How Photographing My Commute Changed the Way I See Seoul

Many of the photos I share on Etsy were taken on my way to or from work. Others came from walks around my office. They show places close to my everyday routine, although I hadn’t really noticed some of them before.

When I’m rushing to work, I miss a lot. Looking at the same streets in a photograph gave them a different feel. I even discovered residential streets near my office that I hadn’t known were there.

Once I started looking for everyday scenes to photograph, I kept finding places that made me think, “I didn’t know this was here.” I was discovering more of the area around my office. There was more to look at than I had realized.

Photographing these streets also changed how I looked at Hangul, the Korean alphabet. As I began thinking about selling my photos to people overseas, I paid closer attention to the Korean words around me. Sometimes I noticed a phrase and wondered how I had walked past it without reading it before.

I also started seeing the lettering as part of the image. Alongside what the words said, I was noticing how they looked. It was through taking photographs that I began to see familiar Korean writing from a design perspective.

That’s the connection between my daily walks and SansooStudio. The photos begin with something I’ve noticed on an ordinary day, often somewhere near work. Sharing them on Etsy gives those small discoveries a place beyond my own photo collection.

You can explore my photo prints at SansooStudio on Etsy.