Gyeongju Cherry Blossom Photo Shoot, Trip with Parents

These photos are from a photo shoot for parents visiting Gyeongju as a special treat, with the cherry blossoms in full bloom. In Gyeongju, the route lasting 1 hour 30 minutes costs 250,000 KRW.

Hi, I’m author S.
Today I’m sharing photos from a cherry blossom photo shoot in Gyeongju.
Some of the clients told me I’d photographed them in Prague and that they’d booked me again because they liked those photos.
Since coming back to Korea after 13 years living abroad, I’ve been busy doing all the things I never got to do.. I’m not doing any promotion at all, and yet shoot bookings still come in steadily.

Anyway.. I’m also really good at leading shoots with older people. I’m also confident photographing you with your parents.

The shoot started in front of Cheomseongdae.
The more Gyeongju shoots I do, the better my route gets, and it’s much improved now, but back then there were lots of blossoms, so I shot along the cherry blossom route. Once the blossoms had all fallen, I changed the shooting route a bit.
If you book, I’ll use a route I’ve refined further.

And.. everyone looks so cheerful, and that’s down to my experience, too. I don’t even tell anyone to smile; if I set my mind to it, I’m confident I could take 1,000 shots with everyone smiling in every one.. But if all I take are smiling photos, later it feels like.. something’s missing again..

How do I put it.. does it make sense to have nothing but smiling photos? That’s kind of the feeling. And it takes a lot of energy, too..

As always.. I keep shooting even while we’re on the move.
I’m constantly on the lookout for an unguarded moment. Natural photos, I think, come out best when people just aren’t paying attention to me.

They said they wanted to do the Beatles’ Abbey Road crossing.. so we did it.
They told me they’d been to London, too. Every time I go to London, all I can think of is the London Eye and fish and chips.. but I lived in Europe for 11 years.. so wherever I go in Europe, it doesn’t do much for me.. I actually find Korea more fascinating..

I removed some of the passersby from this photo with AI. I usually leave passersby in when I can.. but if they stand out too much, I erase them. In the old days I’d mask things in Photoshop, borrow background from other shots, and go through a whole song and dance.. these days that work has dropped by about half. But doing it carefully with AI so nobody can tell ends up being manual work anyway.. -_-;;

Eight of them were originally supposed to come.. but one couldn’t make it for personal reasons, which is a shame.
If they had joined us, everyone would have had a fun shoot together.
This time, the Gyeongju cherry blossoms held on for quite a while. Even with two days of heavy rain in the middle, they held up surprisingly well.

Of course I have to get everyone together in a shot, too.
With vertical photos, I usually.. crop them a bit so you can upload them to Instagram without any further cropping, you see? This one I’m just uploading at its original size.

I take solo portraits like this, too.
Nothing difficult about it. I always tell everyone.. don’t worry about getting it right. Always relax, don’t worry about me,

This is the wall lined with cherry blossoms at Daereungwon.
I got so much mileage out of this wall over the week.
On the days when the blossoms had nearly all fallen, I gave up on Daereungwon altogether and dashed straight to Woljeonggyo Bridge. As shooting experience builds up like this, I can run things even more flexibly in cherry blossom season.

The first time I shot here it took a bit longer, but I can cover all four locations—Daereungwon, Hwangridan-gil, Cheomseongdae and Woljeonggyo Bridge—in a 2-hour shoot. Woljeonggyo looks beautiful in photos too.. but it’s a walk of about 10 minutes or a bit more, so going there and back takes 20 minutes of walking..

Anyway.. I take lovely photos among cherry blossoms, but I’m also good at taking lovely photos among green trees. Prague has no flowers, so I’ve had plenty of practice taking photos among green foliage.

Before heading to Hwangridan-gil, I take one more photo of them by the wall.

Hwangridan-gil.. is really well set up with shops and businesses, I noticed. Well.. most of the food is on the sweet side though -_-;;

Once again, I keep shooting even while we’re on the move.
There were lots of photos, so I left some out.

There’s a café called Silladang in Hwangridan-gil, and its gift packaging is quite pretty.
Give it to a Japanese person and they’ll love the packaging and what’s in it, 100%. One shot while waiting for the coffee.

This photo has a bit of a hobby club meetup feel.
I used to organize plenty of meetups myself back in the day. Stuff like, “Anyone up for shooting the sunset at Gwanaksan?” Then you can borrow and try out other photographers’ lenses, so you get all kinds of experience. Not that this matters, of course ~_~

As usual, lots of unposed, natural-feeling photos. Even without my saying anything, there are lots of photos like this. I mean.. once a shoot starts, all I think about until it ends is how to take the photos. How to compose them, how to use the background we’re passing right now, and so on.

I spotted it while passing by and it was unusual, so I took a shot.
These weren’t just around in their generation; there were plenty around when I was young, too.
Those.. baseball stickers.. the infamous Lee Jong-beom..

It was really overcast.. but hey, at least it didn’t rain..
The shoot went well. If the chance comes up, I hope I can photograph you all again next time. Wishing you continued good health!

In Gyeongju, I offer a photo shoot lasting 1 hour 30 minutes for 250,000 KRW.
I’m good at first birthday party and wedding day photo shoots, formal group photos included, so get in touch 😀

In Gyeongju, I offer a photo shoot lasting 1 hour 30 minutes for 250,000 KRW. If you book, I’ll use a route I’ve refined further. You can find booking information and contact details on the Sarangbi Snap page.