Ektar, April, and me
Two rolls of color film, two wildly different days, and an important aftermath of a big decision.
Kodak Ektar 100, shot on Canon A-1 in Seoul, South Korea; scanned/developed at Gorae Photo Lab in Seoul, South Korea
It was always going to be impossible to continue my time teaching in South Korea beyond the one school year I was there- I just didn’t really realize it when I landed in Incheon in July of 2024.
I lived in the furthest east suburb of this major metropolitan city, which made it impossible to do anything in the city on a school night (because of how long it took to get anywhere on the subway and financially irresponsible to take a cab the same distance). My mom’s health concerns also just made me have zero desire to dig in and find a community to help stabilize and center myself there.
Kodak Ektar 100, shot on Canon A-1 in Seoul, South Korea; scanned/developed at Gorae Photo Lab in Seoul, South Korea
So when I knew I was going to return home a year sooner than expected, it somewhat changed how I perceived my final two months in Korea. It changed from ‘get a good start’ to ‘leave a good impression’, and still making sure to find time for the soul-nourishing activities that I needed the most. But I also needed to work hard on the yearbook I was in charge of for the school year- I was, after all, the yearbook class teacher.
Kodak Ektar 100, shot on Canon A-1 in Seoul, South Korea; scanned/developed at Gorae Photo Lab in Seoul, South Korea | ten-second exposure with a 5-stop ND filter
I’m mixing up the order of these two rolls of Ektar 100 on purpose- I do know that I shot two rolls of Kodak’s Ektar 100 over the course of this, the third weekend of April. One (rainy) day of which I spent in a Starbucks down the street from my apartment, alternating between putting the finishing touches on my school’s yearbook and opening the shutter on my A-1 for five-minute stretches, to see what would happen when I got the images developed. (I alternated lengths of time that I had measured out using a reciprocity calculator* so as to not blow out the negative.)
Kodak Ektar 100, shot on Canon A-1 in Seoul, South Korea; scanned/developed at Gorae Photo Lab in Seoul, South Korea
The next (sunny) day? I spent taking a long photo walk to Gorae, snapping whatever images I could get of the beautiful Seoul sun before getting both rolls developed. And the starkness between the two days is frankly impossible to overstate.
Kodak Ektar 100, shot on Canon A-1 in Seoul, South Korea; scanned/developed at Gorae Photo Lab in Seoul, South Korea | long exposure with a 5-stop ND filter
On Saturday, you had a gray rainy afternoon with my butt stuck inside of a Starbucks, taking long-exposures while covering the proverbial butt of my students (and myself) before the yearbook deadline date.
Kodak Ektar 100, shot on Canon A-1 in Seoul, South Korea; scanned/developed at Gorae Photo Lab in Seoul, South Korea
On the next day I’m wandering through a neighborhood that had become quite familiar to me, taking snaps of sights that I wanted to remember. Both days were important, both days were about as different as possible.
I miss few things about living in Seoul- one thing I absolutely do miss, though, is the propensity for days to be so starkly unique. One day you’re trapped inside in the rain, and the next you’re freely snapping analog pics in cozy neighborhoods, the sun illuminating frames (and your skin) in ways that you can usually only dream of.
Wrapping-up thoughts:
footnote/asterisk: I explicitly decided against writing about reciprocity failure, if for no reason other than I’m not sure I entirely understand it. The linked page is quite helpful!
Decided to package most of the images on this blog in two galleries. I’m not sure how I feel about this method, but I’ll chew on it!
Go see Disclosure Day, seriously.
Also if you’re in the PNW, Union Arts Center is doing Macbeth for their Shakespeare in the Park. I cannot wait to see it.
Upcoming arts markets:
South Lake Union’s ‘Vibes’ Market on June 26/27
That’s all for this week’s (short) post! I’m hoping the images speak for themselves, as I admittedly don’t have much to say about these rolls elsewise.