I’m a big fan of candid shots, and street photography as a genre, but all the pictures here today are posed shots.
This gentleman was part of the set I took at Namdaemun, but when I saw the shot of his market stall, I realized the lines on his face and the expression he was giving were far more interesting than what he was selling. Click below the fold to see the full shot.
The woman below has to put on these clothes and that hat every day to sell little balls of chicken pan fried with a weird sweet sauce. I tried it once and didn’t like it, but I pass her nearly every day on the way to the market near our apartment.
She seems to fit into her uniform so aptly that I know for a fact I would almost surely not recognize her in street clothes in some other place.
She works as a hostess / server at a barbecue place just upstairs from Gongdeok Stn, a place that deserves its own write-up one of these days when I get around to it. It was a quick snap as we were paying the bill and heading for the door – I pointed to her, held up the camera, she smiled and I hit the shutter once, that’s all, and we left the building. No muss, no fuss. The lighting is not perfect, but I don’t think I could have gotten a better image if I’d messed about with strobes, done a dozen alternate takes and spent 20 minutes getting the camera ready and getting her hair to fall just right.
He’s playing guitar outside of a little café down the street, part of an acoustic ensemble promoting an event to help people in Nepal, I think. Musicians make good subjects because they are completely focused on doing something they are good at and which they enjoy.
This is in the central park arcade in Hongdae. His friend had a Mohawk that stood out almost half a meter above his head, but he was shy, and demurred when I asked him if I could get a shot. I don’t understand why someone would go to the work to acquire a hairstyle that can only be called remarkable – and then not want it photographed? Amazing. This guy not only smiled for me but did the thing with the cigarette that makes it a bit closer to perfect.
I call her The Tomato Lady. She’s in the open-air market at Mangwon near where I live and she’s always got tomatoes, and good ones, even at times of year you just can’t find the suckers anywhere else …
When I first picked up the camera back in ’07, I was far too shy to take pictures of people. I got over that. Turns out, a lot of people like having their picture taken. All you gotta do is ask.
