VSCO Grid Feature

The fine folks at VSCO featured my mobile photography today! VSCO is my go-to for editing images for both my iPhone pics and my big professional camera pics.  Their aesthetic is clean, simple, and beautiful. I'm flattered they like my Grid! Check it out. It's my visual diary of everyday beauty as well as far-flung travels, like this Icelandic scene below. It's amazing what you can do with your iPhone these days!

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

iPhone, you impress me

© 2013 Christine Han Photography

While my husband prepped this dry rub mixture for his bbq ribs over the weekend, I snapped this with my iPhone 5 and used the "Hollow" filter in the Afterlight app. Voila! Easy food art.

Tips:
1.  Style the already beautiful mess. I added a scoop of the finished rub mixture and the tablespoon to the surface.
2.  Move the whole beautiful mess next to some good window light.
3.  Get overhead and really close with your iPhone and hold steady while taking the photo (breathe out, then snap).

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!

Sand Beach, Acadia National Park, Maine

All images © 2012 Christine Han Photography

My favorite place in Schaumburg, IL

All images © 2012 Christine Han Photography

No trip to my homeland of suburban Chicago is complete without a visit to Spring Valley, where I've been going since I was an itty bitty kid. It's beautiful in summer, fall, winter, and spring...so basically all the time. My first black and white darkroom prints in high school were of this place.  Since then I keep coming back for more, and though the place is tiny, I never tire of bringing my camera along on a walk. I think this is where I fell in love with tall grass; it must have imprinted early in my little kindergarten brain.

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

We camped at Moffitt Beach Campground on Sacandaga Lake in the Adirondacks. It was mighty fine.

All images © 2012 Christine Han

Completely obsessed and addicted to...

...Instagram. I take photos with my iPhone all the time but didn't share them much. Until now.  I discovered it a month or two ago and just cannot stop. It is my social media match. Unlike blogging, or facebook, or twitter, I have to hold myself back from posting too much and it doesn't feel like a chore at all. I have a problem. I'm on it so much that I can't even jog for more than 5 minutes without stopping to take a picture and then upload it. That's what happened with these swans at Prospect Park today:

I almost can't live properly because I'm constantly taking pics to post on Instagram. If it's pretty, I want you to see it. Like this hat shop T and I came across on our walk this past Sunday.

Or the old-timey dining room at Mohonk Mountain House:

Or this beautiful moment:

Which happened on this beach in Malibu, CA:

It's like show and tell. Like, I picked up this pie plate at the thrift store and I want to show it to you:

All images © 2012 Christine Han

So, basically, I'm addicted and I post at least one photo everyday. Today I posted four. And I look at hundreds of other people's Instagram photos. It's so easy, so immediate. I can also see what my friends are up to in a way I never did before because they too are constantly snapping and uploading. Yes, you could do this with fb or twitter too, but it never worked that well for me. Maybe Instagram's singular devotion to images makes it simpler to use. Maybe it's because I'm a photographer who is better at pics than words.  In any case, if you're on it, let me know. I'd love to see what you're up to.

Follow me @christineshoots for a steady stream of pretty pictures, all taken on my iPhone, which goes with me everywhere. It's my new way of "blogging."

Happiness

© 2011 Jordan Chow

Sorry about the long intermission between posts...but Tocha and I got married last month! Above is one of my favorite moments from our wedding, shot by T's friend and groomsman Jordan Chow.

We went to Mohonk Mountain House for our mini-moon following the wedding. There were photo opportunities galore there...but my favorite snapshots from our two days have little to do with the scenery.





I discovered the joy of Hipstamatic on this trip, thanks to Tocha. Hipstamatic is pretty great--makes me question whether I'll ever use the Holga again (gasp). All of the above were shot on the iPhone 4 by either Tocha or me.