Sep.26th field notes

All of the children get together and eat Duckboki, a spicy rice food.



This town is packed with small-sized impoverished houses.

Sep. 24th field notes

Park sometimes go to mountain to obtain fresh water in the early morning.







A 80-year-old man takes a rest after going up mountain for 20 minutes. He uses a small-size portable fan to cool him.



He uses used plastic bottles to get waters



He quickly exercises before leaving.



He goes back home. Skyscrapers are seen near his home.

part of methodology

This is a rough draft which is part of methodology
I will add scholarly citations here but I'm unable to do that because I can't have access to MU journalism library.


I hope Martha gets me enrolled, then I can use it.



For this study, two subjects will be selected and photographed to learn poverty in Korea. The point of selecting the subjects is to identify those who represent poverty in modern society of Korea. In addition, in-depth depiction of poverty is of importance as well. For this study, photographing few subjects will be more efficient to portray deeply how poverty looks like in Korea. Thus, given future interviews committed, having few subjects is to avoid complication of viewing many different subjects and to let interviewees focus on and apprehend subjects. Therefore, I focus on two subjects who I believe well project poverty in Korea- particularly in Busan, a second biggest city in Korea. Two subjects are categorized by a family with children and an elderly couple living by themselves. Those different type of a family will project a different sort of a living style which can contribute a diversity of poverty. For instance, a family with children will allow me to view the interactions between parents and their children, and their children themselves, of which otherwise an elderly couple is unable to show much interaction. Furthermore, during interviews, the family would provide more insights into their relationships both between parents and their children and their children by themselves.

Another point when to select subjects is location of subjects - where they currently live in the city. First, the family has lived in a poor town believed to be the most vast poor area located near in Busan Port. It is a well-known place where economically the underprivileged people have lived since Korean War in 1950. The fact that the place is identified with a historical site of retaining an old-fashioned living style attracts tourists -even foreign tourists. The family have lived in the place where historically the poor have resided. Second, on the contrary, the elderly couple have lived in a town where it becomes so urbanized with the dazzling apartment complex surrounding their home. It means that the town recently experiences civilization except the couple’s house. Therefore, the two different selection of subjects living in a unparalleled site is expected to glimpse a different aspect when it comes to show poverty.

During the interviews, all of the two subjects are questioned about the following questions.

lists of questions - Can you say about this photograph? - What do you think this photograph means to you?

follow-up questions - What do you think it could miss in this photograph? -

Rather than a collective interview with multiple persons, an individual interview with a single person will be implemented given the concerns whether their family members could interrupt their own responses. Another important point of interviews is that outsiders, not both of the family members, will be interviewed to learn how non-members of the family think about poverty I photograph. It will provide different insights into poverty which outsiders think the subject reflects. Thus, responses obtained from outsiders will allow me to identify what I miss in my photographs.

Who will be selected for outsiders? - social class economically wealth - middle-aged person poor- middle-aged person

- age and gender young man young woman old man old woman

questions - What do you think the selection demonstrate about? - Can you select, if you can, the best five(?) images which describe poverty? ; and why?

- What does this selection misses to depict poverty? -

Sep. 19th field notes

I find it difficult to see their interactions between them because they stay in a separate room under one roof.



She prays every morning. She says her family is first among everything.



Park desiccates chopped peppers on the roof. Skyscrapers are seen in the backdrop.



They even use a separate washing room.

Sep. 15th field notes.

In the wake of the upcoming typhoon, her kids stay in home.



A 19-months-year baby plays on his own while his mother cleans the house.

Sep. 11st field notes

The city of Busan, the second biggest city in Korea, is well known for a film shooting place because many think the city has been referred as a city representing both past and presence. The village below is best called to represent 'past' in a contemporary society. The family with four kids, a second subject for my study, have lived here.

Sep. 5 field notes

She is involved in a religious activity every Wednesday night. She gets together in an apartment.

Sep. 3rd field notes

I learned more about the elderly couple after spending time talking each other. She said they used a separate room. I tried to see his room, but he took a rest before I came. I failed.