As I Walked Out Of The Bank

 

A floating leaf(?!)

No

An Evening Spent Wandering About The Hills Above Seoul

It's obvious why this neighborhood is popular with photobugs, tourists and TV crews alike.

Normally I don't like people intruding into the frame, but with this particular shot I'm glad this couple did.

The weird thing is, at the time I took this shot I was so rapt on the funny faces at either end that I wasn't even aware of the mirror!

Errant Apple

Related post:  Errant Wasp et al.

One More Instance Of

"Gee, I didn't know airplanes could turn like that."  The G-force as the plane made that turn must have been stupendous. 

More Spontaneous Order

A literal real-life illustration of "snapping to grid".

How You Doin'

Just a friendly gesture.

A Somewhat Confounding POV

2 Of My Favorite Subjects

Caught in 1 of my favorite situations.

Peek!

 

Earthshine

Wow, it was really bright on this occasion.  Looks almost like a lunar eclipse.  Wonder which part of Earth was reflecting light onto the dark portion of the Moon.  Are the oceans higher in albedo than the continents, or is it the reverse?

The Artist's Statement For My Photo Exhibition

(Sorry, it's for the local audience in Seoul;  I'll just translate the title -- it pretty much encapsulates the basic spirit of this blog anyway:  "Common but precious things;  Things that make you think;  And things that are just plain funny"

흔하지만 귀한것들

생각하게 만드는것들

그리고 그냥 우스운것들 

서울 종로구 창경궁로 229-4에 위치한 카페 '크림스테어 에스프레소'에서 열리고 있는 Samuel Min Suhr (한국명 서성민) 의 사진전이 관객들로부터 깊은 관심을 받고 있다. 오는 12월 31일까지 진행되며, 카페 1층과 2층에 걸쳐 작품이 전시되고 있다. 다만, 2층은 회의 용도로 대여될 때가 있어 관람을 원하는 방문객들은 사전에 관람 가능 여부를 전화로 확인하는 것이 좋다.

Samuel Min Suhr는 서울에서 태어났으나 어린 시절 가족과 함께 미국으로 이주한 후, 로스앤젤레스에서 성장하며 평생을 남부 캘리포니아에서 보냈다. 그의 예술적 여정은 어렸을 때부터 시작되었으며, 미술에 대한 깊은 열정과 재능을 바탕으로 USC에서 회화 학사, UCLA에서 회화 석사 학위를 취득했다. 졸업 후에는 한동안 두 학교에서 미술을 가르치며 창작활동을 병행했지만, 그는 결국 자신에게 더 적합한 길을 찾기로 결심하고 로스앤젤레스 카운티에서 공무원으로 취업하게 되었다. 20년간 공직 생활을 한 후 조기 퇴직한 그는 한국으로 돌아와 새로운 예술적 시도를 이어가고 있다.

Suhr가 사진에 관심을 갖게 된 것은 그의 공직 생활 도중이었다. 회화에서 이미 독특한 예술적 목소리를 가진 그였지만, 사진이라는 새로운 매체에서도 그는 곧 자신의 스타일을 발견했다. 사진 속에서도 그는 보통 그림에서 흔히 찾을수 있는 '웅장”하거나 전통적으로 아름다운 주제보다는 소소하고 겸손한 일상 속 장면을 기록하는 데 집중했다. 겉보기에 평범해 보이는 일상적인 이미지 속에서 Suhr는 유머와 진지함을 결합해, 작은 순간 순간을 예술적 가치로 승격시키는 방식으로 작업을 이어갔다. 이번 전시에서 가장 눈길을 끄는 것은 그가 선택한 피사체들이 일상에서 쉽게 지나칠 수 있는 소위 “하잖은” 것들이라는 점이다. 예를 들어, 풀밭에 죽어 쓰러진 작은 새,

피고싶은 연꽃에 비치는 마지막 햇살,

하늘과 땅이 닿는 곳, 등.

사진에 환경과 자연을 향한 독특한 시각이 고스란히 담겨있다.  계단이 있었던 곳, 날면서 교미하려는 잠자리들, 이런것들은 기회와 곤충의 협력을 필요로 했다. 이러한 이미지들은 관객들로 하여금 기억, 그리움, 그리고 시간의 흐름에 대해 생각하게 만들며, 일상생활에서 쉽게 접할수 있는 장면들이지만 결코 가볍지 않은 철학적 깊이를 선사한다.  Suhr의 작업에서 중요한것은 이들 순간들이 대개 '일시적'이라는 점이다.  그의 사진 속 장면들은 영원하지 않으며, 그야말로 순간적인 것들이 많다.  그랜드 캐니언과 같은 자연의 경이로움은 수천년이 지나도 계속 존재할 것이라는 점과는 대조적이다.  Suhr는 이처럼 다시오지 않을 장면들을 포착하고, 그것들을 시적 위엄을 지닌 예술작품으로 승격시키면서 그 순간이 가진 가치를 극대화한다.  이 과정에서 관객은 그가 마주한 장면들이 자신만의 독특한 시각으로 재해석된 것을 느끼며, Suhr가 부여한 예술적 의미를 고스란히 경험하게 된다.

작가의 눈을 통해 우리는 주위 환경에서 흔히 마주하는 순간들을 새로운 시각으로 바라볼수 있다. 대개 지나칠 수 있는 소소한 풍경들이나사물들, 가벼운 장면들을 통해 관객은 인간 존재의 본질, 그리고 감정의 미묘한 결을 다시금 생각하게 된다. 이러한 '겸손한' 주제들은 일반적으로 우리가 관심을 두지 않는 것들이지만, Suhr의 렌즈를 통해 이들은 중요한 예술적 주제로 자리잡는다.

Reminiscing

"Sausage Kitchen" -- the shop along Olympic Boulevard in L.A. near the border of Santa Monica that was well-known among a certain portion of the local populace for its selection of European imported meat products.  Many years ago I was stopped in traffic right in front of the place, and I just happened to look over, and there was Ray Bradbury coming out of the shop.  Ray Bradbury, the author of such science fiction classics as The Illustrated Man and The Martian Chronicles (which have been made into a movie and a television series).  I remember it was in warm weather and he was dressed casually, in a pair of shorts and a bright flowery Hawaiian shirt, which for some reason I found quite humorous.  This photo was taken after the fact of course, but it was still a long time ago;  I wonder if the shop is still there.

The very man, courtesy of the internet

Another Recurring Theme

I suppose it's a meditation on loneliness and alienation (and, perhaps, perhaps, even -- deliberate abandonment?) with the "remote, indifferent Moon" and the tiny support-less flying machine as the only characters on the stage.

Of which This Image is a prime example.  

Yet Another "Oddly Even"

Pair of arrowheads, each a reflection of the other.  Were there thoughts of war among competing factions of the fairy denizens of the air?

Where Pennywise The Monster Clown* Used To Set Up Shop

Now there's just a sliver of sunlight.  A welcome bit of housecleaning.

*The antagonist from the horror novel It by Stephen King

A Really Full Moon

I thought last night was the full moon, but earlier tonight I went out for a beer run to the market, and the moment I stepped out the door I realized tonight is the real full moon.

Dr. Richards, I Presume?

Aka Mister Fantastic of the Fantastic Four.

A Forgotten Gem

Saturday, June 10, 2017 in downtown Los Angeles.  I was driving home from Echo Park in the artsy Silverlake district after a leisurely stroll and photo session around the lake.  I was almost home when I was greeted by the sight of these nude bicycle riders down what I had long come to think of as the "back street" (although it was hardly that, since the road cut through the heart of downtown).  It may have been some kind of charity event, I don't really know, but anyway it was unusual enough that I pulled over and took a few precious shots for posterity before they passed out of sight.  The guy in the detail shot noticed me grinning and flashed a "V for victory" sign.  I held out a "thumbs up" in return.  Was all this against some misdemeanor regulation?  Of course not -- there was even a cop directing traffic to make sure the riders were safe.  I just wished there had been more women riders.

Young And Crazy

As I explained in the November 6th, 2011 post, I developed a serious case of obsessive-compulsive disorder as a child.  I believe it was triggered by the sudden anxiety I experienced when I woke up on New Year's Day morning and found that my parents had left me to go and visit my paternal grandmother in Daegu, which back then was several hours' ride away by train -- and of course, to a young child that might as well be on the other side of the world.  The feeling of panic that overwhelmed me was absolutely crushing;  my parents hadn't prepared me by informing me beforehand of their plans.  But to be fair to mom and dad, I guess they really can't be expected to have foreseen the severity of my reaction to their sudden absence from my life;  after all, by the age of ten the average boy probably would have faced it in a more pedestrian manner.  So.  Well.  Except, I wasn't average -- at that stage in my life I was a sickly, delicate child (I remember my father's MD friend coming over to diagnose me and give me a shot -- yes, doctors still made house calls back in those days), less emotionally developed than my peers and highly dependent.  I felt scared, vulnerable and abandoned.  If someone could have seen my aura at the peak of my pediatric trauma they might have seen something like this:

You know -- emergency-red inside, all het up and hopped up, and not in a good way, and the world outside all jumbly unthinkable darkness;  but still all locked in and unable to act out because of all the, well, all the societal rules and boundaries -- appearance and propriety still mattered, especially when you're a child and a "good boy" in Asia.  Anyway, that's kind of how the inner me felt at the time.

But of course, over the years I managed to grow out of all that by and by.  Albeit not completely (perhaps you can see traces of it in this very blog?);  I still feel moderate twinges of it and I just have to obey the sudden irrational impulses that are apt to overtake me at unpredictable moments every day.  I guess at those moments I might impress third party observers -- if any happened to be watching -- as "slightly eccentric" or something along those lines.

I suppose the above image could also do as a visualization of mental illness in general;  the family medical encyclopedia wherein I first found my symptoms described also stated that in extreme cases OCD can be virtually indistinguishable from schizophrenia.

Another Appeal

I came across an innocent-seeming photo of a cloud.  I got an inkling though, and so I turned it on its side, and something extraordinary happened.

Instantly, the cloud has become the very picture of grief, the victim of some grievous wrong, passionately making its case to Heaven and the world, informing all and sundry of the injustice done against it.  In this it somewhat resembles this tree in a previous post;  but whereas the image of the tree was comical, this one seems genuinely pained, like there's a great, transpersonal tragedy being appealed.  The tree was funny because it reminded me of a panicked chicken with that "coxcomb", whereas this cloud has that exaggerated, Chagall-esque mask for a face that I think would fit seamlessly on Shylock -- another very famously wronged character -- from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.

Marc Chagall, Self-Portrait (1960)

Where Heaven And Earth Touch

(What a jumping-off place this turned out to be)

The mythic title of the post was so grandiose, it actually made me think of archetypal dualities, as also happened in the previous post "Puffball And Shadow".  Like:  Father Sky and Mother Earth (instanced, for example, by the union of the god Zeus and the human Danae [leading to the birth of the hero Perseus]; the union of the Titan Helios and the nymph Clymene [resulting in the birth of the tragic antihero Phaethon]; even the angel Gabriel (acting as an agent of, or a kind of stand-in for, God the Father) and the human Mary in the Annunciation.  Some other dualities/polarities that deserve mention would be:  rain fertilizing the soil, the dragon who threatens the virginal princess and the knight-errant who slays him, the chaotic mutability of the air vs the fixity of ground structures, rational man vs the beastly savage (or should I say the beastly savage inside the rational man), the Sun and the Moon, and of course, man and woman.

Which just reminded me -- this is strictly a bonus -- that there is a parallel (ha, "parallelism" itself being a concept requiring two comparable elements feeding off each other -- but now I'm starting to sound a little obsessive) to be recognized in the foundation mythology of Korea.  It is said that HwanIn, the god-figure in heaven, sent his son HwanUng down to the earth to found a kingdom, and the place where HwanUng first made contact with the earth -- which may well be considered a figurative act of fertilization, reiterating the aforementioned archetypes of Father Sky and Mother Earth; this is even doubly confirmed when HwanUng enabled a she-bear, a crawling creature strictly of the earth, to be transformed into a woman -- likely symbolizing, in part, the transition from the womb of the collective unconscious to individuated ego in the evolution of the Self (a tiger also wanted to become human but he did not have the patience to complete the hundred-day ordeal involved and thus remained a beast;  surely this is the Shadow in "beastly" guise -- all the more so since the hundred-day ordeal took place literally in the darkness of a cave), took her for his wife and begat TanGun, the progenitor of the Korean race -- was the summit of TaeBaekSan ("Mt. TaeBaek") in North GyeongSang Province.  It is now a national park.

*WITH APOLOGIES TO C. G. JUNG

Waxing

 

Sunbird

Today as I wended my way up Insadong's main commercial strip toward the subway, I spotted this winged figure in the sky, silhouetted against the late afternoon sun.  How glorious!

Related posts:  Dark Wings Over Seoul,  Blackbird Over Seoul

Really Late Stragglers

From yesterday.  I was surprised and glad to see them.  I'd thought they would have been gone by now.

 

Polarizing Lenses

Maybe this is why I sometimes get dizzy when I put them on^.

The Secret Language Of The Earth (Pt. 19)