Jeong and I think she was little sad about what i said.

Oh Well.

I went to Seoul yesterday with my aunt and sure enough we went to another tea ceremony. (oh God shoot me now) The only cool part about this tea ceremony was it was held at this very well known traditional korean garment making house. These traditional Korean garments are called Hanbok and are mainly used for special occasion such as weddings. Most Hanboks today are made from cheap materials because they are only worn once or twice a year. However this place was a designer Hanbok place. An analogy that best describes this place, would be like going to Vera Wang's store and getting a wedding dress (I'm sure the ladies got that one). There were some Hanbok's worth close to $10,000. So guess what I did with them? I decided to wear them and start doing the robot dance!

Luckily I never damaged one.

I almost look distinguished.

Until I made a Jack Ass of myself

Busy Street

Traditional way of making rice cakes and rice crispy squares (the Korean version)

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So most of my friends make fun of me for carrying around a huge dSLR. And I thought when I went to Korea (The land of super small cameras and cell phone cameras) I would be looked at funny as well. I was dead wrong. Let me give you an example. I stood at one corner of this market and decided to take as many shots of people with dSLRs slung around their neck. In less then 15 seconds I captured a crap load of people. Asian's take their photography very seriously and using the best equipment to take them is no exception here in Seoul. Young couple in particular always buy a dSLR so they can take pictures of themselves and post on CyWorld (Korean Facebook). Here you go, 15 seconds of finding people with dSLRs.

I think he was taking pictures down girls shirts....... Horrible.... absolutely Horrible...that I didn't think of it first!

Tea Time, Not Tee Time (Which would have been better)

2008-06-17T08:01:00.000-07:00

I went to visit my aunt in Dae Jeon again. If you readers remember, she was the one that would lock me inside the house so that I wouldn't go anywhere. Well she has finally eased up a bit and decided to give me the pass code to her building. However she wont tell me where any of the bars are so I'm still somewhat of a prisoner. Its fine though, I've been going a 100km/h for the last little bit, so a slow down period would be nice. I have been eating well at my Aunt's place and having a shower with some decent water pressure has been a blessing.

During dinner today I wanted to have a beer with my meal but there was none in the fridge (I should cut back on the beers anyways, I don't want to get a gut). But my aunt said not to worry we were gonna have tea. And I was like,

"TOTALLY AWESOME, YAY!!!!! TEA, just what I wanted!!!".

As you can tell I was being super sarcastic. I hate tea. It's just bitter hot water for god sakes. Why do people love it so much?

So my aunt invited her friends and decided to have a tradition tea ceremony. By the way, a tradition tea ceremony is like 2 hours long and all you do is drink a crap load of hot bitter water with a whole bunch of awkward silent moments in between each pour.

As the ceremony went on my Aunt asked if I wanted to take some pictures. Muwaha HA HA HA Big mistake on my Aunt's part. Oh boy, I totally ruined the Zen like calm of that room by firing away with my flash and getting in real close with my wide angle.

On a side note, I know I bashed tea drinking in this entry but my Aunt had some seriously powerful Chinese tea and I one point I felt a bit high and a bit light headed. Overall the experience wasn't bad. In fact, I would recommend you try it, but with people you actually want to sit next too.

Avg Download Speed In Korea

2008-06-16T16:59:00.000-07:00

I finally connected my laptop to a LAN connection in Korea. Let me give you a snap shot of how fast it is.

That is crazy bandwidth. Close to 1000KB per second

On a side note, I started watching South Park again and I forgot how funny and politically charged that show is. Season 11 was hilarious.

"Ohh God!! We're scissoring" - Ms. Garison

Some Cool Pics

2008-06-15T07:32:00.000-07:00

So I was at this roof top party and got some cool shots.

Long exposure shot late at night.

Zooming while shooting gives this really cool effect. Funny thing is I did it by accident.

A shot of the party.

Some people were smoking cigars late at night so I propped myself by the flood lights and waited for a shot like this to occur.

Being Ripped Off In Korea

2008-06-13T20:43:00.000-07:00

I met with Donald and asked him if he wanted to eat in the market. I haven't experienced eating at an outdoor market so I wanted to try it out. We went to this one grill stand that looked popular and as I sat down on the patio furniture and saw that umbrellas were the only roof this restaurant had, it was very charming and authentic. So we ordered from a front display of all the meats and vegetables (picture below)

The suction cups on the tentacle will actually suction to your inner mouth as you eat it

I ate live squid eyeball. Not too bad

***Behind Story***

As Donald and I was eating, I asked him how he has survived in Korea and Asia for so long and his response was not what I was expecting.

Donald said, "The only way you will stay sane in Korea is if you put yourself first. Even though it goes against the golden rule, there are just way too many people in Korea that try to walkover you and if you aren't thinking about yourself first you will feel like everyone is against you and you will go insane".

Interesting words to hear from Donald because he is one of the nicest and most optimistic guys you'll meet.

***Back to the main story****

Once we were done I yelled for the server and asked her to total our bill. She replied 62,000W ($62 CDN). At first I thought my Korean must be bad because I heard her say 62,000W ($62 CDN), unfortunately it was exactly what she said. For all of you reading this, in Korea having a $62 bill is like having a $400 bill between 2 people at Boston Pizza (fucking impossible). I looked back at the women and said in my broken Korean,

"Do you think, I'm retarded, Im not paying that!!!!!"

I thought to myself, "For God's sake this restaurant has umbrellas for a roof, their is no way that the our meal was that expensive". See how quickly that charming/authentic umbrella turned into something negative. The foreigner Youn Park might have just paid the amount but the more jaded Korean Youn Park did not want to get walked over. So after about 10 minutes of yelling Donald and I just put $50 (total) down and walked away. Some of you might be asking how can there be such a problem with the bill just add up what you ordered. Here is the problem.... this market restaurant didn't have the price listed anywhere. They do this on purpose so they can charge what the feel. I guess they thought because we were foreigners they would over charge us. I still feel like $50 was too much. $30 would have been right.

It was upsetting to see that, but I also enjoyed the experience of fighting back for the first time in Korea.

Casino

2008-06-13T20:26:00.000-07:00

So gambling in Korea is illegal if you are Korean but not if you are a foreigner. So I took my passport one night and decided to go gambling. So I got my passport and decided to check out a Casino. I started to walk in the front and was immediately stopped by security guards. I guess they could tell I was Korean (I do have very Korean features) and they were very abrasive with me until I showed my Canadian passport. Their attitudes all of a sudden changed and they bowed and escorted me into the Casino. When I walked in I was surprised to see so many Japanese people gambling. Apparently it is illegal to gamble in Japan as well, so Japanese business men fly to Korea like most people in North America fly to Vegas.

So I have never been to Vegas but from what I hear to get free drinks and food you have to be playing at a high limit table and if you play at the lower limit tables the servers are few and far between. So when I first sat down at the roulette table I was waiting for a server to come along but none came for a while. Until someone at the table just yelled something in Japanese and about 1 minute later a drink showed up in front of him. So I decided to do the same, in my most western voice I yelled to the pit boss, "Give me a beer". The pit boss nodded, then punched a couple things in a computer and about 30 seconds later a beer showed up in front of me. For all of you reading this, you have to realize the gravity of what just occurred, I basically snapped my fingers and free booze magically appeared in front of me. If you saw my face at that moment you would have seen a single tear falling from my eye. It was the most beautiful moment I have experienced! I then saw someone else yell something and then a hot plate of marinated beef (Gal Bee) landed in front of him. I was in so much shock I fainted. J/k

For all of you that know me, I love to drink Vodka Water, but for some reason the servers could net get their head wrapped around the notion to mix vodka with water. It was causing so much confusion that at one point I just started to order, 1 shot of vodka, 1 empty cup filled with ice and a bottle of water. (Which I would mix myself)

Lastly, I love how Korean government works, it wants to protect its own citizen against the evils of gambling, but if you're Japanese or a foreigner they are glad to take your money.

Acting Dumb

2008-06-10T08:16:00.001-07:00

Playing with some self timer and long exposure. People walking by thought I was an idiot.

Jim Jil Bang - Korea's Hidden Gem

2008-06-10T05:09:00.000-07:00

It was Donald's "not real" going away party yesterday, so the Four Square crew showed up to have some good eats and a couple of drinks. Everyone took it easy because it was Monday and they had to work the next day. Me on the other hand, I am jobless and treat everyday like Friday.

Plus, Cinderella had to go back home before 12 am (Inside joke)

We first started our night at a German beer house, which was fine but for some reason I really like Korean beer so I was just waiting until we started drinking Hite.

German Beer House

Then we went to go eat Gam Jang Tang (Pork Bone Soup) at this place by Bang Bang intersection. However something really interesting happened over dinner. When I ordered the alcohol I ordered all 3 large bottles of beer and 2 bottles of Soju at once.

Then Sandra asked, "Why did you order all the alcohol all at once, don't you like your drinks cold?"

She had to remind me that this was Korea and you can actually bother the servers and order your drinks one at a time. Back at home the waitress rarely ever come by your table and if you bother them with a bunch off small orders they get pissed off and start to give you even shittier service.

Pork Bone Soup Rest

So the night carried on to this wicked Chicken place by Nambu bus terminal and this is where I went into 5th gear with my drinking. Peter and Sandra recommended this place and so far they have been 3 for 3 when it comes to choosing places to eat.

Donald enjoying some free service crackers

Peter looks a lot better then last time. :)

After a fair amount of drinking I "casually" tried to find a place to crash at, as the subways were already closed and I could not make it back to my Hyung's house. And by the word "casually" I really mean "awkwardly". Then someone made a suggestion that I stay at Jim Jim Bang (Sauna House) for the night. For you people that don't know Jim Jil Bangs act as simple motel as well as sauna house. I figured it would be a Korean experience that I would need to try at least once, so that night seemed as good of night as any. So I didn't know what to expect so I kept telling myself "When in Rome, do as the Romans do". I figured I would get the full Korean sauna house experience and kept an open mind.

First things first, you get butt naked with a bunch of other dudes around you and you go into this room with varying degrees of hot and cold water pools. I first went into a luke warm pool and gradually moved up to the semi hot tub, I then tried to go into the really HOT tub and I thought I was being boiled alive. So I quickly went back to the semi hot tub. I relaxed in that tub for about 20 mins. I didn't know what to do next so I looked around and saw people taking a shower so I figured I would do the same. As I walked by the shower area I saw everyone vigorously using these scrub cloths so I figured, "When in Rome..." so I grabbed the nearest scrubbing cloth and went away at my body. I was a little weirded out that other people had used this cloth but I looked to the guy next to me and he didn't seem to care so I said, "When in Rome..". As I was leaving the shower stall I saw a huge stack of brand new scrub towels that I was suppose to use and not some random cloth that I found in the stall. It would have been funny if I didn't feel so gross. I blame not seeing those new scrub cloths on being drunk and with out glasses. So I quickly grabbed a new scrub cloth and gave my self another shower.

So I left the shower area feeling better due to my second shower and decided I would check the rest of the Jim Jim Bang out. I walked into the large room that had everyone sleeping on the floor. The funny thing is having that many drunk men passed out in one room, the snoring was so loud it was almost funny. I first checked out the Sauna and sat in it for about 5 mins until I felt being drunk and passing out in a sauna might not be the best bet. I left that room and decided to go to the refreshing cold room. Let me tell you something, I was drunk before I entered the cold room, but the cold was so rejuvenating that it sobered me right up. I was walking around some more and kept telling myself, "When in Rome..." I finally walked by the massage area and I figured I might try my first massage. (And for all you people with a dirty mind, it was an actual massage!!) As I walked in there was only a dude massuse but I kept saying, "When in Rome..."

Let me first start off by saying, "OH MY GOD". The massage was unbelievable!!! The massage was over 1 hour and I never knew a MAN'S hand could bring me to a state of Nirvana (Sounds gay doesn't it? Well if you got a massage from him you would have said the same thing).

There was one thing I learned about myself as I experienced my first massage, I make animal like growl noises and I fart when in compete relaxation. In hindsight I must have been the worst customer ever. After the massage I was so relaxed I found a spot on the floor took a wooden block pillow and passed out. I usually have a hard time sleeping on the floor but this was the first time since university that I slept for more the 8 hours straight.

Well that was my experience at a Jim Jil Bang. By far one of the best things I have done in Korea. Oh by the way the Jim Jil Bang is only $8. (The massage was extra)

CAN YOU BELIVE IT!! 8 FUCKING DOLLARS. I've had pints of beer cost me more.

About to get NAKED

PS. Hair Cut turned out fine. Still a bit of a mullet

Mad Cow Protest

2008-06-08T19:16:00.000-07:00

Of the few things I ever see on American news about Korea is either about corruption at the corporate/government level, North Korean President Kim Jung Ill or mass protest that get violent. Well let me officially say I participated in my first Korean protest. I have participated in many protest before in my university days, such as...

No Pants Protest - We walked around in shorts all day

Legalize Marijuana Protest - No need to explain what happened that day.

But a Mad Cow Protest was a first.

Some of these pictures came out poorly because I didn't want to use my flash for the fear that the protesters might have thought I was taking their pictures for the police and beat me.

I want a Hair Cut

2008-06-07T00:45:00.000-07:00

Im too afraid to get a hair cut here. the latest trend in Korea is the mullet so I'm afraid if I walk into a place with my broken Korean and ask for a hair cut their gonna give me the most ridiculous mullet.

Ill try and get a picture of this horrible trend at another date

T-Money, Not G-Money

2008-06-07T00:21:00.000-07:00

So In Korea they got this thing called T-money. What a great idea! And speaking from a corporate world it makes huge business sense because your customers give you their money before the service is even offered. (kind of like gift cards).

You might be asking, "Youn, what is T-money?"

Basically it is an instant debit card that uses RFID signal to pay for things. So for instance, your cell phone can have a small chip placed in it or you can buy a cute keychain with the RFID chip in it and then you can pay for things just by swiping your phone/keychain by it. It is a wicked system for paying for things in Korea. All you have to do is charge up the card at many convenient locations and then you can pay for taxi, buses, vending machines, public phones and even meals with the T-Card.

The best part of T-Money is how wicked it works in the transit system, it is so fast and everyone uses it so there are never any line ups getting into the subway. Toronto TTC could learn a thing or two from this system.

Info on your Drivers Licence

2008-06-06T23:55:00.000-07:00

So if you pull out your drivers licence you will see an area for your hair colour and for your eye colour. When you see a Korean drivers licence they do not have this area. Hmm, I wonder why?

No need for hair colour and eye colour in Korea

Ninja Post

2008-06-06T03:50:00.002-07:00

I snuck into an office building and started stealing wifi

This is a ninja post where I am in and out quicker then you can blink an eye. No time for explanations.

I went to a B-boy show. pretty cool

I like the above shot a lot

-----Post blog post -----

So I finally walked by a coffee shop and they have free wifi, however I did purchase an overpriced muffin so that I wouldn't be hassled.

Man today was a tough day. I was caring a lot of camera equipment and my laptop and I didn't really get any good shots. Plus for some reason misquotes in Korea seem to love my blood. Right now its twilight and they are out in full force and if I stop in the open for more then 2 mins they start to attack.

Back to talking about my post above, my Hyung has a cousin that is a B-Boy (break dancer for you uninformed) and he took me too his show. Forget the stereotype that Asian's cant dance I was blown back by their ability. And for all of you that already know about my "raver dancing" past (ohh god wasn't I such an idiot back then), I could tell that they were amazing.

I got some cool shots while they were practicing as well. I'll post up the rest when I get a chance on facebook.

PS. My Mom sent me an email today basically disowning me as son because I haven't phoned or emailed her in 5 days. She also called me a "Son of a Bitch" but I don't think she exactly knows why I found that so funny.

Most internet connected society, my ass

2008-06-06T02:17:00.001-07:00

So staying in korea, I thought getting wifi signal would be easy. It turns out it is f**ing impossible. I have a ton of new pictures I want to post but because I havent gotten a good wifi signal for the last 4 days I have been unable too. Someone might ask, "Hey Youn, if you cant find an internet connection how did you post this last blog". My answer is, "F-U"

I've been going to PC rooms to answer emails and post things but that is about all I can do. All my pictures are on my laptop and I cant upload them into a PC room computer. On a side note if I wanted to play warcraft or coutnerstrike at lighting speeds that wouldn't be an issue in Korea (wierd how that works)

So far things are good and fun but I am running low on funds. If you wish to donate money for a comepletely "UNWORTHY" cause please drop me an email.

Im gonna set up a Youn Park Soju Fund that people can donate money too, as I have made no moeny off the advertisments of my blog page.

As you an tell I am bitter today!

Oh well.

Dont Mess with Korean Inline Skaters

2008-05-31T22:52:00.000-07:00

So my Hyung (Older Friend) asked if I wanted to take some pictures along Han River. I obviously said yes, but I asked what he would be doing at Han River, which he replied, "roller blading with my friend". So I though to myself, jeez its been awhile since I have exercised and I think rollerblading along the shore would be fun. So I ditched the camera for a day of fun. That was my first mistake.

My Hyung then ask me, "do you want a jersey?"

Which I replied, "No, why would I need one?" (second mistake)

He then asked me "Do you want a spare helmet?"

I replied, "No need, I've been blading for years" (In fact, I showed him pictures of me jumping off shit when I was younger) (third mistake)

So we went to Han river to rent my rollerblades and I knew they were going to be shitty but I just figured I'd hammer through and I might even show off a bit. Then I saw my Hyung setting up and as he pulled out these 5 wheeled roller blades with a carbon fiber boot, I thought to myself what have I gotten myself into.

My Hyung then started wearing his tight jersey and spandex like shorts. At first I thought this guy would stick out like a sore thumb but then we met his friends and they were even more decked out. Then I saw everyone else on the dock and they were all dressed up too.

He then said try to keep up but not to worry there is only one path so they will wait for me at their end point.

So those mistakes I made started to come into fruition, firstly roller blading along the most popular river in Korea on a Saturday was a gong show and you need to wear helmet not because you'll hit your head on the ground but more because you will hit you head against another human being. Secondly, Koreans are no joke when it comes to speed inline skating, I was the odd one out. Every rollerblader was decked out and took the so called "sport" seriously. After 5 minutes I could not keep up and they were long gone from my site line. Every roller bladder I saw were in groups of 5 and using the slip stream of the the front skater and had perfect drafting technique. it was site too see. I tired to grab a picture with my iphone and I was surprised at the cool effect that it made.

Just so you know I rollerbladed over 25kms that day and also drank beer along the route. My shirt was drenched from sweat and my nipple were chaffed. I wish I wore that jersey.

Oh well I survived. I told my Hyung I would go again next week but I was going to rent a bike instead.

Folk Village

2008-05-30T03:50:00.000-07:00

Firstly, you can check out the whole album at

http://picasaweb.google.com/redeye.photos/FolkVillage/

Im just gonna show a couple of my favorite pics and I'll leave a comments for each one

----These were my best pics of the day----

My only artsy shot for the day, I swear

This shot was so awesome I should sell it to a Korea tourism brochure company. Ok maybe not that good, but I was really proud of this shot because I deliberately set up my camera to capture his motion as blurry but his body as still.

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I thought it would be funny if I hid in the field of DangJun.

Hiding in field of something seem to be my theme today.

Trying to be like an old AhJuMa and walk around with something heavy on my head, I could only hold it up for 2 seconds.

Just generally being retarded.

Apparently from the sign i was holding the urine buckets.

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As some people already know, look closely at the shot. "POWER UP!"

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What was great about the Traditional Folk Village was there were old and young people both having a great time. What I couldn't believe was what some of the old people were doing.

There was the traditional torture chamber that the kids could play in. It seemed weird that kids were getting enjoyment out of a contraption that literally was meant to cause you extreme pain.

I shit you not, this grandma was getting serious airtime. It was amazing how good they were at this teeter totter trampoline contraption. I tired it myself afterwards and I nearly broke a hip.

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For all you Korean drama fans, there was filming today so I got some shots of some extras chilling between sets.

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Some Misc shots but still came out nice

For you camera buffs, I put this to Aperture 22, Shutter 1 sec, ISO 100. Its give a really cool effect on water during the day. If you ever get chance to shoot a waterfall try the same method. If you also have an ND Filter you can slow down your shutter speed further giving a more fluid effect to the water.

I don't think he liked me

Just a nice wide angle

Taking shots of miniatures kind of looks like you are using tilt/shift lens.

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A great day of shooting

Black, White and Asian Stereotypes.

2008-05-30T03:12:00.001-07:00

Im not being racist here. Ok maybe just a little bit. But Joe and Erick pointed out something that was really funny. When we talk about foods black people love to eat, what comes to your mind?

I bet you said, "friend chicken, waffles, watermelon" or something similar.

Being in Korea for the last 3 weeks, my consumption of those 3 items have been through the roof. For all you Koreans reading this blog, really think about it. How many times has your parents bought watermelon during the summer months over the span of your life. I bet a lot. How many times have you eaten KFC over Mcdonalds in the last year? Im just saying that the stereotype of loving fired chicken and watermelon should be ours.

Another stereotype is how BBQing is and American thing. I have never seen so many different ways of grilling my meat till I came to Seoul. I have had wood logs that have been charcoaled, coal charcoal, butane, rotating spits and electric.

The smallest difference cost me $40

2008-05-28T21:29:00.000-07:00

So Joe is heading to his families place to see them one last time before he goes home. So I decided to go to SuJiGu where my aunt's friend lives. My aunt told me to go to Ori (Sounds like OREE) station. Unfortunately what I heard was Odio (Sounds like ODEEO) station, so guess what the chances are that there was a station called Odio (apparently fucking amazing) When I got off Odio station I phoned my aunt on the payphone and she informed me that the apartment is only 5 minutes away. However, when I was looking outside there were no tall buildings in site and in fact it was really boonie looking. So I went into a cab and asked him to drive me to SuJiGo, Duck San Apartments. Then I thought I heard the taxi cab driver say 4000W, ($4) which I was pissed off about because its a total ripp off for a 5 minute cab ride. I didn't want to argue with him so I told him it would be ok. All of a sudden he goes onto the highway and starts heading for another city. I was so confused on what was happening that I asked countless time, "do you know where you are going". Finally after a 45 minute cab ride and whole shit load of confusion, I figured out what went wrong and that my ass was going to be paying for a monster cab ride. It turns out he said 40,000W ($40). Long story short I learned a valuable lesson today sounding similar and actually being similar are 2 different things.

It goes to show you, if Joe ain't around things are getting get tougher.

Crusing on Bikes Korean Style.

2008-05-27T02:23:00.000-07:00

Erick and all his friends ride bikes out here in Busan. They use it for their daily commuter so they are very comfortable bobbing and weaving in crazy Korean traffic. Its such a different way of riding then I am use too. In Canada whenever I got an open stretch I would easily take my bike 200+ kms. However, in Korea I almost never went more the 60km/h but the entire time I was shitting bricks. In Canada everyone takes their riding more seriously with full gear, a planned trip and rules to follow. However Erick rode his bike the Korean way, no helmet, sandals, on the side walk, in between cars, opposing traffic and no regard for red lights. I was trying with all my ability to keep up but it was really starting to get dangerous. At one point my hip rubbed against a car's bumper as I was lane splitting to get up to the intersection. It was hair raising for sure. But the funny thing was after 2 hours of riding like that you get use to is so quickly that you couldn't even imagine riding the normal way. The moment that I knew Erick was very comfortable on a bike was when we were all riding down the street he all of a sudden stopped in the middle of his lane and got his girl friend to buy a watermelon from the back of a truck. The funny part was neither him or his girl dismounted. It was funny sight to see someone shopping and paying for a watermelon that way. Erick even says that his disregard for safety gets so bad that he sometimes has a smoke while on his cell phone while riding. That being said I really had some fun on a bike in Korea and if I decide to stay here longer I will definitely get a bike.

Taco

2008-05-27T02:19:00.001-07:00

So in Busan there is a beautiful beach called Haewondae. However that day I forgot my camera so I had to use my iphone camera a lot instead. Anyways, My friends Erick wanted to show us this Taco stand by the beach that he said was amazing. The first bite I took was heaven, I could not believe that I had to go to Korea to have a delicious burito and/or taco. it was truly amazing. Grilled to perfection on the outside and stuffed with fresh re-fried beans and rice. One of the best meals I have had so far.

PS. A whole crap load of foreigners

Street meat.

2008-05-27T02:17:00.000-07:00

People that live in toronto know all about street meat. Every time you come back from the bar you look at those hotdog stands and say to yourself, "ahh man that looks good" but during the day you wouldn't even touch a hotdog if it were free. Same goes in Korea. However their street meat vendors in Korea dont sell hotdogs, they sell deep fried squid, spicy rice cake, fish cake soup and blood sausages. You just go up to the vendor eat as much as you want and then tell the owner how much you ate. Then the owner charges you accordingly. I gotta be honest with you, it was amazing!!!! So good!!! Again I don't understand how obesity is not a problem when there is stand every 2 blocks selling delicious stuff.

Bowling Korean Style.

2008-05-27T02:11:00.000-07:00

So there are activities in Canada that go hand in hand. For example, hockey and hot chocolate or baseball and peanuts. when I say bowling everyone knows its drinking beer and eating pizza. However in Korea no one drinks while bowling. This blew my mind away. So far in Korea I have drank alcohol everywhere, on the streets, inside a PC room and even shopping at the mall. It shocks me too see that no one drinks at a bowling alley. instead everyone takes bowling very seriously and all have perfect form. Even grandmothers were curving the ball and bowling circles around me. So when they saw us hammering back beers in the afternoon bowling less then 150 they looked at us if we were retarded.

Being A Minority In Korea

2008-05-24T18:36:00.000-07:00

So Joe and I went to meet an old friend from university in Busan. We took the KTX for about 2 hours and met up with Erick. Here is a little info about Erick. Erick has been teaching English for about 5 yeas in Korea. When I was in school Erick needed a place to crash during the weekdays so that he could make it to his classes. He ended up staying at our place for almost 3 months and he lived in Joe's walk in closet. Erick use to wear the same shirt for a week and I don't even know how often he changed his underwear. At one point Erick had no job, no money, haven't a hair cut for months, no clean clothes and he was still dating 3 chick at one time! Needless to say, when I went to Busan I knew he would show me a good time.

So the first chance Erick and I got to talk, he mentioned that all the foreigners in Busan stick together like crazy and only go to a few bars along the strip. They dont try to assimilate whatso ever. In fact, in Toronto Erick had more Koran friends then in Korea. And for all those Canadians that get pissed about Asians not assimilating into the culture in Canada you should see how bad the Canadians are here. Erick is telling me that local people look at foreigners as monsters that just go crazy at the bars. Basically the foreigner's act like "Girls Gone Wild Spring Break" every weekend and just get shittered.

So both nights that Joe and I went out, we were the only Korean people in the bars (besides the staff) even the restaurants they chose were Pasta Houses and/or all you can eat Galbee. It was definitely a surreal sight too see. Long story short, don be an English teacher in Korea if you want to learn about Korean culture.

So here is pic of the house party Joe and I went to.

Shopping, Illegal Style

2008-05-21T01:34:00.000-07:00

So Donald, Joe and I decided to check out the knock-off and copy products that Korea has to offer. Jen Lee asked Joe to get her a Chanel purse so we were on a mission to find one that she might like. Joe kept making fun of me because I knew what kind of purse Jen was talking about the moment she described it. (I got a sister and girlfriend that love purses, you pick up a few things) Joe kept say "Queer eye for the Korean guy". I'll be honest, I knew which were the nice purses and which were the shitty ones. (I swear I'm not a flamer)

So Donald knew the SOP (standard operating procedure) for Itewon knock offs and A+ copy and he told us that we have to be escorted to the underground shops to get the good stuff. As we walked the street a guy pulled us over and asked if we wanted any brand name stuff. We said yes and followed him down a back alley. But before we went into his secret store, there were police raids happening all day so they were extra careful not showing the entrance to the place until all the cops were gone. I think they just pulled all this cloak and dagger shit to make you feel their stuff is extra good quality. Anyways 3 big english speaking guys are in small basement looking at huge Chanel purses. (It was funny situation). At one point Joe asked how much? The merchant replied $300. Needless to say we got the fuck out of there. We love you Jen but not $300 A+ copy love.

I also saw something that I have been dying to eat in Korea BonDaGee. Silk worm larva. Yes its exactly what I said Silk worm eggs. God I love them!!!

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Here is the best pic of the day

Jum Lee Sul (Fresh)

2008-05-20T02:05:00.000-07:00

In Canada we have Jum Lee Sul original but not Fresh. For some reason the "fresh" version is unbelievable. It is definitely the cat's meow.

Busy Subway

2008-05-20T01:41:00.001-07:00

So I was riding the Green line around Hang Nam with Joe after a day of checking out the sights and sounds. And we got on Subway around 5:00pm and I thought it was pretty packed. However, Joe informs me it gets much worse if we take more business routes.

The funny thing was I farted during this time and no one was phased by the smell. I guess they are use to it. J/k

Photos for Doo San Baseball

2008-05-20T01:33:00.001-07:00

http://picasaweb.google.com/redeye.photos/DooSanBears

Starting Young

2008-05-18T05:09:00.000-07:00

The best shot I took of the day didn't happen on the baseball field but instead it happened in the stands. Lets just say Korea breeds true drinkers by getting them them started early

Korea's Favorite Past Time - Baseball - Wait thats not right? Is it?

2008-05-18T04:34:00.000-07:00

Peter and Sandra phoned Joe and said there was a baseball game going on today The Doo San Bears (I hope I spelt that right) vs The Samsung Tigers (or Lions... I have a horrible memory). It turned out to be a wicked day. With Hite tall boys being 3000 wan and food being so cheap we sat and watched all 9 innings while getting "Faded" (I'll explain that world later) One of the most eventful things of that baseball game is how I saved Sandra's life. "Some people" said I was like an animal and acting solely on instinct, when I protected Sandra by stepping in front of a foul ball and taking the the full force of the ball against my muscular body. It was clear that if I had not stepped into the line of fire that Sandra's would have been killed. When I say "some people" I actually mean "me"

Here is the true story, and in retrospect when I saw the ball coming I should have just moved but for some reason I thought I could catch it. So I had my camera in my right hand and I tried to fist the ball with my left. Thank god I suck at catching because I would have probably broken my fingers. My left shoulder got the brunt of the impact. It then bounced and hit Sandra in the rear shoulder blade. What was really nice was Joe scrambled for the ball and got it, he then tossed it my way. Knowing that I would never appreciate a foul ball more then Joe I decided it would be better if he kept it.

Nice picture of Joe and Sandra

Crap load of people

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"Faded" - gradually grow faint and disappear :

Blotted, shitered, hammered, wasted, sauce monster, Grandma's medicine. Anyways, always being up to date on the latest drinking lingo I was suprised to hear a word that I never heard used for drinking.

Faded

That was a new drinking term that I liked. In fact, Im gonna steal it say I coined it. Here is an example of faded.

Delivery at 5:00am

2008-05-18T04:31:00.001-07:00

I dont understand how obesity is not a problem in Korea, especially when you can get delivery food at any given time. I was in shock that the food arrived so quickly and it was deliciously hot. I didn't even give the delivery guy tip (A very weird concept for me, but it sure is helping my wallet out)

Hammer Time

2008-05-18T04:26:00.000-07:00

Welcome to one of the best parts of Korea. Drinking on the streets. Funny enough drinking during the afternoon is one of my favorite things to do, so I would buy a tall boy and walk around GangNam and enjoy the buzz.

Incorrect About the Sex Pillow

2008-05-18T04:25:00.000-07:00

So It turns out that the so called "sex pillow advertisement" was not what I thought. Apparently parking is so crazy in Korea that you have to illegally park and block cars in if you ever want to get spot, so they put their cell phone numbers on the dashboard so the blocked person can phone you and get you to move. Here is what i find funny, why would you spend money on a embroidered pillow when a nice white cardboard with your number on it would suffice. I guess its the same reason why women spend thousands of dollars on a purse (extravagance)

Sex Pillow

2008-05-15T16:40:00.000-07:00

So I was walking to the car and I saw that there was a car with this embroidered cute pillow on its dashboard and I thought to myself, ohh jeez why do Asian love all that cute crap in their car. Then I looked a little closer and realized it was the most awesome pillow ever. Here is the pic..........

Its a sex pillow advertisement. Needless to say I phoned the number right away.

Well I'll be seeing Joe soon in GangNam and thing should get interesting. I will be staying at youth hostel so I don't know if I'll bring my computer and camera into the rooms, so there might be a black-out period. Probably for the best because I'm gonna black out for most of time Im there.

Prisoner In Korea

2008-05-15T00:53:00.000-07:00

So my aunt in Dae Joeng use to be this really independent free spirited person when she was younger now she is worried about everything and has become a typical housewife. During the day she had to leave for a couple of hours to go to the Spa and I asked her to drop me off anywhere downtown so I could go exploring. She said NO. In fact she wouldn't even give me the pass code for her front door because she knew I would have just left to check out the downtown core. Basically she made me a prisoner in her home. Ha Ha. I love how, I can move to Toronto and Edmonton by myself and live on my own for the last 8 years but the moment I want to goof off in Korea I'm considered a 6 year old child. Oh well, I will be meeting up with Joe soon and I'll be sure to tear it up.

Here is a pic of the infamous lock. God Korean's need to technology everything up. What happened to a simple dead bolt.

I finally got to eat some delicious Korean food. Super fresh octopus. So fresh the sucker was moving while it was being cooked. I wanted to eat the raw baby squid but they only had the larger ones at this restaurant

Van City (2nd week of May, 08)

2008-05-14T15:26:00.000-07:00

I started off in Van City and took this shot on the beach. I used Photomatrix to get this HDR shot. As you can tell by the water mark I did not pay for the program. You can see the rest at http://picasaweb.google.com/redeye.photos

I got to see some old friends while was I was down in Poco or as it is affectionally referred to as PoCompton and I was glad to see everyone doing well. My friend got a great shot of me goofing of on a rented boat.

Blogging, The Douche Bags of the Internet

2008-05-14T14:32:00.000-07:00

Yes I am Douche Bag.

Firstly, I want to say I have the worst grammar and the spelling of a failing grade 7 student. I make typographical errors all the time because I still have to look at the keyboard when I type. Basically I have never met a university grad that butchered the english language with my level of ineptitude.

I recently decided to get a "New Life" (not Second Life, for you gaming losers) and start traveling the world. So I quit my job and started living like a bum. I got a GREAT girlfriend that works at an Airline so she is my connect for cheap tickets. (I have to say GREAT or she will revoke my passes, she's got me on a short leash!)

Anyways, I will be posting things I have learned in life and new event that occur. I will not pretend that my life is interesting or original but I will try and kill 5 minutes of your day with something to read.

Cya