World Wide Instameet 11 (#WWIM11) was held last weekend and I once again had the opportunity to joined to the one in Seoul, hosted by Seoul State of Mind. This time, we roamed around the Changdeok Palace (창덕궁) and pretty much stayed there for about 3 hours or so. Since this is my second instameet, I got to see people that I've met from the previous instameet (see WWIM10 post here) as well as new friends, which is always fun :) One thing in common though, is meeting people who are in transit—whether they're here for just a short trip or staying for a couple of years—just like me. It always fascinates me to listen to other people's life stories. I also got the chance to meet a couple of people, who I follow on instagram, in person and get to know them a little bit better.

To tell you the truth, instagram has connected me to some of the most wonderful people I've met here in Seoul. We bonded through our passion for photography and it has became a window of opportunity to get to know more about the people behind the camera. It has also has given me multiple chances to collaborate with other artists and they were really fun experiences. Through collaborations, you inspire, be inspired, and push each other to be better. And so with that, friendships were born and I'll be forever thankful for instagram for connecting me to these wonderful people. (p.s. this post is totally not sponsored by instagram. just sharing my experience :p)

Anyways, although it wasn't intentional, I ended up shooting a lot of portrait shots this time and got a set of #architectureandpeople series. Can't wait for the next WWIM! :)

(Special thanks to Ken for hosting WWIM11)

Photo by: @seoul_stateofmind @inner.pastiche

Thank you @seoul_stateofmind, @inner.pastiche, @hannahmuhh, @noahskim, @soozee324, @ej_esq, @joankeem, @ian_mckay, @mikekineman for making each shots an interesting one :)

This past Saturday, I got a chance to join an instameet in Seoul that was hosted by Ken Lee from Seoulstateofmind (check out his blog if you haven't. He has a very cool photo collections). This was my first instameet experience and I got to say it was pretty interesting and fun. More than 40 people showed up for the event and everybody is from everywhere. It's kinda cool to meet people from different parts of the world. Since the group was kinda big, people split into smaller groups when exploring the areas. I walked together with 3 other people who I met that day for the first time and our group kinda get lost because we're pretty much always behind. Still, it was fun playing catch up and trying to find out where the rest of the group was :)

We started our route from Hyehwa Station (혜화역) and hiked up to Naksan Park (낙산공원) to see the view from the top. After that we headed down and explored the Ihwa Mural Village (이화 벽화마을), where they have these cool artworks painted on the walls around the neighborhood. Cheonggyecheon stream (청계천) was the next stop and for the last stop we made our way to Dongdaemun Design Plaza (동대문디자인플라자) and pretty much dispersed from there. I got some good shots, made new friends, and had a good time during the 4 hours we were doing the photowalk. Definitely going to go again if there's going to be one in the future. And special thanks to Ken Lee for organizing the event!

WWIM 11 Seoul

WWIM10Seoul