DOWNTOWN PEACH: Book on Ahae

Last Friday, my mother and I had the honor of being invited to a dinner reception to celebrate the publication of "So Simple, so beautiful, so perfect". A monograph on the Korean photographer Ahae by Professor Milan Knizak. Of course it was not just me and her, but at least another 220 people.

We were greeted personally by the South Korean ambassador, His Excellency Mr. Oh and his wife

Mrs. Oh, whom I find wonderful to speak to. We not only spoke about the photographer Ahae but also a bit about Korean culture, which I am always earnest to learn about, since I am quarter Korean. Yes, my grandmother (otherwise in Korean Halmeoni) is Korean (from the South mind you).

During the dinner, TV monitors displayed slideshows of Ahaes' photos. Ahae, (which means "child" in Ancient Korean), decided one day, that he would take photos. He asked his son Keith H. Yoo, to buy him a camera, with which he then later sat by his window with. Ahae sat by his one window for 2 years, overlooking his vast garden and took pictures. During the 2 years, he took over 2.6 million photos, each shot filled with emotion. Of course the book does not contain all the photos, but a selected amount. I deem it best if one were to read to the poems included in the book and then look at the photos, in order to understand how he perceived nature. Just by even looking at the photos is enough, to see what emotions a person can feel by looking at parts of nature we so often miss in our everyday lives.

Minuly patek, ja a moje matka mely tu cest, ze jsme byly zvany na vecere, kde bylo oficialni prijeti a oslava publikace "So Simple, so beautiful, so perfect" , v prekladu "Tak jednoduche, tak krasne, tak dokonale". Monografie o Korejsekem fotografovi Ahae, bylo psano profesorem Milanem Knizakem. Samozrejme jsme nebyly jediny zvany, ale dalsich 220 lidi.

Byly jsme osobne privitany Jiho-Korejskym velvyslancem, Jeho Excelence pan Oh a jeho chot' pani Oh, s kterym je vzdy velmi prijemny hovor. Nejen, ze jsme mluvili o fotografovi Ahae, ale take trochu o korejske kulture, o ktere se vzdy zajimam, jelikoz jsem ctvrt Korejka. Ano, moje babicka (nebo-li korejsky Halmeoni) je Korejka (z jihu prosim vas).

Behem vecere, televizni dispeje zobrazovaly fotky od Ahae (Ahae znamena v starokorejstine "dite"), ktery se rozhod jednoho dne, ze bude fotit. Rekl synovi, Keith H. Yoo, aby mu koupil fotak, s kterym pak prosedel 2 roky sveho zivota u jednoho okna a fotil si svoji zahradu. Behem tech 2 let, nafotil Ahae zhruba 2.6 milionu fotek, kazda plna emoci. Samozrejme, ze knizka neobsahuje vsechny fotky, ale jen vyber. Myslim si, ze je nejlepsi pokud si prectete nejdrive basne psany Ahae a pak se kouknete na fotky, aby se pochopilo jeho pocity behem foceni. I kdyz, satci kdyz se budete koukat na fotky, aby jste uvideli emoce, ktery clovek citi, kdyz se kouka na prirodu, kterou mijime v nasem kazdodennim zivote.

I felt like Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City 2, when she bought shoes for $20 at the bazaar. "Only $20? For a pair of shoes?" I bought this sequin blazer at Tesco for 900 kc.

Pamatujete se na ten moment kdy Carrie Bradshaw si kupovala boty v bazaaru za $20 a nemohla tomu uverit? "Jen $20?! Za boty?!" Byla nadsena. A ja taky, kdyz jsem koupila tot flitrovany sako za 900 kc.