Since day one in Korea, I hoped I’d have some time for birding in the nearby parks on a clear morning. Not many mornings are clear, so when I woke up a few days ago to see the sun spreading it’s fresh light over the landscape, I got up in a hurry! Though it was almost 7:00, I figured the birds would still be out for another hour or two.

I was planning on hiking out to a small pond over the hill, but on the way, I purposed to would take my time and enjoy whatever might be along the trail. To my surprise, there were many of them! Though I don’t have the greatest of equipment in the world for photographing birds, here are a few things I’ve found helpful in getting good pictures:

• Let the birds come to you; they won’t let you get close to them. There are exceptions to the rule, but generally, you will scare anything away if you try to move closer to it. I’ve done it over and over again.
• Be extremely patient. Only two birds came close enough to get a satisfactory shot during an entire 20 minute wait in one spot; and that was with dozens of them flying all around me.
• Keep the camera close to your face and have all the settings on your camera ready at any given moment. Perching birds move around quickly, and opportunities are fleeting when they are close enough to shoot.
• Position yourself close to where birds like to be. Don’t stand in the middle of a clearing; sit within “shooting range” of tree trunks, low hanging branches, or thick patches of grass.
• Do not shoot birds against the sky. This really isn’t that difficult as is really only a matter of where you position yourself. If you have to, over expose by at least one stop to keep them from being completely silhouetted against the sky.
• Focus on the eye; it is where viewers look first. And catching a glint in the eye makes the bird look alive. When it looks toward the light source, it’s the time to show off your fps!

I never made it to the pond, actually. I didn’t get too much further then over the hill by the time my hour was up. But it was worth it. The pond will have to wait for a future excursion.

I wanted to reach the river. Before obtaining a bicycle, this would have meant a several hour hiking excursion, but now I figured I could reach it in about half an hour. The problem was, even after looking at Google Maps before I left, I didn’t have a clear route of getting there. “Just go northeast” I told myself.

It was 6:30 in the morning, but the sun was already up over the flat plains of Gimpo-Si city. My goal was to find the best route to one of two bridges that crossed the river and then be back at the office for group devotions by 7:30. I only brought my point and shoot camera and binoculars because I knew I wouldn’t have time for any serious photography.

After biking along a highway, passing under another, cruising through some countryside, finding my way around a clump of hills, and finally finding a tunnel that granted passage across another main road, I descended upon the Han River, a beautiful, peaceful sight on that gorgeous morning. It was exactly 7:00. I hadn’t made it to either bridge, but I could see both of them to the northwest and southeast and figured I knew what highways to follow to get to them in the future.

But there was one thing that impressed me most about the view that spread itself before me: clouds! Thin, whispy, ornamental puffs of clouds floating along in the sky. I never thought I would be impressed by clouds, but having been here for several weeks and seeing nothing in the sky but haze or solid blue, I was thrilled to see something break up the monotony. Clouds and the formations they can create are essential to landscape photography, so to see that some have begun to “arrive” is a happy sight.

A happy sight for now at least; perhaps I’ll be wishing for solid skies again once we hit the rainy season in June. But seeing my stay here in South Korea goes only to the beginning of May, I don’t think I’ll have to worry about that.

From the window of our office apartment, a large mountain commands the attractive view of the distant horizon. When I first arrived in South Korea a few weeks ago, Adam, my coworker, told me we should really plan a hike out there before I left. Well, that day came last Saturday.

Looking over our maps that morning, we plotted the most direct route to the foot of the mountain and calculated that it was about four miles away. Peering out the window, the mountain which didn’t really seem that far away was completely shrouded in the haze that hung thickly over the city. Though prospects of the haze clearing was fifty fifty, we packed our lunch and put on our hiking boots in faith that the afternoon would bring clearer skies.

Four miles is a long way to walk. The rate at which we walked combined with the new boots I was breaking in put blisters on my feet before we reached the mountain. But I was prepared for discomfort, and we pressed on until we reached our objective.

For being in the middle of the most populated area in South Korea, I am so grateful for these pockets of rough country to enjoy and photograph, even if it means aching feet and sore legs for the next few days.

For more pictures of the trip, please visit my Picasa Site.

In South Korea, calendars are a big deal. Whether it’s a 100-member or 10,000-member church, it is virtually tradition for churches to purchase calendars to distribute to their congregations as gifts throughout the year. Over the years, IBLP Korea has produced tens of thousands of calendars which have been successfully distributed across the country, creatively displaying ways to apply character practically in every day life.

With this in mind, it is now IBLP’s desire to create a new calendar for 2012 featuring the 49 Commands of Christ! And because it’s new, we want new images; we want to replace the grainy, desaturated, old pictures that have been used in the past. If you are interested in expanding your ministry in photography by possibly having your pictures published in the calendar, please read the simple details below :

• Title: Korean 2012 Commands of Christ Calendar
• Submission deadline: April 30, 2011
• Copyright Terms: Royalty Free (Copyright Holder grants IBLP the rights to use his/her picture(s) for any purpose excluding third-party distribution and resale; no restrictions apply to the Holder.)
• Remuneration Terms: Ministry (Copyright Holder will receive no compensation for his submission(s). A credit line will be included in the publication if one is requested.)
• Image Specifications: DNG format; at least 3500px by 2750px; horizontal only.
• Quality Requirements: Bright, sharp, professional-quality images; a combination of purposeful content, good composition, and dynamic lighting. We must also attempt to express the concept of the command it represents.
• Submission Directions:

1. View thumbnail images (the ones we want to replace) in this Collection in the Client Portal section of Lenspiration.com. Use password, kor2012cal.
2. Conduct a photoshoot to create (or pull from your archives) a picture that best matches the thumbnail images in the Collection. The closer they match, the better. You may submit up to three pictures per thumbnail.
3. Send an edited JPG comp (600px longest edge) to james@lenspiration.com.
4. You will be notified after April 30 via e-mail if your image has been chosen to be used for the calendar. (Directions for sending the full resolution DNG will be given if your submission is chosen.)

Can’t wait to see your submissions!

One evening, after a onerous day of work at the computer, I though it would be relaxing to spend some time outside and take pictures of the setting sun. There was an overlook on a nearby hill that I thought would be a good vantage point for the sunset, so I packed up the camera and headed outside.

I have found that the sun always goes down faster than I plan for. After getting about half way there, I noticed that not only was the light gone on the surrounding landscape, but also that sun would very soon be gone behind the next ridge of mountains. I don’t typically run with my camera gear, but this was a special situation. I took a little shortcut to reach the overlook, and scrambled to the top of the ridge where I thought the overlook was. But there was nothing; nothing but dense forest between me and the brilliant orange sky. Where was the overlook? On the next ridge? Nope. I had only been scouting here once before, so perhaps I missed it by taking the shortcut. Back down the mountain I went and took the mail trail through a saddle and up onto another ridge. Still nothing.

It was at this point that I knew I wouldn’t be able to make it anywhere in time for a good picture. So I stopped, set the camera aside, found a place I could faintly see the bright red sun and distant mountain ranges through the branches, and tried to simply  enjoy the beauty and stillness of the moment.

It’s nice to get pictures, but missing a photo op isn’t the end of the world. It’s vital to learn to hold all things loosely, and to consciously choose to set all affections on things above instead of on things on the earth.

Though not of the sunset, here are a few snapshots from the hike. Also, I found out later that the overlook was a little further up the trail than I had remembered. Hopefully there’ll be a next time.

My first week in South Korea was full of first impressions. Learning the culture and language is one thing; to learn and capitalize on the climate and weather patterns is quite another. These first expressions of my first impressions of Korea display my first efforts in coping with a totally new environment.

Some observations from my experience so far about early spring in the Gimpo district of Seoul, South Korea:

• Visibility is almost always low, with a more or less dense blanket of haze, fog or smog cutting distant visibility to low, if not null.
• Most mornings, the sun sets the sky to matte hues of yellow and orange, but does not last long.
• On a good evening, the sky offers broad shades of red, pink, and purple after the sun sets.

I had this question not too long ago. Though I love shooting wide angle, it does present a problem: distortion; especially of buildings or straight horizons. So my real question was: “Are there any lenses out there that do not have distortion?” Well, after a bit of online searching, I found that there really are no lenses that do not have distortion, but there some that correct for it. They are called tilt-shift lenses. And sadly, I found that the good ones are just as expensive, if not more so, than regular lenses.

But then something caught my eye. I discovered that a professional nature photographer, Ian Plant, was selling some of his old equipment, one item of which was a tilt-shift lens. I dropped him a note asking some questions about the lens and have posted his answers here for everyone’s benefit. I didn’t end up purchasing the lens, but it’s good to know I’ve learned some things in the process.

Q: What differences between the 24mm L Mark I and 24mm L Mark II cause such a marked price difference?

A: the Mark II is significantly sharper than the Mark I. The Mark I is adequate in terms of sharpness, on par with a number of older lenses, but it is not nearly as good as the Mark II and other new wide-angle lenses being released these days specifically for high-resolution digital camera.

Q: With software technology available today with Photoshop and other programs for correcting distortion, is a tilt-shift lens really all that necessary?

A: Personally, I think tilt-shift lenses are really great, especially for something like architecture. You can use computer programs to correct distortion, as the expense of resolution – also, sometime the correction process can be rather laborious. It depends on how critical your needs are – if you need to make perfectly corrected high res files for clients, then I’d definitely say get a tilt-shift lens. If not, if you’re just doing it for fun and on a tight budget, then use the computer to fix distortion.

Knowing where to go is a very important thing to know. I mean, if there is a beautiful sunset, and you are stuck in the middle of an apartment complex, it’s going to be hard to get some nice landscape images. You might be able to get some nice apartment building images, but that isn’t always the end goal.

Over the past few days, getting situated here in South Korea, it has been difficult, and for good reasons, to find time to temporarily evacuate from the “apartment complex” for a photoshoot. But I have been out. And that is when I do my scouting.

An intense hike with the Wallers is great fun; but it’s not a time to make everyone wait continually for “Mr. cameraman to create his art.”

A walk to the store and back is necessary, but it’s not a time to lug around your equipment. There’s enough stuff to carry as it is.

I typically carry a little point and shoot with me on these scouting ventures. This helps me find what I’m looking for later, gives me visual ideas of where to go when I have more time, and can always fills in for if something out of the ordinary does occur.

It is during these times that I observe what is around me. Where does the sun rise? Or set? At what time of day is the sky most colorful? What days are clear and what days are hazy? Why? What locations will produce good landscape, people, cultural, or wildlife images? What buildings look most attractive? What is the fastest way to get to them?

Sometimes this is as fun as taking the pictures themselves. But it is very much worth it, because instead of getting nice pictures immediately, the end result is getting really nice pictures in the long run . . . hopefully.