Harvest

 

Hoesan Neighbourhood, Gangneung.

A lot of Korea looks like this now. A rice harvesting machine has gone through the fields to take the grain and leave the straw. Another machine comes later to roll the straw up into bundles and wrap them in plastic. If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you might see some of those bundles in the far background.
   A long time ago I stayed on a friend's small family farm for a few days in October and helped to harvest the rice with a short sickle. It's back-breaking work, and I can see why so many old people in the countryside are permanently bent over. Also, so many spiders in a rice field! Yikes! I don't know who jumped more often - the spiders or me. I also used a flail to get sesame seeds off their stalks. Also very difficult work. My friend's mother's cooking was a great consolation, and every meal was a feast. Rice, soybean paste soup, sesame leaves in chilli sauce, large blocks of warm tofu, some beef that my friend and I brought with us, fried shark, and various other side dishes. Work hard, eat well.

Downtown

Some people post photos and write very nice stories about what the locations, people, and objects in the pictures mean to them. I just looked over these photos of downtown Gangneung and couldn't even remember why I had been there. It took a while to remember that I wanted to go shopping at Homeplus and went early to make some photos before the supermarket opened.

This isn't my bicycle, but I did ride my bicycle and park it in the proper spot at the store. This one is just chained to a fence out back. This photo isn't spectacular, but to my mind it's a success of sorts because of the micro-composition.

The exit from the underground parking garage. I like all the lines, the strong contrast, and the colours of the booth and the barrier machine. (Surely the 'barrier machine' has a proper name.) Nikon's Vivid setting was made for scenes like this. This one will get printed.

The promised land of the Homeplus Building. 'CGV' is the name of a multiplex chain.

The pink building is a market built on the site of the old train tracks. The large building in the background is the Hana Bank Building. The bank is on the first floor, and the upper floors have a lot of medical clinics.

A closer view of the Hana Bank Building. The thin structure, I think, is one of those parking garages that keeps cars on rotating platforms. I'm sure there is a proper name for that. My active vocabulary has shrunk considerably since I came to Korea many years ago. My English is getting worse, my Korean isn't getting any better. Soon I'll speak no language at all. (Apologies to Dickens.)

City bus and suicide scooters. A new law says you're not allowed to ride these on the sidewalks (good!). But riding them on the streets is madness. It's tempting to rent one, but . . . .

A sign marking the end of a school zone. This is on a new bridge on my way home. Lovely blue, eh?

Dogs run out to greet you when you come home. Cats probably don't even know you left.

Well, there wasn't much of a story here but I think we all learned a lot.

 

Enjoy Your Stay

 

Anmok Beach Warning Signs

Waiting

 

Gangil Transport Bus Stop

The more I use it, the more I think the Minolta X-700 might be the best film camera I've ever had.

Two Walls

 

Hotel wall near the former bus terminal.

A collage of walls in a residential neighbourhood.

Garden Pots

 

Wolhwa Park, Gangneung.

This kind of pot is usually used for fermenting and storing gimchi, chilli paste, soy bean paste, soy sauce, and other foods for winter. They also make decent flower pots.

Hoesan Neighbourhood

It's been raining and cloudy for the past couple of weeks. A good opportunity to get out and make some photos. The top two photos were made on HP5+ and the last was made on long-expired FP4+ that a friend from England had lying around for about twenty years. Still looks fine.

 Speaking of old things, this tractor's brand name is Goldstar. You might remember their televisions and stereos. In the 90s, Goldstar merged with Lucky to form the Lucky Goldstar Company. Commonly known as LG.

I've photographed this house, tree, and fence quite a few times, but I think this latest version is my favourite.

One of my favourite recent photographs. I might need to darken up the hills on the right a little bit.

Thanks for looking.

Chuang Tzu's Camera

 

Was it an iPhone dreaming it was an F100, or an F100 dreaming it was an iPhone? And did they both have a nightmare of me?

Fertiliser

 

Hoesan Neighbourhood, Gangneung.

I've posted at least one colour version of this photo in the past, but I think I like this black and white version better. Maybe. I'm so wishy-washy. 

Groundskeeper's Cart

 

Catholic Kwandong University, Gangneung.

I'm not sure what to call the person who wanders the campus with this cart picking up garbage and cigarette butts. Sweeper?

One of the school cleaners once complained to a group of students about throwing cigarette butts on the ground instead of in the garbage can. "We're giving you a job. You should be thankful," was the reply from one of the students. There are some real bastard in the world . . . . Pardon my French.

Downtown Scooter

 This wall and screen are a part of Gangneung's tourist information system. It usually plays videos of tourist attractions and off to the left you can use a QR code to get your photo taken and sent to your phone. I haven't seen it turned on lately, but then I'm never downtown on weekends. This scooter covered in cardboard boxes has been parked here for several weeks. Although it's blocking the screen, no one from the city seems to care. 

Farmer's Scooter

 

Hoesan Neighbourhood, Gangneung.

Shinyeong Building

 

Shinyeong Building, Downtown Gangneung.

Sometimes I make a photo of a place using a digital camera and go back later to see what it looks like on film. Sometimes, like in this case, I go back to see what a place looks like in a digital photo. I think both versions look good, though I think my framing was better when I visited the building earlier this month with my Nikon D850. Nothing to do with the D850 being a digital camera - I probably just had a better idea of what I wanted the photo to look like. I suspect that when printed the digital and film versions of this scene won't be that different.

Emart Building Art

 

Pine Trees and Transport Truck

 

The countryside is being filled with cheap and ugly industrial buildings. These trees are probably on death row.

Just Outside Geumsan Village

 

It's all ugly, but makes a fine photograph.

Cow Delivered Straight to Your Door

 

Balance

I called this post 'Balance' because as I was preparing the photo for upload, I noticed that the bright container is balanced by the light sky. I've posted a colour digital photograph of this scene, but I rather like this black and white film version. 
 

Barrels

 

Outside of town there is a school for learning how to operate heavy trucks and equipment. These barrels have been lying in the grass just outside the school property for years. There is rebar sticking out of them, and I have no idea what purpose they might have served.