Beondegi, a photo from Seoul, North

Photographer's Note

Beondegi : the ugly smell.

During a one and a half day stopover in Seoul, I wandered through Insadong market, this is where all the Seoul first timers go.
Insadong is about a main street populated with stalls, backside alleys, artshops and provides afterall a nice -if not original- little walk for a chilling winter afternoon... few tourists lost there, but yet a popular place for seoulites.. and naturally you may accidentally bump into the snacking they like most.

The human being underuses his olfaction sense, although it is said it is the longest remembered of all senses... more than sight for instance.

I since cannot help but associate Insadong with the stench pertaining from the sidestalls, like this one, which cater the Korean snack-eater with steaming hot beondegi. The ammoniacal foul odor is striking ; probably it's the humidity and thickness of the smell contrasting with the razorblade freshness of the cold winter air that makes it worse to experience.

What is this beondegi thing, would you ask? Ok, read this : Steamed silk worm... Yummy.
I suppose that making your most convincing deadly face and thinking of something else is mandatory to survive eating beondegi.

One guidebook says it's customary to find them canned in most korean supermarkets : I have asked for a can of these worms at the airport to carry back home. No way : the girls at the shop looked at me very oddly and grinned, like I was... uh... Korean?

Instead I bought kimchi filled chocolate, which tastes like someone had farted in your mouth. For those who wonder again, kimchi is chillied and fermented cabbage. Aaah... the delicacies of Korea, something not to miss...

skippy007, xavis, everlasting, Porteplume, Curioso, Galeota, delnaja, tamatree, markgong, nicoz, tcht, michiels, Roly has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

skippy007 (12510) 2008-04-05 16:43

Hello Luko,
You have captured and presented the smell very well in this interesting shot.
Not sure what is best your photo or your note both very good,
Thanks
Regards
Santo

xavis (3180) 2008-04-05 17:13

Hola,
軋 fait plaisir de voire cette photo aussi par ici, et en version original. De cette maniere je peut bien apprecier le travail de PP que tu as fait, concernant celle que tu as post� sur holik.
Celle ci est magnifique en composition, et par cette atmosphere etrange que degage. Les couleurs satures augmenten cette sensation. Mais je prefer celle de holik,...le monocromatisme bleuatres donnent encore plus de force � l'etrangete de la photo. Et si on va plus loin, pour tenter de representer une mauvaise odeur par l'image, je donnerais une dominance aux verts,...une couleur qui peut 黎re associ� avec qqch de pourri ou degolas. Les tons bleuatres donnent plus la sensation de froideur o irr馥l.
Mais en tout cas un plaisir de voire ton travail.

hasta la vista,

Javier

PS: de voire le peu de commentaires qu'elle a ta photo (par l'instant, je l'espere), je me dis que c'est bien d'黎re sur holik, o� les photos pas conventionnelles ont plus de place. :-)

everlasting (20002) 2008-04-05 22:12

Listening to you recall the culinery delights of Korea I cannot wait to go:) Interesting compo of your lifesize beondegi, Luko and BTW nice to see you here.

cessy (13647) 2008-04-05 23:59

sureal street photo
very nice, Luko

eleparc (24063) 2008-04-06 6:35

Petard, comme elle d駱ote cette photo! J'adore cette femme qui semble pr黎e � sortir de l'image vers le vrai monde... pr黎e � traverser l'馗ran... dommage pour le haut � droite probablement du � l'usage du 24mm... je suis ravi que les odeurs ne traversent pas l'馗ran vu ce que tu en dis...

devimeuxbe (58557) 2008-04-06 7:23

Salut Luko
C'est quoi ce truc !
image tres etonnante
belle prise avec un angle en plus interessant
Amities de Chittagong
Bertrand

Galeota (10352) 2008-04-06 9:39

And then you've added two new countries to your attic. This is a really odd scene, but much less scary than the other blue version which seems as if it had been taken at the morgue. Reminds me somehow of David Lynch's atmosphere. As per the suggested delicacies, allow me to decline and stick faithfully to swiss chocolate. No harm intended.

Bartleby (13552) 2008-04-06 10:36

Bonsoir Luko,
J'aime beaucoup cette photo un peu 駭igmatique, les couleurs satur馥s et le vignettage. On ne sait pas bien ce qu'on voit de premier abord et le personnage prend une allure presque mena軋nte. On dirait presque de la SF...Je trouve qu'elle m駻ite plus de points. La note apporte un 馗lairage suppl駑entaire bienvenu. Bien vu.
Philippe

delnaja (2056) 2008-04-07 0:29

peu pr駸ent mais quand tu postes, 軋 fait du bien! Tr鑚 bon choix de ce point de vue et les couleurs sont particuli鑽ement belles. De la tr鑚 grande photo...

bwiti (402) 2008-04-07 5:36

Elle est vraiment r騏ssie celle-ci...
Terriblement urbaine, un rien futuriste.. Mais non en fait, j'oublie que nous vivons d駛� dans ce que je croyais 黎re de la science fiction....
Bien sur j'aime ton point de vue, le cadrage, ces couleurs que je trouve meilleures que le traitement crois� sur photoholik... Quant � la note, je suis trop paresseux pour la traduire et si j'use d'un logiciel cela donne des r駸ultats surr饌listes...
A plus...

Homerhomer (4080) 2008-04-07 12:27

wow, what an image, I absolutely love it, would fit perfectly with nat geographic's greatest portraits. I can't find one thing I would have changed, the mood and atmosphere is superb, love it's grit, it carries the stench you are talking about.

Glad you enjoyed the Korean cousine ;-),
I see more movement on TE from my friends recently, I have to get my [email protected]@ out and start some shooting.

yanseiler (20) 2008-04-08 16:34

A�e superbe et encore mieux qu'en bleu, dans les favs... Je comprends un poil mieux la sc鈩e mais je me demande ce qu'elle faisait, pas 騅ident d'avoir quelqu'un qui regarde � travers une b稍he... quelles couleurs (veste, ampoule,...)

vapours (8264) 2008-04-14 11:07

Real gritty kind of shot, plenty of juicy contrast and off-colour...which does a pretty good job of portraying what you say in your note about the smell and atmosphere of the area.

Prisley (1485) 2008-04-17 1:20

I'm a space man...tididiti...pampadampam...
Tu connais cette bonne vieille chanson des dance floors des annees 90s?...sinon demande a ta fille ;o)...bon et bien cette photo me fait penser a un extra terrestre venu en reconnaissance...de son pont d'observation proteger dans une bulle qui est supposer le rendre invisible aux yeux des hommes...seulement apparemment un bug informatique central l'a demasque!
Bref....elle me fait froid dans le dos moi cette photo. J'aime pas trop l'ambiance.
Le POV est essentiel ici mais il manque quelque chose pour moi pour que ca fonctionne. Le cote droit est pour moi sans interet..Et la lumiere (a part les neons a gauche) n'est pas tip top....
ON VEUT DES PHOTOS DES FIDJIS!!!
:)

markgong (2840) 2008-04-18 10:05

Hahah, great note Luko and awesome photo. The only thing that bothers me is the black...thing?...at the top right corner of the photo. What is it?

Love the color, tone, and mood. The two blue triangles frame her face perfectly.

nicoz (1979) 2008-04-28 3:30

Hi Luko,
Reminds me of these TV series were you see dead bodies in plastic bag with a hint of X-files in there too.
The compo is cool and so are lights and colors.
I heard that some Japanese/Korean research teams have developped a piece of kit that allows to send smells over the internet!!! I'm glad not to have this machine at home ;-)
Nicolas

tcht (7565) 2008-04-29 23:33

Hi Luko,
this kind of snackbars with plastic covers is one of the things i'd associate with korea, and you've done a fantastic job capturing them with a unique angle and great human element. i quite like kimchi (with rice) but kimchi chocolate would probably be a bit extreme :)
Cheers
CH

michiels (4170) 2008-06-19 4:31

hello Luko,

:) and :#
i think it's fun travelling with you ;D , or at least go for dinner :)
new things in our lives, new flavours to be discovered , ... the photo is perfect with the note, the woman don't look too happy, prisoned in the plastic, looking for a way to escape but no ... not possible, first you have to taste that delicious food ...
superphoto !!
greetings, inn

scalerman (26900) 2008-08-18 7:48

Luko: some amazing, if random, images here. It would be nice to see you around again. c

Roly (2024) 2008-09-01 17:21

Great to see you posting again Luko, just the notes alone add a lot to this site. I had never heard of "Beondegi", although it seems to be as famous, or infamous, as fugu. Interesting choice of image for this note and title, it does require a bit of imagination but with some effort it ends up being quite suggestive. The dark corner bothers me as well, but I understand you had good reasons to leave it there.