Journal of Gyeongju and Jinhae

On the first weekend in April, I took a bus toward Gyeongju. It's very hard to drive in order to take pictures of Gyeongju's dawn. I was excited since I had postponed the plan to take pictures of what I wanted to get.

The bus started off around midnight took us to the Daereungwon around 4:30 in the morning.

• Start
•  
• Gyeongju Daereungwon
•  
• Gyeongju Samneung
•  
• Bomunjeong
•  
• Jinhae Gyeonghwa Station
•  
• Finish

Gyeongju Daereungwon(Hwangnam-dong, Gyeongju-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do)

It's called as the area of Daereungwon. It's named after the report “The King Michu(味鄒王) is buried in Daereung(大陵:竹長陵)” from 《The Chronicles of the Three States(三國史記)》“.

It has 125,400 pyeong of gross area and there are 23 tombs of king, queen, and royal family. The ancient tomb is a typical group(群) of tombs of Silla Dynasty. All the tombs are situated in the flatland. Precious relics, such as golden crown, Cheonmado(Painting of the Heavenly Horse. 天馬圖), glass, and various potteries are excavated. They are the essence of Silla Culture and show how people lived during that time. - [Naver Encyclopedia]

Here is the place where Shin Min-a and Park Hae-il climbed up in the film 'Gyeongju'. Shin Min-a said that Gyeongju is 'The city in which life coexists with death. Deareungwon is the place where the remembrance of king's death still remains over a thousand years.

The reason why I came here early in the morning is for getting pictures of scenery in dawn. A tree stands around two dark and solemn tombs and the light was emitted from there. It produces golden mysterious mood.

I'm absolutely happy that I can take pictures of dark but green grass, gold tomb, trees, and blue dawning sky together.

The magnolias seem to announce the coexistence of loneliness and splendor against the blue dawn sky. I got only two pictures but the light went out soon. The tombs were buried in darkness again.

In the Daereungwon, splendid flowers against the tombs were making a dazzling morning.

Many photographers are getting pictures of beautiful spring. They are early birds.

I asked a person next to me understanding and expressed the sky with gradation filter. In other words, I set differently in order to prevent too much exposure because of bright light. I made the sky look darker. I found that I could express clouds of the sky in the same texture as if I touch what I see.

I move to Cheomseongdae(Observatory). The Cheomseongdae is across the Daereungwon. It takes less than 10 minutes to go there from here, the Daereungwon in Hwangnam-dong.

On the way to the Cheomseongdae, I took a picture of swaying cherry blossoms above the grass.

I decided to take a picture of magnolias together after pondering how to get the Cheomseongdae. The observatory seems small under the magnolia tree.

There is a Hanok(Traditional Korean-style house) around the road to the Cheomseongdae. In the background, the overcast sky and cloud seem to come running to greet the morning.

There is a wonderful tree in the observatory. It reminds me the moving tree in the Harry Porter. However it's not dangerous because this tree doesn't move. At least until now...

It seems like the Cheomseongdae is jolting in the energy of morning. It must have stood idly and greeted the morning sun for 1000 years. It has understood the stars at night...

There is a tourist who is taking a picture of Chemseongdae. To make good memories of the travel, you need to be diligent. Most tourists start off over 9 am until and look around until 5 pm, don't they? It's necessary to appreciate the scenery of sunrise and sunset wherever you go.

I took a picture of bright cherry blossoms with flash. Fortunately, I could get gorgeous bright image.

All of sudden, cherry blossoms began to fall like rain when wind blew. Falling blossoms by spring wind made me feel like I made a good decision to come here in the middle of the spring. My heart was full.

I took out the 200mm of telephoto lens in order to make the cherry blossoms look more adorable and softer. The tree has fists of blossom and I want to take a bit of a handful of it.

Address : Hwangnam-dong, Gyeongju-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do