Busan is a really beautiful city to visit in the summer, but it can get really busy. Just before summer, however, you can enjoy a stroll on any of the beaches without too many people around and I highly recommend it. Daryl was quite specific when he reached out, though, that he didn’t want his proposal to be on one of the beaches. He wanted something a little different that they could explore together. So, I gave a few suggestions including Ahopsan Bamboo Forest and Huinyeoul Culture Village. His response was almost immediate, it would be Huinyeoul.
The seaside walk at Huinyeoul is lovely and gives a gorgeous view of the ocean without the typical beach crowds and sand in your shoes. On this day, there was actually some construction going on to sure up the wall that holds the village in place in on the cliffs, so we really only had a few spots to choose from. Daryl liked having just the ocean in the background and not the city, which is visible if you pivot to the right here. So, with a spot in mind, I set about creating a brief for Daryl with directions to get him there. All he would need to do was convince Su Yu that the walk down to the coast would be worth it and remember what he wanted to say to her. As you’ll see here, that went superbly. Su Yu’s reaction was priceless and the moments I was able to capture were so genuine and heartfelt.
Before we move on with the session. It’s important to discuss something about the weather. Those grey skies you see in the background here are not hinting at rain and they’re only partially made up of clouds. As the summer rolls around, Busan is frequented by sea fog that rolls in without notice and engulfs the city, as you can see below. It’s absolutely spectacular, but not always the right mood for a big day like this one! This scene is a 90 degree pan to the right from Daryl and Su Yu’s special moment and is a good example of how we can choose the feeling of a scene using camera settings and processing. With a brighter exposure and a warmer tone, I was able to give Daryl and Su Yu’s moments the warmth that we all felt on the day.
Now, on with the session! As we got to know each other a little, it was clear that this couple had a deep connection that swung between quiet romantic moments and playful joy at a moment’s notice. So, I focused on that idea throughout the session. They made it a joyous afternoon out and I can’t thank them enough for being such a treat to work with.
Huinyeoul is a wonderful location on days like this. It is a bit of a sunset watching spot and a trinket shopping area for visitors to Busan. But, when there’s fog in like we had, the crowds tend to find other places to go. That meant that we had almost every corner of the place to ourselves. From the seaside to the mural alleys, we had complete freedom to enjoy and photograph as we wanted.
As we were getting ready to leave, we came across some of the neighbourhood cats and I discovered one more commonality between the couple and myself: we share a love of cats. So, I stepped back and captured some moments of them with the timid but loving strays of Huinyeoul.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this look at Daryl’s Busan proposal. If you’d like to discuss planning and executing your own proposal in Busan or anywhere else in Korea, I’d love to hear from you. Please also jump over and follow my Instagram for more images and stories from photoshoots all over Korea.