eric tsui

I had a particularly poor reaction to the end of my first relationship when I lost both who I considered to be my best friend and my girlfriend at the time. I retreated to whatever secluded seat there was at the library to study and pass the time as fast as possible. Then I left Vancouver for a year of study abroad once I was at the stage where I knew moping about wouldn’t do me any good. As I was finishing up my exchange year in Seoul, I decided to stay for the summer to travel the country. 

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I started photography in 2014 as a way to document everything I’d seen so I wouldn’t ever forget. If you’ve gotten to know me, you’ll know how fickle my memory is. It was innocent bliss, shooting away in Asia where film and development was cheap and conducive to self-teaching. I’d open up Google Maps and pick a random neighbourhood every weekend I was free. All passions, I think, stem from that first initial feeling of rapid, obsessive learning where you feel an exponential amount of progression before you ever consider the reality of it. 

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This was taken in Oryukdo, south of Busan. It’s a tiny, rocky piece of land where the famous sea women dive for two minutes at a time, without much in the way of equipment, before selling their catches nearby. I took plenty of photos on the streets of Seoul and practiced portraiture during Fashion Week. However, this was what I consider to be the first photo in which I knew in my bones that I captured ‘the decisive moment’. I thought to myself how happy I’d be at their age maintaining that many friends and being able-bodied enough to hike for a picnic. It was bittersweet to leave, but I’ll always consider Korea to be my second home.