Day Thirty-Four

Because today was Jess's birthday, we decided to meet up for dinner, just the two of us, before Taekwondo. It wasn't a particularly special dinner - we needed somewhere nearby and quick so that we could eat and go to get to class within an hour, so we ended up heading to a sushi restaurant that I had never been to. After catching up on news and our various bad weeks, we quickly chose something to eat and ordered away. It took longer than usual because the kitchen was busy with a big takeaway order, but the meal was definitely worth the wait. I can't remember the last time that I had sushi that good or that cheap (only 5,000 won) and I will definitely be going back there very very VERY soon (possibly on Monday). So tonight's photo is of our meals - mine being sushi and maki? soup and Jess's being some form of noodle soup with side-sushi and rice.

Shutter speed: 1/10
Aperture: f/4.0
ISO: 320

Day Thirty Three

Today was Jessica's birthday dinner, and I put together a gift for her, which is what today's photo is of. Sadly I didn't have space in my bag for my camera. Anywho, the specs:

Shutter speed: 1/50
Aperture: f/5.0
ISO: 800

Day Thirty-Two

I was sitting at work this afternoon just before hometime and was contemplating what on earth I was going to do for dinner when Grant suggested a salad. Although I shrugged the suggestion off at first, it stuck with me and I decided that it wasn't such a bad plan after all. And so I made my way to the store and started chucking things into a basket. Anything that I could picture in a salad was bought until I had a ginormous, ridiculous salad planned out in my head of lettuce, tomato, chicken, ham, tteok (rice cakes) in soy sauce and dried noodles (think the two-minute variety). I came home and carefully put the meal together, and today's picture is of the resulting monstrosity, which actually didn't taste too bad once the tomatoes were removed (why I bothered with tomatoes when I hate them I will never know, but I thought they would go nicely. They didn't.)

Shutter speed: 1/50
Aperture: f/4.5
ISO: 1000

Day Thirty-One

So yesterday was a day when I had absolutely no creative juices flowing through me whatsoever. It was my first day back at work and I had absolutely zero energy. I walked to Taekwondo (don't ask me how I convinced my legs to work) and took this photo along the way, outside Jess's school while I was waiting for her. The top sign is advertising Yongam Medical something or other, and it has been suggested that the bottom sign could be for a massage parlor. I have no clue and the subject of the signs is not the subject of the photo.

Shutter Speed: 1/40
Aperture: f/3.5
ISO: 2000

Day Thirty

Tonight there was no quiz, so I went and ate a kalmegi dinner with Jess and Jack, drank a cocktail and played a few games of pool, which I won overall. I was feeling especially unenthusiastic and uncreative today, so my photo of the day is nothing special but just a photo of the stacked pool balls.

Shutter Speed: 1/50
Aperture: 4.5
ISO: 3200

Day Twenty=Nine

As anyone who reads this may have noticed, colour plays a huge part in a lot of my photography. Today is no exception. Today's photo doesn't hold any real significance aside from the fact that I just happened to walk past these berries and thought they were pretty. So here they are.

Shutter speed: 1/200
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO: 320

Day Twenty-Eight

Today I went on a hike around Sandang Samsong or Sandang Fortress in Cheongju. I didn't know how long it was supposed to be and expected it to be an easy climb. I was wrong. But it was definitely a lot of fun, and while I did take a number of good pictures throughout the hike, I thought that this photo of the uphill forest path leading out into the bright blue sunlit sky was a perfect representation of the day. It was taken with 1/200 shutter speed, 5.6 aperture and 100 ISO.

Day Twenty-Seven

I refuse to take my camera with me to school. Every time I think about it, a picture comes into my mind of how my students would react to me bringing it (a combination of "Ooh! Teacher! Photo!" and "NO PHOTO! NO PHOTO!") and about all the damage that it could incur on school property (this is where you need to remember that I am from South Africa where keeping something as precious as a camera in an unlocked locker means it will probably be stolen in minutes. But even though I refuse to take the camera to school, I wish that I had it every morning and every afternoon on the walk that I take through Cheongseok High School. Yesterday was a public holiday and I took advantage of that by taking my usual walk through the school and taking some photos along the way. Yesterday's photo is one of the photos that I took. It was taken with a 1/400 shutter speed, an aperture of 8.0 and a 100 ISO.

Days Twenty-Five and Twenty-Six

This is a two-in-one once again. Yesterday was the first day of Chuseok and I made my way with six friends to Incheon. Not realising that Chuseok meant everything in Korea closed, we wandered around for a good hour and a half before finding a restaurant to eat at. I therefore thought it would be apt for yesterday's photo to be of the menu of that restaurant. It was taken at 1/13 shutter speed, 3.5 aperture and 3200 ISO.


Incheon ended up being a bit disappointing and so we decided to cut out time there short and head back home today. Jess and I made a brief stop into Itaewon before going home and wandered the streets there for awhile, visiting the foreign food market and the bookstore. On our way to the bookstore we came across two very friendly dogs that were drawing a bit of a crowd. This photo is of one of the dogs being petted by a Korean girl. It was taken with 1/200 shutter speed, 8.0 aperture and 2500 ISO.

Day Twenty Four

Today's photo is kind of lame because it is raining and miserable outside, so I decided to take a photo of my closet filled with all the new colourful clothing. Autumn is approaching and I won't be able to wear a lot of it until I come back home, so I decided to do this before I pack some of the clothes away and possibly ship them back home. The photo was taken with a 1/25 shutter speed, a 3.5 aperture and a 3200 ISO.

On another note, I am going away for three days (yay Chuseok!) and won't be able to post a daily picture while I am away, so you can expect four updates on Friday.

Day Twenty Three

Tonight was quiz night, and Jess and I partook in what has become our tradition for all quiz nights - a kalmegi dinner at the place around the corner from my house. What with the weather starting to cool down, kalmegi was the perfect plan and I don't know about Jess, but I was certainly grateful for the warmth of the coals when they arrived. Here is a picture of the burning coals that I thought would be an appropriate picture for today. It was taken with a 1/25 shutter speed, a 5.0 aperture and 3200 ISO.

Day Twenty Two

Yesterday I went to Seoul with Shaina to get her hair done. If you have ever seen or experienced a braiding or twisting session, you will know just what an ordeal that is. It took two people about five hours to get the job done in a small, badly lit room with six little children running in the background and occasionally popping in to see what was going on. At the end of it, it was all worth it though. The picture is not quite of the end result, since it was curled after the photo was taken, but it is beautiful none-the-less. My only disappointment is that the ISO had to be so high because of the terrible lighting. In any case, the photo was taken at 1/25 shutter speed with a 5.6 aperture and a 3200 ISO.

Day Twenty One

Summer is definitely over. I walked to school this morning and even shivered a little when the wind blew. I have also started getting sick which is a sure sign of the seasons changing. One of the most obvious signs though is the gradual changing of the trees. A couple of weeks ago, I took a beautiful photo of green and red leaves on a tree outside my apartment. Today's photo is one of the remaining leaves on that tree. I converted it to black and white via Picasa. The photo was taken at 1/250 shutter speed, 5.0 aperture and with a 100 ISO.

Day Twenty

Tonight I decided to skip Taekwondo in favour of dinner with Maria and Jess. We had some nice healthy samgaetang - a traditional Korean dish of a whole chicken stuffed with rice, dates (or something date-like) and ginseng and then put into a soup. As always when I go to dinner, it started out with a nice refreshing glass of water. Tonight's photo is of the water being poured. Taken with 1/10 shutter speed, a 5.0 aperture and an ISO of 200.

Day Nineteen

Jess and I arrived at Taekwondo today to find the place completely empty and the office locked. We decided to wait around for a bit and sure enough, after a couple of minutes two of the other girls arrived. Shortly after they came upstairs, a Korean woman arrived bearing six pizzas and numerous cokes and carrying two girls by the hand - a six year old and a fourteen month old. While the six year old whizzed around the room at high speeds, the fourteen month old stayed in the corner looking completely confounded at being surrounded by so many foreigners. I took out my camera, and the mother insisted that I get some shots of her baby. This was one of my favourite ones from the night and I think it turned out rather well. This photo was taken at a shutter speed of 1/50, with a 5.0 aperture and a 1600 ISO.

UPDATE: Edited by auto-contrast at someone's suggestion.

Day Eighteen

Inspired by my diet, my taekwondo classes and Jess's cooking skills, I decided to invite Jess around for a healthy dinner before tonight's lesson. I walked to the shops after school (a feat in itself) and got all of the ingredients for a chicken stir fry and a fruit salad. I spent a good while cleaning my apartment and the rest of the time cutting and chopping away and by the time the preparations were done, I had five minutes to rest before the cooking had to start. It was a very busy evening and not one that I am likely to repeat anytime soon unless Jess wants more food and I have more energy which, after tonight, is not looking all that likely. Anywho, today's photo is of some of the ingredients waiting to be cooked. Taken at 1/100 shutter speed, which I realise in hindsight to be a bit too high but it worked regardless, an aperture of 5.6 and an ISO of 2000. It isn't a perfect photo, there is no denying that, but I like it anyway.

Day Seventeen

Tonight was the first of what will hopefully turn out to be many Taekwondo classes. I had completely intended to take photos of the class, but realised upon getting there that they would definitely see this as a strange thing for me to do. So instead of an awesome Taekwondo photo as a testament to what will most likely be my aching legs, I am going to put up this photo that was taken on the way to the class of the mural on the wall outside Yongam elementary school. I pass this mural everday and have taken a number of photos of it, but have yet to put one up. So here it is: taken at 1/10 shutter speed with a 3.5 aperture and an ISO of 2000.

Day Sixteen

Tonight, Jess and I decided to take the bus to Chungdae for a change. The bus is cheaper, but takes a little longer because of all the stops and the Chundae stop is a five minute walk from the place itself. It has its advantages and its disadvantages, but it was a fun time nonetheless and made a good change. One of the main disadvantages is that because the bus is bigger, it makes it harder to move through traffic. This ended up as an advantage for me though, since I got to take today's photo of the traffic that we were stuck in. Taken at 1/80 seconds with a 3.5 aperture and a 3200 ISO.

Days Fourteen and Fifteen

After a busy week at school, I was looking forward to a fun Friday night and it turned out to be better than I could have hoped. Maria invited me and a number of other girls to her apartment for a right girly slumber party, complete with good food, music, nail polish, hubbly and booze. The party went on well after midnight and I managed to get enough good shots after midnight to be able to pick one as today's picture.



The first picture is of the pile of nail polish colours that the girls had to choose from - a combination of Maria's light collection and my dark one. It was taken at a shutter speed of 1/50, with a 5.6 aperture and a 3200 ISO.



The second picture is of the hubbly bubbly with one of the girls smoking it in the background. It was taken at a shutter speed of 1/10 with an aperture of 3.5 and an ISO of 2000.

Day Thirteen

The rain is calming, the weather is cooling and summer is coming to a close. This means a number of things, including being able to don the new jacket that I am uber excited about having bought, but most of all it means lots of peppers. They are all sitting on the bushes, nice and bright and plump, ready for the picking. They are everywhere, and I decided to photograph them before they go out of season and they are no longer begging to be photographed. So today's photo is of the peppers - a bush of red and green ones for a change - waiting to be picked. 1/15 Shutter speed, 5.0 aperture and 125 ISO.

Day Twelve

I was on my way to Shinae, trusty camera in hand, ready for another night photography session. The taxi driver was a particularly friendly one, and though he didn't speak a word of English, I managed to have a decent conversation with him about where I come from, what I do and what my hobbies are. As soon as I sidled into the car, he noticed my camera, and was very interested in it. On the drive I decided to take some pictures of my lovely driver, and he seemed to be thoroughly amused by this. So today's photograph is not of the awesome duck restaurant that I ate at, or of the beautiful lights of Shinae, or even of the Soju Hof that I went to after dinner, though some nice photos were taken of all of the above. Instead, today's photo is of my wonderful taxi driver, taken at a 1/15 shutter speed, an aperture of 3.0 and an ISO of 800. Enjoy!

Day Eleven

I was walking along taking photos in the park today when two girls appeared and, giggling frantically, introduced themselves to me. I was more than happy to oblige as they tested their Hello-Howareyou-Nicetomeetyou English skills on me (I am exaggerating actually - their English was surprisingly good at first, and then I became less surprised as I learned that they were my friend Geraldine's students) , and it turned out that they were more than happy to oblige as I asked to take photos of them. This is an area that I am not familiar with - taking photos of strangers. It would be fine if I didn't have to ask, but I know that I should ask, and I tend to get embarrassed very quickly when I do. In any case, I managed to pluck up some courage today and just ask to take their photos, and it worked in my favour. Today's photo is of one of these girls playing on the monkey-bars, taken at 1/100 shutter speed with a 5.0 aperture and an ISO of 160.

Day Ten

With the amount of rain that we have been having and rumours that another typhoon is going to hit Cheongju in the next couple of days, I make sure never to leave the house without my umbrella - I got caught once last week walking home from school in the rain and it wasn't pleasant. But at least one person is going to be without their umbrella when the storm hits tomorrow. I found this umbrella frame abandoned on the side of the road on my walk this evening. Taken with a 1/50 shutter speed, a 5.0 aperture and a 100 ISO.

Day Nine

I decided to take advantage of the weekend and take my photo of the day in daylight for a change. I went for a walk this morning and came across a whole lot of tiny butterflies fluttering about. I managed to capture a picture of one just before it fluttered away, and that is today's photo of the day. It was taken with a shutter speed of 2500, an aperture of 5.6 and a 3200 ISO.

Day Eight

I totally intended to cheat tonight and stay out after midnight, taking two day's shots in one evening. Unfortunately, none of the shots I took after midnight worked out the way that I wanted them to, so I will have to resort to photographing quiz tonight, since I do not feel like leaving my room today.



Tonight, we celebrated Shaina becoming an adult - turning 25. After a lovely dinner at Bon Appetit, we went to Buzz for some drinks and stayed there for most of the night until I started craving my PJ Burritoes. And so we headed to PJ where, after a short while, the live music started. Today's photo is a shot of the guitars that I quite liked, taken with a shutter speed of 1/15, an aperture of 4.5 and at 3200 ISO.

Day Seven

Last night was spent in Shinae with Jess. We had originally intended to go to a movie, but with all the shows being ridiculously late, we just ended up walking around and doing some shopping, rounding it all up with a late night McDonalds dinner. I have always loved the lights in Shinae, and couldn't stop myself from taking this shot as we were walking along. It was taken with a 1/15 shutter speed, a 3.5 aperture and a ISO of 200.

Day Six

It has almost been a full week since I started taking these pictures, and it hasn't been an easy one. I have already found myself pondering indoor photos and not wanting to venture outside. I blame the rain and my incessant sickness that has started once again. But despite that, I have managed to venture out every night thus far and have not yet resorted to pictures of my apartment.


Tonight I went out for a late dinner with David, Jenna, Gary, Amanda, Blake, Rebekah and Robyn in celebration of Blake's birthday. We had some Shabu Shabu, one of my favourites, and it was delicious (though not as good as the restaurant that my co-teacher takes me to.) This photo was taken shortly into the meal, prompted by Blake's admiring the chopsticks. As he was the birthday boy, I obliged and the pic actually ended up coming out really nicely. So here it is! Taken at 1/100 shutter speed with an aperture of 3.5 and an ISO of 1600. Hope you like it!

Day Five

Tonight was incredibly disappointing for photos. I went out to Shinae in the hopes of finding the lights that had dazzled me on my first visit, but they have apparently been taken down. I tried to take photos of a number of things that didn't work out because of a combination of no tripod, low light and the rain that just wouldn't stop. This is the last photo that I took before my camera died, and I was surprised to find that it didn't turn out quite as badly as I had imagined it would. Taken with a shutter speed of 1/13, with a 5.6 aperture and an ISO of 400.