Follow My Path: A walk on the streets of Gunja

     Gunja Station. I've been here a few times. There's a cheap place I could sleep in whenever I'm close by. But whenever I come here, I go straight to the motel. No roaming around. No scouting. No photography. In fact, I might come here after a long night's session. But I'd be too tired to venture out. I found this place dull. That is, until I took a cab (I almost always take the subway) and found myself in the middle of the busiest area of this place. There was life after all! Since I could be a regular here, I searched for places to eat first. It was easy. So I started looking for interesting subjects. It was night time. But I'm not in the mood for cityscapes. I found myself looking at subjects as an individual instead of the whole picture. It makes street photography easier for me.

Ready For Action
With the constant in and out of the restaurant, the delivery boys just need a more comfortable way of getting their gear ready.  Being a bike rider myself, I know how convenient a helmet stand is.

     Streets in here are quite wide and crossing them takes one to go underground (subway station) and climb back up the exit.  I got curious why the floor was wet; it never rained.  To my surprise, there were cleaning ladies frantically mopping the floors, scrubbing whatever, and just basically cleaning.  I didn't even know they clean the subway this way.  I just thought there were those male janitors popping out every once in a while.  And yes, they're all females... an issue here in Korea, I will mention on my future blog.

Speed Cleaning
Trying not to bother these ladies, I tried some hip shots but always failed.  I'm still learning how to do so, but I realized this isn't the proper time.  The women are just too busy.

     There was nothing much on the other side of the street.  A couple of bars, motels, restaurants, and lots of drunk people.  I just don't feel like shooting.  Easy targets as they may be, I try avoid shooting drunk people (although there were rare occasions).  I can not reason with them if in case they protest.  I just continued walking, hoping for something to catch my attention.  Well, something did.

Treat Her Like A Baby
I thought I saw a young woman burping or swaying baby.  What made me stop was the baby's color.  I got close enough but unnoticed, to take a shot when I realized she was carrying a dog.

     It's either I got tired, bored, or just uninspired.  But before I took a nap, I had this idea of shooting those arrows painted on the road for directions.  I probably will be taking more pictures of them wherever I go.

Birth
It's the very first of my on-going "Arrow Shots."  I like the RAW image but there's something missing that I can't point my finger at.  So this has gone through some heavy processing.  It still needs something.  But I guess I'll just wait for the next arrow shot to see.

     Morning.  After a few hours of sleep, I feel ready for another chance of this place.  I wouldn't say the city failed me that night.  More like the other way around.  So I'm out for more street photography.  It's broad daylight.  I hate it, but I think it will work for me somehow.

Silently Watching
These parts of cars always catch my attention.  As some of my very few readers know, I'm fond of reflections.  But I never got a good shot out of a car's eyes.  This isn't one of them, but I think I'm getting close.

Replacement
No tall flowers yet?  Paint some!  Well, that's what I thought when I saw this one.  The market place has many of this kind.  Glass paintings.  But this is the most organized I've seen.

Sunday Morning
What else would you expect on a Sunday morning?  Typical still-drunken-old-men scattered on the streets.  It's also typical for a foreign photographer to take pictures of them.  But it's not all about that.  I finally found a good subject on a quite-empty place, where I won't get stared at.  The perfect time to practice shooting from the hip.

     Gunja has been good to me so far.  I come in peace, sleep in peace, and get out with complete body parts.  Some parts busy, some parts empty.  Some parts interesting, and some parts not.  But I think I didn't give much justice to this place.  Next time I come to photograph, I should research more beforehand.