These 4 images form a mini-series, and were part of a larger focus and project of mine on traditional occupations in the digital-aged, rapidly-modernizing South Korea. The project never truly came to fruition but it seemed wrong to confine these shots to a hard drive somewhere.
Click on any of the images below to open in Lightbox where you can see further descriptions as well as the settings used to capture them. Enjoy.
This is the Candyman. From his roadside cart in Jeonju-si, he sells hand-made Hobak Yeot, a pumpkin candy with a pleasant, sweet taste and the texture of nougat. It is prepared, broken and bagged before your eyes and sold to you cheap. The Candyman stands here from the break of dawn ’til long after night creeps in, the rhythmic tapping of his tools reminding you he’s still hard at work, his smile never faltering. He is a relic, one that might soon be lost to mere memory as the new generation, today’s Korean youth, are being driven to the larger, faceless cities in pursuit of more “rewarding” lives, eschewing the ways of old. Savour this moment in time, for it may be fleeting.
