Welcome back to the third instalment in this series of Year in Review posts. If you haven’t checked out part one and part two, please head over and take a look! In this section, we’re moving into summer and all that season brings to us. There were storms and the beautiful skies that follow them. There was heat and escaping it for some time. In amongst all that, there was plenty of photography. So, let’s dive right in.
I started this quarter with a family session with the Suhs. That beautiful mix of afternoon sunlight at fast-moving storm clouds meant that we had a lot of variety, even in our one-hour session. We got really lucky with the weather on this day! Check out a few of the different looks we got below. When the girls found out I was friends with Professor Oh, we had to make a quick video greeting for her as well!
With the gorgeous weather, it was hard to pass up an evening on the streets of Jongno with my good friend, Marco, to continue our ever expanding Jongno Gentlemen project. Here are a couple of finds from that night.
For my next session, a family morning with the Chens, we got the other end of summer’s weather: the rain. Despite the forecast, we decided to brave it and the first half of our session was great. The overcast skies provided a beautiful soft light which made for some gorgeous images. Just as we were getting ready to make our last images, though, the rain came down. You can see the additional element that adds in the last picture here.
Leading into the summer holidays, Fujifilm Korea always has some sort of interesting promotion going on with their cameras. This time around, it was instant noodles. So, having a little extra time on our hands, Roy Cruz and I decided to have an instant-noodle style-off. The results of that are below. If you’re interested in the process, there’s a blog post here and a YouTube video here about how we made these images.
A couple of corporate events would follow this up. First up, a dinner for TÜV SÜD in Seoul. We had a great location on a balcony at the Millenium Hilton, Seoul. This meant that I had nice light at a corporate event for a change! Following that, my colleague Greg Samborski and I ran two concurrent photobooths for a Lancome influencer event. A couple of those, including a gorgeous light test of yours truly can be found below.
With a couple of days in between to spare again, I hit the streets to document my city. One particular session ended up as an 11-page article I wrote for Fuji X Passion Magazine about the Laowa 9mm f/2.8. Thankfully the smog levels were low with the passing storm and the clouds were gorgeous!
In late July, I had a three-day shoot with UK-based craft beer brewers Brewdog for the opening of their new pub in Itaewon, Seoul. We had interiors, their resident artist, Craig Fisher, food, drinks, and the opening party to shoot. It was a long few days, but a lot of fun to work with their international team. If you’re in Seoul, head down and check out their beers, but be sure to order the Cluck Norris sandwhich. Avocado and chicken. Yum yum.
With two weeks to go until summer holidays and our trip to Hong Kong, I had a couple more family sessions and some editorial work to fill out my time. First up, I spent an energetic and fun filled morning with the Ardell family. With two boys around the best age to be a boy, it was non-stop laughs and lots of fun pictures. Then I would join the Washeks for their first meeting with their son at the adoption agency. It took the little man some time to warm up but when he did, it was all on! Finally, before heading off, I got to work with a local design firm on a magazine entitled Social Innovation in the Community to highlight a few people shaking up the game here in Korea.
After a whirlwind series of shoots and edits, it was off to Hong Kong for five days with my wife. We hit a few of the tourist spots, walked some of the streets, and ate far more than we should of. The best thing about Hong Kong, though? It was MUCH cooler than Seoul. We had a ridiculously hot summer this year! More from my Hong Kong set can be seen here.
Back into the heat of Seoul and I jumped right into a shoot with the Ott family. A morning session is always a good idea in the summer heat as by lunchtime, it’s just unbearable. We had a great time and didn’t sweat nearly as much as we thought we would.
A couple of corporate events followed this session. First up was the annual German Business Awards, which are always a good time and are held in one of the nicest outdoor venues in Seoul. The second was a quick shoot for the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Korea at one of their mentor nights. Following these, I stepped back into working on my eBook and went out to make some creative images with my friend and colleague, Marco Tessiore.
To wrap up this part of the year, I had just a couple more family sessions left. My session with the Lunbecks and then a session with my old friends, the Herris family. Both were adopting girls, which is much more rare than boys in Korea, so it was exiting to work with the different dynamic. I’ll leave you with those images for now. Check back in next week for the craziness of the last few months. Until then, take care!
Read all 3 posts! Some truly wonderful images. It was great meeting up with you finally near the tail end of the year. Keep of the great work it is an inspiration to us all.
Cheers, my friend. Can’t wait for what is to come!