Taking Photos: Koreans' #1 Pastime

Koreans love taking photos.  It's as simple as that.  Almost anywhere you go you will see Koreans toting around their pricey, new, digital cameras with their multiple lenses.  Being in one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world, Koreans generally love their gadgets.  Galaxy Tabs, ipads, and smart phones of all sorts are everywhere.  Expensive cameras are no exception.  If you didn't know better you might think that this country has more professional photographers per capita than all other countries, but then you realize they just all look like professional photographers.  I wouldn't be surprised if this is one of the only countries in which the natives take more pictures than the tourists.

Not only do Koreans like to take pictures, but they like to take pictures of themselves.  Tourist destinations are set up with photo opps so that people can take as many pictures as they want in various locations, with various objects.  One of my first excursions outside of Daegu took me to Gayasan mountain (which I wrote about in a previous post).  On the short hike up to Heinsa Temple there was a designated area, complete with a sign telling the photographer and model that this was a good spot to take a picture.  The sign was posted right at the entrance of a small foot bridge that was obviously built to take photographs on, as it was next to the pedestrian route and completely unnecessary (besides for taking pics).  As we stood by the bridge examining the mountain map a few couples and families posed for pictures on the bridge.

I snapped the above picture at a small theme park in Daegu called Herb Hillz.  It's a really wacky park built on hills, as the name suggests.  I guess the point of the park is to learn about nature, specifically different herbs.  There's also a small petting zoo and the main attraction for foreigners, zip lining courses.  While we were waiting for our zip-lining time to arrive we walked around the park to see what it was all about.  Basically the entire park is for people to take photos.  The above photo shows that I was at 'photo point 8' when I took the shot.  I swear the park designer must have been smoking some type of herb when building the park.  Here's a photo taken of me at one of the designated photo areas:

Here is one of my favorite examples showing the extent to which Koreans will go to snap the most perfect picture:

As you can see, the boyfriend (i'm assuming) has got his small digital point and shoot camera on a big ass tripod.  Like I mentioned before, Koreans love to take pictures of themselves so often times they haul around tripods so couples and families can have pictures together without someone being left out or having to ask a random person to take the photo.  I guess if you don't mind carrying a tripod around it's a good idea.  This photo shows the extent to which one will go to get a good photo of their significant other.  The guy is holding the camera, still on the tripod, trying to get the best shot of his girlfriend at the photo zone.

Couples here loooooove to take photos together.  Awhile back I was in Seoul at a park by the river where a big festival was going on.  There were lots of people gathered for the festival, sunbathing on the grass by the river.  I was walking around trying to figure out where I was going when I see a couple laying on an incline on top of a blanket, with their camera sitting on a tripod about 3 feet in front of them, pointed at them.  They weren't doing anything but cuddling.  I don't know if they were filming themselves laying on a blanket at a festival or if they had previously taken pictures of themselves laying on a blanket at a festival.  Either way it's pretty wacky.  I wonder if they will go home and look through their photos of themselves laying on a blanket at a festival and show their friends and say, "Oh, and this one's of us laying on a blanket at a festival."

Another funny photo-related anecdote takes place at my school about two weeks after an open class.  One afternoon my coteacher tells me, "we go to meet with other teachers to talk about open class and take picture."  As always, I obey like a trained dog and follow her to a nearby classroom where two other teachers await us.  I really have no idea what we are doing.  All I know is that we are talking about our open class we had a few weeks before and "taking picture".  I sit down with the two other teachers and my coteacher makes a phone call then sits down.  The teachers pass out blank pieces of paper and pens, then start talking in Korean.  About 3 minutes later a coworker comes in with a camera.  The three other teachers pick up their papers and hold them out in front of them so it looks like they are reading something.  They keep discussing whatever they're discussing and I follow suit, picking up my paper and acting like I have some sort of idea what's going on.  After about one minute of photo taking the lady with the camera leaves and my coteacher stands up (I follow like a good dog) and she says goodbye, we bow and walk out.  I am so confused by this point and beg for an explanation.  My coteacher tells me, "we have meeting with other teachers to discuss open class."  I'm confused because no teachers even watched our open class.  She tells me that they watched the video tape.  Alright, that makes sense.  Then I ask why the lady came in with the camera to take pictures. She says, "For proof that we had conference about open class."  Wow.  So we had to have a fake 5 minute long "conference" so that pictures could be taken to prove that we had a real conference about open class.

After experiencing and pondering all these situations in which photos are so important I wonder, why?  Could it merely be the fact that Korea is so hyper techno obsessed that they want to incorporate technology into their lives in as many ways as possible?  Is it because they want to flaunt their latest and most expensive gadgets?

Maybe Koreans just like looking at photos of themselves.  Any foreigner and Korean will tell you how obsessed Korean culture is with appearance.  Plastic surgery and cosmetics are huge markets here.  People are constantly looking at their reflections in windows and their mirrors they carry around in their purses, always touching up their hair or makeup.  Do they just like to see how good they look in photos, act like models for a little while?  I honestly don't know how they have the time to go back and look at all the photos they take.  I kinda wonder if they even do it.

As in the story above, are pictures merely a way to prove that someone did something, went somewhere with someone?  Obviously it's a way to prove to the principal that we had a mandatory conference that we really didn't have.  Is it a way for couples to prove their love for each other to others?  To themselves?

Maybe it's as simple as preserving memories.

I'll probably never know.