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It’s been a while! At the end of 2023 I was in a bad car accident. It was about as fun as it sounds. Spending months in the hospital I had lots of time to think. Think about where I’d been and where I should be going. One thing I was certain about, I need […]
In 2022, I was given a commission to work on a street photography project. I’d not spent time in the streets of Seoul for years. Corona, pregnancy, baby, life, work. Doesn’t make it easy. I’m a depressed photography. I always thought my turmoil fueled my creativity. The happier I got, the harder it was to […]
It’s been a while. I’ve an excuse. Like, a legitimate excuse. I guess I ran out of space on my WordPress and there’s no easy upgrade path from Korea. 3GB used to seem like a lot. I remember the days that a 1GB hard drive was the dream. A lot has changed. My daughter was […]
There have been a few changes in my life in the last couple of months. Most notably, as you can see from above, we’ve added a member to our family. It’s been one of those times in life where I’ve mostly just sat back and taken it all in. I’ve not taken a whole lot […]
by marty mora I do not collect cameras. Well…at least not because they are rare or special. To be honest, I have been different type of collector, one who collects in numbers of cameras. In my prime as a number collector, I had in my possession two medium format cameras along with two different Leica […]
It’s been a while! solidly into 2021 now and things are looking, well, up? I guess? Me? Let’s start with the workshop! The question I get most often about my photography is how do I edit digital photos. People tend to read old blog posts and struggle with the fact that I processed differently then […]
Well, it’s almost Christmas. 2020 has been one helluva year. Not much has been constant for me in 2020 aside from the struggle that is far from mine alone. I feel like I’ve been through it all this year. Started a business destined to fail, lost one of the most important people in my life, […]
Seasons change. Summer comes and goes. Winter lingers. Fall and spring fleeting. Cliched thoughts. Food for thought. September. On a rocky beach in Jeju Island my wife sat and felt the breeze. Thoughts of beginnings and of change. A spring baby. A boy or a girl? A heartbeat? Should we have stayed home? Things always […]
Thirty-four of forty days it rained. And not just intermittently. Taking my wife to a test last Saturday water was halfway up the tires of my car and people were treating it as if it were any other day. As if 2020 hadn’t been enough. Sandbags in front of department stores. Rain affects people in […]
First of all, I want to start by thanking those who bought my new zine, Tokyo: 1 Day, 2 Nights. I’m really thankful and super happy to hear how much everyone enjoys it with its new, larger format. It was a difficult decision to make it bigger, because of course that means it also had […]
This just about sums up 2020. It’s been a year to remember. Or forget, depending on your prerogative. For me, 2020 has been a bit of both for me. Certainly some negatives. Not everything has been f$%ked, though. Photographically, 2019 was probably my worst year in, well, years. I took hardly any photos and barely […]
Tokyo: 1 Night, 2 Days is my third zine. I don’t really consider zines to be photobooks and they certainly aren’t magazines. Somewhere in between, I guess. The story of this zine goes very much with its title. When I came to Korea from Canada in 2007 I’d often go to Tokyo for one night, […]
It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these. You’d think that with all this virus stuff I would have more time but somehow it turned into the opposite. Korea didn’t really slow down much, yet we struggled in similar ways to the rest of the world. It has been a hard couple of […]
Introduction This week has been one of the weirder ones in recent memory. It started out with a text message from one boss saying that we were going to take a week off because of the concerns related to the Corona virus. About 15 minutes later, I received another message from the education department saying […]
Your Streets, Your Voice, Your Story Seoul 2/29-3/1 As most of you’ll know, I am a member of the group, andthelastwaves. Well, today on the blog I’m very happy to announce a workshop I’ll be doing with fellow member and great friend, Sean Lotman. If you’re just looking for the form to sign up, find […]
I don’t much care for k-pop. I don’t watch many Korean dramas. I don’t watch a whole lot of TV. I don’t follow “idols” or really pay attention to what they do. Last week I was teaching a class. One of my students asked me for my thoughts on the recent suicides of Korean idols […]
There was a time when I was a good street photographer. There was a time when I would shoot constantly. I’d walk constantly. I’d walk and shoot. Nowadays I walk to the coffee shop on Sunday mornings to get a coffee for me and my wife. I sometimes take my camera. The coffee shop is […]
So much for diligence. I tried, I really did. Tried to post often. Tried to shoot often. Then this happened. One of my closest friends Nick came from California to hang out. For a month or two. Then this. My mom came for a couple weeks herself. Then my brother and his girlfriend. Then another […]
Let me start by saying this is a complete and utter ripoff of one of my favourite blog posts by one of my favourite photography bloggers, Blake Andrews. Catch his original Camera as Artifact post with his Leica M6 (Post here). Let’s get started on my homage: The camera in question is the Bessa-R. Most […]
So, this year has been a busy one! Tons of things to do and very little time. Compared to the past couple of years I am constantly back and forth to Seoul, juggling three jobs, and taking care of our “babies.” That brings me to a point I kinda thought was interesting today. My friends […]
So finally, after much ado, my first attempt at a vlog is live on my new YouTube channel 😉 It isn’t much, but it is a start. In this post, I’ll go over a bit of the process I went through making this first (obviously not great) video. There isn’t actually that much to talk […]
Roll 4. It was a wild ride, this one. Well, kinda. My wife, her friend, and I decided to go to Jeonju’s Hanook Village to shoot a video and take some photos. My wife’s friend has basically become my videographer. She’s been great. If I were a little less lazy about the editing part we’d […]
Already finished with my third roll of the year. That, if you haven’t been following me, is quick fast for me. Normally I shoot two rolls or so a month if I’ve nothing special to shoot. Why? Well, not super easy to answer that. I think the main reason is my excitement to be committed […]
So today’s blog post is going to be something a little different. It’s my last Monday off for a while. I’d kinda gotten used to Monday being a vlogging / blogging day. Alas, looks like my Monday will soon be busy again. For today, I didn’t really have enough of anything to post yet I […]
It isn’t often I get through two rolls of film in a couple of weeks. Normally I shoot about two rolls a month. Why am I shooting so much? It’s complicated. I guess the first reason is travel. I shoot a lot when I am going somewhere. I shoot photos in the same time that […]
If you’ve followed me for a while you’ll probably know I’m a sucker for compact cameras. Many of you probably found me because of a compact camera of some sort. In fact, for my general street photography I have always preferred compact cameras. I haven’t used many lately, but the above generally holds true. So […]
This was the first frame I took this year. My cat sits on the air purifier while I sit at my desk. I guess she likes the fan. We should have called her Marilyn. The light from the window to her left was particularly strong. I’m happy I got a full frame from this considering […]
5 This is a photo of my mom. My mom came to Korea for the first time in 2018. I cherished that time with her. We didn’t have a great relationship when I was young. She’s a bit like Professor McGonagall from Harry Potter. Tons of heart but extremely strict and can be borderline scary. […]
10 So, here goes. My top ten photos of 2018. Well, in fact this post will just go through 6-10 in reverse order. Above is number 10. Admittedly this year was slim pickings for street photography. I quite literally didn’t do much of it. In February I participated in the 24 hour project in Busan. […]
So, it is 2019. How time flies. I can’t believe last year went by so quickly. Was shocking to me. Was really one of the best years in my life. That is, at least personally. It almost felt like a vacation of a year. 2019 is here and I need to buckle down and get […]
Well, it has been nearly four months since I posted something here. Every time I post I promise I will get better and posting and every time I promise that I end up getting worse. I’d like to say that it is solely because I am busy. I am busy, yet, it is mostly out […]
Hi Everyone! It’s been a while. Some new stuff to announce! As of this week I started as the Leica Akademie Ambassador in Korea. What does this mean? It means workshops, lectures, exhibitions and more! I’m really excited by what is to come. First! This Saturday, September 15th at 1:00 at the Leica Store Gangnam […]
It was my birthday yesterday. I tend to forget. They kind of just happen. I’d asked people on my Instagram in the morning what I should have for dinner. It seemed a fine enough idea. The choices were raw beef or sushi. I’d put on shorts and paint stained t-shirt to go out. Since renovating […]
Hello everyone! I’m happy to announce a workshop I will be hosting in Seoul at the end of July. Here is all the info: Workshop: Jtinseoul in Seoul 07.29.2018 ─ Overview This workshop is meant to be an informal, fun, and informative. During the workshop, students will spend time with myself, JT, in the streets […]
I’m out of film. So I decided to shoot this roll again. Beondegi is a pupa. A silkworm pupa, in fact. It is a popular street or drinking food in Korea. Beondegi is often sold in a cans. It’s served when people drink. She likes it. She told me it is like the Korean Vienna […]
I’ve been busy. Busy getting married, finishing my house. I had guests in the house until yesterday. Not much time for anything. That doesn’t even include dodging the construction dust long enough to write a post. I don’t do this often. Post in colour I mean. This is my darkroom light. My wife said she […]
Been a while again. I know I said I was going to try and blog more. I think I say that at some point during every post. Reality is, things are always so busy that I rarely have a chance to do anything aside from eat and sleep, ha. So, consider this an update on […]
So, this is my bag for the @24hourproject this year. I’ll leave work tonight and head for the port/beach city of Busan. The cameras I’ve decided to take are the original Fujifilm X100, the Leica T (with 50mm Summilux v2), and my phone. I’ll use the Fuji for street, the Leica for portraits, and the phone if […]
So I’ve done the 24 Hour Project for four years in a row. It is a difficult thing to do, in fact, sometimes it outright sucks. I don’t know why I keep doing it. Well, I guess I kind of do. The memories. I do the project selfishly. Even though it is always a struggle […]
I’ve got some good news and some bad news about this ‘review.’ The bad news first. I’d been waiting to do this review because I didn’t have any photos. Literally, I didn’t have any time since I promised this review to even take photos. Not even a spare hour to walk around. Feck. My days […]
After much ado, my first solo zine is now available. It’s been a long time coming and I apologize for the wait! The photos found in this zine are mostly street photos, which is where I had my start. This book is special to me because of the title: Neverland. This is what my father […]
Okay, a slight follow up to yesterday’s “pre-review” of the Pen-f. One thing I wanted to ask people is if they want to see some of the OM-D EM-1 in the review. I know, it isn’t the newest version, but to be honest this is the camera I use most for “serious” work. I know […]
So, I’m gonna start by saying this is not a review. The review is still in progress. My thoughts about the Pen-F are actually pretty well concluded. I know how I feel about it in use. I know how I feel about it with the 17mm Olympus lens and I know how I feel about […]
I’ve lived in Korea for a long time. Nearly 10 years in fact all told. I’ve always been aware of the big holidays – of which there are two – Seolnal and Chuseok. Weirdly though, I’d never properly experienced one until this year. The week didn’t start off so good. The weather was about as […]
I was surprised by the overwhelming response to my first blog post in a while earlier today. Because of some things happening lately, I should have a little bit more time to blog in the months to come. I am going to try really hard to blog at least once a week. That is my […]
Winter is here. I know I’m behind on blog posts. Feels like I can never catch up. I am in the middle of renovating my house here in Iksan. Last week, the snows came. Winter had been nothing more than a cold autumn until now. I like the snow. Being a teacher, when the snow […]
It’s been a strange couple of weeks. Things that seem big rungs on life’s ladder all kind of happened at once. I guess that is how life works. Christmas also happened. I took this photo on Christmas morning. My navigation took me off the highway and I saw these birds. This is one of those […]
So it all started with a conversation. A simple conversation. Myself and Nick were having a beer and talking about cameras. We did that a lot. He asked where my M3 was. You see, I had sold it. I bought it because it was cheap and I was poor. I bought it because it was […]
There is this wall. It isn’t a particularly interesting wall. In fact, it is a very normal one. That being said, I think it is my favourite wall. It is kind of beige or off-white. The wallpaper is fairly typical for Korea. I can’t remember the first photo I took against it. I think it […]
Well, this should come as a surprise. I’ve been shooting with a Ricoh GRII again. Yup, again (well only like ten photos so far, ha). My blog post- Why I Always End Up With Ricoh – is especially pertinent at these kind of moments. The story goes something like this: I had a GRII at […]
This is a post about nothing in particular, I promise. It isn’t about anything that has been talked about a thousand times and it certainly isn’t going to be about comparing anything. Definitely not. It is just a post about some photos I took on a day trip to Gunsan. I had planned on going […]
I haven’t been here for a while. Truth be told I have been super busy of late. In June and July I hosted friends for nearly both months. I taught two workshops in July with Wearethestreet and Leica Korea. Needless to say, it has been a wild ride. The whole thing started with Matt. Matt […]
Wearethestreet is a group of photographers that I’m a part of. The other photographers in the group are Sean Lotman, Chulsu Kim, Nicholas Dominic Talvola, Aik Beng Chia, and Junku Nishimura. From Wearethestreet: Hi everyone! We are super excited to announce our first Wearethestreet zine! The zine was designed by Wearethestreet member Aik Beng Chia […]
So, it’s been some time since I’ve talked about this camera. I credit this camera with being the camera that actually taught me what photography really was. It wasn’t the Leica M9 or Leica M8 I had before this. Wasn’t the M6 or the M3. It was this, the Sony DSC-W100. You may be thinking, […]
Hello everyone! Wearethestreet is happy to announce our inaugural workshop and exhibition held in concert with Leica Camera Korea in Seoul! The workshop is hosted by Leica Camera Korea and is sponsored in part by Lucida Straps. Exhibition Details: The exhibition will be held at Leica Camera Korea in the Gangnam district of Seoul. The […]
The summer is almost here. It’s already hot. It’s even getting humid. I don’t love summers in Korea, never have. Lots of things going on this summer though. So far, I’ve spent some time traveling nearby cities. Places I hadn’t yet gone. It is strange to me how even within an hour from where I […]
The green tea fields of Boseong. A popular place for Koreans to visit during the spring and summer. I went without much thought. I went without many expectations. I was somehow expecting a tranquil experience. I was expecting a feeling of calm. In fact, though, it was busy and crowded. It was full of tourists. […]
I noticed her. The park was full of tourists. The cherry blossom season in Gyeongju is a big event in Korea. The small lake had a winding path circling it. Strangely, no one walked up to the lake. She did, though. Wearing a hanbok (traditional Korean dress) like out of a dynasty far removed she […]
This place always feels weird to me. Yongsan Station is one of the largest train stations in Korea. Living in Iksan, it is the station I always arrive at. Lots of memories here. The station has changed a lot over the past 8 or so years. In a lot of ways, anyway. In a lot […]
There are several things photographers usually struggle with. Gear is usually the first. People struggle with what camera to use and when. Recently, some people have asked me to talk about gear that ISN’T a camera. So, in the next couple blog posts I’ll talk a little about the other photography gear struggles… The strap […]
April 1st was the date of the 24 hour project this year. For those of you that don’t know what it is, it is an Instagram initiative where photographers from all around the world post one photo per hour for 24 hours in their given city. It is the third time I’ve done the project, […]
So, it has been about a month since I have been using film almost full time. It is an interesting experience. I mean, I shot film for years but somehow it makes a lot more sense to me this time. Maybe it is because I’ve gotten older or more patient. Maybe I am just learning […]
I wrote a little about this in my last post. After some careful thought I decided to shoot a lot more film this year. Almost exclusively, actually. It isn’t something that is easy to do but, something I feel is necessary. The first obvious question is why. Well, it isn’t easy to answer this either. […]
The hardest part of photography for me is processing. The part that pisses me off the most is processing. Basically the only thing that annoys me is processing. I fucking HATE processing. Why? Well, there are too many options. My mind changes too often. I hate being in front of a computer, yet, spend half […]
So, I just wrote about the Fujifilm X-Pro 2. It is a nice enough camera. I used it over the past six months. The fact of the matter is though, I never felt much of a connection to that camera. It worked just fine, but it never made me want to take photos. It was […]
Around six months ago I wrote a blog post about using one camera and one lens for a year. I tried my best, actually. I used the Epson I had planned to use for about a month until it died because of humidity. The second one I got also died. It was at that point […]
One of the things I’ve decided to do in 2017 is to lose some weight, ha. A typical resolution but a necessary one. I gained 15KG in 2016. No good, that. Luckily already shedding them in the first couple weeks of 2017. The first thing I did was quite all the shit I was doing. […]
About a week into 2017 and things are slightly better than they were at the end of 2016. As you might figured from my last post I wasn’t entirely happy with 2016. In fact, it fucking sucked. I started out 2017 in Busan. Kinda felt like traveling to start the year. Busan is a city […]
2016 was a weird year for me. Lots of things changed. Both for better and worse. Photographically, I think I grew a lot this year. I didn’t post much however, and have become quite lazy about it. Hence the guest posts lately. I’m glad Bin has being doing that. As per usual, I changed cameras […]
First off, I want to thank everyone for sticking around over the past couple months even though I have posted so infrequently. I wish I had a good excuse, but truth is I’m just lazy. I have ideas for posts but never manage to sit down and write them. After some thought, I’ve decided to […]
Okay, so I promised this like three weeks ago. As many of you may have started to figure out, I’m a lazy blogger. I mean, I always was but now I have enough people following that I get called out for it, ha. Deservedly so 😉 That being said, here I am! Colour time. Yes, […]
Chuseok here in Korea. It is kind of like Thanksgiving for those of you who aren’t up on your Korean culture. Sitting in a coffee shop it feels a bit weird. I used to hear how Chuseok is a family holiday but it seems like all the families are here in this cafe, ha. I […]
So, this will probably be one of the longer posts I’ve done. If you’re not in the mood for a bit of a read maybe it is time to check out 😉 Also, to the people that have been around my blog for a long time this will probably be an annoying post. It will […]
Been quite a while since I’ve posted! Unfortunately this isn’t much more than a bit of an update. The summer is terrible here in Korea. Way too hot.. Also, I have been in the process of moving so it has been hard to post. Recently, I broke down and purchased the iPhone SE. When I […]
In 2011 I switched almost entirely back to film. In that time I was starting to understand that gear wasn’t that important. I was starting to get over the idea of needing every camera I saw. For much of that year I carried around nothing but a Ricoh GR21. It spent most of its time […]
I noticed the orange and red lights first while flying into Korea. I remember thinking about Gibson’s Neuromancer. The neon night city of Chiba and my obtuse vision of what Asia was like. When the plane was close to touching down I realized what I was looking at were crosses. Equally neon, they littered the skyline. I didn’t […]
Was an interesting week or two. I wanna start by apologizing for not having posted frequently over the past several months. It still surprises me when I get emails from people asking me why I haven’t posted. It still surprises me that anyone even checks these things. To be perfectly honest, the reason I don’t […]
I have lived in Korea for just about 7 years. Feels longer sometimes. Feels shorter others. Ironically, I haven’t lived in Seoul for much of that. The name of my blog is what it is so my friends and family at home would have something to recognize. They all wanted to know about Seoul, not […]
I don’t know when I suddenly turned into a “reviewer” of cameras. I guess it isn’t really much about the cameras. I’ve for the most part stopped buying cameras. New cameras, anyway. Cameras sort of find their way to me. Cameras of all different types. Let me start by saying this: I have stopped paying […]
“In your opinion, what is the best digital camera ever made? I mean, if you could only have one camera what would it be?” “The Ricoh GRD4.” “You mean the new one? The large sensor one? I think that is the GR..” “No. I mean the Ricoh GRD4.” An excerpt from an interview I did […]
I took the late train home Saturday night from Seoul. I haven’t taken the train much this year. I’m not sure why. I like the window seat. I like watching the countryside drone on. The contact sheets that make up my life. I was tired. Tired a lot lately. Almost too tired to take this […]
Something about a print. Something about the feeling of a photograph that isn’t just equatable to zeros and ones. Something about a negative. Something about the scanned in grain, dirt, and dust. Film is certainly annoying. It isn’t for the impatient. I’m impatient. Sometimes I hate it. Sometimes. Other times, I find a negative. The […]
The first day I was in Korea I was dropped off at a small motel. While I had some experience travelling, I’m not sure I was ready for the feeling of being left in a motel in what felt like the middle of nowhere. I was so jet lagged I spent the first 10 hours […]
일상 literally means daily. It is one of the most popular tags on Instagram here in Korea. I always thought it was a funny one. I didn’t really get it. The “daily” photo. Then one day my phone ran out of memory. I was shocked. I checked the settings only to figure out photos were […]
It is a holiday in Korea this weekend. For me, it means a five day holiday. In the past I might have flown to Japan or Hong Kong but lately I prefer to stay closer to home. A couple of months ago I moved back to Iksan, the small town I originally came to when […]
I have thought about doing this post for a long time. People often ask me where I get my inspiration. They ask me what photo books to buy or what cameras. They ask me how I decide such things. Truth of the matter is, I try not to think about much of either. Photographically, the […]
“Why do you take so many photos on the train?” I get it.It must be sort of boring to see twenty photos a week of people on the Seoul tube. Fact of that matter is, I don’t take many photos. I literally never go outside with my camera just to take photos. I don’t do […]
As a continuation of the rather strange last month for my blog I’ve decided to do another “review.” I put that in quotations because I don’t think I really know how to do a proper review. This will be more like my thoughts on a camera I’ve used off and on for a while: The […]
So, this isn’t something I do very often. A review from me is rare enough but a review of an accessory even more so. Just as a bit of a disclaimer, Eric Kim and I have been close friends for years and he gave me this strap as a Christmas present. That being said, […]
In a hotel room in Seoul. Staying in a hotel makes me feel like I’m doing something. I sort of enjoy it. I don’t usually take this kinda photo. Felt like a memory I wanted to be in. 2015 has come and gone. It was a mostly up and sometimes down year. I enjoyed most […]
I suppose I should start by saying merry Christmas. I almost forgot it was Christmas (not really) being here in Korea. Probably partly to do with the fact I worked until 10 PM yesterday. You may or may not know this about me, but I’m a teacher. Like many foreigners here in Korea I teach, […]
A lot of things can happen in a week. A lot of things did happen. A week from writing my post on mobile photography I find myself ironically with no camera but my phone. A long story short, Ricoh wanted to charge me $700 to fix a camera that costs less than that new. I’m […]
So I said I was done with gear posts during the last post. I guess I kind of lied. The one camera I hadn’t talked about yet was probably the one I use the most. My phone. The mobile phone has been the camera I’ve used the most over the past 5 or so years. […]
I’m going to do something today I don’t usually do anymore. I’m going to talk a little about a camera. It is pretty ironic that I planned on talking about the Ricoh GR on this blog post and today it decided to have a problem with its lens mechanism. More on that later. I don’t […]
I am often asked why I choose to live in Korea. I’m Canadian, for those of you who didn’t know. I’ve lived in Korea for most of the last 8 years. And quite honestly, I am perfectly happy to never go back. At least not to live. It is hard to describe why that is […]
It must seem that I take so many photos on the subway. Funny, just happens to be where I am. Honeslty though, I probably take two or three photos during a trip. Maybe. Depends on how interesting the music I’m listening to is. I had a conversation with my friend Simon about this the other […]
Some time ago I made a blog post talking about how I felt taking photos in Korea. I called it Neverland, because of something my father used to say to me. He used to tell me that Korea was my Neverland. “Having fun in Neverland, Peter?” He always said that. At the time I thought […]
Thursday morning was pretty foggy. Probably the most fog I’ve seen in Korea. Granted it was 6 AM. Maybe my brain was a little foggy. On my way to the golf course this was pretty much the scene out my window. Not ideal. Glad I could take a photo of it with my phone. Phones […]
Seoul and back again. October 2015.
jtinseoul 