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in Korea. Send art icles, photos, and letter s mar kedfor publication to mattlam ers@heraldm .com

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18 COMMUNITYWEDNESDAYDECEMBER 12, 2007

By Penelope Thompson

ULSAN For a fresh cultu r-al perspective, foreigners some-times have the ability to ob-serve a place and it s people in adifferent way than locals do.The International CreativeCommunity is a uniqu e artist sgroup founded in 2006. It wasstar ted by Austral ian ar t is tLainie Cooper and Ulsan-basedKorean artist Kim Chang-hanwith the aim of fostering cultur-al exchanges between artists ofdifferent countries through ex-hibitions, workshops and home-stay exchange programs.

In Ju ne this year, 12 Australianartists visited Korea to partici-pate in an exhibition in the pres-tigious Hyundai Art Gallery inUlsan, as well as tour Korea andparticipate in a variety of art sem-inars and workshops. During thistime I met one of the visitingAustralian a rtists and viewed theexhibition, and subsequentlyjoined th e group myself.

The membership of the ICC isdiverse and includes Australians,Canadians, Americans a nd Brits.

Emerging or established artistsof any nationality are welcome to join as new members. Thismonth, from Dec. 11 to Dec. 20,the ICC is holding another inter-national exhibition in the BukguCulture and Arts Centre inUlsan. The title of the exhibition,Impressions From Afar AVisitors Per spective, reflects theway that foreigners often view anew country with fresh eyes.Hence, the Korean artists aresharing works of art inspired bytheir overseas travels, with ma nyinteresting visions of foreignlands such as Africa, China,Australia, India and Europe and th e foreign artists are show-ing work based on their variedimpressions of Korea.

Unlike the June ICC exhibi-tion, when most of the foreignartworks were contributed byvisiting Australian artists, thistime around m any of the foreignartists represented reside inKorea, which adds quite a dif-ferent dimension. There arethree foreign resident photogra-phers Kevin Pope, KatrinaBaran and Gareth Copley

showing their unique vision ofthe Korean people and land-scape, as well as multimediaartist Ryan Maclay, who is dis-playing an installation inspiredby the distinctive graphics anddesign features of Korean cloth-ing.

Other resident artists includeCanadian painter David Macri,with his commemorative por-trait of an un cle who died in theKorean War, and Australianpainter-writer Leah Broadbywith some autobiographicalworks. Also included are paint-ings and ceramics sent over bysome of the Aussie exchange

artists inspired by their Koreanvisit in June 2007.

Of course I contributed to thisexhibition as well, with lastnights opening performan ce enti-tled Portrait of a Foreign Artistin Korea, 2007, and an installa-tion of the same name. Duringone part of my performance I ac-tually emerged from a zipped upsuitcase and proceeded to give anEnglish lesson on the theme oftime is money (something whichshould be readily understood bymany a foreign teacher in Korea).

The ICC Impressions FromAfar exhibition takes place atthe Ulsan Bukgu Cultu re & Arts

Centre gallery, 1010, Saneop-ro,Bukgu, Ulsan. You can contactthe Gallery by phone at 052-219-7400, or for enqu iries in Englishabout the exhibition or ICCmembership, please contact KimChang-han at kchn@use.go.kr orcall 018-591-3338.

Penelope Thompson is an Australian contemporary artistliving in Busan wh o works in per- formance, installation and com-mun ity art events. You can see herblog at http:/ / penelopethomp-son.blogspot.com

(thomp son_penny@yahoo.co.uk)

A fresh take on anancient civilization

By Matthew Lamers

Picture this: Youre a litt lechild, you have some 20 broth-ers, 25 sisters, and your 20-year-old fridge is barely work-ing. One day, some giant for-eigners show up with burly, hi-larious looking mustaches. Theythen ask you to choose who hasthe most hilarious looking mus-tache and give you a present: ahuge fridge filled with candy.

It was nice to see smiles ontheir faces and yet heart wrench-ing at the sa me time. Being a fa-ther m yself, its tough to see thekids without parents t o love andcare for them, said Albert Ryan.

Ryan was one of the key orga-nizers of a very special charitydrive that recently raised nearly$2,000 for two Seoul orphan-

ages. The idea was simple, butthe overall issue is complex.Ryan and his business partner,Bernie Mullin owners of thepopular 3 Alley Pub in Itaewon had 31 people grow mustach-es and collect sponsors, the pro-ceeds of which were to go to theorphanages.

Its a contest th at is commonevery Movember in NewZealand and in Australia.Usually the contest, obviouslyfor men, is to raise money forprostate cancer a mens dis-ease.

He explained the cancer soci-ety in Korea told them that thesociety is already well funded. Sotheir at tention turn ed to Seoulsorphans. From there we choseorphans as our char ity and one ofour regulars came up with the

idea of actually going to the or-phanage an d having the childrenvote on the before an d after pics.

The two bar owners raised 1.7million won ($1,850), which theysplit between two orphan ages.

One had been using a fridgethat was over 20-years-old, sothey decided to put some moneytoward buying a new one, andadded a little treat inside. Wehad a new one that we filled withcandy delivered to them, and itcost 1 million won, said Ryan.

Ryan said the other orphan-age has 35 infants, who are allunder three-months-old. Thatorphanage told the organizersthey were most in need of dia-pers so Ryan and Mullin usedthe rest of the money to buy di-apers to send them.

Ryan, a Canadian, has been in

Korea for eight years, is m arriedand has a one-year-old. He ex-plained that it was gratifying togive something back to Korea af-ter years of living here. We arealways excited when we can givesomething back to the communi-ty here in Korea. My businesspartner and I are both long-timers here and loved to have theopportunity to do a little good.

Going to the orphanage andmeeting the kids was special.They loved participating in thecontest. We put the before and af-ter pictures up on white boards inan auditorium. The kids tookturns in small groups coming upto look at the photos and thencast ballots to choose a winner.They all had a good laugh, saidRyan.

Ryan said that he and Mullen

like to donate to charities everyyear. In the past they made do-nations to Helping Hands Korea a charity organization thathelps North Korean refugees.

Movemberwas a tr emendoussuccess and I believe we havestarted a tradition that will liveon for years to come. Team workbrought the whole thing togetherbut my business partner BernieMullin deserves the credit. It washis idea. We were very thankfulthat so many people were sympa-thetic to the cause and donated,said the 3 Alley Pub owner.

I hope that fundraisers suchas this will help to raise aware-ness and give them some expo-sure. That way they have achance to get other donations aswell.

(mattlam ers@heraldm.com)

Pub owners pitch in for orphans

The International Creative Communitys Impressions From Afar exhibition postcard

By Sebastian Harrison

Daejeon de la Cuba made his-tory last Sunday by taking theSSFL Division 1 t itle after anelectric 1-1 draw against de-fending champions SeoulUnited. With the titleonly ever having beenwon by teams fromSeoul, Daejeon havememorably writtentheir names onto theSSFLtr ophy and com-pleted a remarkablefairytale story, which hasseen them twice escaperelegation on the finalday of the previoustwo seasons.

As the two teamsstood for a min ute ofsilence around thecentre circle inmemory of HanRiver Harrier andformer Seoul UnitedWailer player JohnEgerton, the ten-sion was palpable.

The raucoustraveling fans ofDaejeon, madeup of variousteachers and awhole lot ofCuban flags, added a lot of at-mosphere and the stage was setfor a remarkable finale. Withonly a draw needed to take thetitle on head-to-head results fol-lowing a victory against St.Patricks last Sunday, the oddswere beginning to shorten onDaejeon de la Cuba, who hadnever before come so close towinning the Division 1 title.

Seoul United were heavy fa-vorites going into the match,brimming with talent reminis-cent of Real Ma drids famousGalacticos: The talentedMexican Alex Ramirez, goldenboot winner Matt Boulton, thelightning pace of Jerry Kakkarand the inspirational Frenchcaptain Didier Balistere, amongnumerous other players whohave played soccer at all levels.Their play lit up the FirstDivision last season as theirbrand of total football left count-less victims.

Daejeons tale is slightly dif-ferent. They are widely knownto be a team of redoubtableheart: working miracles with ashortage of resources yet alwaysscrapping to avoid relegation inthe final weeks. With only afraction of Seouls popula tionof foreigners in Daejeon, thedrive and determination ofveteran de la Cubas EoinDaly, Shane Etchegaryand goal machine MattAnderson ensured theteam survived into theyear. The very survivalof the team had been inquestion before and itseemed at times only amatter of inches couldhave shut them down forgood or relegated themto an uncertain future.

This victory is a longtime coming. Weve hadmany long and difficultseasons to get where wear e today. Year s of dedica-tion from De la Cuba play-ers along with some fan-tastic acquisitions this sea-son have helped us realizeour dreams, said ShaneEtchegary, the captain andgoalkeeper of Daejeon de laCuba.

I am delighted with thisvictory and so proud of ourplayers. We showed tremen-dous character to come togeth-er for such a triumph . We are afamily first and foremost andthat will never change, the cap-tain said.

Hasta la victoria siemprewas one of the final thingsErnesto Che Guevara wroteto Cuban leader Fidel Castrobefore he died. It translates

roughly asForever, un tilvictory tofight until the

very end.Daejeon de la

Cuba have foughtand struggled thisyear to take a titletriumph that must

rank as one of themost improbable inAsian amateur soc-cer.

Matt Andersonsfinish gave Da ejeon

a slender lead only forSeoul United to equalize inscrappy fashion. Only a laststand in the final twenty min-utes denied Seoul United thegoal they craved after multiplelast-ditch tackles and greatsaves.

For a tea m outside of Seoul totake the title in such dramaticfashion is an outstandingachievement, and demonstratesthat heart and spirit can tri-umph in the face of adversityhowever strong and talented. Ifthis is a revolution in the SSFLthen the seeds have been sownby Daejeon, who can always re-flect on the fact tha t it was themwho broke the Seoul monopolyon the title, and proved that im-possible is nothing in the lan d ofthe morning calm.

Division 1 round-up

St. Patrick s brave mission tostay in the First Division cameunstuck as they lost to the SBFCButlers 4-1 to send them d own to

division 2.(seb1_harri-

son@hot-mail.com)

Q Hi. Im new to DSLRphotography and I haveonly one lens, an 18-70mm. Ilike the lens, but Im think-ing of buying another one.What kind of lens w ould be agood second lens? Also, myfriends talk about primelenses a lot, but I dont reallyunderstand the benefit ofprime lenses. Michaella,Seoul

A Your first question is dif-ficult, because t ypes of lenses arekind of like types of shoes theyserve different purposes. For ex-ample, you wouldnt buy highheels to go walking on the beach.

There are th ree basic types oflenses: wide angle, macro and

telephoto. Each is fairly self ex-planatory. Wide angle lensesare around 12-18mm and areperfect for really wide land-scapes. Wide angle lenses usu-ally have some barr el distortionthough, due to their extremelywide range. Macro lenses arefor extreme close-ups. Macrolenses are th e best choice whenit comes to photographing bugsand flowers. Telephoto lensesare zoom lenses. These are real-ly handy when youre far a wayfrom your subject. Wildlife pho-tographers like zoom lenses; sodo sports photographers.

Portrait ph otography is a dif-ferent story, but there are nospecific lenses for working with

people. However, a longer lens such as a telephoto is rec-ommended because they tendto give a more natural faceshape, thanks to the fact thattelephoto lenses have little bar-rel distortion. The general ruleof thumb is any lens longerthan 85mm.

Usually, the lens you leave onyour camera is referred to as abase lens. It s for general sh oot-ing and your 18-70mm is greatfor that. So, before choosing an-other lens, Id recommend t ak-ing a lot more photographs a nddeciding what youre good at. Ifyou realize that you love land-scapes, get a wide angle lens. Ifyou think that portra its, macro,

or wildlife photography is yourthing, then get a lens to suitthat style of shooting.

Another great idea is to be-friend people who have thesame make of camera. Thenyou can borrow lenses and testthem out. It s an excellent wayto learn about h ow other lenseswork.

Moving on to prime lenses.Prime lenses have no zoom.This can actually have a lot ofadvantages. Prime lenses re-quire less glass, less movingparts and less engineering tomake them work. Thereforeprime lenses are generallyshar per an d faster. Also, its eas-ier to get prime lenses with a

better maximum aperture. Forexample, a 50mm prime lenscan have a large aperture likef1.4 or f1.8. This is virtually im-possible in a zoom lens. Using aprime lens can have advantageswhen youre ph otographing asubject in low light, or if youwant to make the backgroundextra blurry, by limiting yourdepth of field. We call that tech-nique Bokeh.

David Smeaton is a photog-rapher living in Seoul. Hecan be reached atdavidsm eaton@gmail.com. Tosubmit a photo for the photochallenge, please e-mail David.

My Korea is a country that is larger than life, full of vibrancy and beauty, often in the most unexpected places.At times Korea seems to the outside eye to be big andconfusing yet there is an ease that comes with living in Korea.Most of all it is fiercely unique,there is no place that is quite like Korea and it shows in its people andculture. Photo taken at the Seoul Prison Museum. Ryan Chappell/ www.lotuseaterphotography.com

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To contribute to the Community page e-mail mattlamers@heraldm.com

Daejeon defeat

Seoul U for titleThis weeks PHOTO CHALLENGE asked you to show us your Korea

Ryan FitzgeraldPhotos by Shiraz Hussain

Perry of SeoulUnited