Paparazzo

I woke up at the crack of dawn yesterday (well, more like 8:00, but that's pretty early for me) so I could help a friend create some pictures. I have become friends with a cat named Andrew Morgan over here. We have numerous mutual friends and are both proud Jayhawks and both hapen to be living in the same area of Seoul, South Korea, so it makes sense that we have started hanging out. He makes some stellar music (there's a link to his blog on the right side of my page and you can check out http://www.myspace.com/morganandrew to hear his last album) and is preparing to put out a new album soon. The album just finished the mastering phase so he is now in need of some press photos.

We started on his roof, moved to the elevator in his building, walked through the woods behind his apartment, walked around his neighborhood and then ended up at an annex of the Seoul Museum of Art.

The roof was a good place to start. The floor is a weird bright green and there are spectacular views of the surrounding city and mountains. We sat around drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes and tried to take some pictures that recreated a natural Saturday morning rooftop excursion.





On our way from the roof to the woods we got into the elevator in his building. The elevator had this big mirror and the lighting in the elevator was kind of eerie. We started messing around and ended up taking a whole series of pictures in the elevator. We went from the fifth floor, to the basement, back to the fifth floor, back to the... well you get the idea. We had to pause once when a woman got on the elevator with us. Now I've got some weird looks in Korea, but the look on the girl's face when she saw us taking pictures on a never-ending, yo-yo elevator ride was one of the weirdest.





Next we headed to the woods behind his apartment for some Nick Drake shots. The weather was absolutely perfect. We were taking pictures during four of the five hours that the sun was out all weekend. The trails through the woods are very un-Seoul. It is a quiet and peaceful little corner of this busy city where there are actually trees, leaves and nature. These were fun to take.





We walked to the museum next, taking the long way there, zig-zagging through alleys and seeing lively Saturday morning Korean neighborhoods. We found a couple opportunities to take pictures that were uniquely Korean.



Finally, we ended the morning at the art gallery. I love this art gallery and wanted to take pictures here. We were told right away that we could not take pictures inside the gallery so we had to do a bunch on the sly. It was kind of fun trying to take pictures without the 60-year-old woman who was reading the bible in the hallway catching us.






A goal I had when I came to Korea was to improve my photography skills. I love to take pictures and I have had a fun time honing my skills. It was a blast to have a willing subject and a reason to take pictures for a whole morning. I was talking with another friend last night about the photo chances I will have traveling through Europe next spring and I am glad that I should be capable of capturing some of them.

I've got some good times ahead. Big darts tournament put on by the English chaps next weekend, Christmas dinner party with work the weekend after that and then it is Christmas. All is well in Seoul as time keeps pushing along.

Much love from Seoul