Luminous Landscape Forum

The Art of Photography => Street Showcase => Topic started by: RSL on July 30, 2019, 09:48:26 am

Title: Taegu, 1953
Post by: RSL on July 30, 2019, 09:48:26 am
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Title: Re: Taegu, 1953
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on July 30, 2019, 12:01:45 pm
Very powerful, and so sad.
I'm glad you are digging into your archives of that period, Russ.
Title: Re: Taegu, 1953
Post by: Rob C on July 30, 2019, 02:41:48 pm
Agreed; it's a great period for that kind of photography.

But why sad? Kids cry at the droo of a hat, or simply because they feel like making a racket. At least this chappie looks like nobody has had designs on his tailpipe! Yet.

:-)
Title: Re: Taegu, 1953
Post by: RSL on July 30, 2019, 03:26:47 pm
The kid's okay. I shot this just around the time the war ended. I never knew what was going on, and the ambiguity is strong.
Title: Re: Taegu, 1953
Post by: francois on July 31, 2019, 05:20:46 am
I like it, there's tension is that shot and it can be interpreted in so many ways…
Title: Re: Taegu, 1953
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on July 31, 2019, 06:24:56 am
I like it, there's tension is that shot and it can be interpreted in so many ways…
+1.
Title: Re: Taegu, 1953
Post by: petermfiore on July 31, 2019, 08:28:09 am
The kid's okay. I shot this just around the time the war ended. I never knew what was going on, and the ambiguity is strong.

That kid in now 68ish ...if he's still around.

Peter
Title: Re: Taegu, 1953
Post by: RSL on July 31, 2019, 08:31:43 am
Who knows, Peter? I'd hope so. The war was just over when I shot this, so maybe he's a multi-millionaire by now.
Title: Re: Taegu, 1953
Post by: KLaban on July 31, 2019, 08:33:42 am
Who knows, Peter? I'd hope so. The war was just over when I shot this, so maybe he's a multi-millionaire by now.

Or at least, happy.

;-)
Title: Re: Taegu, 1953
Post by: Martin Kristiansen on July 31, 2019, 10:23:10 am
By 1960 the life expectancy in South Korea increased to 52.4 years. Can’t find figures for 1953 but since it increased to 52,4 it must have been even lower in 1953. So the odds are........
Title: Re: Taegu, 1953
Post by: RSL on July 31, 2019, 10:39:06 am
Maybe, Martin, but this was in downtown Taegu (Daegu). The war had beat the place up pretty badly, but it's now the fourth largest city in South Korea, and part of the powerhouse economy of the country. Do you plan to die at the statistical midpoint of life expectancy for your age group? I don't, and I've already surpassed it. So maybe this kid now is flying here and there in his private airplane and enjoying humongous success.
Title: Re: Taegu, 1953
Post by: petermfiore on July 31, 2019, 10:39:47 am
By 1960 the life expectancy in South Korea increased to 52.4 years. Can’t find figures for 1953 but since it increased to 52,4 it must have been even lower in 1953. So the odds are........

He outlived the odds!

Peter

I have had so many students over the years that are from Korea. Many of them have parents and grandparents my age and older, still with the world. Me being born in 1955.

Peter
Title: Re: Taegu, 1953
Post by: RSL on July 31, 2019, 11:51:28 am
Here are some of the people who helped build South Korea into an economic powerhouse. I shot this in 1954. These were people from the north who left everything behind and walked south.
Title: Re: Taegu, 1953
Post by: KLaban on July 31, 2019, 11:58:13 am
You've only to look at the life expectancy of Victorians in the UK to believe that folk didn't live to a great age. However life expectancy statistics are often skewed by appalling infant mortality.
Title: Re: Taegu, 1953
Post by: RSL on July 31, 2019, 12:04:07 pm
Right, Keith. Statistically, all these people must be dead by now.
Title: Re: Taegu, 1953
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on July 31, 2019, 07:56:20 pm
Right, Keith. Statistically, all these people must be dead by now.
And most of us LuLa-ites, too.  :'(
Title: Re: Taegu, 1953
Post by: elliot_n on August 01, 2019, 07:16:29 am
Here are some of the people who helped build South Korea into an economic powerhouse. I shot this in 1954. These were people from the north who left everything behind and walked south.

That's a beautiful photograph.

(In the photograph in your original post, what kind of flash were you using?)
Title: Re: Taegu, 1953
Post by: RSL on August 01, 2019, 09:39:13 am
Hi Elliot, I have to confess, I don’t remember what flash I had. I made that shot – in fact both of them – with an Ikoflex, which was sort of the poor-man’s Rolleiflex in those days, but had a Zeiss lens that was at least the equivalent of the one on the Rollei. I know I used a flash gun: the kind that took relatively small flash bulbs. I think I had a bracket that held the flash on the camera, but I can’t be sure. Compared with what we work with nowadays, it was a pretty primitive rig.
Title: Re: Taegu, 1953
Post by: RSL on August 01, 2019, 10:37:30 am
A couple more travel atmospherics from Taegu in 53-54.
Title: Re: Taegu, 1953
Post by: Rob C on August 01, 2019, 10:51:22 am
Here are some of the people who helped build South Korea into an economic powerhouse. I shot this in 1954. These were people from the north who left everything behind and walked south.


That shot has beautifully gentle tones; I never see stuff come out of my digital cameras looking like that. We forget what was also in the bath when we emptied it so rapidly.

:-(
Title: Re: Taegu, 1953
Post by: Rajan Parrikar on August 09, 2019, 05:04:32 am
Superb work.
Title: Re: Taegu, 1953
Post by: RSL on August 10, 2019, 09:36:35 am
Thanks, Rajan.
Title: Re: Taegu, 1953
Post by: petermfiore on August 10, 2019, 10:39:05 am
A couple more travel atmospherics from Taegu in 53-54.

Hi Russ,

Was the girl in the air the recipient of the launch or the initiator?

Peter
Title: Re: Taegu, 1953
Post by: RSL on August 10, 2019, 10:52:32 am
Good question, Peter. I suspect she was a bit of both. She probably jumped a bit as the other kid came down on the board. What strikes me as I look at this is the fact that my timing was good enough to catch the kid in the air without blur. I know the shutter speed on the camera wasn't good enough to do that by itself, and I didn't use flash.
Title: Re: Taegu, 1953
Post by: degrub on August 10, 2019, 11:04:01 am
Good question, Peter. I suspect she was a bit of both. She probably jumped a bit as the other kid came down on the board. What strikes me as I look at this is the fact that my timing was good enough to catch the kid in the air without blur. I know the shutter speed on the camera wasn't good enough to do that by itself, and I didn't use flash.

Hi Russ,
At least on my monitor, i see moire from the scan starting with the big sister's face. if that is actually in the image, you might be able to wet scan and remove it.
It is a very good scene.

Frank
Title: Re: Taegu, 1953
Post by: petermfiore on August 10, 2019, 11:08:36 am
Good question, Peter. I suspect she was a bit of both. She probably jumped a bit as the other kid came down on the board. What strikes me as I look at this is the fact that my timing was good enough to catch the kid in the air without blur. I know the shutter speed on the camera wasn't good enough to do that by itself, and I didn't use flash.

Then your timing for stopping the action at it's peak was spot on. The girl stops in air(click) and then gravity does it's job.
I used that technique shooting jump balls in my high school days. The gyms were so dim, I had no other choice. If I remember correctly the exposure was 1/30 at f2.8 Tri-x. and probably pushed the development of the negative as well. The timing for those shots was everything. Almost a lost art.

Peter