Resolution

Ok everyone, its been a few years since I have upped the resolution of my desktop images and I think that it may be time to jump in and commit to posting higer resolution desktops in the future. I realize that screens can get pretty big these days and my only reservation in the past was giving out images that are getting to the point where you could make fair size prints of them but I have held out long enough I think and it may be time to change the crop size setting in photoshop to something bigger.

So, that said, what should the new resolution be? maybe the resolution of the current 27“ imac? I would offer multiple resolutions but I simply don’t have the time to make multiple versions and lager images scale down to smaller screens anyway so thats not really an issue. If you have an opinion, now is the time to jump in and say it.

Also, if there are specific desktops you would like to see at a higher resolution go ahead and leave a note in the comments below and with time I will go back through and update some of the more popular older desktops where I am able to do so. I don’t have all of my old imagery in here in Seoul but when I get back I can have some reference here to know what readers would like to see.

I’ve been mulling over iPad/iPhone versions of some images as well which could easily be included in the zip along with the others and would not take much time to add in the future. So at any rate, let me know your thoughts! Thanks!

Bananas

As the light fades to dawn even bananas glow in the warm dying light. Funny though, the light reflected off of my camera lens and onto the bananas there as you can see in the circle of light. I feel like I have gotten slightly less timid about taking the time to light up a shot well, even among a busy street or in front of someones shop. It seems there is a sort of photo taking defense barrier around foreigners here and there is not too much in the way of complaints to be found among people. Well, not outside of the occasional person staring at me. I find it interesting that I am able to feel so comfortable here where I clearly stand out among the people of this country. I guess after all of the traveling I have done I have gotten to the point where race or size or appearance simply don’t enter into my mind when looking at a person so existing here as a foreigner I feel right at home in many ways.

Hmmm, outside of one strange incident on a subway a couple of days ago when I was sitting on the train cleaning up one of my cameras with YoungDoo and a woman that I noticed walking towards us from the corner of my eye lifted her foot while walking down the train and stomped down onto the top of my foot while quietly muttering “This is not your country.” For whatever reason, I didn’t react to what had happened. I wasn’t even sure what she said until YoungDoo looked over at me, a bit confused asking if I had heard what she said. I figured getting upset or reacting to it would simply give whoever it was the satisfaction of making her point. The way I see it, there are people in this world who, for whatever reason, were taught to think in a way that leads them to hold a higher sense of honor within their race/religion or possibly distrust of people from other parts of the world whether that be from the past or possibly a personal experience that left a scar in their mind that conjures up feelings of anger and distrust. Its a complex world we live in and thoughts like these are bound to be present among some people in the world and so reacting to such outward aggression, even something as understated as stepping on my foot, seems pointless and would most likely simply fuel the flame. Its good to remember sometimes in this life that we are all in this together, no matter what land mass we live on or what beliefs we may hold within ourselves about our origins. Anyways! Sorry to ramble, Enjoy the bananas!

To download the desktop wallpaper size image of the bananas you see above simply CLICK OR RIGHT CLICK HERE to download the zip file containing the image and the terms of use. On a side note, I occasionally have someone write to say they have had trouble with a zip here or there, don’t hesitate to write to tell me about it as I am here to help when I can. Usually simply downloading it again will solve the problem but if not let me know and I will see what I can do.

Soda

There was finally some sun here in Seoul and the afternoon gave us a nice surprise in a beautifully lit street to photograph around. I got a few nice desktopish images out of the shooting around which I am excited to share. These bottles were just such an obviously lovely thing to shoot while glowing in the setting sun and while crouched in the doorway of a little shop I snapped a few nice ones trying to keep the framing nice and minimal for your wallpapering needs. I will post a couple more as I have time to.

To download the bigger desktop wallpaper version simply CLICK OR RIGHT CLICK HERE to download the attached zip which also contains the terms of use. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy!

Birdhouse In Your Soul

After posting the last set of desktops I knew I had some video of the same object that I wanted to make into something at some point and so I went ahead and put together the few clips I recorded of it into a short video. Im starting to see a lot of possibility in these short videos because in a sense they are simply moving photographs. This and they are a lot of fun to create. The only thing I could complain about here is maybe that I was shooting at too high of an ISO so its a bit grainy but still I thought it was pretty nice footage and could not wait to throw something together to share. I hope you enjoy it!

Caged

When we moved into this great little studio apartment for the month it was pretty barren and YoungDoo had the idea to give it a little touch of home or comfort by decorating it with a couple of simple things, one of the things we put in here was a really neat bird cage cutout that simply folded outward to make the shape of a cage. Simple and a really nice touch to the room. I have been trying to take a few nice shots of it since we have had it up and I finally have a few I am happy enough with to share. It was surprisingly tricky to take photos of trying to light up the background and window to work with the image and framing it in an interesting way as it was slowly spinning around but I did manage to get these and I hope you enjoy them! The first is the view from my window here in Seoul, seven floors up.

To download the images in desktop wallpaper size simply CLICK OR RIGHT CLICK HERE to download the zip containing all three images as well as the newly updated terms of use in which I simply added a little paragraph about re-posting images and sharing the photos online. I know there are a number of new readers recently and I want to thank you for stopping by! I will do my best to keep things interesting around here for you! All the best, thanks, and enjoy!

Falling Up

New video! I have to admit I really love making these videos, short clips from wherever I can manage to record them. My previous two from India found a lot of love from my readers and I was excited to make a new one at some point to share. This time around I had access to a high definition camera for the first time ever, a Canon 5D MarkII and I am thrilled with the results and can not wait to eventually have one of my own.

On a random grey day here in my apartment in Seoul big snowflakes started to slowly drift down from the sky and so I took advantage of being seven floors up and captured video of the snow falling from a number of different angles and this ended up being my favorite, very straight forward and subtle. The snow drifting through the focal point halfway to the street which is blurred in a wash of bokeh below and during this take one single person wandered through the shot and ended up acting as a ghost in my snowy mini movie. Another hypnotic moment slightly altered to bring a bit of mystery to the table and I hope you all enjoy it. You can see it in full HD over on the Vimeo page, apparently I’m not allowed to embed HD video unless I am a plus member I think.

Edit: Also, on a related note, there was a video from a while back made by YoungDoo where she reversed the fall of the snow and I loved it at the time and I was reminded of it after I made this and posted it and I wanted to add link to it for those of you who liked this video I think you will love hers as well, just beautiful!

Music is from Four Tet, a great song from his wonderful new album.

Drifter

I love that there is a pigeon in the shot here, I have no idea why but I felt it made the shot a slight bit more interesting somehow. In framing this I knew I wanted it to be a desktop and I also new that by putting the subject on the right here I would be going against the unwritten rule of leaving the right side clear for icons in OS X but sometimes I can not help myself as I just frame shots as I see them and in a way that works best for the shot so I hope you don’t mind when I choose to do so. Why not flip it? well, that just feels weird to me, once I take a shot I sort of get attached to it and flipping it just feels so counterintuitive, flipping reality like that. Also, look, I am in the shot too!

To download the larger version of the image simply CLICK OR RIGHT CLICK HERE to download the attached zip file containing the image and the terms of use. Thanks and enjoy!

Rice Wine

I shot this while walking around in a few blocks of an amazing little area called Chungmuro which is full of wonderful cozy little camera shops, most selling film cameras and film and darkroom or lighting equipment. The window shopping is simply the best! So why not a photo of some cameras in a shop here? I was wondering that myself just now and maybe I will have to make a trip back there sometime for that but for now I snapped this interesting shot of some vibrant green bottles full of rice wine. They were glowing like this and I could not resist. I have not been to a city that has so much green around as Seoul… anyways.

To download the full size wallpaper simply CLICK OR RIGHT CLICK HERE to download a zip containing the image and the terms of use. I am thinking of updating the terms as I wrote them three or four years ago and since then internet sharing and linking around and the fact that everyone is online with their own casual blog now sort of makes me feel like maybe its time to redefine them a little. Hmmmm….

Temple

While walking around in Seoul we stopped by a seemingly random Buddhist temple surrounded by tall buildings and metropolitan city life and while it was pretty quiet I could not help but sort of feel like it was missing something somehow due to its busy surroundings. There were places of peacefulness hiding among the sound of cars and cold wind blowing through the buildings such as this, a common little bowl for burning incense along with a prayer. I love the smell cast off these spots and could not help but casually snap a photo while I was there.

To download the desktop size version of the photo simply CLICK OR RIGHT CLICK HERE to grab the zip which also has a handy little terms of use file for your reading pleasure. Thanks for visiting and enjoy!