Day out to see dead people

Yesterday the Icheon Education Department took us out for our yearly cultural excursion. Initially I was given the choice whether I wanted to join, but then about a week ago I was told that, because I had been here a long time, I was not allowed to go.

On the day of the excursion, as I walked in to the office I was told that I had to be at the Education Department just after lunch. Great, I wanted to go but then resigned myself to the fact that I wasn’t allowed to, and now I have to change my plans again? Not nice, really.

At the office I was met by a few other teachers grumbling about the same think I am grumbling about now, but hey, there we were and Yeoju is where we were heading.

Surprisingly, after that bumpy start, the day turned out to be rather enjoyable for me. I think it was the combination of things I had not seen before but was actually interested in and me being overly tired. See, when I get to tired I either get very grumpy or slightly crazy. Yesterday was the chance for the crazy to “be” and I enjoyed everything right up to the point where I fell asleep on the bus home.

Right from the start it looked like the organisers put a bit of effort in to this and for that I am really grateful. It is all too easy for us to just think no one cares about us, but I can honestly say that if you really look at the bigger picture then we are treaded splendidly while we are in Korea. We had snacks (too much sugar, but whatever) and drinks, someone to translate and guide us to all the locations as well as English guides at each of the locations.

We were taken to the tomb of Saejong the Great, one truly amazing man in Korea’s history, a temple next to the river (not so impressive) and the Mog-Ah Museum, a place that displays Buddhist wood carving of amazing quality. Who knew Yeogu had things like this? I will be making serious plans to return with my SLR camera. I just hope the scenery at the tomb of The King will still be this nice when I get my chance to go back.

I didn’t really have time to fetch my camera, or at least that is what I though, so all I have to show is this rather random looking selection of photo taken with my phone and “edited” with Instagram. No descriptions as yet.

Camera Phone like a pro

One of the main reasons I absolutely love my Sigma 30mm/f1.4 is the “f/1.4” part. Even before I truly knew what aperture was and how it worked, I was trying to create narrow depth off field photos. After I found out what aperture was I started using it to my advantage to create desired effects in my photos. Depth of Field is usually manipulated by adjusting aperture on the lens, but it can be manipulated without changing the Aperture and it is this that I would like to describe in this article.

Phone cameras are rather complicated high tech things, but they are by no means SLR cameras. They were never meant to be and they will never be. You don’t buy a phone because you need a camera just like you don’t buy a camera because you need a phone.

Phone cameras have no moving part and because of this you have no real control over the aperture. Sure, there are programs that add a depth of field effect, but if you are someone who actually shoots to create the effect it is immediately obvious that this is fake and, unfortunately, badly done.

The aperture on a phone camera is typically set to f/2.8. This seems to be a pretty nice aperture, callable of giving OK performance if you are looking to create depth of field, but the problem is that it just does not happen on a phone. But why, you may ask.

Phones have a tiny, tiny sensors and in order to keep the phones thin and light the lens is mounted extremely close to the sensor itself. I am not an optical physicist and can’t explain why this is so, but because they lens is so close to the sensor the camera behaves more like it has a lens of about f/8 to f/11.

When I first started learning about depth of field I read and also experienced the effect where depth of field shrinks the closer the object you are photographing comes to the lens. At f/1.4 a whole landscape will be mostly in focus, but with that same aperture and lens something 1 meter away from the lens will only be in focus for about a 1 centimetre area. I don’t know about you, but I fond this interesting.

Just after getting my iPhone I started wondering if I can exploit this and it turns out I can. Most camera phones these days can focus on points very close to the lens, so in order to create depth of field and a blurred background, bring an object to just a few centimetres away from the lens. Take your photo and be prepared to be amazed. Well, at least mildly interested, but still.

I can hear you say “There are not really that many things you can use this on, is there?” and sure, but at least you are now able to do something most people think is not possible on a phone.

Korean Wednesday

Me: “영화를 볼까요?”
Girl: “미안해요. 멀를 감아야 해요.”

-을까요 is the grammar form for “Shall we…?” and -어/아야 해효 is the form for “must” or “have to”, so the conversations here goes:
Me: “Shall we watch a movie?”
Girl: “Sorry. I must wash my hair”
(At least I hope I am getting this right. I’m still learning, remember ;)

To English speakers the meaning here is pretty obvious, but don’t go trying that with a Koreans. They will not know the cultural reverence and just things you are being weird, stupid and rude all at the same time.

What shall we to this weekend?

I’ve been building up my collection of sites and groups that offer information about events in Korea. It can be so annoying when you learn about a great event only the day before it happens. It is not fun dropping everything you wanted to do just to travel for almost 4 hours to Daegu.

One of the sites I find kind of useful is the Gyeonggi Provence’s Events page. When I was on it a few weeks back there was a notice that they would update it. This update happened a couple of days ago, and I must say, it is a disaster.

The page looks like it was given to a school girl in the 90s who just discovered that you can make your own web pages. The menu is almost non-existent, they use what seem to be using either frames or a background image as an advert and there is a terrible scroll idea going. Initially I thought the problem Chrome, but no, it sucks in IE as well.

Other sites that I have found useful are the Korean Tourism Organisation, home pages of institutes or places you might be interested in like the Seoul Art Center or magazines like 10 Mag. 10 Mag aso offers a weekly e-mail that will arrive every Thursday listing events at clubs, bars, organisations and cities. It is great for people in Seoul and evens in Seoul.

Have fun and keep busy.

Mannam and the strange case of the not at all subtle cult

In an attempt to help my Korean studies I recently joined classes at a volunteer group called Mannam. For a nominal price I get 8 lessons, once a week. I also get to meet people from countries that do not make up the English Teacher community. I also with Mannam Photography.

Just after joining them I found information on the internet saying they are a front for a Christian cult, but since they never even try to talk about religion and because the evidence the person was giving was ridiculous, I ignored it until I saw something that would be actual evidence.

Mannam’s main claim for existence it to bring people from all nationalities together in what they call The World Peace Initiative. From the very start I heard a lot about them working to this goal, but everything I saw seemed useless and misguided. Sure, I meet people from other nations, but how is this, and earning Korean, helping world peace.

On Sunday the 16th I joined Mannam at the Olympic Stadium at Jamshil was filled to overflowing with people attending and participating in the World Peace Initiative Festival. It was interesting, annoying, tasty and disappointing. It is also at this festival that I found the evidence I needed of them being a front for a cult.

We arrived at about 9:30 and registered. It was immediately apparent that huge amounts of money was poured into this. Renting a whole stadium, providing food and drinks for 100,000 people and subsidising the food that was available for purchase. About 70,000 people in some sort of uniform or costume, media coverage and hours or practice and organisation do not come cheap.

When I entered the stadium just before 10am the opposing stands were filled with blocks of people wearing the same colour, each with their own cheer leaders and the main stands were filled with foreigners from every conceivable country. I was there to take photo, so I wasted no time moving away from the moving masses and over to the colour uniformed people. The whole way there people were scarily friendly and everyone was just to eager to pose for photos doing the Mannam sign.

At about 10am the whole show started and right of the bat it was apparent that this was not about world peace, but about glorifying a dude who apparently was visited by god and is not supposed to be the only one in the word who can actually interpret the Book of Revelations. When they were finished glorifying him they launched in to explaining how the colours represent the tribes of Juda and their respective gem stones and other things about the cult and how god made this spectacle possible and …

In true Eastern Asia style they performed amazing choreographed group routines, but again, all saturated with the imagery of the cult. Basically, in the eyes of these people World Peace means, or an only be reached when everyone united under their form of Christianity. Yes, because no one in history has every tried to combine everyone under one religion. Is that not the reason Christianity exists? It started this whole concept and has spawned all the other religions that want to convert the world, leading to oh so many purely religious wars.

I forgot to mention, the dude is the honorary president of Mannam. Not only did they take us to something that amounted to a religious celebration, but the leader of the cult is an honorary president? Yes, Mannam, you are NOT a front for a cult. We all believe you.

Interestingly, people I know who directly asked them if they were part of the cult were told that no, Mannam is just kind of happens to work towards the same goal of Word Peace. When I asked our Photography “leader” she had no problem with admitting that she was a member of the “church”.

Other than that the whole festival was a spectacle to behold and worth attending, but people who go should be aware that they idea of “World Peace Initiative” will in fact be a not so subtle religious movement. Also, you will be camera fodder, fodder which I suspect will be used to promote the organisation to other Koreans and other countries. Nothing says “Credible” like foreigners agreeing with you when you are trying to maintain an image.

After attending the event I felt compelled to go look for more information in the cult. I looked at a few articles, but this one from Waegukin, and this thread on Waygook.org will be a good start and links to most of the articles that are worth reading.

Steve McCurry: Between Darkness and Light

A couple of year back I went to an exhibition of works by photographer Steve McCurry. His works were fantastic to see and I learned that he did so much more than The Afghan Girl, but I came out wondering why I even bothered picking up my camera.

This time I am prepared. I will go in there snorting derisively at his master works and convince myself that I am just as good as he is. I will be the winner!

If you don’t know much about Steve McCurry, do yourself a favour and head to the Seoul Art Centre for the exhibition entitled Steve McCurry: Between Darkness and Light. It will be running from Wednesday 12 September to Sunday 21October. Tickets are 10,000 won for adults and it will be held in the V-Gallery.

To get to the Seoul Art Centre, go to Nambu Bus terminal subway station and go out Exit 5. Walk straight until you get to a large intersection where you will turn right. You will cross a smaller traffic light on the way there. After turning just look straight ahead and you will see the the large complex about 500m in front of you.

Right in front of your nose…

…and our nose is right there next to your eyes. Conclusion: You should be seeing it.

A few times this week I carried my camera with me, just in case I see a photo. The interesting thing about holding a camera in our hand, ready to shoot, is that you actively look for things that might make interesting photos. Without the camera you will just walk past it and not give it a second look, or you will sit there with something kind of interesting right in front of your face and not notice it, but with the camera... *CLI-KAH*

 

The first photo is of a leg stop in a chair at a restaurant I frequent. It might just be me having a wild imagination, but think HUGE Frankenstein like forehead, beeeeeg mouth and East Asian like eyes that are barely visible just about the mouth.

The second photo is of the umbrellas just above me. Nothing earth shattering, just something I thought created interesting lines.

솔로창국 we will beeee…

While writing something on the board during a lesson when I realised that the chalk in my hand had a face. A FACE!

Students had gotten hold of the chalk during the break and dew faces and wrote 솔로창국 on it. At first I did not know what it said but then my co-teacher pronounced it. Hearing it did the trick, I knew what it was. It said SoloChangug. Solo, as in …Solo, alone, only one.

In Konglish 솔로(solo) means being single, not in a relationship. 창국(changug) is Korean for heaven and is most commonly seen with shops called 김밥창국 (Kimbab Heaven) where you can get most of the Korean fast foods.

So, bringing it all together, 솔로창국 means Solo Heaven, in that being single is the best thing to be. Aaaah, how much they will change in two years when they arrive in high school.

The Creation of Korea

On the first day God created light and separated the light from the darkness, calling light "day" and darkness "night." Light, or “good”, would be the substance of Koreans, the dark, or “bad”, would be the substance of Waegoogs.

On day two God created an expanse to separate the waters and called it "sky" so that Koreans would have something to look at until TV and the Internet was invented.

On day three God created the dry ground and gathered the waters, calling the dry ground "land," marking part as Korea and he gathered waters "seas," in which put in it a big rock for Koreans to be obsessed with. On day three, God also created vegetation (plants and trees) so that Koreans can make Kimchi and make health drinks from bark.

On day four God created the sun, moon, and the stars to give light to the earth and to govern and separate the day and the night. These would also serve as signs to mark the four distinct seasons, days, and two years in one.

On day five God created every living creature of the seas to feed Koreans and every winged bird, blessing them to multiply and fill the waters and the sky with life.

On day six God created the animals to fill the earth. On day six, God also created a man (Han) and a woman (Kim) in his own image to commune with him. He blessed them and gave them every creature and the whole earth to rule over, care for, and cultivate.

On day seven God had finished his work of creation and so he rested on the seventh day, blessing it and making it holy.

One day Kim was hiking a mountain when Serpent appeared and asked her: “Did God really say you are not allowed to eat and drink anything in this great garden?” She replied: “We may eat and drink anything, but we may not drink from the green bottle at the top of the mountain or we shall sorely die.” The serpent then told her that they would not die, but would have their eyes opened so that they could see the fun and social interaction that would not be possible without the bottle.

That was all it took to convince her, for Kim was stupid and after she drank from the bottle, she went to find Han and convinced him to drink from the green bottle. As soon as he drunk from the bottle, their eyes were opened and they saw that they were naked, so the set about making outfits to serve every occasion and type of physical activity.

Then they heard the voice of God and tried to hide, but the garden was small and God found them easily. They tried to explain but went about it in such a roundabout way that God got bored and stopped listening. In his anger he banished them from the garden, to earn their living with long hours and lots of stress, and to conceive many children who would run around, make lots of noise and beg for food and candy every chance they get.

But Han was not happy with this decision and invoked the universal law of final decision. The law that everyone is required to abide by, no matter how unhappy they are with the outcome…

Han lost.

IMP FTW

I’m not exactly what you would call a music lover, but I do like hearing new and interesting music. I also like to listen to things that other people don’t listen to. I’m a Hipster in that way, except that I don’t really go around telling people how I listen to things they don’t listen to. I only every say that Rock Rules and K-Pop, and most other pop, Sucks!

Over the weekend I found a new podcast called the Independent Music Podcast, produced by Pat Crane. (A Web Search will reveal that this is not the only show by that name though.) The podcast is part of the Signals Media All Stars Network.

Signas Media is a new network that a group gamer nerds, my people, created to promote their shows. Pat is one of the hosts of Convert to Raid, a weekly podcast about raiding in World of Warcraft.

I digress. On the IMP Pat plays music from all genres from people we in Korea are unlikely to ever hear. Great thing is that he links the songs for download in the show notes. Feed the Hipster’s music player! I’d be hard pressed to pick just one song that I liked to link with this post so just do yourself a favour and plug in to this while you are stuck in front of your computer at work. It might just save your sanity -.^

What camera to buy

Even though I am not nearly a pro, I still get a lot of people asking me what cameras they should buy. Compact all in one camera are very good these days and some of them come with amazingly fast lenses, as low as f1.8 apertures. For many people that is a perfect option, but this guide is specifically for people who ask me about getting something that can be used for more artistic photography, and of course, will make them feel like they are better photographers. I say feel, because even though you can take amazing photos with little compact camera, people just don’t feel like they are taking creating anything worthwhile unless they are able to change lenses.

I listen to a podcast about photography and on it is a we know photographer who said that with the quality of mirroress Micro Four Third cameras now he is seriously considering buying one as his main camera. It is lighter and hence much easier and comfortable to carry around.

With that in mind, I have started telling people to have a serious look at these new format cameras if they don’t have a DSLR yet. They are cheaper, smaller, and have features that beginners and more casual photographer might really appreciate.

Initially I did my reading research and wrote a single post with a single recommendation, but after going find actual prices, I noticed that some cameras are easier to find than others. Because of this I have had to read more about other cameras. My “research” is now split in to multiple posts.

Read more about Olympus, Panasonic,  Samsung and other cameras or get a quick overview of what lenses you should be looking for.

As I get time I will add other manufacturers and update these pages. If anyone would like to add something, feel free to let me know and I will add/change what is needed.

Other cameras.

Other cameras that you might want to consider models from Pentax and Fujifim.

The Pentax Q is a tiny camera that has most of competitive features of the others cameras mentions in the previous posts. It’s ISO range is a bit low, but that should not be a problem. Although the price is, in my opinion, not that bad, the image quality is said to be only comparable to a good compact camera. That is not something you want if you are looking to be a bit more professional about your photography, is it? At 600,000 won you other cameras are much better purchases.

* The Q10, a follow up that promises SLR quality was announced a couple of days after this post. Reviews are still to come.

The second camera is Fujifilm’s X-Pro1. From the reviews it would seem that it Fujifim went a out tomake this camera Retro. From the looks to the film grain mimicking, you will be getting an “old” camera when you buy this. Some drawbacks are that this is the only camera from Fujifim, and this might mean that there will be no further developments and cameras you can use your lenses on. There might not be any new lenses either. Another problem is that this camera is not cheap. I saw a kit listed at 2,029,600 won.

Hasselblad recently announced a 24mp Lunar. If you are even thinking of buying this you had better start saving now.

Micro Four Thirds Lenses

When you buy lenses the first things you have to ask yourself is “Do I know exactly what I will be shooting?” If your answer is “No”, then you should just stick with the kit lens until you are sure what you want to do with your camera.

If you do know exactly what you want to shoot then you look around for similar photos and see what lenses those photographers used, or just read up and see what people recommend.

Take me as an example. I really don’t like to zoom. My feet are generally my zoom. I prefer to just lift my camera and shoot, in a manner of speaking. Most of the time I have a 30mm lens on my crop sensor DLSR and that gives me a view very similar to the human eye. To me that captures more of what I personally see and feel. A huge advantage with prime lenses, lenses that can’t change focal length, is that they are often very fast, meaning you can shoot high speed objects or in very low light.

I also have a lens that goes from very wide, to capture a large area, to very long, for when I can’t get close enough. I only use this when I travel because I can’t be bothered carrying around 4 lenses to capture landscape and then quickly changing to zoom in to that thing happening across the street.

With Mirrorless Cameras you also have a nice option called a Pancake lens. They are very thin prime lenses and make it easy for you to pop the camera in to a bag.

When you look at a new lens you will generally look at two things, the focal length and the aperture. Lower apertures tend to push the price up very fast whereas focal length does not seem to have much of an effect on price.

Focal length is how wide the camera sees, or if you wish, how far it can zoom. Pros with full frame cameras often go for lenses like a 22mm – 70mm and if they have a very good reason to zoom more then they will have a separate longer length lens. The low number of the lens tells you how wide an area you can view at one time and the high number tells you how much you can zoon, the narrow view. Low numbers are generally good for landscapes and high numbers are good for when you can’t get close enough. For Micro Four Third cameras you have to half that number to get the equivalent, so you will have an 11mm – 35mm lens instead. Your standard kit lens will compare well with this range.

Many photographers also have the much talked about 50mm prime lens. A prime lens is a lens that can’t change focal length, and 50mm is supposed to be about what the human eye sees. For our smaller camera sensors the 25mm will be the same but they are rather expensive. (Don’t be fooled and think that a 50mm on your small camera gives the same view as the 50mm on that pro’s camera. )The 20mm pancake lenses will have a very similar view.

Portrait lenses are usually about 80mm prime lenses, because longer focal lengths give a nicer look to a photo. You don’t want it to look like someone has a clown nose in the photo, do you? For us that would be a 40mm.

The second big thing you will look at is the aperture. Confusingly the smaller this number is the larger the opening of the lens can go, meaning there will be more light coming in to the camera thought the lens. This is also an important number if you are looking to take photos where the subject is in focus and the background is blurry. A lower number has potentially more blur. If you can get a prime lens with a number like f1.4 at a good price, go for it, but generally f1.8 is much cheaper and will give you decent results. Zoom lenses rarely go under f2.8, and only when they are at the wide angle settings.

So, what should you get? If you travel, get something with a wide range so that you can shoot in the largest number of situations. If you want to be more artistic, get a prime lens. Street photography should work well with a 25mm on a small camera. Get a low aperture on these because you never know if you will need to shoot people moving around during the evening. Lastly, if you need to keep something good but small in your bag, then go for the 20mm pancake lens. You are limited, but with a bit of effort you can shot pretty much anything you want in any way you want.

Samsung Micro Four Thirds Overview

Olympus in particular is easy to find in Korea, but apart from that everything other than Samsung can be a bit if a Yeti hunt. Samsung, needless to say, is available in pretty much any store in Korea that carries cameras.

Although Samsung makes mirrorless cameras, don’t get confused and think they are Micro Four Thirds. Samsung’s cameras are essentially the same, but they don’t follow the standard that has been laid down. Their sensors, for instance, are a bit larger and they claim to get closer to the quality of the crop sensor DLSR cameras than any of the Micro Four Third cameras.

The largest their cameras is the NX20. It has a 20.3 megapixel sensor with an ISO range of 100-12800 and the body is equipped with a swivelling AMOLED screen. The kit comes with a 18-55 mm lens. A kit retails at about 1,150,000 and 1,350,00won.

The larger sensor of the NX20 means that the body and lenses are often heavier than equivalent Micro Four Third cameras. Its image processing is said to be on the slow side and the RAW files produced are massive considering what kind of camera you are using.

All in all it sounds like this is not a bad camera at all, but I get the impression that with the Samsung brand the lower end NX210 andNX1000 are better deals. Also, don’t even bother thinking about this model if small and compact is what you are looking for.

Samsung’s NX210 seems to me to be the basically the same things as the NX20, but with a metal body and a smaller more compact design. The prices are quite close to the NX20 and ranges from 1,050,000 to 1,350,000 won. If you want what the NX20 offers, but need your handbag/manbag space, then grab this with a pancake lens.

The last one I will mention is the NX1000. It has the same basic sensor specs as the previous two cameras, but with a few changes that make it cheaper. It is housed in a plastic body and fitted with a “lower quality” LCD display . The kit lens is also not the same and it comes with a 20-50mm II lens.

The NX1000 might not feel as pro as the previous two, but at a price of between 600,000 and 700,000won you might be willing to ignore that. Slap a 30mm F2.0 lens at about 350,000 won on this camera and you have something light and compact, capable of taking good photos of most things that your eyes can see.

A direct comparison shows that there is very little between the three models. All in all it will likely come down to price and looks.

Olympus Micro Four Thirds Overview

Olympus is one of the companies who created the Micro Four Thirds standard and along with Panasonic they are the market leaders in this particular field. (Samsung is technically not a Micro Four Third camera). Apart from being a good camera, Olympus also make beautiful retro looking cameras. If for no other reason this will be why I would consider one of these cameras.

The first model from Olympus that I will mention headlines their brand. The OM-D E-M5 will turn heads and make people who do not know better think you are carrying a right old pro film camera.

It was designed to be a full replacement for a DSLR and at that about 1,400,000 won for just the body it had better be. Its 16.1 mega pixel sensor with a whopping ISO 200-25600 range. My brand new DLSR only goes to 12800 and at maximum you it is terribly grainy. I don’t see how you will get quality images on a smaller sensor at an ISO higher than that. A feature to take note of is the tilting screen. Unfortunately it does not swivel like high end models from other brands, but you will still be able to get interesting angles.

EDIT: I finally made it to an Olympus store to have a look at the product. it is really good looking and the fact that it is lighter than an SLR is nice, but my Cannon 650D, with a rather expensive lens and some freebies did not even cost 1,800,000 won (with a kit lens)

The Olympus E-P3 will cost a little less, but bit it seems to me that this is just a smaller version of the OM-D E-M5. For 1,100,000 won (but I saw a listing as low as 850,000 won) you will be provided with a 12,3 megapixel sensor and an ISO range of 200-12800. For a sensor of this size it seems like a much more reasonable range. In terms of looks it is still rather retro looking, but much more minimalistic and less “pro” looking.

Olympus’s E-PM1 was designed to be the Mini version of the E-P3. It looks very similar with just a few line changes and offers most of the same features, but in a much lighter cheaper package. It is listed in the Olympus store at 750,000 won. (On 17 September 2012 Olympus announced the PM2)

Unfortunately most of the great Retro look is completely lost with this model and it has a rather plastic feel to it, but if you don’t have the extra money to spend, then don’t shy away from buying cheaper camera like this. In the end the lenses and photographer make great photo. The camera body just helps. Use the money you save to get that special lens you would rather be using.

Halfway between the E-P3 and E-PM1 is the E-PL3. At 900,000won it is a bit more expensive, but it fees like a nicer camera in hand. (On 17 September 2012 Olympus announced the PL5)

Comparing the three main cameras directly shows that the OM-D E-M5 is clearly the camera with more features, but there is very little between the two smaller camera. Apart from looks, the E-P3 has a touch screen and a pop up flash, but that is about it.

If I had to choose one of these cameras I would likely go for the the E-PM1. Not so many dials, but the LCD interface still has all you need.

Panasonic Micro Four Thirds overview.

Panasonic is one of the companies who created the Micro Four Thirds standard and along with Olympus they are the market leaders in this particular field. (Samsung is technically not a Micro Four Third camera). Unlike Olympus, Panasonic cameras look more like modern camera, maybe even like a tiny DSLR.

Panasonic leads their brand with the Lumix G5. It looks like a mini version of a larger DSR and in my opinion it looks rather tidy, and dare I say, cute. The G5 is priced at $800 on the official page. Feature wise it compares well with the Olympus OM-D E-M5 sporting a 16 megapixel sensor with an ISO160-12800 range. The CD display has full swivel to get you in to those really strange shooting angles. A big selling point for this model I feel is that it is quite a bit cheaper than the high end Olympus. That is not to say that this is a cheap camera.

Your alternative in the Panasonic range is the DMC-GF5. It is far cheaper a bit smaller. For your $600 you will get a 12.1 mega pixel sensor with ISO 160-12800. Unlike the Olympus option at this price, this camera looks more like something a pro will keep handy. No girly lines here. Something that is a big plus point for this particular camera is that it is supposed to be one of the more user friendly cameras out there at the moment.

The two cameras have quite a few differences, but and for interest sake I include this comparison. I would, however, go for the GF5 over the G5 if given the choice.

National Geographic: The Beautiful Days

For those who did not know, National Geographic: The Beautiful Days exhibition is still running in at the Seoul Art Centre. The exhibit tries to carry the message “The earth is the home of all living things, not an exclusive property of human beings”. To give you an idea of what to expect, the exhibition will be divided into5 sections: Winged Animals, Walking Animals, Underwater Creatures, Eye-opening Sight and lastly People in Nature.
The exhibit has been running in the Hangaram Design Museum since Saturday 11 August and ends on Thursday 11 October. Entrance for adults is set at 12,000 won
To get to the Seoul Art Centre, go to Nambu Bus terminal subway station and go out Exit 5. Walk straight until you get to a large intersection where you will turn right. You will cross a smaller traffic light on the way there. After turning just look straight ahead and you will see the large complex about 500m in front of you.

Damp Nights and New Efforts

I have somehow found my passion for photography again and have been making efforts to shoot more often. This particular evening we were having intermittent rain and I thought I would go out and try to recapture a great image I managed to delete a week ago. The results just go to show that I need to be more careful with what I do when copying and deleting photos. Some of the photos were interesting, but none can be called good. This photo was slightly better than rest though.

Korean Mental Fart Downs

“멘붕” is a Korean word meaning “Mental Breakdown”. Not surprisingly it is short for something, in this case”멘탈 붕괴”. Oh, Korean and your shortening of everything (Sand & Coffee, anyone?)

Quick break down (See what I did there?):
“멘탈” means “mental”, as in the English word written with the Korean script, Hangeul.
”붕괴” means “Break Down”. The shortened version is more slang and seems to be mostly used by Koreans under about 25.

I have heard Koreans use this in two ways. My students have used it in a way that is equivalent to “Brain Fart” when another student is unable to answer a simple question. I have also heard adults use it in a way that seems to mean “being distressed” after something unpleasant happened to them.

Diamond Poems

For a third grade lessons I thought I would try something that relates to the textbook lesson, is kind of educational and would hopefully be fun. Needless to say some students would have none of it. They take pride in being arseholes so that they can score points with their arsehole friends. Others, however, went all out.

The activity involves making a poem using a recipe. When done it resembles a diamond shape, hence the name, Diamond Poems. The formula looked like this…

1 word, known as A (Anonym of B)
2 Adjectives relating to A
3 –ing words relating to A
2 Nouns relating to A
2 Nouns relating to B
3 –ing words relating to B
2 Adjectives relating to B
1 word, known as B (Anonym of A)

My co-teacher and myself chose this team as the winner. I’m sure we used about hte same criteria: was it correct and interesting/cute. The winning team just happened to have written two poems, both good enough to draw our fancy. There are some mistakes, but hey, they are not native speaker and still in middle school.

 

mother
kind valuable
cooking cleaning intimidating(다정)
brother sister me love
dedicating trying caring
grave(듬직한) brave
father

 

girls
picky clever
talking smiling cleaning
treacherousness skirt soccer jeans
paying sleeping smelling
careless noisy
buy

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Yesterday was the final day of the Henri Cartier-Bresson: Speaking through Pictures exhibition in Gwanhwamun. I can honestly say that I was not disappointed one bit.

Cartier-Bresson is a man that is mostly known for his influence on photojournalism, but much of his work is really under appreciated. Yesterday was the first time that I saw any of his portrait shots and they are amazing. I spent more time looking at those than at any of his well know works.

A few things about the exhibit were slightly unpleasant. The English translations of the descriptions were only available at the start of each section, to tell you what it was about. That part I get and I feel having descriptions at each photo is a lecture for a non-Korean. What was strange was the quality of the translations. It seems like they had more than one translator, because at time everything was perfect and high quality, but they some descriptions left me scratching my head about just what they meant to say.

Another problem is that I arrived late. Seoul has a lot of people looking for something interesting to do. Many people truly want to see exhibitions like this, so things get pretty packed fast. I arrived at 11, not 10am like usual, and spent half my time waiting for the people in front of me to just shuffle along so that I could get my money’s worth as well. My fault, I know.

And then one weird complain. The exhibit was too big with nowhere to go to take a break. If you have to stand/shuffle for 2 hours, then a place to sit and have a drink would be nice to have as an option.

And one real compliment. People were generally very well behaved. So often Koreans, because they grow up in such densely populated cities, completely disregard people around them. People here were usually make efforts not to get in each other’s ways did not run around like mad pigs who were just shot with BB guns. Ten Q berry muchee.