Shot with my iPhone 5 and edited with VSCO cam.
Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts
The prettiest detritus
One of my favorite images lately...a common tabletop scene for the farmer-apprentices at UC Santa Cruz's farm school (aka "The Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems" or CASFS). Normally, I do quite a bit of "styling" but I barely touched a thing to make this image. Maybe I pushed an apple over a centimeter or so, but that's it. This is just what the communal table looked like post-lunch.
Shot with my iPhone 5 and edited with VSCO cam.
© 2013 Christine Han Photography
Shot with my iPhone 5 and edited with VSCO cam.
T and C went to Korea, Part 1: Family
Back in January, Tocha and I made the pilgrimage to Korea for my maternal grandmother's 80th birthday. We had an amazing trip. Below is T's "amazed" face. He's standing on a mountaintop in Seoraksan National Park.
For a brief moment, my mom, my grandma, and me were together in one place.
What you see here is one of the best meals of my life. Everything on the table was prepared by my grandmother. It was breakfast. It was beautiful! You simply can't beat this.
We stayed with my 고모 (aunt on my father's side) and her husband, my 고무부, who are special to me. They loved me when I was a baby, kept in touch throughout the years, and were the only ones from Korea to make it to our wedding in New York. Here they are, graciously standing just so in the beautiful light for me.
And here they were as newlyweds in the early 80's (photo by my uncle, I think).
Aside from my parents and my sister, my entire family lives in Korea. We grew up in the States pretty much isolated from extended family, so it was quite the experience to meet them again in adulthood. Seeing yourself in your aunts and uncles is striking--little pieces of them that somehow are in you even though you grew up without knowing them. Genes and family ties are miraculously strong! For better or for worse...
Here's my grandmother surrounded by her daughters.
As overwhelming as it can be to meet the entire clan of in-laws, Tocha did well. They were amazed that he happily ate everything that was put in front of him. Guys, if you're meeting Koreans for the first time, they will adore you if you love their food. Also, they will try to stuff you silly so watch out. Here is T with grandma.
It was a relatively short trip in the middle of a very cold winter, but we were able to get around a bit. These are iPhone snaps (no filter on the first two!) of an excursion to Seoraksan National Park in Gangwon-do, northeast of Seoul.
All images © Christine Han Photography
So...I had no idea Korea was this beautiful. Did you? Should I be ashamed? I am a little bit, but my memories of the place were from childhood, when I was too immature to appreciate any of it and the kids made fun of me because I was American.
I did, however, suspect that the food would be amazing and interesting. For sure, it was. The anthropologist/food-nerd in me was totally inspired! Stay tuned...and thanks for reading!
The Best Lobster I've Ever Had
...was at Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound on Mount Desert Island in Maine. It was a 2lb hard shell with the most succulent meat, perfectly briny but balanced by an underlying sweetness. It was so good that for the first time, I was sucking out everything from every little part of every little leg and even the end of the tail part that you wouldn't think had any meat in it.
After trying both soft shell and hard shell lobsters, I'm in the hard shell camp. They have more meat because they've grown fully into their shells. Soft shells are supposed to be sweeter and more tender, but I didn't notice much of a difference and preferred the succulence and sheer meatiness of the hard shells.
Trenton Bridge was simply the best lobster pound we went to. It's family-owned and operated and did not feel touristy. They boil the lobsters in seawater over a wood fire in a row of pots outside. If that weren't enough reason to go, they also happen to have amazing blueberry pie.
Portland Head Light at Sunrise
Shot by Tocha on his Lomo:
And by me on my fancy medium format camera:
All images © 2012 Christine Han Photography
I think the Lomo wins in this case.
And by me on my fancy medium format camera:
All images © 2012 Christine Han Photography
I think the Lomo wins in this case.
Wild Maine Blueberries
All our hikes would take twice as long because we'd constantly stop to pick and eat these. Amazing.
Amazing Maine
I know I've been terrible about posting here...Sorry! The culprit is Instagram, which makes it too easy to post photos where every you are, when ever you want. Swipe swipe, touch touch, and you've shared a gorgeous photo that your friends "like" immediately...it's so addicting. Anyway, if you follow me there (@christineshoots), then you've seen a ton of photos from my trip to Maine. If not (sorry Mom!), then I promise to share the highlights here because you just HAVE to see how incredible Maine is. T and I had the time of our lives. Camping + lobster + hiking + wild blueberries + ridiculous landscapes = a-mazing. I'll post more soon!
Cherry-picking
Last weekend, we picked sour cherries at Mackey's Orchard in Belvidere, New Jersey. Did you know you can pit cherries easily with a paper clip? Just bend it open and use it like a hook to scoop out the pit. Thanks for the tip, Marina!
All images © 2012 Christine Han Photography
We went camping Memorial Day weekend
...and of course I captured it all on Instagram! I realize the point of camping is to get away and unplug, but I couldn't help it. I was secretly grateful I had cell phone service in some spots so I could snap and share. Here's the re-cap, all shot on my iPhone 4 and shared on Instagram. Follow me @christineshoots
All images © 2012 Christine Han
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| We camped at Moffitt Beach Campground on Sacandaga Lake in the Adirondacks. It was mighty fine. |
Sunset on the summit of Mauna Kea, by Tocha
As promised, these are Tocha's beautiful, medium format film photos of the most breathtaking sunset we've witnessed. You can see me in the last shot, without camera (I'd run out of film-doh!), which allowed me to watch the sunset fully present. I'll admit that sometimes I don't feel like I'm truly present when I'm photographing something because I'm so focused on making good images. Any other photographers out there feel conflicted about this? Maybe one day I'll get good enough that it will be like a zen experience all the time when I'm shooting.
All images © Tocha Alberts
Waiting for sunset, Mauna Kea Summit, Big Island, Hawaii
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| 13,796 feet above sea level |
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| There's a tiny person up top |
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| Giant telescope (I've forgotten the name of) |
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| Tocha with his Mamiya RB67 |
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| More giant telescopes |
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| The mountain cast a shadow in the sky. How cool is that! |
I don't usually like group tours, but on the advice of a friend, we did the Mauna Kea Tour with Hawaii Forest and Trail to watch the sunset at the summit of the volcano and then star gaze as the guide explains everything you're seeing through the telescope. It was worth every penny...possibly the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen, and you really feel like you're on top of the universe looking down at the clouds and peaks below you. Awesome stuff.
Tocha got some rad shots of the actual sunset. I think I ran out of film or something like that (stupid!), but I'll post some of his photos because you just have to see how gorgeous it was.
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