A commissioned portrait series documenting the emerging surf culture in South Korea, produced for a Korean surf club. Shot on the Korean coast, the project explores surfing as a newly popular sport and subculture taking root along the country's eastern and southern shores.

What makes this series distinctive is the process: Tim Franco used an analog large format 8x10 camera with paper negatives, developed in caffenol — a homemade developer made from coffee, vitamin C, and washing soda. The resulting portraits have a raw, painterly quality that reflects both the physicality of the surfers and the experimental spirit of the project.

The series sits at the intersection of documentary photography, portraiture, and alternative photographic processes — a deliberate contrast between an ancient technique and a modern subculture finding its place in contemporary Korea.

For commercial photography and production enquiries: timfranco@gmail.com | Propaganda Studio