Happy Holidays!

Muse:
I hope everyone enjoyed celebrating the holiday with friends, family, and loved-ones. Just wanted to officially wish you and yours a fantastic New Year! The little lady and I are heading out of town for some much needed R&R, and although we can't celebrate with cocktails (we're both on meds at the moment... :( boo!) we'll be enjoying all our luxurious hotel has to offer -- a bathtub (serious luxury item in Korea), a pool, masseuse, 24 hour room service, amazing restaurant, casino and nightclub.

Help-Portrait: Hwasung Baby Home, Seoul

News:
Waking up at 6:50am isn't something that I do on a typical Saturday, but December 5th wasn't my typical Saturday. I'm about an hour northwest of Seoul, in Ilsan "The New City," so meeting the guys at 9:00am took me a little extra time to get up and ready. By the time I was on the subway at 7:45am, I was cleaned, clothed, and carrying my gear -- cup of coffee included! The Hwasung Baby Home orphanage in the Wangshimni neighborhood of Seoul was my final destination and where the Seoul Photo Club's Help-Portrait project took place.

A shift in thinking... Help-Portrait is a movement of photographers who are using their time, equipment and expertise to give back to those who are less fortunate this holiday season. Founded by celebrity photographer Jeremy Cowart, Help-Portrait is a community of photographers, coming together across the world, to use their photography skills to give back to the community.

The Metro Project

News:
I've been out working on another photo project. This one's the brainchild of one of my SPC buddies, Shawn Parker, aka Flash or Parks. The gist of the project is to creatively capture each stop of the Seoul Metro Rapid Transit system and the immediate outlying areas. There are 436 stations over 14 lines. I'm splitting the 3 line (orange line) with fellow member and head of SPC, Aaron Raisey. We each have have 20 stops to cover. I know Aaron's hitting a few more stops on another line, but 20 is more than enough for me. Shawn wants us to shoot with the theme of "Différance" forefront in our minds.

From Shawn: "Think of the interpretation of signs. They don't mean what they really mean (stay with me). Meaning is "deferred", altered, changed, shifted as it is transmitted from source to receptor (in big bold print: WE ARE THE RECEPTORS). This never ends. This occurs with all things. The established meaning in one space, in one place and time may not mean squat to someone engaging a sign for the first time."

Leave it to the professional writer to confound me with words! :P I'm just focusing on trying to create / find unique moments at each one. In the end, we're supposed to pick the most important frame and write a short essay. It's really a lot harder than you would think. When all the stops are completed, we're putting everything together and publishing a book. I'd like to see an exhibition as well.