Just came back from Korea..

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the Democratic People's Republic of Korea,
will do up a photo essay in the next few days,
here's is a fav pic of mine, which isn't too sharp
but i think it works.

DMZ from the DPRK side

Summicron 50 with Digital M

 

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i am glad that out of the 1000 pix i took in the last 8 days,
about 90+ of the photos are useable. Of the 90, I am showing
the 30 pictures.

Train ride from the border to Pyongyang was around 5 hours.
The train is an old German train, very old but has a very
romantic feel to it. Six persons to a carriage.

One of the many train stations along the way.

Along the way were small villages with people going about their
daily agriculture chores, mostly tending the fields. I saw
very little farm machinery, most were done by hand and
simple tools as well as transport by oxcart. I think fuel is an issue.
Nearer to Pyonguyang, I saw tractors and other machinery.

This is a train station master from the famous underground train,
The escalator goes around 100m+ downwards from entrance
of the station to the trains.

The metro train is used by everyone from students, to families
and folks going home from work.

 

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Sports play a big role in the DPRK, here some of the
school kids were practicing in the square. I presume this is
for the upcoming mass games celebration in DPRK.

Next to the students were these workers practicing marching
and drills.

I shot this early on the 2nd day, around 6am+ This was
near the hotel, and I wandered into the park.

We bought some flowers and laid them at the feet of the
founders of the DPRK, Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.

 

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The guard is standing next to the entrance of
the "International Friendship Exhibition", actually
it is a museum of gifts from other world leaders.
I saw quite a few gifts from other dictators too,
Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwe) ,Gaddafi (Libya), and
I think from General Zia Ul-Haq (Pakistan), as
well as lots of nice cars, guns and other memorabilia
from Putin, Stalin and Chinese Communist party and
Chinese and East European industrial companies.
( I also saw an iPad, Leica Digilux given as petty gifts from
visiting businessmen).

We visited a 1000 year old temple. What I found
troubling is that the DPRK is largely atheist, so
is the monk real or is this just a job in the tourism
industry ?

We were brought to a girl's school to watch
a performance but I found the nearby soccer match
more interesting among these boys.

This place is a blur to me, I can only remember
that the DPRK cameraman was using Sony Betamax
Videocamera. (hello ? Betamax, where do they get the
tapes anymore ?!)

After the performance, we gave out sweets, chocolate
to the kids, I went backstage and asked the backstage
hands to pose for me. This girl is a natural!

 

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Generally, people not in the tourism industry aren't
allowed to have their photos taken, the only exception
I found is that they are okay if they pose with another
person (tourist). No prize for guessing who is the
tourist and DPRK person here. I have a couple of pix of
silly poses like this.

If you follow any South Korean tour itinerary,
there will be a visit to the DMZ. I can tell you the
North Korean version is much better because the
fences are electrified, just joking but true. The
actual armistice agreement room/building is in the
DPRK.

The famous Blue room in the DMZ is a tourist
draw in the South and also in the North. During the DPRK
shift, we were allowed to enter the blue room.
The huge building behind is South Korean.

Here, my norwegian friend is posing for her husband.
I took a quick snap, I love the expression of the eyes
of the guard. Behind the door leads to the South Korean
side.

 

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This is the USS Pueblo (AGER-2) Spy boat captured off
North Korea in 1968.The crew was returned in Dec
1968 but the ship has served as a useful propaganda
tool for the DPRK. What is interesting was the display
of the ship's onboard computers, and equipment, and
I saw rows and rows of what looked like 1960's computer
removable harddisks.

This was Sunday evening, captured this from the bus.
People queuing for the bus or tram presumably
going home.

This is the Sino Korean monument to commemorate
the Chinese involvement during the Korean War.
I bought a small bouquet.

This pictures shows 3 things, the Arch of Triumph in Pyongyang
on the Korean resistance against the Japanese (1925 - 1945),
how the tram looks like and a lady rushing home on
a Sunday evening..

 

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Last night in Pyongyang was a blast, everybody
was drinking $1 beer, buying plastic flowers ($10 each)
for the performers (and they kept recycling the flowers!)

I went bowling with six crazy germans, one nowegian
and one brit to end the evening.

Newspaper on the notice board at the train station
on the way back to the border.

If you look hard enuff, can you spot the DPRK
lady ?

This picture shows the stark contrast on both sides
of the Yalu River. That stump in the middle used to be
the bridge but was bombed in the war.

fin.

 

[roundg]

Interesting, How do you manage to shoot so many pic in North Korea? And I like the processing result of these pictures. Remind me of the pic in Chinese magazine of 1970's.

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Very nice shots. The one of the people in the fields, and the one of the lone soldier are amazing.

How did you ever get this kind of access?

 

[jarski]

thx for sharing. pp adds nice to subject.

 

[abumac]

Great series from a hidden land. I really like it.

 

[Bill58]

I guess you could label the one of the people planting rice as a "A nice day at the office in the DPRK".

Nice pics, but I feel profound sorrow for the people who were unfortunately born there and can't escape.

 

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Thanks everyone. i added text to the pictures.

Okay, i followed a chinese tour group, this tour comprised of around
20+ chinese and 9 foreigners including myself. I had to apply for pre-approval
of visa, and then arrived in China 2 days before the actual trip. The tour was
4 days 3 nights.

raytoei
​

 

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in terms of luggage etc, i wanted to travel light ie no check-in luggage,
only one haversack.

No laptop, 2 pairs of pants, 3 pair of shirts, socks and undies.
One huge trenchcoat (never used!). Toiletries, one ultra small
clip-on sack, Some books plus a box of cigars to make friends.

one lens, the summicron 50 and one body the M9P. I badly wanted to bring
the M4 and film but decided not to risk the film being developed and screened
by the DPRK and then not returning me the negatives. i brought the sf-20
flash but didn't use it.

there were 2 other hardcore photog with me, one with canon dslr while
the other was using the nikon dslr with some very good zooms, eg,
10 -24mm and 24-200 (?) zooms. As for me, the 50mm was interesting,
it forced me to think a lot more in terms of framing and composition.

In terms of stealth, i shot a lot with the leica slung on one shoulder with the
finger on the button while facing another direction and talking to
the other travelers.

Technically, I shot mostly at iso 1600, usually at f8 with hyperfocal focusing.
Settings was B&W with <10 pictures in color.

Being new to Digital, I really struggled with AE with EV compensation. Battery
was also a challenge, I am glad I bought an additional battery (two in total),
and I charged daily.

Post processing is mainly: contrast, brightness adding of tone, framing, spotting (my sensor
is really dirty

with some cropping + lots of grain.

raytoei

 

[Leica All Day]

Cool photos....I've got some friends who have gone a couple of times and they always come back with good stuff and funny stories....

I posted a thread about North Korea last year but it got deleted because of some innapropriate comments by some members here....hopefully your thread will survive....

Thanks again for posting these photos....

Cheers, michael

 

[oftheherd]

Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed seeing those photos. Good that you were able to photograph what you did. From what I have heard, photography isn't the favored equipment of tourists there. But I found it all interesting, and the photos well done.

 

[paulfish4570]

thanks, ray. the BW fits perfectly. what a sterile environment ...

 

[Lauffray]

Is it my screen or the pictures have a bluish tint to them ?
Excellent pictures in any case !

 

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Yeah, I applied a blue tone to the pictures and added grains to give an edgier feel to it. i think it works.

 

[f16sunshine]

Wonderful set! The captions are fun to read. Thanks Ray!