I debated long and hard about how to make my Year in Review work this year. Unlike much of the world, Korea was still struggling with how to work its way out of the pandemic for the first half of the year. This led to confusing policies and odd rules that left everyone feeling very uncertain. As such, work was actually more scarce than at the beginning of the pandemic for me. So, rather than post an image from each of the five jobs I had in the first few months of the year, I’ve decided to include a significant amount of the personal work I did during this time. As you’ll see in the next installment of this series, work did not stay quiet for long. But for now, rather than discuss things that didn’t happen, let’s take a look at the things that did.
Winter
This year’s winter was a chilly one. The Han River froze over twice and we had quite a bit of snow. On the days when it was safe, I did my best to keep cycling and stay fit over the winter.
One of the benefits of having time off was the ability to simply drop everything when the conditions became favourable. I absolutely adore the look of Korea’s traditional architecture in snow and this year, I got lucky. If there’s snow overnight, the best thing to do is make a mad dash for the palaces in the morning. That way, the pristine snow will not have been trampled yet. Changdeokgung can be absolutely beautiful at these times. On this particular morning, I was a little late to the party. But, you can see exactly what it looks like right at opening here.
Winter is also the perfect time to head down to Jeju Island. It is typically much warmer than Seoul and, since it’s off-season, flights and rental cars are much cheaper! As a slightly belated birthday gift for my wife, I bought tickets to the island and entry to one of her favourite places, the aquarium.
When we got back to Seoul, the weather had finally started to open up. The end of February is usually a little warmer as we head into spring. That should be evident in these couple of photos from my first family session of the year. I finally got to see my friends the Loves again after a few years. What a pleasure to photograph their growing family again. Look out for the full blog of this session in the new year.
Then it was on to my regular school portraits for the German School Seoul. It’s always a challenge and a lot of fun to get through hundreds of portraits in a single morning. Not too long after this, Korea’s “Cold is Jealous of the Flowers” temperature drop came and we got a massive blizzard in spring. I ran out the door and hiked up to my local mountain temple for some winter views. There was plenty of snow, but the temperatures were so high that it wouldn’t last. Even as I reached the top of the mountain, about 30 minutes after the snow stopped, it had already begun to melt.
To round out this quarter, I had a few jobs in quick succession followed by a gorgeous. if somewhat smoggy, sunset and my first warm ride of the year. First up was a wine event to promote Australian wine in Korea. Then, a quick corporate portrait and some e-commerce photography for a regular client, Foot Locker.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this look into the first section of the year. Join me next month for a whole lot more family, commercial, and event photography As always, please head over to Instagram and Facebook for more. And, of course, reach out for family, couple, and event photography in Korea!