Return of the Genius Photographer

The Seoul Photography Contest, hosted annually by the Korea Arts & Culture Education Service, has been running since 2000.

It has steadily left its mark over the years, now reaching its 7th year, making it one of the competitions that every photographer would be interested in at least once.

Matching this interest, the scale of the competition has grown each year.

This year, riding on the national wave of enthusiasm for photography and the industry’s boom, it has garnered much attention with its record-high prize money.

With a total prize pool of 100 million won and the prestige that comes with the competition, it has attracted countless photographers, leading to a record number of participants.

Consequently, the caliber of the judging panel has also been elevated.

Among them are the world-renowned photographer Jung Woong, who needs no introduction,

Yoo Ho-sung, a working photographer who also serves as a social affairs journalist,

Kim Se-hyun, known as the master of portrait photography, receiving love calls from various celebrities,

And Professors Lee Kang-sik and Park Sang-ah, who have stepped back from the frontlines to nurture the next generation of photographers at universities.

Each of these five individuals has achieved brilliant success in their respective fields.

The fact that these five could gather in one place was a reflection of the high expectations for the competition.

As Woo-jin had predicted, the organizers added five more regular judges, bringing the total number of judges for this competition to ten.

With about an hour left until the judging began, the panel members were gathered, chatting about the competition.

Professor Park Sang-ah was the first to speak up:

“There are over 500 entries for the second round of judging.”

“That many?” Yoo Ho-sung responded, sounding astonished.

Typically, photo contest judging is divided into two rounds.

The first round, which starts right after the submission deadline, filters out plagiarized photos, those off-topic, or those lacking in quality.

Usually, most entries are eliminated at this stage. Only about one-tenth of the initial entries make it to the second round.

However, the fact that 500 photos remain for the second round, even after this filtering process, indicates not only that many photographers participated in this contest but also that the overall quality of entries has improved.

“It’s going to take quite some time just to judge them all.”

Photographer Kim Se-hyun remarked, shaking his head.

“I’m worried we might not be able to judge them properly because there are so many.”

The second round of judging is similar to a popularity vote.

The photos are displayed in an auditorium, and the judges select their favorites by placing stickers on them.

While there are judging criteria provided by the organizers, there’s always the possibility that the judges’ personal preferences might influence the outcome.

This is even more likely with a larger number of entries to judge.

“It seems this is your first time judging this competition, Mr. Kim,” Professor Lee Kang-sik responded to Kim Se-hyun’s concern.

With a slight smile, as if to suggest Se-hyun’s worry was unnecessary, he continued, “Don’t worry. You’ll understand once you see the photos.”

“Is that so?” Se-hyun asked.

Other judges chimed in to address Se-hyun’s doubts:

“You can feel a good photo the moment you see it.”

“I understand. I was worried too when I first judged a contest.”

“It’s amazing, isn’t it? No matter how many photos there are, you get a feeling about which ones deserve awards as soon as you see them.”

“In fact, catching the eye of such experienced judges is no easy feat. That alone is enough to warrant an award.”

To summarize their points, they’re saying that prize-worthy work can be recognized at a glance.

Using Professor Lee Kang-sik’s words, it’s like a pearl shining in the mud – you just feel it.

As Se-hyun, lacking judging experience, still didn’t fully grasp this concept, he turned to Jung Woong, who hadn’t spoken yet:

“Photographer Jung Woong, what do you think?”

At Se-hyun’s question, all eyes turned to Jung Woong.

The judges’ eyes sparkled as if they’d been waiting for his input all along.

Although all the judges had achieved their own success, making it hard to rank them, if one had to pick the most influential among them, it would undoubtedly be Jung Woong.

His world-renowned reputation, coupled with the fact that each of his published photos became a topic of public discussion, set him apart.

His works often served as a source of inspiration for other photographers.

Moreover, due to his lack of media appearances and focus solely on his photographic work, Jung Woong was something of a mysterious figure even among photographers.

The fact that he had chosen to make a rare public appearance as a judge for the Seoul Photo Contest naturally piqued the interest of the other judges.

“Well…”

Seemingly oblivious to this interest, Jung Woong, after a long silence, slowly responded to Se-hyun’s question.

“I’m not sure if I should say this, but to be honest, I wonder if there will be even one piece that catches my eye.”

It was a statement that could have come across as arrogant, but coming from Jung Woong, it was an understandable response.

“I suppose it would be difficult to satisfy someone of your caliber, Mr. Jung.”

“This might not be good news for the participants.”

The other judges, realizing the significance of catching the eye of someone who was practically a patriarch in the photography world, chimed in one by one.

“I didn’t mean it that way. I’m simply saying that I intend to judge this competition as objectively as possible.”

Just as Jung Woong finished expressing his thoughts on the judging process…

“The judging will now begin! Judges, please proceed to the auditorium.”

With the guide’s announcement, the doors to the auditorium opened.

The judges, as if they had been waiting for this moment, immediately stopped their conversation and entered the auditorium.

* * * * *

As the judging began, the judges dispersed into small groups, moving around and scrutinizing the photos with utmost seriousness.

The auditorium displayed 500 photographs. The atmosphere was so solemn that even footsteps seemed loud.

After some time had passed, Jung Woong, who had been examining the photos alone, let out a small sigh.

‘This is below expectations.’

Having viewed about half of the photos in the auditorium at an incredibly fast pace, Jung Woong wore a perplexed expression.

He had taken on the role of judge hoping to refresh his blocked inspiration, and as he had said earlier, he intended to evaluate objectively.

However…

All the displayed photos were below par by Jung Woong’s standards.

While there were a few that weren’t technically bad, they all fell short in some way or another.

As a result, Jung Woong hadn’t used a single one of the stickers he’d been given.

‘At this rate, stickers will be left unused.’

Given that all the photos he had seen so far were mediocre, he had no expectations for the remaining ones.

As Jung Woong worried that he might not be able to select any winning entries by the time he finished viewing all the photos, he tried to gauge how many were left…

“You came across as quite tactless earlier. What if someone misunderstood?”

Professor Lee Kang-sik, who had approached without notice, addressed Jung Woong.

“Earlier? You mean what I said about the competition?”

“Yes. You sounded like someone who doesn’t know humility.”

“I was just being honest. I don’t expect there to be any work in this competition that will catch my eye.”

Kang-sik shook his head at Jung Woong’s words.

“This guy is all good except when it comes to talking about photography. Then he’s as stubborn as a mule.”

“I’ve been told I’ve had strong opinions since I was young.”

“Alright, let’s focus on judging.”

Kang-sik, realizing further conversation was pointless, fell silent.

As Kang-sik had stated, when it came to photography, Jung Woong was uncompromising.

Still, with such a personality, he would at least not judge carelessly.

In fact, he might be perfect as a judge, even if he was perhaps excessively strict.

Having refreshed the slightly boring atmosphere, the two resumed their judging, moving on to other photos.

However, this didn’t last long.

“The composition is too predictable.”

“Indeed. It’s all night views, cityscapes, Han River, Namsan, parks. At this rate, we might as well give bonus points to anything that’s not a landscape photo.”

The photos they saw afterwards were, as Jung Woong had worried, uniformly landscape photographs.

It was bad enough that even Kang-sik, who was viewing the photos alongside him, chimed in.

“Not only do the subjects overlap, but it seems everyone is taking landscape photography too lightly.”

Landscape photography, as the term suggests, covers a very wide range of subjects.

At the same time, it’s a type of photography that anyone can attempt, making it the most approachable for people.

However, the deeper you delve into landscape photography, the more challenging it becomes.

Because anyone can try it, it’s difficult to express originality and creativity, which are among the most important aspects of photography.

Unless it’s a unique structure or composition that others haven’t thought of, even well-taken photos tend to look ordinary.

As they were pondering this…

“This one came out quite well?”

They stopped in front of one photo.

Title: Father.

In the deep of night, with streetlights on.

Next to it, at a small food stall, a man was quietly drinking alone, his back to the viewer.

In the quiet stall, no one else was visible besides the man.

People passing by only looked ahead, no one glancing at the stall.

In that lonely atmosphere, the man silently raised his glass.

“This photo is decent.”

“Yes, it’s finally not a landscape photo.”

“But the handling of light is still amateurish. The fact that the eye isn’t drawn to the man, who’s the subject, is a flaw.”

“Is that so? I quite like it.”

“I see. Well, I’ll go ahead and look at other photos. Follow at your own pace.”

While Kang-sik quite liked the photo, it seemed not to meet Jung Woong’s standards.

Jung Woong, having evaluated the photo in just one sentence, left his friend and moved on.

After that, Jung Woong’s judging continued at a rapid pace.

As if cutting through the line of displayed photos, he never spent more than 5 seconds on a single image.

‘Disappointing, that one’s ordinary too, and this one shows no grasp of basics.’

Even after viewing almost all the photos to be judged, he hadn’t found one he liked.

As he was growing tired, wondering if he should compromise to some degree due to the continued disappointment…

‘Huh? Is that…?’

For the first time, there was a photo that caught his eye.

“Unbelievable. To think there was a photo like this at the very end…”

No, is “caught his eye” even the right expression?

His thoughts spilled out of his mouth in surprise.

Like a sponge, seemingly absorbing the viewer’s gaze.

And using that gaze as light, it appeared to shine on its own – a photo that gave such a shocking impact.

It was Woojin’s photograph.