The thing about Seoul, South Korea is that it is packed with tiny little hideaways and niche neighborhoods.
It's a city that always feels like it is evolving.
And thanks to these absorbing city scenes, it truly feels like a canvas for a photographer.
Mullae-dong is a neighborhood that is known for its metalwork and ironwork foundries, which date back to the 1960s. And even though this area has undergone a pretty expansive remodeling since Korea's industrial development in the late '80s and '90s, you can still find lots of little factories alongside the alleys in this area.
In this article, I'll show you around this neighborhood, sharing some of the images and videos I've just taken on a regular Saturday night, shot with the DJI Osmo Pocket 3, Fujifilm X-S10, and Viltrox 23mm f/1.4 lens.
In terms of recipes, I'm shooting with my custom Springtime Provia recipe. I originally created this recipe around spring of 2023 with the purpose of boosting the purples, pinks, and blues, but I find that it works equally well at night, and Provia does a really nice job of softening the contrast while still being cool enough without looking like I've cranked up the blues too much.
Personally, I like using shop fronts in order to frame up subjects and scenes, or sometimes use those shop fronts as the focal point of the image itself. Korean cities and neighborhoods can be a bit gray and gritty at times, so I find that colorful shop fronts add a really nice bit of pop to images, and Mullae-dong is a really great neighborhood for capturing those kinds of scenes.
If you're here for the photos, I hope you're not disappointed. The truth is that I don't feel like I can fully focus on photography when I'm out with someone who isn't necessarily a fellow photographer, and I think it's only fair that I give my full attention to the person I'm with, rather than making photos my number one priority, especially on a night like tonight.
Overall, I hope you enjoyed this little walk around Mullae-dong, and after seeing other creators have success with this voice-over format style of video, I think this is something that I will probably incorporate more on my channel going forward.
