Ki ho Park & Bruce Davidson, Polaroid test, 1984
Ki ho Park & Bruce Davidson, Polaroid test, 1984
To be good a photographer, you must first learn to be a good listener.
Unfortunately for me, it took thirty years to realize this. But once I learned to listen with patience and care, people began to speak to me honestly in front of my camera. Even a quiet, empty office building spoke to me, inviting me to a private space that I had never known. This is what photography is all about.
Ki ho Park is a world renown photographer based in Seoul, Korea. Born in 1960 in Seoul, he moved to the United States as a child and studied photography at the Rhode Island School of Design, graduating in 1986. After returning to Korea in 1987, he worked for various international magazines including Time, Business Week, Fortune, and Forbes, and operated a very successful commercial photography business. In 2007, he had his first private exhibition called “Photography & Texture” which combined large photographic prints with three dimensional objects. After his show, he went back to RISD to earn his master's degree. His thesis project, “Everything Must Go”, a documentation of empty storefronts across the U.S. during the 2008 financial crisis, was exhibited in New York and Boston. After returning to Seoul with his newly heightened sensibilities for the symbols of economic distress across America, he began documenting deserted old towns and family homes slated for demolition to make way for high-rise dwellings. This project was exhibited at the Atelier Maison in Richelieu, France, under the title “What We Left Behind” in 2016. In 2018, his solo exhibition “Silent Boundaries” was held at The Hanmi Museum of Photography, Seoul, Korea, and then traveled to the Three Shadows Photography Art Center, Beijing, China. In 2021, he had show of Busan’s old towns in Seoi Gallery in Seoul, Korea.
I met Bruce Davidson, a renowned documentary photographer, and worked with him on several projects including ‘Subway’. Under Davidson’s guidance, I learned that a photographer must learn to create stories in pictures with poetic honesty, just as a good writer would with his pencil.
To be good a photographer,
you must first learn to be a good listener.
Unfortunately for me, it took thirty years to realize this. But once I learned to listen with patience and care, people began to speak to me honestly in front of my camera. Even a quiet, empty office building spoke to me, inviting me to a private space that I had never known. This is what photography is all about.
Ki ho Park is a world renown photographer based in Seoul, Korea. Born in 1960 in Seoul, he moved to the United States as a child and studied photography at the Rhode Island School of Design, graduating in 1986. After returning to Korea in 1987, he worked for various international magazines including Time, Business Week, Fortune, and Forbes, and operated a very successful commercial photography business. In 2007, he had his first private exhibition called “Photography & Texture” which combined large photographic prints with three dimensional objects. After his show, he went back to RISD to earn his master's degree. His thesis project, “Everything Must Go”, a documentation of empty storefronts across the U.S. during the 2008 financial crisis, was exhibited in New York and Boston. After returning to Seoul with his newly heightened sensibilities for the symbols of economic distress across America, he began documenting deserted old towns and family homes slated for demolition to make way for high-rise dwellings. This project was exhibited at the Atelier Maison in Richelieu, France, under the title “What We Left Behind” in 2016. In 2018, his solo exhibition “Silent Boundaries” was held at The Hanmi Museum of Photography, Seoul, Korea, and then traveled to the Three Shadows Photography Art Center, Beijing, China. In 2021, he had show of Busan’s old towns in Seoi Gallery in Seoul, Korea.
I met Bruce Davidson, a renowned documentary photographer, and worked with him on several projects including ‘Subway’. Under Davidson’s guidance, I learned that a photographer must learn to create stories in pictures with poetic honesty, just as a good writer would with his pencil.
ALL IMAGES AND SITE CONTENT COPYRIGHT
© 2023 KI HO PARK, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
website design by 1-1COMPANY
ALL IMAGES AND SITE CONTENT COPYRIGHT © 2023 KI HO PARK, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
website design by 1-1COMPANY