[Joseonhee's Frame] The Foolishness of Those Days

Poet Seo Jeong-ju and his wife (1997). After living together for 60 years, do even their standing postures become similar? The tilt of their tilted heads and the angle of their rubber shoes are exactly the same. Am I the only one who recalls Hwang Sun-won's essay "Sonagi" when seeing them smile so brightly like a boy and girl? (Provided by Joajoa Studio)

On a sunny spring afternoon.

I was walking down the street, happily accompanied by the sound of my heartbeat as if it were music. A veteran reporter walking beside me asked,

"Why didn’t you take the photos first and then leave? Why did you wait until the interview was over to take pictures, Seonhee?"

"Huh? (What does that mean? Was I supposed to take the photos first and leave?)"

"Most photographers take the pictures first because they’re busy, then leave."

"Really? How do they do that? I find it hard to take pictures if I don’t know the person at all... Maybe they’re veterans~ I’m a rookie, so I had plenty of time and enjoyed it!"

I answered with a rough accent and laughed. The veteran reporter laughed along. "I hope you take my interviews from now on. I like your clumsiness."

I didn’t know why at the time, but I definitely gained a great supporter. That reporter and I got another chance to shoot. This time, I had to take better photos. I prepared plenty of film and steeled my mind.

To be able to capture the poet Seo Jeong-ju, whom I had only seen in textbooks, with my camera... On the way to the poet’s house, I felt like I had the whole world. The stubborn-looking gate seemed friendly, and the dense bamboo forest visible beyond the wall was magnificent.

But soon I was despairing. The whole house barely let in any light because of the bamboo forest. Fortunately, the poet’s workspace had a small window that let in enough daylight to start the interview. I pressed the shutter repeatedly, trying not to fall into despair. 'Let’s capture his body gestures. Capture those hand movements and eye expressions when he speaks. Press the shutter steadily. The shutter speed is too slow... What to do? Fix my elbow on the desk. If I take a lot of shots, I’ll get at least one good one.' I muttered countless worries and words of encouragement to myself as I kept pressing the shutter.

In the meantime, when the poet talked about how much he loved his wife, I thought his boyish eyes were beautiful. The poet was romantic, saying a couple of times, "After the interview, please take a photo of me with my beloved wife." And time flew by.

"Sir, can we take the commemorative photo outside? The bamboo forest is beautiful." I planned to take a few more portraits outside where the light was good. But even the dense bamboo forest didn’t have enough exposure for portraits.

"Sir, how long have you lived in this house? How about taking pictures with your house as the background?" Then I led the two of them outside the gate. "Hold hands, like a boy and girl!"

I pressed the shutter exactly six times. The poet waved his hands, telling me to stop because film was expensive, then opened the gate and went inside. My plan to take a portrait of the poet while taking the commemorative photo fell through. My mind went blank.

But the situation was already over. Young Joseonhee was no match for persuading the poet to come back outside again.

It was a time when I worried about money to buy photo paper, but I printed as many as 20 shots in A3 size. The 150,000 won I received, including material costs, was no reason to hinder that energy. Of course, I also printed the commemorative photos. I just wanted to keep my promise. Looking at those photos made me happy, and I smiled unconsciously while working in the darkroom.

Maybe because they had lived together for 60 years, the two of them standing and smiling like a boy and girl in the same pose was a heartwarming photo. I had just thought of it as a commemorative photo.

When the book was published and I opened to that page, I felt like I had been hit by a hammer. Was this photo used as the main image? Why? Then I received a phone call. "Sunny, your photos were really good this time! It was a new perspective on interview photography~."

Joseonhee, a non-mainstream photographer learning on the spot, had grown up a lot. She completely broke the mold of existing interview photos. That’s right. I just liked taking photos, and I didn’t spare time or material costs because I wanted to take good pictures.

I was walking forward with a clumsiness that couldn’t use any tricks. Without hesitation, following what my heart told me, I was immersed in just taking good photos.

So I was happy.

Joseonhee, Photographer / Professor, Department of Photography and Imaging, Kyungil University

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.