Table People Video

This weekend my band are playing a special concert to launch our new 6 track e.p. We printed a lot of copies as you do, but last weekend we got together with a bunch of friends and we handmade 100 album covers. Each one is different an uniquely special, and I wanted to capture them before they go so I decided to make a time lapse video of the album covers. I added lots of other footage I've taken in and around Seoul over the past 18 months. It was fun making this and I'm definitely going to try and make some more videos in the future.

https://vimeo.com/54081133

Table People - Different Places from Andy Macpherson on Vimeo.

Gwanaksan

During my first year here I climbed a lot of mountains in and around Seoul, when visibility is good it's a great way to get your perspective. I climb mainly for the view rather than the exercise, unfortunately the hills around Seoul are very busy when the weather is good. Gwanaksan attracts 50million hikers a year!! Most of those people will be fitted with fluorescent or brightly coloured gear complete with trekking poles and anything else that might be useful when attempting a summit push on something we would call a hill back home.

With this in mind we decided to set off in the afternoon, we met around noon and enjoyed some strong coffee before we went shopping for picnic supplies. The late start worked out great, as we were walking up most people were on their way down. We were lucky with the weather too, it was pleasant for Novemeber and the visibility was a lot better than the last time I climbed Gwanaksan. It was a very enjoyable day out, and surprisingly peaceful,. we ate our snacks and kimbab on a nice sheltered spot somewhere near the top. We were joined by a wee bird that kept pecking at Ed's snickers.

Gwanaksan

Sole lantern.

I didn't know the bird would come so close, after this,. so I was desperate to take this photo.

Ed and Stella and this charming wee thing.

Really not shy.

What type of bird is this?

 

Ganghwa island

So with Autumn almost gone and winter almost upon us I managed a couple of trips away recently. Sometimes you don't have to travel all that far to find somewhere very different. Ganghwa island is one of those places, it's very close to Seoul and doesn't take long by bus, maybe 1 hour and a half. It only took me 1 hour from Ilsan (NW, Seoul).

Ganghwa Island

Ganghwa lies very close to the border with North Korea, and you get a good view of the North from the island. It is the 4th largest island in South Korea and it is home to 65,000 people. I went along with my friend Mike and his brother who was over visiting. Mike's first posting was on Ganghwa and he lived there for a year so it was great to see some of his favourite spots.
      
One of the first things you notice when you arrive on the island is it looks very old fashioned, almost like you've gone back in time. the mainstays of any korean town: family mart, 7-11, baskin robbins and lotteria stand out like sore thumbs here amid the traditional markets. Another thing is looking around there are almost no young people in sight, most locals tend to be older, and they look a lot older too, many have worked in the fields for much of their life. This is how I'd imagine many other parts of Korea were like before the recent economic development and gentrification. Sadly my photo's don't really capture this aesthetic, I have never been bold enough to take close-up photo's of locals going about their daily business. Instead I often I take much less intrusive landscape shots.

Not an apartment building in sight.

We found this market in town; pets or food?

Food market this time.

I love the yellow fields that weave their way across the land.

Mountain Bibimbap and Pacheon for lunch.

In the background you can see the largest of the many dolmen (bronze age tombs) dotted all over the island.

Lake Park Festival

So this year I live in a completely different area, a suburb just to the North West of Seoul. It differs enormously from the industrial area I lived in last year. There a lot more open spaces, a lot greener and the air feels cleaner. It's not so different from Seoul and most of the time you take it for granted. Often I judge living here in terms of practicalities such as how long it takes to get to band practice or football. but every now and again, I can appreciate my locale, especially when it's a beautiful day and there is an international arts festival in the park as well as a Makkoli tasting event! Autumn comes and goes very quickly in Korea so you have to advantage of it before it's winter.

Ellie next to the red and blue from the Korean flag which symbolises the dual power of nature.

Reflections...

Ellie on the Tv

The old and the young the modern and the traditional.

Candyfloss everywhere.

The Makkeoli man.

sampling.

43 flavours to try, the one nearest the camera is banana flavour, others included: tomato, green pea, ginseng, chestnut, watermelon and loads more weird concoctions.

Chuseok

So it's been awhile. But I want to keep this going and right now it's a great time in Korea. The weather is beautiful and I've just had a 5 day holiday that's been packed with relaxing. Interspersed with football,band stuff and little trips.  I have gotten out of the habit of carrying my camera around. Previously I would take photos of mundane things, now I only ever have my camera on special occasions. So time to fix that!!

View from my rooftop.

fooling around on the roof.

The familiar green line.

We queued 2 hours for this daft balloon ride round the hall, the view was cool though.

talk about spewtastic, where's the fun in this ride?

No theme park is complete without teacups and those carousel horses.

busy busy

This was an accident, fiddling around with the long exposure settings, but it turned out cool.

Kim Yunna's mum in the purple.

We explored Ilsan on our bikes, visiting some of the less visited parts.

Tokyo (ii)

A famous Japanese warrior I reckon.

The East Palace Gardens.

Tourist filled temple.

Add caption

Lighting incense

I had to get one jump picture in :)

Tokyo

So it's been almost 3 weeks since my dad arrived in Seoul. My mum managed to make it out for a week too. This has been the best month since I arrived here at the end of February. I've had such an amazing time recently.


I loved the first few months of settling in, all the new challenges and the excitement of new social circle's, places and experiences. Teaching has it's challenges too but it has definitely become easier to plan and structure lessons, and I am able to recycle some of work and use it for other classes. That being said, I don't feel I have any more spare time, I have been out almost every night this month, doing touristy things with the folks, plenty of meals out on top of all the stuff I usually do like band practices!

I had Monday off this week; dad, David and myself were sitting in a coffee shop thinking about what to do. I thought about going hiking somewhere in Korea, we could leave Seoul on the Sunday and it would be quiet on the Monday. Dad being tied up with church commitments wouldn't be able to make it..so it would just be David and myself. Then David suggested Tokyo for the weekend! Sure, why not!

So we flew out early Saturday morning and spent 3 days in Tokyo. Below is a flavour of some of the things I got up to.

Shibuya crossing at it's quietest, really this is much busier usually!

Wedding procession.

The JR line in Tokyo station.

I was traking a picture of the bird here, but the statue is quite nice aswell.

Some prize winning Saki on display.

Reflections from the East Palace.