Photography

Spring 2014

In 2012, I took on one of my favourite projects ever: filming my life, piecing it together and putting it to music. The videos are often shaky, sometimes blurry, and as my mom always liked to point out to me, probably only interesting to myself and my friends. Despite all that, those videos are so incredibly special to me. They take me back to a wonderful time in my life, make me feel both happy and nostalgic, and will forever preserve the feelings of that year. For someone who loves documenting her life, they are imperfectly perfect.

Right after I got to Korea, I was talking to my friend Dylan about how wonderful 2012 was for me. After our conversation, as I was trying to think about what had made that year so great, I realized that the very act of documenting it had probably made all the difference. My life in Montreal was totally wonderful all 4 years I lived there, and the summers were always filled with the kind of wonderful magic that I captured on film in 2012. But filming it meant I was always looking for that magic and appreciating it as it was happening. Editing the videos always made me laugh and feel grateful for all those moments all over again.

So in light of that realization, I decided to do it again for my year in Korea.

Inevitably, I’ll miss moments and won’t be able to capture it all. Inevitably, the videos will be shaky and blurry and probably only interesting to myself and my friends. But also inevitably: they’ll make me laugh, they’ll remind me of the beauty and love I’m always surrounded by, and they’ll be my favourite kind of time capsule.

Here’s the Springtime of my year in Korea, early March to late May. I’m sharing it here just in case you’re curious about what my time here so far has looked like. If you don’t feel like watching it, I can summarize it by saying: I’ve made some awesome friends here, the cherry blossoms were beautiful, I went to Tokyo and Seoul, we ate good food, and we went to the beach a lot. I feel nothing but grateful.

Seoul, Korea

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

It was a four-day weekend here in Korea, in honour of Children's Day and Buddha's Birthday, and I spent it in Seoul with friends. After our trip to Tokyo (a vibrant, colourful blur) I was a bit tired and was sorely tempted to stay home, watch TV and decompress. Fortunately I didn't, and those three days away were exactly the kind of break I needed.

Since I'm living in Korea for a year, I knew I'd probably be going back to Seoul a few more times and that took the pressure off. There was no rushing around trying to get everything checked off the bucket list. There was no agonizing over where to go and how much time to spend there. There was no real stress of any kind, except for the last mad dash to the train station and boarding the train back to Busan with two minutes to spare.

Instead, there were long talks about life on the sundrenched four hour train ride there and back. There was meandering down the streets of bustling shopping districts eating street food and ice cream. There was delicious food – Korean and Mexican in the same day. There was an afternoon spent roaming the grounds of a gorgeous palace. There was a full day spent with a girl I met while travelling alone through Madrid so many months ago. She showed us around her favourite parts of Seoul, took us for some of the best Korean food I've ever had, and happily, we got along as well as we had in Spain during the few days we spent together then.

And there was more! I had my birth chart read by a local tarot card reader. We hid from the rain in a cafe bordering the stream that cuts through downtown Seoul and drank hot sweet tea. I had iced mochaccinos every morning and soju mixed with Sprite in plastic cups every night. We wandered around the university district enjoying its lively energy, watching people boxing and others playing music side-by-side in the little park in the middle of it all. There were so many times we laughed until we cried.

I came home feeling recharged, not drained. I felt (and still feel!) blissed out and happy, alive and connected. It reminded me of how incredibly lucky I am to have this opportunity to live and work in another country, and to explore and experience such amazing parts of the world. It also reminded me not to take any of it for granted. Life is good.

Favourites:

  • Juno Guesthouse: While the facilities were nothing to write home about, it was in a quiet area and very close to a subway stop on one of the major train lines. But most of all, it had an absolutely incredible welcoming committee: a beautiful little Korean Jindo dog that brightened our day every time we left or came back to the hostel.
  • Vatos Urban Tacos: This restaurant in Itaewon made us feel immediately like we weren't in Korea anymore. Not that there's anything wrong with Korea, but it just made us feel transported to somewhere completely different. Amazing margaritas, perfect tacos, delicious salsa, some queso dip – we were in heaven.
  • Ssamziegil (in Insadong): We all agreed that walking through this shopping area (shown in the fifth picture from the top) felt like walking through Etsy brought to life. There were tons of stores selling adorable handmade or unique things like jewelry, stationery, and soaps.
  • Gwanghwamun Square: A gorgeous, open plaza leading to the gates of the Gyeongbokgung palace (another of our favourites). It's right in the middle of Seoul, framed by mountains behind, and is positively gorgeous.

Steph Loves Today

Mosaic 1A little over a month ago, I started a photo project based loosely on 100 Happy Days. From their website:

“We live in times when super-busy schedules have become something to boast about. While the speed of life increases, there is less and less time to enjoy the moment that you are in. The ability to appreciate the moment, the environment and yourself in it, is the base for the bridge towards long term happiness of any human being.”

Amen, right? I loved the idea, especially since it goes hand-in-hand with one of my favourite quotes and guiding life philosophies: “I want to feel my life while I’m in it”.  Staying present and appreciating all the lovely little things each day brings can be so difficult, but it’s also the whole point, in my opinion. It’s hard to remember to do this, but a daily photo project is an excellent cue.

Mosaic 2I called the project “Steph loves today” as a reminder to seek out the beauty and happiness of my life each and every day. It was also an excuse to try and use my camera every day, in order to practice and improve my photography. I’ve done this kind of thing before with my Everyday Beauty posts and Project 365 in 2012. Each time I do, I wind up with a lot less space on my hard drive and a lot more captured – and, it follows, noticed and appreciated – special everyday moments. This time around, I’ve been sharing my photos daily on Instagram.

Right now, it’s just me: no boyfriend, no husband, no kids. That sometimes makes me feel like my everyday moments and routines aren’t as meaningful, because a lot of the time, they’re not being shared with anyone else. But when I come to my senses I realize how silly that is. I’m the only one I’ll spend my whole life with, right? And if anything, I think I’ll cherish the memories of these young years with all their little habits even more fondly as my life continues to change shape.

Mosaic 3The photos in this post are from the past month and a half of doing this project. Some days I posted more than one photo of something beautiful or something that made me happy (my cup runneth over). When I was in Tokyo without internet, I missed a day. But overall I’m thrilled with the results. Life is good. I’ll (probably) only have one Springtime in Korea in my life, and I’m excited that it’ll be captured in some small way. You can see the rest of the photos so far here or by following me on Instagram @lifeinlimboblog.

Tokyo, Japan

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

What a whirlwind weekend! Our time in Tokyo was vibrant and magic, wild and crazy, and full of hilarious stories. At the time, there were some stressful moments, but looking back on it now a few days later, I can see how funny our adventures really were. You're only young once, right? Might as well stay out until 4AM dancing in Tokyo while you can.

We were all in agreement that we loved the atmosphere in Tokyo. It felt fresh and fun, so full to the brim with interesting things to do and see. In our experience, Japanese people were so friendly and kind, always ready to smile back at us tourists and give us a hand if we needed help. We had universally positive experiences with all the locals we met, which was refreshing and made us feel comfortable right away. In Busan, I find that the locals don't go out of their way to be friendly – though many are, definitely! And as there are relatively few foreigners in Korea, you can sometimes feel like an anomaly or an outsider. Tokyo is obviously an enormous, buzzing, metropolitan hub so it was great to feel like we fit right in.

The energy of the city was amazing. Throughout our time there, we just kept gushing about the atmosphere and the magic we found there. We stumbled onto a rooftop terrace decked out with fairy lights and playing nonstop Disney princess songs through the loudspeakers. We wandered the busy streets of Harajuku that were crazy, yes, but also beautiful and fun. We befriended a worker at the fish market who invited us to hop on the back of his cart and he drove us to a great lunch spot by weaving through the crowds of tourists. We admired the way people dressed in Tokyo: gorgeous, simple, and classic. I loved the ivy-covered buildings everywhere you looked. I loved the abundance of neon lights, and the endless number of restaurants, cafes and convenience stores. We adored the enormous trees everywhere, but especially in the gorgeous Yoyogi park where they make a beautiful canopy overhead. We saw beautiful temples and some lovely traditional weddings taking place at them. We drank Japanese beer while people-watching at the busy Shibuya crossing. We discovered an Earth Day festival filled with stalls selling beautiful handmade, natural goods. We bought multicoloured things at Daiso. And we just walked up and down streets just taking it all in.

We barely even scratched Tokyo's surface, and yet I felt like we saw so much in our two days there. It just goes to show how big and beautiful of a city it really is, and how much more there is to discover. I hope to return and visit again, for longer. I think it would be so amazing to live there for a time, just working and exploring the city one adorable restaurant at a time. Maybe for a summer? The more I explore the world, the more time I want to spend exploring and enjoying it. I saw this quote the other day: “If I were really wealthy, I wouldn't buy a mansion, just tiny apartments in every city that I love.” I absolutely agree! The only problem is that list of cities is getting longer and longer. I feel so blessed and grateful to have had these travel experiences so young – what a wonderful “problem” to have!

What We Did:

  • Ate lunch at a sushi restaurant in Tsukiji Fish Market. It was excellent – Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield had once eaten there, as well as the CEO of Amazon! It's a little off the beaten track and has bright orange awnings.
  • Explored Yoyogi Park and visited the Meji Jingu shrine.
  • Wandered around Harajuku on Takeshita Dori street and Ometesando street.
  • Crossed at the Shibuya crossing about ten times!
  • Saw the view from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. It's free, and offers great views of Tokyo.
  • Explored Asakusa and saw the Senso-ji temple.
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