Black and White Hongdae, Seoul | September 2016

Reflecting on past images in my archive.

Picking up from my previous venture of exploring my archive of over 110,000 images, I’m taking you with me back to September 2016.

In September 2016, I was living near Seoul, South Korea. It was an adventure of a lifetime moving halfway around the world, and it was special to start exploring this new world. My intention of moving there was not to explore the world and delve into life on the road or globetrotting, not even in the slightest. My wife is Korean, we chose to move closer to her family while we were expecting to welcome our son into the world shortly after arriving.

It wasn’t even a thought to learn and engage in photography. But as I was intrigued by the culture, history, and traditions of a foreign place, and enjoyed exploring, it became natural to want to start documenting my explorations. In mid-September 2014, I purchased my first DSLR.

Now at this point of time, we’re looking at a point of time, 2 years after purchasing that first camera. And I was exploring and documenting my journey. I was doing a lot! In fact, of only what’s remaining, I have over 20,000 images in my archive from that year alone!

At this time, I came across what I learned to be described as ‘Street Photography’, and that was what I was aiming to do. I frequently visited an area in Seoul that is known to draw a youthful crowd, the area of Hongdae University, which is well known for its nightlife scene among other things. These are some of the images that I have selected from the first part of September in the Hongdae area over multiple visits.

These are just a bit of a taste of a couple of evenings of exploring and photographing in the Hongdae area.

Now, I have a couple of big ideas up my sleeve for Substack, this newsletter, and the website. I continue on my journey as a photographer. I will include a section for my journal.

Next, I will be developing a new series that I hope will serve to inspire the next generation of photographers, particularly those who are aspiring street/documentary-style photographers! The series will be called, “Dear Photographer”. It will include various topics and questions aimed to help and inspire newer ones in their journey as an artist. I will be inviting photographers to share their views, insights, stories, and advice.

If you’re a photographer with insights you’d like to share and would like to help in this way, please reach out to me!

If you’re learning photography, and looking to improve your craft, please stay tuned! In addition, if you have challenges, questions, or other inquiries that could assist you and other photographers in your journey, please reach out and let me know, so we can focus on what will truly beneficial to you, the photographer.