davidsmeaton.com

big weekends are coming thick and fast. i’ve been quite busy lately, but the upside is that i’m doing lots of photography. i’ve already shot over 400 shots this month (and today is only the 10th).

yesterday ryan came into town. he wanted to see the magnum exhibition so we headed there first. the exhibition had a few good photos, but generally i didn’t think the quality was very high. it was definitely good inspiration though, so we headed out to brave the fierce summer weather.

we headed to cheungmuro, i printed my film and we drank coffee at a cool little second hand store. we ate kimchi mandoo for lunch, met up with the leica club members (we spent some time drooling over a $30,000 collector’s camera). then we headed off to dongjak station to get some photos of the sunset.

we arrived early, but had some beer and set up while we waited for the sun to get lower. originally we were off to the left side, but moved closer to the middle of the bridge later, to get a better position. i got a bunch of great photos, partly in thanks to my new cokin flw filter … it’s designed as a fluorescent correction filter, but the upshot is that it produces amazing colours during sunsets. it’s a very nice little investment.

the photography went well, and we were forced to give up thanks to a sudden downpour of rain. we drank some beer at the local pub and headed home to argue about focal lengths. LOL

this morning we got up at the ridiculous hour of 6am to head to chenonan. we wanted to take advantage of the weather and photograph the buddha. however, the sun was behind it and the photos didn’t come out very well. i have one or two usable shots.

this afternoon i came home, feeling tired from a long weekend, had a small sleep and have been editing photos.

back to work tomorrow, but i’m not feeling too worried about the long day, because tuesday i start my holidays. i still need to go to the office in the afternoon. but for a whole week i can sleep in!

got a hella busy weekend coming up … tonight i’m trying to finish angie’s photos (which i’m 3 weeks behind on) and update natalya’s site (which i’m months behind on)

ryan gets here in the morning. we’re gonna check out the magnum photography exhibition, go to cheungmuro and look around, then head to dongjak and do some photography on the bridge. the plan is to photograph the han river at sunset (here’s hoping for clear weather). the view from the bridge is probably the best location in korea. we can see the sunset, the han river, lots of buildings and a motorway on the right, and the 63 building on the left.

however, tonight’s work is progressing well. i’ve upgraded my site and fixed the permalink error. i’m running wordpress 2.6.1 which has a few error fixes from the wordpress 2.6 release. i also fixed some small cosmetic issues and uploaded a different smilie pack

i’m a bit hungry, so i might head out soon and get some food. actually, i’ve been a good boy lately. my diet has consisted of kimbab (lots), bibimbab, ramyeon, neng myon and dongass. it’s been a 95% korean diet … with the occasional sandwich thrown in … usually on the way to work.

but, i have beer … so i’ll grab a snack and have a few drinks while i do some editing.

oh, i almost forgot, i’ve started listening to last.fm. these days my regular music has been getting a bit dull, and i’m tired of changing playlists. so i figured it’s time to explore and find some new music … it’s working out well.

i’ve found something to do on saturdays, regularly, that is going to be lots of fun. the leica club that i joined meets every saturday afternoon at cheungmuro. i’m going to make a plan to join them regularly for coffee, chatting and photography. to be honest, i’m not 100% interested in just hanging out. i have alterior motives to spending time with the group.

firstly, i’ll learn a hell of a lot about leicas (i already learned so much yesterday). i’ve also found the best photo developing and accessories stores. the best reason is that i can push myself to photograph more. i’m going to promise myself to shoot a roll of film a week and have it developed on saturdays. i can give the film to the developing store, go for coffee and chat, then pick up my photos later.

while i was in cheungmuro yesterday i also got a few little things i’ve been wanting. i bought a yellow filter for my leica (for use when photographing black and white film). i bought a flash diffuser, two more filters (i’ve gone a little filter crazy these days) and some film (two colour rolls, one 1600 asa black and white roll).