Just after their wedding in Singapore, newly weds Huiling and Kai came with seven of their friends to Jeju for a little vacation. They kindly invited me to their luncheon where I photographed their Jeju wedding reception in style. We met at Mint, a classy, fine-dining restaurant near the Phoenix Island hotel in Seopjikoji….
I’ve only seen live music on Jeju a few times so having the opportunity to watch and photograph Dave and The Specialists rock out was a welcoming occasion. I was asked by the guitarist of The Specialists, Adam, to head down to Geckos Bar in Jungmun to photograph their gig a couple of weeks ago. I had previously seen them play…
For Halloween this year, I attended and photographed a Halloween party for kids. It was lots of fun. My friend Ryan and his wife Yeojin own and run an excellent hagwon (academy) called Lion English. This was their fourth year holding a Halloween party for their academy students, and I was thoroughly impressed with the activities, planning, and organization…
Wow, that bonus photo is a great shot! That party looked so fun! I really like all the creative activities made for the kids with the Halloween theme! My favorite is the miniature golf! Great looking party!
This is such a great idea. Love the ‘designated family candy house’. Also the games look amazing. So much time and effort was clearly put into this Halloween!
I love Halloween! I’m glad that Korea has slowly adopted this holiday from the US. I love to dress up and now that I have a son, it’s even more fun to dress him and take him trick-or-treating. Great photos of the kids and looks like you all had a lot of fun.
Love that creepy bonus shot at the end! I remember going to a local haunted spot with my friends when I was in high school and taking similar creepy shots… good times!
This party looks amazing… sounds like your friends knocked it out of the park. I love the level of detail they put into the games.
Wow how fun! Our hagwon had a Halloween day going on but it was all inside, fun to see that it’s also doable to go and do activities outside with the kids! Looks like you had a lot of fun and great photos 🙂
This party looks awesome! It’s great to see the kids enjoying themselves and to see how much effort you guys put into throwing this party. What a memorable experience for the little ones and adults a like. Everyone had such killer costumes!
That’s so awesome. I love that the Hagwon went to such great efforts to bring a western holiday to Korea. It’s definitely a great way for Korea to be exposed to a different culture. As a child growing up in Canada I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a party quite like the one in your post. I bet those kids had a great time!
Great pictures by the way
Loved your costume! It was really awesome and I like how well the party was set up! It’s good for kids to experience!
What an amazing time for those kids, and great job capturing the festivities! Events like these are missing in Korea, and it’s great to see kids experiencing it for the first time. I’m also impressed with your shots in such low light. We have the same camera, but that flash sure did a spectacular job! It looks like you and the kids had a good time and your pictures are a lot of fun.
Jeju Island is well-known for its beautiful beaches, various hiking and walking trails, and dozens of museums and other tourist attractions. But there are also numerous sports to play for the athletic-minded visitors and expats who come to Jeju. Besides regular games of soccer, ball hockey, ultimate frisbee, basketball, badminton, and table tennis, there are regular tournaments held…
Thanks for sharing this post! I haven’t been to Jeju yet, but I can see why it’d be great to live there! The beach looks stunning and the expat community looks very chill!
I really like that you shared your photos and then some that your friend took. It’s always nice to see things from multiple people’s perspectives. I just MAY have to try giving my camera to a friend to shoot a few things on my next outing.
Take care and looking forward to your next post!
I love competitive volleyball! I played in high school and welcome the chance to play not only for fun, but a healthy competition is good for the sport in everyone. Great photos!
Wow! Great photos! That beach looks nice! Now another reason why we want go to to Jeju. Maybe we will just replicate your whole trip! haha
Oh Yes. This is my faculty, Sports. I love Volleyball, I love Beach Volleyball. I watch the FIVB Games almost every day as they pop on my facebook timeline. Super amazing game. On the other hand, it is good to learn that, this event is organized for charity. Good job. Helping the less privileged is something that I am always inclined to.
Wow that looks like a lot of fun! I envy you, you live in Jeju! I haven’t been there yet but your beautiful beach photos sure make me wanna go so bad! Hopefully next year!
Your photos are awesome! I particularly love the bonus photos! Pohang being a beach city has lots of beach volleyball fun games & tournaments…however I’m usually just a spectator, I’ve never actually played! Maybe I need to change this before the weather gets too cold.
Thanks Lindsay! Yeah, I’m always surprised to see the contrast in styles between my shots and others when I lend out my camera. I recommend doing it (just make sure the person puts the camera strap around their neck!)
The Jeju expat community looks very active. What an amazing time you’re all having there! Visited there for a few days and went to the touristy spots but I bet, nothing beats living there and getting those awesome views daily.
This is certainly a unique experience to have had in Korea. It looks like all involved had a great time. Your pictures are great – it makes me feel like I was there! Thanks for sharing.
I haven’t been to Jeju and sadly it doesn’t look like I’ll make it there but I got a tinge of jealousy looking through all the fantastic pictures. By the way, Jessica did a great job with the pictures 🙂
Are there a lot of other competitive sports played in Jeju? I’ve never been that great at volleyball
Nice photo collection. This looks like a really awesome event and I’m sure everyone had a pretty good time. Looks like a blast in an awesome place. Very jealous of the event experience and your living situation on Korea’s Hawaii!
Hey man nice pics!!
I haven’t had the chance to go to Jeju yet but hope I get the chance sometime before leaving next year. Seeing these kinds of pics definitely makes me want to go more!
I really love your photography and I had no idea about the rules of beach volleyball until you explained it! I would love to visit Jeju one day! I’m super excited for it! When does it start getting too cold to go swimming in Jeju?
Thanks Gina! Jeju is an amazing place to visit. The beach season ends at the end of August, but the best time to go swimming is in September. The water is really warm, the police-style lifeguards aren’t hounding people from swimming, and there aren’t too many tourists. I’d say by mid-late October it gets too cold for swimming.
That’s too bad you won’t be able to visit Jeju, it’s well worth a visit. There is a annual international Ultimate Frisbee tournament in April which is very competitive at the highest level, but lots of fun for a complete beginner as well!
Wow, great photos as always Eric! You captured what looked like a really fun evening! That’s pretty cool that Dave was on American Idol! Thanks for sharing tips on taking dance photos as well. We will have to see if they have any shows when we come to Jeju in August! We would love to see them live if so! Thanks for sharing!
Wow! It seemed like an interesting night of talented musicians. Fantastic photography…the shots really capture the emotion of the music. Keep up the great work!
The streaking lines caught my attention, too. Your photos show the fun everyone there is having. And Jeju seems to have an active expat night life there. Enjoy!
You have a real talent for photography! I feel like I was there with you the way you take the pictures. I would also love to see the band play one day!
Awesome post Eric! I would imagine Jeju has a lot of visiting bands! It seems like the event scene is pretty lively there from the posts my Jeju friends put up. But the fact that its not that frequent probably makes occasions like this one all the more special. I do love how dynamic your photos are with the light flashes and how you zone into a shot with the vignettes. Beautiful editing work on top of great composition. Thanks for posting the video too! Its nice to get the visuals AND the sounds to accompany it. Feels like I was actually there 🙂
What an exciting and energetic evening! Living in rural Korea, I’m always jealous of your even posts on Jeju. I’ll be sure to check out Gecko’s whenever we finally get around to touring your island. Looks like a blast and your pictures have a wonderful sense of intimacy and motion.
Thanks Izzy! I do use a lot of vignetting in my shots and spend a lot of time editing photos. I really enjoy the process of it all. Just throwing this out there, but I began my lessons in editing travel photos from this book: VISION & VOICE – Refining Your Vision In Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, written by David Du Chemin, http://davidduchemin.com/books/. He’s a great author for travel photography.