Tongyeong Family Photo Shoot at Dongpirang, Third Time with the Siblings

These are photos from a 1-hour family photo shoot at Dongpirang Mural Village in Tongyeong, with a family I have now photographed three times. The price in Tongyeong is 120,000 KRW, with 10 edited photos and 200 original photos.

Hi, I’m author S.
Today I’m sharing photos from a family photo shoot at Dongpirang in Tongyeong.
This is already the third time I’ve photographed this family. One reason I came back to Korea is.. well, I had a bit of a safety net.. people who have booked a shoot with me often come back for another, so I figured.. I wouldn’t starve even if I went back to Korea. These days I also enjoy photographing kids quite a lot, so I’m hoping to meet more of them too. Kids, after all.. don’t stick to a theme or a set plan.. so you never know what you’re going to get. That’s why I think the photos feel even more special.

The first shoot was in 2016, when they came to Prague on their honeymoon. They left a review afterward, so I’ll link it here.

Prague Wedding Photo Shoot by author S

And below are photos from the shoot in spring 2022, when the kids were still babies. They’ve grown so much by now.. It really is amazing 😀

Yangsan Photo Shoot: A Short but Impactful Day at Hwangsan Park by author S

We meet at the Dongpirang entrance, say a quick hello, ask how everyone has been, and get started right away.
As always, I don’t have a shooting style. With kids, instead of telling them what to do, I follow whatever they do. Kids, I mean.. I think they look their best in photos when they’re doing what they feel like doing.

They told me they had arrived in Tongyeong the day before, had a meal and looked around a little. They also came back to Dongpirang for the first time in a while and said it has changed a lot since the old days. I only recently registered my address in Tongyeong, so I don’t know much about the old days.
It’s mid-March, so there weren’t many tourists either, and conditions were very pleasant for the shoot.

Like this.. I capture the kids at their most natural.
I.. don’t make the kids do anything. If a grandfather or grandmother is there, then I do ask for a few things. If I just leave things be, photos of mom and dad together with the kids come up automatically, but the grandfather and grandmother keep getting left out of the frame. Grandfathers are the worst for this, so when grandparents are there, I get the grandfather involved with something, like “let’s try this,” so that nobody in the family gets left out.

For example, I ask boys and girls in different ways,
to a boy I say.. “Let’s go grab your grandfather who’s wandering around over there”
to a girl I say.. “Let’s hold your grandfather’s hand and bring him over~”
Like that. Boys and girls really do need to be spoken to differently.

I’d been taking nothing but family photos in Okinawa from morning to evening, every day, and now that I’m shooting in Korea again, the biggest difference is.. the morning light. Okinawa is close to the equator, so even the morning sunlight is soft and warm. But in the northern hemisphere, in places like Korea or Czechia, the morning light contains a higher proportion of cool blue light.
I mean.. at the equator sunlight comes in directly, while in the northern hemisphere it bends slightly as it passes through the Earth’s atmosphere. So some of the yellow and red slips away, and the blue light reaches the ground first.

What I’m getting at is that Korea is, if only slightly, a trickier place to shoot than Okinawa.

They ate that cotton candy with so much relish..
When I lived in Czechia, I’d only see it now and then at big regional festivals like the jousting tournaments, and when I lived in Japan I’d spot it once in a while at matsuri festivals, but in Korea it’s fairly common. You see it even on a stroll along the coast..

Even when I did photo shoots in Korea back in 2014, murals like this were really common, and the kids find their spots like that on their own without me telling them. And if they’re not interested and don’t want to pose, we just move on. There’s no point making kids do what they don’t like; it just makes them look unhappy 😀

There’s no need to set up a pose or anything. If the kids are enjoying themselves, I just photograph them as they are. Easy, isn’t it?

We move along through the mural village.
I say I shoot freely, but there are still a few minimal guidelines. I pick out a handful of spots to head to before we start moving.

If you just walk around Dongpirang to look, it takes 10 or 15 minutes to see it all.
A couples’ photo shoot takes about 20 to 30 minutes, while kids’ shoots take almost an hour. They check out every nook and cranny. My Dongpirang sessions last one hour, but as I shoot more here, the time will probably get shorter and the number of locations will grow. In other words, I’ll be able to fit more into an hour.

We pass by the perfume shop too. I think this spot looks a bit prettier in the afternoon. The morning is slightly disappointing..

There aren’t many photos of everyone together like this. But we came to Dongpirang, so we need a few photos that capture the feel of Dongpirang 😀
Essential if you want to keep a little frame on your desk.

A little closer for the details 😀

When we’re done, we head back into the village.
I ride my bike around every day figuring out, from every angle, where is best to go..

I also catch a few quick candid shots as we move.

At the highest point of Dongpirang there is an old-style lookout called Dongporu Pavilion. We sat there for a bit and took a few photos. You can look out over the sea off Tongyeong from there.

Every time I come, I think.. couldn’t they move that flag somewhere else?
The city of Tongyeong says it wants to attract more tourists.. but to attract foreigners, you’d need scenery that even someone who’s hopeless with a camera can shoot and get a great photo.. and Tongyeong’s tourist spots feel, how should I put it.. like an expert-level course built just for photographer “pros” like me. For Tongyeong to go viral, anyone should be able to take beautiful landscape photos there.. it feels like a missed opportunity..

What do you see?
Apartment buildings, lol

After a quick look at the sea off Tongyeong from Dongporu, we head down. It’s not that steep or anything. It might be a bit tough with a stroller, though. But the neighborhood is small, so there’s no need to worry too much.

Normally this would be a nice spot to have a cup of coffee before heading off.. but maybe because we started the shoot at 10:30 a.m… the shops weren’t open yet..

Just past that channel is Hansando, so let’s just call this the sea off Hansando
A slightly staged photo that doesn’t feel staged

I was taking a solo shot of the little sister looking at the murals when her big brother suddenly popped up right in front of the camera haha

The most natural photo ever

Once again, nothing staged here. It’s just how they are.

Kids, boys especially, see a high place like that and want to climb it. Younger girls act the same way, and around school age, girls seem to gradually lose interest in climbing up there. If you photograph kids every day, you start to feel, little by little, that behavior patterns differ by age group.

We slip quietly out of Dongpirang. The kids run, so I have to keep an eye on safety the whole time.

This is what I’d call staged.
One small regret.. I wish more people came to Dongpirang.. and that someone would give it a fresh coat of paint..

There’s a souvenir shop here.. and it sells frog dolls.
I don’t know why they sell these, but I think I should ask next time. What do Dongpirang and frogs have to do with each other?

Of course, the kids couldn’t resist stopping at the doll shop.

What’s this called again.. I played it a lot as a kid,, you throw a stone and then step through the squares in order, skipping only a certain number..

Adults would probably have just walked past, but the kids were interested, so I took a few photos here too.

I didn’t plan this one, but the kids were heading that way, so I took a shot.

Another unplanned shot, but everyone’s together—click! 😀

The plan was to play trains, lined up one behind the other.. but the little sister dashed off ahead and out of the frame, so the rest of us are chasing after her.

It’s just a simple sculpture, yet the kids loved it..

If you make one loop around Dongpirang, you end up back at the entrance. The route is, what, about 200 meters? Short. Access with a wheelchair or stroller can be a bit tricky, but since the route itself is short, older visitors can see it without trouble if they walk slowly.
And.. this one wasn’t my idea either. The little sister ran off ahead saying she wanted a solo shot, so I just followed along and took photos.

This is the restaurant area.. but maybe because it was morning, they hadn’t opened yet. It would probably look quite pretty at night..

I had planned to shoot something on this downhill road.. but the kids ran down so fast that I had to improvise.

The cats aren’t very afraid of people either. When you shoot at Dongpirang, you run into a cat almost 99% of the time.. so I went to Daiso in the morning to buy churu (cat treats), but why. Of all days. Was there no churu on this day.. Normally they’re everywhere..

A cat kept meowing from behind the wall, so the kids were curious and kept trying to look. I capture those moments.

These photos really capture what kids are like 😀

I’d originally planned to photograph the kids looking at fish in the market.. but then we followed another cat, and we ended up taking a slightly different route than I’d planned. That’s fine, though. I prefer to shoot by following whatever the kids want to do anyway.

You can sample honey-glazed buns here too. I haven’t had one myself, but the kids said it was delicious.

At Gangguan there’s a two-story lookout like this.. when I went up, some older people were having a drink, and when we made eye contact, they apologized and quietly slipped away. Anyway, it had never even occurred to me to go up here, but when you shoot with kids, you end up in all sorts of strange places.

I meant to wrap up in front of the Turtle Ship.. but the kids were busy chasing pigeons.

Somehow it ended up looking like a Children’s Day promo shot..
When the kids run, I have to run too.. so photo shoots with kids are among the most physically demanding. That takes even more energy for someone like me.. who lets the kids set the pace rather than directing everything as the photographer.

This seems to be some kind of Tongyeong mascot.

For the finale, we wrap up in front of the Joseon navy’s Turtle Ship.
Thanks to them, today’s shoot ended on a fun note again. I don’t know when we’ll meet next, but I hope there’s a day we can meet again xD

The Tongyeong Dongpirang family photo shoot is a 1-hour session, and the price in Tongyeong is fixed at 120,000 KRW. You get 10 edited photos and 200 original photos. Take in Tongyeong and leave with a family photo too.
That’s it for today. I’ll be back with some other news soon!

The price in Tongyeong is fixed at 120,000 KRW, and you get 10 edited photos and 200 original photos. Booking details and contact information are available on the Sarangbi Snap page.