Category: Korea

Tongdosa: Light, Crowds, and a Bloody Shin

When the Ancient Meets the Artificial These days, Korea is saturated with festivals. There’s always something glowing, popping, or blasting EDM in a park somewhere. But when word got out that lasers, projections, and holograms were about to light up Tongdosa Temple, I couldn’t ignore it. This isn’t just any temple. Tongdosa is one of Korea’s Three Jewels of Buddhism — […]

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Moonlight and Mayhem: Shooting Changdeokgung on the Last Day of the Mega Chuseok Holiday

This month’s plan was simple: go on the moonlight tour of Changdeokgung Palace and grab some killer night shots. Easy, right? Yeah, sure. Like most things in Korea, it started with good intentions and spiraled into a caffeine-fueled test of endurance. When you’re juggling multiple jobs, life becomes a series of half-baked logistics and Hail Marys. I’d booked the tickets […]

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Lanterns, Silence, and The Small Joys of Being Alive at Bulguksa

It’s that time of year again in Korea—the temples are dressed to the nines. Cloaked in rainbow lanterns and steeped in a kind of spiritual theatre that’s equal parts reverence and rock show. Lantern Festival season. And while the average person might head to the Instagramer/ Lantern inferno that is Samgwangsa in Busan, elbowing influencers out of the way for […]

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