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For a long weekend we were flying to Danang, Vietnam. The flight from Seoul is only 5 hours without much prep. time. 

We mostly spend the time in the city and had a day trip to Hoi An about 20 km south of Danang. Another day we visited the Lady Buddha close to Danang. Please enjoy the photos. 

The food in Vietnam was really good and we enjoyed is very much. 

Vietnam reminded me a bit on China 7 years ago when I started in Shenyang but it was not as cold as Shenyang. :-)

For a long weekend, we visited Suncheon in the South of Korea. The city is famous for food and the nice parks. There is also a "village" that is used for movies and showing the old Korea with section of Seoul of the 80ies or poor people area. Very interesting...

Please enjoy the photos.

It is just a selection of a few photos from the weekend. 

Gunther Wegner (www.gwegner.de) visited happyshooting (www.happyshooting.de) and was talking about timelapse photography. I just thought that I can give it a try and took pictures out of the window on the rail tracks and bridge. Once during the day and then at night. The day part was 150 shots over 5 min (interval 2 seconds and exposure 1 second). The night part was 300 shots over 10 min (same interval and exposure) Please have a look. 

It was pretty simple. I used the timelapse app within my Sony camera. For postprocessing I used Gunther's LRTIMELAPSE and lightroom. For the video editing I used MAGIX MOVIE EDIT. 

Everything was quite simple and straight forward. 

The next timelapse I would like to do is from a busy shopping street in Seoul.

A high pass within Seoul city turned into a pedestrian way and on the 20th May it opens for public. I went there and made a few photos. 

Some information and background can be found here http://english.visitseoul.net/tours/All-about-Seoullo-7017_/21502 and here https://koreaexpose.com/seoullo-urban-asset-vanity-project/

The photo of the clown during the break I like most. Below you find also a black and white version. 

It was so hot and he suffered so much in his costume.

There was a art installation of floating shoes. It was quite interesting. You are finding the photos below. The statue within the floating shoes is a Korean freedom fighter about to throw a hand grenade.

The high pass closed two years ago for renovation. Before we were using it daily to get to work and back.

Please enjoy the photos.

The trip to mount Sorak was not planned but the day when we wanted to go back from our trip in Sokcho to Seoul the roads were so jammed that we decided to stay a day longer in Sorak.

Sorak is a famous hiking area in Korea. It is a must when you are in Korea. 

We will go there for sure again! The one day was far too short. 

Please enjoy the photos and the short movie.

During the long weekend we decided to have a short trip to the east coast and visited Sokcho and Sorak. Here you find some photos from Sokcho. Sokcho is a small town at the east coast of Korea and famous for the beaches and the sea food. 

For the beach it was still a bit too cold but we enjoyed walking and the sea food. My favorite food were the stuffed squids. You see them on the photos. In Seoul I have not found these kind of squids. 

At our last day in Sokcho we checked the time to get back to Seoul. For the 200 km over 6 hours were estimated. We then decided to move forward to Sorak Maintain and stay a day longer. Since everybody left the day before we only needed 2.5 hours back and had a great day more in Sorak. You will see photos in the next post.

Please enjoy the photos!

On a Saturday morning, we went for a short hike to Achasan. It is part of the Seoul Trail. Seoul trail is a hike around Seoul in 8 parts. I will do within this year all parts. You will find updates on my webpage. 

The good part on the Achasan tour is that you are flexible in terms of length since there are several points to go down and catch a subway and the view on the city is great!

Please enjoy the photos. 

Just using a lense that I am normally never use and go through the neighborhood. 

It was quite interested and some interested shots were found. 

Are you finding James? He had better times for sure...

Please have a look and give some feedback. 

Enjoy your holidays

For Buddha’s birthday, the temples are illuminated with lanterns. Normally it is a classical design but here you also find some of modern designs. It is one emoticon character from kakao talk, the Korean version of WhatsApp. 

The photos were taken on the evening of Buddha’s birthday. You can already see the setup for the big event. The next day this temple was on TV with all the major president candidates. Please enjoy. 

Yesterday I was walking from Yongsan to Namsan and further to Shilla Hotel and then back via Itaewon. On the way back I met the guy. He is a famous gag man. I see him all the time on TV. It was only a short meeting but quite funny. He was not too much in speaking English.

The photos of the rest of the tour can be found below. Hope you like them. Please check out the election posters for the upcoming president election. They have really the choice. 

Seoul Trail is a hiking trail in 8 parts around Seoul. Yesterday I was doing part 5 from Sadang to Seoksu Station. It was really nice and I was nicely tired after the hike. Attached you find some photos and the GPS track. 

Details on the track can be found under

http://english.seoul.go.kr/life-information/seoul-trail/01-seoul-trail/

The track can be easily followed.

On Saturday we were walking through the city and were watching a bird. Suddenly the bird was picking in the water and started to enjoy his lunch...

Please enjoy the photos. 

It was quite nice and very surprisingly...

Close to our home an old railroad changed to a subway and instead of just building some new stuff they decided to change the old track into a park.

The park has still some links to the old track. For instance, you see some tracks or some train equipment around. Beside the benches look like platforms. It is a really nice park and even more currently we can enjoy the cherry blossoms.

The park is link to a stream. The stream is nice even though there is a motor way running high over the stream. At the stream, you even have a water fall later on.

Hope you like the photos.

Today I was playing with the stroboskoskop function of my flash and a table tennis ball.

It was surprisingly easy setup. I set 1 second as shutter speed that some way of the ball is covered.

The aperture was set to f22 that the flash is the only visible light source.

The frequency of the flash was set to 30 Hz. 

For the first try the results were quite ok. 

Today it was public holiday in Korea and then there was a big demonstration for supporting President Park. It was a very big demonstration. The people in contrast to the demonstration against President Park were mostly older people. The mood was very aggressive and a lot of military like people were around. You see it in the photos. 

There were police everywhere. 

In the next weeks, there is the final decision if President Park is going to be impeached. 

Today was public holiday in Seoul. I used the dawn of spring to visit some traditional markets. Later I got in demonstration pro president Park. But this will be another blog post. Please enjoy. 

For the happyshooting task I had to find a photo for the concept abstract. I was thinking of an abstract splash of ink but then I thought why not checking the tool for doing this spash. Attached some macro shots with the pen. The setup is simple. Just a remote flash from the top left. 

I was walking through the city and made some photos. I really enjoy the warmer weather.

Finally, I ended at a demonstration close to the town hall. These were supporters of the president. A few hundred the other side was demonstrating and police were everywhere.  

Just three days in between and a bit of snow. The photos were taken at approximately the same time of the day. 

Totally different szene. Please enjoy!

Attached you find the photos from yesterday's IT year end party. No editing or improvements on the photos were done. I will do this during the weekend. Hope you like the photos. 

Attached some photos from Ole's party. Hope you like them!

Thank you for the great party!

Just a few shots from a night walk around our home. 

After last weekend's hiking I really started to enjoy and this weekend I did a short tour at Namsan. It was really nice and the weather was simply perfect. Please enjoy the photos.

On 1st October the back office team went for a hiking trip to Bukhan San. 

For some of us IT was quite a challenge... but what is not killing us, is making us simply more stronger. 

Thank you for the nice day!!!

Attached you find the photos from Bokyung's farewell party. 

Bokyung, thank you for all your support and contribution. 

For you and your family,  have a great time in the US.

All the best and see you soon!!!

Vermiete 3 Zimmer Wohnung in Milbertshofen/Königsteinstr 14 (69 m² mit Balkon und Kellerabteil).

Laufdistanz zu FIZ, HH und ITZ. 3 Minuten zur U-Bahnhaltestelle Frankfurter Ring.
Die Ausstattung ist wie folgt:

• Balkon mit Blick auf Park
• Einbauküche von 2007 mit Spülmaschine (erneuert in 2015) und Waschmaschine (erneuert in 2015)
• Badezimmer mit Badewanne und Fenster
• Parkett in Wohn-, Schlaf- und Kinderzimmer
• Küche und Korridor sind gefliest
• Kellerabteil

Letzte Komplettsanierung in 2007. Die Wohnung wird frisch gestrichen übergeben.
Der Preis ist 14 Euro pro m². Die Kaltmiete ist 966 EUR pro Monat. Die zu erwartenden Nebenkosten sind zwischen 200 und 250 Euro pro Monat. Die Kaution beträgt 3 Kaltmieten.
Die Verfügbarkeit ist ab Mitte/Ende September.

We were just shopping in emart in Yongsan and then I found a beer from Luxembourg. 

Adam, I am pretty sure for the beer you are not going to Luxembourg...

Have a great time there and all the best!

We are just back from our holidays in Saipan. We had a great time. We enjoyed the beach, snorkeling and the pool. The temperatures were not as hot as Seoul (28 degree instead of 34) therefore it was really good.

Attached you find a few photos. Please enjoy!

During the long weekend beginning of June we used the chance to go to Jeosu. We were not alone. We left on Saturday morning and for the 1st 80 km to Cheonan it took us 4 hours and then for the 300 remaining km we needed another 4 to 5 hours. But never mind we had a great weekend and I was trying loads of panorama photos what I have not done for some while. Please enjoy the photos. The area is really a good pic for a tour and a good escape from busy Seoul. 

Just using the chance and take out the camera and walk around Myeongdong. Was a really fun evening. Attached you find a short video of the photos with some music and then you find the photos as a gallery. 

For the video I am using Movie Maker from Microsoft. It is not the most powerful tool but you can create quite quick some slide shows. If I would use Premiere Elements or more powerful tools I might get better results but then half way I give up because of the complexity and needed time. Please enjoy it. 

As it is getting warmer I am using every chance to take photos. Last weekend I just walked up and down the main street of Myeongdong and tried to catch some shots of the food stalls. It is really fun and you have plenty of chances to take photos.

Seoul is simply perfect for finding chances for good shots.

10 years ago Carsten was my boss in Munich and now he is having a workshop in Korea and we used the chance to enjoy are shared hobby. After work we had a photo walk through Myeongdong and the inner city. 

The weather was a bit cold especially for Carsten. He is currently located in Malaisia. The first stop we did was going to Uniqlo and get him a jacket. 

In front of Gyungbuk Palace we tried some panning shots. I need more training for it. 

Please enjoy the photos. 

On the way to Kwangjang market I tried to catch some interesting doorways. Nothing special just a kind of training. 

In the older parts of Seoul you find in the small roads really interesting things for photos. Give it a try.

Please have a look. 

Today I had again the chance to join a street photography workshop with Keegan. (meetup link)

We met at Gyeongbokgung and walked around Samcheongdong Neighborhoods. 

We met late in the afternoon and the light was perfect. Beside this many people were wearing hanbok to make the photo taking more fun. Please enjoy the photos and I am looking forward to the next event. 

During the weekend Erik was in Seoul and we had a walk through central Seoul. We met in Myeongdong and then walk via Kwang Jang market, Insadong, Buckchon, Bluehouse and back to Myeongdong. 

The tour was not focus on photo taking but just a few shots from the tour. 

I was using my 24mm f1.8. I will visit the lost and found office to find the correct focus points. I need to improve on it or realize that the lense is to challenging for me :-)

On the way to Norangjin fish market I found Sayukshin Tomb area. For details, please refer to the photo with the description of the site. It is nicely located with a good view on the river. You can see the panorama that I took. Unfortunately the weather was not too good and it was a cloudy day.

The outer walls of the site do have a funny pattern. If you have a chance please take a look and find out why I have not shown the photo here. 

Please enjoy the photos.

Today the weather was not good but I felt going for a walk. I decided to go to Norangjn Fish Market. I was not hungry. I just wanted to take some photos. 

The place is really cool. You choose your fish out of the basin at the main market and then they prepare it that you can have it at one of the restaurants close by with some side dishes and some drinks. 

When we have guests that is the place to go. 

During the shoting of Kwang Jang Market I was also taking some shots at the more quiet areas of the market. Due to the holidays most of the market was closed there much to find. Please have a look. Here you find the original post of the Kwang Jang Market shooting.

Yesterday I took the chance for a short photo walk around Kwang Jang Market in Seoul. Please have a look on the photos. The food smelled really good and you could feel the people enjoy the food and the drinks. Please check the green bottles of harmony also as known as Soju.

After visiting the temple we walked around the streets around the JW Marriot hotel in Pune. It was very lively and many things ongoing. The people were very friendly and it was not a problem to take photos of them.

The small shops and restaurants were really an eye catcher for me.

I hope you like the photos. 

With Soeren Schulz I took the chance and took some photos around our hotel in Pune and visited a temple close by. The temple is called Devi Chatushrungi Temple. 

It was a very interesting experience and we had the chance for many photos. Please enjoy them. For sure better than just staying in the hotel! 

On 16th Jan Bryan and Boyoung got married. It was a wonderful wedding. Here you find photos from the wedding and party. 

Boyoung and Bryan, all the best for you. You are a wonderful couple. 

On the way back from drinking in Itaewon I passed the War Memorial and then found a good shot between the memorial on Namsam Tower. 

I just had my iphone and it was cold so just a few quick shots but in Spring I will try to have it with the camera and a tripod. What do you think of the idea?

Recently I went back home from Samgkachi Station to Mumbedong and saw the nice view on Namsam Tower. I tried to make a long exposure shot from the bridge over the rail track. The problem is that the bridge is shaking with every car and everything longer than half a second is not really possible. I will try this shot again in the middle of the night when there is no car at all. Hope you like it.

On Sunday I joint a photo meetup at the fleet market in Dobgmyo organiyed by Keegan Boyer. The topic was street photography and the fleet market gave more than enough chances to get good shots. Attached you find the first photos. I will work further on them. 

Thank you all for the great even! Keegan, thank you for organizing. It was a great day and looking forward to the next chance.

At night we just went for a walk and I took my camera and made some shots. I am quite happy with the result. 

It was a bit cold but never mind. 

I hope you like it. In the summer I will do more of this since it is not so cold.

I got a from my wife a great gift. She got me for my Sony Alpha 6000 the 24 mm f1.8 Zeiss Lens SEL24F18Z. On a full frame camera it is a 35 mm lense 

Today I did some test shots around Myeongdong. Please have a look. I really like the look of the photos and the handling of the lense. 

Next weekend I am joining here a photo workshop for street photography. This will be the only lense I take.

The photos that I have posted here as the high lights of 2015 are now combined in one short clip.

Please have a look and enjoy it. 

This year I had two times the chance to join KBloggers trips. The trips were to Namhansanseong and Suwon (1st and 2nd post). It was really a great experience and a good chance to meet many new people.

Beside the two tours I could not avoid to take photos of temples.

Please enjoy.   

This year I tried my first time in serious firewerk photography. With a tripod and a remote shutter release it is not so difficult. The related blog post can be found here.  

Beside I did some city and night shots as I have most of the time my camera with me. 

Please enjoy!

Recently we moved to Yongsan. The view of the window has changed but is still interesting. On one hand I have Namsam (unfortunately) I can not see the tower and on the other one Samgakji station with the bridge to Mapo. 

Please find a few shots from the new flat. Enjoy it!

I am now joining the people who are doing photo reviews at the end of the year.

I will give in three posts of my own photo highlights in 2015.

I tried to limited myself but I was not really successful. Sorry for this. 

This was my first year staying full time in Seoul so that there were many things to discover. 

Please Enjoy!

The last few weeks I was busy in the office and it was mostly too cold for taking pictures.

Yesterday I could not help but just walked around Seoul to take some photos. I was nice weather and walking around after Christmas eating was good.

I passed by Gyeonghuigung Palace and took some photos.

Some information of the place can be found here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyeonghuigung

Please have a look!

Japanese tea from Robert and Michi

Interesting patterns of the leaves in the water when it was prepared and very tasty when it was drunken. Unfortunately alredy gone.

Michi and Robert, thank you very much.  

Florian and Patrick visited me in November for a weekend in Seoul. It was fun even though Florian was not 100% fit due to his stomach. Korean food did not help but on the other hand did not make it worse. 

Attached some photos on our walking tour. 

On the 3rd October 2015 there was the 2015 Seoul Fire Festival. This is an even with three different fireworks. They came from the US, Philippines and Korea.

The fireworks started at 19:20 and went on for almost 1.5 hours. 

I checked on google maps prior for the best places to shoot and arrived 3 hours earlier.

It was already fully packed and I did not even get close to the place I wanted to shoot. Bad luck :-(

Finally I squeezed in and got an reasonable place. Next year I will try to get a better place and arrive much earlier. 

All in all I made over 350 photos but only around 50 are close to be ok. 

Please have a look on the photos and enjoy the video slide show. 

During our last trip to Germany we visited my godfather in Burghausen. It was really a nice day and Burghausen is a place worth to visit. It is directly at the border to Austria and about 2 hours away from Munich. Attached you find some photos and a video slide show. Hope you like it!

Burghausen is famous for the longest tower in the world. It is over 1 km long. On one of the panoramas you see most of it. 

On Friday after work I met Nelson and Min. We went around Myeongdong and then Namsan folk village. It was really cool. Totally empty but still illuminated. I was sorry that I did not have my tripod with me. This is for sure a place I will go again. Just 10 min to walk from the office.  

After the folk village we went to Myeongdong Cathedral and then through the shopping streets back. 

Min and Nelson, thank you very much for the wonderful evening!

During night I tried to get the blur of the passing buses and then still see the other side of the street. 

I tried it with shooting several pictures in a row.

When I was at home I realized that I can combine it to a movie. It is not long. You do not need to be worried.

Please have a look

While walking through Seoul I found the following door. I am wondering about the purpose. Is it for making sure that one time guests are for sure only one time guests.

Or during construction they ran short of money for the additional room and just put on the door and keep waiting.

What do you think?