∴My First Official Kpop Show∴

and how I got there from the basement scene

I was tasked this past week with photographing the Korean idol KINO at his debut solo show. I could be wrong but I’m guessing most of you, especially those of you who found me through Substack, didn’t sub with expectations of this kind of imagery infiltrating your inbox. Truth is I didn’t get into photography expecting to be the one making this kind of image.

I cut my photographic teeth shooting photos of bands at punk clubs in Durban more than a decade ago. It was a small scene. I had no idea what I was doing really, and my beat-up old speedlight blasted that fact directly into the increasingly agitated eyes of the swirling crowds.

I resisted the urge to reedit this.

Most of the pictures from that time are a mess, but I loved playing with the colourful lights on offer, and being someone who cares deeply for music, shooting live shows had an electric quality to the experience.

When I arrived in Seoul I was introduced to a writer whose blog slash gig guide was a sort of sacred periodical for expats who wanted to know what was going on in the city. It was also a bit of a gauge for what was cool, covering film, political discussions, artists and, of course, bands. She started getting me press passes to shoot (and occasionally write about) international bands that were touring through the country. It may seem like I had had some sort of preparation for these shoots, but I was totally green and unaware. Still, I was happy to finally be seeing international shows and I just went along for the ride.

Driving around at night in my early 20s, delaying my return home, I’d listen to The Passenger and dream of life in other countries.

After a few years, with everything slowly being siloed away by Facebook and Instagram, the blog faded and I stopped shooting bands altogether. I focused commercially on fashion and grew my hair long.

In an effort to combat my softened office-chair body I took up bouldering, and at a local gym, chalky-handed and despairing at my weakness, I got chatting to the other foreigner there. In Korea, we’re called ‘Foreigner’ if we’re not called ‘Alien’. Patrick, it turned out, booked bands.

So what are the chances of a Cloud Nothings show?

Low apparently.

You’re British. Do you like I Am Kloot?

A look of ‘How on earth did you hear about them?’

I used to shoot bands once…

It wasn’t long after that I got the call to shoot a show for a traveling singer, Samm Henshaw. Next up were Kings of Convenience. A year later we traveled with a Korean artist to Australia where she was to play SXSW.

It’s been a lot of fun drawing tighter the Venn overlap of my loves for photography and live music.

I sort of treat every one of these shoots like it might be my last, and that pushes me to photograph them in a way that isn’t just documenting them with bright, sharp pictures proving they happened. What I’m trying to do is to make a small set of stand-alone images that represent the show in a heightened, kinetic way. I want images that can live on once the show’s final resonance subsides. With those lofty claims in mind, here are 8 from the 1800 I shot, which for me made the cut.

Technical Specs

• I kept the ISO at around 640 (though I’m happy to crank it if I want a purposefully lo-fi image).

• I got the light flares by placing a triangular prism under my 24-70. This didn’t work nearly as well on my 70-200.

• The second to last one is an intentional shutter drag.

• Iggy Pop looked at me.

Cheers,

Chris