South Korean Drag scene Portraits
Last year, during the pandemic, I stared to work on a new series about the drag scene in South Korea. In a country where conservatism still prevails, I wanted to do a series about a community that goes against this trend. I started to shoot 4x5 portraits of different person from the community but unfortunatly, because of the pandemic, I am left with an un-finished series. As soon as we are allowed back in bars and clubs, I will continue shooting the performances to make it complete. In the meanwhile, please check out a few of those portraits here:
Tim Franco is a portrait photographer based in Seoul, South Korea
Gangwon | South Korea Photographer
A couple weeks back, I felt stuck in the city. I usually travel all over Asia every month for commercial and personal shoots and since the beginning of the pandemic I am stuck at home in Seoul. I packed my large format camera in my car and drove the South Korean east coast. I traveled there a few times in the past on assignment and personal trips and slowly felt in love with the vintage look of the coastal cities with their motels and beaches. I started to document those without any particular project in my mind. On the first trip I shot only one evening and 3 frames - here they are:
Tim Franco is a photographer currently based in South Korea and available for assignment all over the country. Please get in touch : timfranco@gmail.com
North Korean portraits | Unperson
This is the first portrait of my new series about North Korean defectors.
When Kim Pil-joo was a young boy, his mom was often traveling to China illegally to purchase and sell products. Every time she got back, a smell of candy and sweets was invading their home. He imagined China as a big candy factory. At 12, during a rough year of famine in the country, he experienced a public execution. The man had stolen a copper safety line from a mine and tried to sell it. It took him two attempts to manage to escape North Korea. His mom was already in China and it was a question of survival. When he finally arrived in South Korea, he was first shocked by how welcomed he was by the local government. All his life he was told how evil the South Korean were. Even thou he now lives and studies in the south, he finds it difficult to integrate fully the social and hope for a unique identity, where north and south are just one.
To reflect this incredible transition, I chose to portray those defectors on an analog material that is not supposed to exist. Just as their situation, the negative of a Polaroid is not supposed to be usable. It is only obtained through a series of chemical purification’s of the back paper of the original image. The result is often uncertain, dirty and imperfect. This series of portraits is the first chapter of a project reflecting on North Korea and the notions of borders and identity.
The complete series is available for publication upon request @ timfranco@gmail.com
Seoul urban study and cityscape
Itaewon at dawn
Gangnam offices at dusk
Central Seoul at dusk
Gangnam main shopping area
Itaewon
Seoul is connected & wired through the latest and fastest online technologies. It is also a new city, mostly reconstructed after the Korean War, its large avenues and modern buildings seems endless in the center and spreading through beautiful mountains surrounding the city. It gives this megapolis a unique energy. While modern & tall buildings can be found in various part of the city, they always surround smaller and more intimate districts made of small alleys , traditional houses and business. Christianity is also an important part of modern Korean culture. In any district, the neon litted crosses can be seen from afar.
This urban study made with a traditional 4x5 large format wooden field camera in film aims to document the urban enviornement of the South Korean Capital.