Exhibition: Korea Photographer, gallery at Gwangwhamun Station, Seoul

This exhibition had lots of landscape images taken around Korea. They showed the beauty of the countryside, something I haven't seen yet.

http://koreaphotographer.com/xe/

I love the colours in the images; although many focus on just one colour this is beautiful and really emphasises the beauty. The flowers moving in some of the images show how the weather affects the flowers and gives added beauty. Many are not the average composition of a landscape photo which I like, not showing the top of a tree for example.

Exhibition: To see Life to see the world, Sejong Centre, Seoul

This exhibition was another popular one! There were many images taken from Life Magazine over the years.

The first image that struck me was of a man on the moon, which had a small amount of colour in it. This was near an image of the Yangtse river near Magic Mountain taken by Dmitri Kessel which was quite mystical.

The image of Koreans mourning the death of Kim Koo was interesting as this assassination happened in my neighbourhood. The image was taken in the garden of his mansion  by Carl Mydans in 1949. The bullet hole in the window is evident although not the main focus, it tells a story in itself.

Charlie Chaplin as clown in the dressing room on the set of Limelight taken byW. Eugene Smith 1952 was a different view of the comedian, a new perspective.

A portrait of Hitler taken in c.1932 is a very clear portrait by an unknown photographer. You can really look into his eyes but there is no sign of all the evil.

Actors and actresses are the main focus in the portraits, showing them in their place of work.

Muhammad Ali 1966 Gordon Parks close up with sweat - the lighting on this image was intense and I got the feeling of how hard he works.

Pablo Picasso then Henri Matisse painting with light pen taken Gjon Mili 1949. This showed artists creating more art in a photo where we can also see the artist, a totally new perspective.

Some images were very grainy, giving a different quality to them.

Exhibition: Robert Capa 100, Sejong Centre, Seoul

This exhibition was really popular and it took me a few visits to Sejong to actually get in as there were huge queues!

Once I was in, it was great seeing these iconic photos printed large on the walls. The first one that struck me was of a man greeting the first American troops. There were photos from 1943 with wounded people and American troops landing along with a bombed church in Normandy taken in 1944 which gave me an insight into the second world was and the devastation it caused.

There was then a series of American masters in love and war, including Ernest Hemingway holding a pheasant he shot, taken in 1940 or 41. There was an image of Pablo Picasso on the beach in France in 1948 and one of Truman Capote and his dog taken in Italy in 1953.

The last one I looked at was one depicting the death of a loyalist militia man taken in Cordoba in 1936. This image is the one I always remember being Capa's and it was captivating to see it printed so large.

Seeing all the images and remembering wars that took place close to home always gives new perspective and makes me think about the wars occurring around the world still.