Street Photography in South Korea

Earlier this year I took a trip to South Korea to visit some of my family and I was able to wonder the streets with a camera. Street Photography in South Korea is nothing like what it is here in the states. Street Photography is something that is almost unheard of in South Korea. When people go out side in South Korea, people always try and look their best. They try to hide all their bad habits by hide in dark side streets so they can smoke a cigarette and other things with out the on goers judging them.

  So i took off with a Nikon D7000 and a Nikon 35mm and went looking for something different. First thing is first. when you are out doing Street Photography, you don't have time to make sure you are in the right mode or your ISO is set right. How i set up my Nikon D7000. I put it in Aperture mode. Then i set the ISO to Auto. I limit the ISO to a max of 3200 so i can go from shadows of a dark side street to a bright over head sun on the main drag. Then i set a shutter to a Min of 1/200 of second. this will let me capture a moment in time with me bring the viewfinder up to my eye and back down with out making letting every one know that am there taking photos of them.

  some times you have a spot where you can go to manual mode and slow the shutter down and then blur just people walking by so you get a different looks. Either way it takes time and practice get this down pat. South Korea has some of the must unique Street scenes i have ever seen. There is always some sort of open Street food vendor or open market that has every one running around like a ant bringing food the queen.

  The one thing that you will never be in short of when doing Street Photography in South Korea is the people working the streets. What i mean by this is men and women picking up cardboard to resale and make their living or some person sitting on the side of the street selling some sort of items such as fruits or melons. They are out there day and night, day after day. In South Korea this is what some people do to just keep some sort of money coming into there life.

Street Photography is something I recommend to any one that has a few hours to spare and willing to go out and see South Korea from the streets. My goal when am out doing Street Photography is to capture the persons feelings. if its Sadness, pain, joy, or just plain surprise. Its reaction that makes you stop and think about what they where feeling at that moment.

  So the next time you want to do some Street Photography. Think about what you want to capture. rather you are in your home town where every one knows your name or South Korea. Set your camera up so you don't have to think about what settings you are using. then think about what people are going to do next. anticipate their next move, and capture that moment that no one sees. For the rest of the photos. head on over to my 500px