s o u l i z b l o g

This is Samchongdong, the residential area. No tall apartment buildings here. The houses look traditional, but the insides of these homes have been renovated to have all the modern amenities. Or not, I guess it depends on the owners. But these homes are not all residential- i saw a few turned into design studios and hidden cafes.

Interesting art on the walls of people’s houses.

This is Korea’s version of graffiti, i guess. Creative, appealing to look at, yet defiant in its own way simply because it is defacing property. It’s cool how they keep it this way, though, and no one thinks about tagging over it.

A short walk down from the residential area are cute shops and cafes.

and studios.

What, they named a whole room after me!

Traditional neighborhood with starbucks spelled out in Korean.

Complete with a museum+cinema house where they show art and foreign films. The Godfather was playing.

warning: picture overload

so how was your fourth of july? mine was spent with friends and some goood fooooood…it was the best!

had a little bbq at my place

with the help of these girls + sarah

and my hardworking Bam <333

our drink station. the strawberry+lychee punch was a hit! the lychee masked the taste of the rum so we ended up putting in close to 2 liters of rum. i admit i got a little tipsy with just half a cup.

the snow cone machine was also a hit.

we had a station set up with various toppings and syrup, turning it into an asian shaved ice station. much more delicious, imho.

folded napkins by my lovely slaves…i mean girlfriends.

grilled corn with secret sauce+coconut toppings, lentil+couscous salad, the BEST potato salad in ze world, baba ghanoush

and of course there was dessert. raspberry and lemonade pie. that’s sarah preparing to cut the pies, she was the culinary mastermind behind this bbq. love her.

it was great to see my friends enjoy themselves.

and get their drink on.

and blow bubbles

lots of people came and went during the 12 hours we were chillin’ in my backyard. the party went from 4pm to 330 in the morning!

and of course a keg stand must occur when there is a keg. oy.
much thanks to Neil at Biergarten for hooking it up with the Sapporo.

cousin linda got married to mountain boy john yesterday. congratulations, you two.

photographs by Jimmy Chin

Photographer Roy DeCarava passed away yesterday. Images by him:

A Harlem born artist, he sought to portray the conditions of life in his neighborhood from an insider’s point of view. He was the first African American to receive the Guggenheim Fellowship. Since then, his talent allowed him to transition back and forth between photojournalism and art photography.

In the fifties, he was discovered by Steichen, one of the fathers of art photography (rivaling Steiglitz for the title). Steichen, an accomplished photographer/artist/curator in the art world took a few of DeCarava’s photographs and showed them in the Family of Man exhibit at MoMa, a show that is now noted as the first exhibition to use photography as an art medium. This was interesting to me because I had learned extensively about this legendary exhibit in my classes, but never knew that DeCarava was one of the hundreds of artists in it.

Anyway. Lots of photographers or artists use their creative ability as an excuse to seek new things and experiences different from the lives they normally lead. I admit that sometimes I consider a career in photography simply because I would like to use the camera as an excuse to see the world and escape to a life other than my own. There’s nothing wrong with wanting something different, but to escape and never look back is not the answer. I respect DeCarava because he looks within his own world and finds ways to photograph it from different perspectives. The results are aesthetically pleasing, poignant images of life not only relatable to the residents of Harlem, but to people from different backgrounds as well. His photography is beautiful because it shows one’s ability to wrestle with one’s circumstances and familiarities, explore perspectives different from his own, and conclude his journey with a deeper understanding of life around him.

I’m retiring my Canon 30D after 3.5 years of active duty. He’s been a loyal friend, but it’s time i moved on. LOL look at the color difference of the straps!