Two Sundays ago, Professor Park, who teaches architectural planning, brought his students on a field trip to visit some well known temples in Korea. He invited the NUS students along. It was the peak of autumn and since most of the temples are sited in very untouched areas, it was the best time to experience the beauty of autumn in Korea. And indeed, it was the day I truly fell in love with Korea.


Having just gotten my new camera the day before, I just had to bring it out for a test shoot. So here I present to you, my virgin shoot with the DSLR haha, not very good pictures, but I think it's not a bad try for a first timer cum amateur! :)


That's Juri, my best korean girlfriend, also my studio mate. I really love her to bits because she makes school life so much more interesting for me, and she's a good shopping partner. She has been so kind to me ever since school started. Whenver I feel cold in studio, she'd put a blanket over me, and that's only one of the many kind gestures that she has done for me. I am so blessed to meet so many kind people over here. How can I not fall in love with this country and her people?


A short trek into the jungle where the temple is sited. Mel scaled all of these stone steps in wedges! Respect mann!

Notice the two layers of roof eaves? The inner bottom layer was constructed first, and the top layer added on at a later time.

I absolutely love the above two pictures. Notice how they marry the old and the new?

Roomie and Mel, nice picture i think, albeit overexposed

Us with the korean girls

Love this tree. It's so sculptural.

Love how the tree is being framed up in this picture

These shots were so overexposed and I had no idea why. I am still having difficulties working my DSLR urgh

Suyeon and I

The Singaporean girls..

Me with my cabbage field, while my country boy is somewhere else taking pictures!

I think my roomie and sky are nice to shoot, they're so natural!

We met this horrible kid who stays in the temple coz his parents are caretakers of the temple. He called my roomie an ajuma (which means auntie) and called me gorilla! Hello which part of me looks like a gorilla to you huh? hahaha

I really love this picture of Suroh! So "caught in the moment" larh! heh

The korean boys. Oh and did I mention that Korea is the land of DSLRs? Somehow almost everyone has one!

Sungil and Hee-won. I think it's true when they say that goodlooking people stay together, because Hee-won and Sungil are best friends, and they are the best looking guys in our batch, and both are tall too!

This village specialises in Persimmons! Not quite hard to tell right? haha since the whole shopfront is decorated with the fruit.

Autumn colours.. Wished I could capture them more vivdly with my camera though.

Roof detail...

Sungwook acting emo, lousy actor haha

Upon entering the temple we saw this really beautiful tree on the right. It's probably one of the most beautiful trees I've seen in Korea so far. The vibrant colours were just soo perfect for a romantic picture. Haha but because my country boy was nowhere to be found, I took a shot with Mel muahahah.

Haha I hope I won't get killed for posting this but I really think it's such a beautiful picture. Very satisfied with this shot.

One of my favourite shots of the day.

Painted ceiling

I love how the little wooden shed fits into the setting. So idyllic.

I caught a family trying to take a family shot! But the mother was having a lot of trouble getting the kids to sit still. Look at the little boy jumping around. How cute!

Suroh being very cheeky.. A pavillion with very weird proportions. Too huge a roof! Seems almost uncomfortable to me..

Nicole in the midst of the golden leaves..

I snapped a picture of Sungil snapping a picture of me..

Prof explaining.. only the guys are interested in listening haha..

Roomie and I!

Sky and Adeline.. So cute!

I was trying to take this shot of the roof details, when Adriel asked me " why are you taking upskirt pictures?" Haha that was so sick, so random, but so funny. Totally cracked me up.

I think this is a nice picture of Richard! He looks like some extreme sportman scaling some impossible mountain.. but guess how it's taken?

Like that! haha what cheats!

I really like this picture I took of Adriel! One of my favourite of the day as well!

Wishing stones! The koreans believe that if you pick up a rock, make a wish and stack it on top of this pile, your wish might just come true!

Nicole and Adeline posing for a emo shot..

Sky mumbled to us " I feel like climbing a tree", and went on to climb that tree. How spontaneous.

That's Suroh, Juri and me! Juri is in a tree trunk, and like what Richard said, she's is living proof that a tree house is possible!

That's Richard and Sky playing a self devised game called " the leaves are lava" or something like that. Anyway the rule is simply not to step on the leaves larh haha so they started jumping around. Boys, they never grow up..

The quiet and quaint little town.

The colours of autumn, the greens, the reds, the yellows and the orange.

And I'd end off with the best picture I took for the day, using sky's camera. But I caught the moment! I really really love this picture, think it's one of the best pictures I've taken :)

Going to places like these makes me fall so deeply in love with Korea. I really don't want to go home!