[KS] Striking photographs of the DPRK from AP's David Guttenfelder, in The Atlantic

[don kirk]

Not any shmuck with a camera -- any skilled photographer with camera and set of lenses. I've seen literally every one of those scenes on tourist trips. The shots of Kaesong houses are from the Kaesong eco complex, the buildings just across the fence, but skilled camera work gives the impression they're quite separate from anything like that. I was on a trip that included the same AP photographer nearly three years ago -- shot the same empty intersections, the same scenes in the huge library on KIS Square, the same, ok, much the same, cows pulling ploughs and carts etc.. Only I was using a film camera that cost $2.50 cents from a store that needed to sell everything out in Connecticut and the AP guy had all the latest, greatest equipment. Bottom line: there's nothing new in these pictures, and we're still waiting for the
 chance to shoot the real story on what's happening there. Maybe that's not significant or interesting -- am just telling what I know, you decide the "meaning.".
Don Kirk

--- On Sat, 8/6/11, McCann, David <dmccann at fas.harvard.edu> wrote:

From: McCann, David <dmccann at fas.harvard.edu>
Subject: Re: [KS] Striking photographs of the DPRK from AP's David Guttenfelder, in The Atlantic
To: "Korean Studies Discussion List" <koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws>
Date: Saturday, August 6, 2011, 9:07 AM

Isn't there a curious irony to the notion that on the one hand North  
Korea has a reputation for being forbidden or inaccessible, while on  
the other, any paying customer can visit the places the AP reporter  
photoed?  Especially given the fact that "large parts of North  
Korea ... are off-limits."

The challenge of
 these notions,  though, is to determine where the  
crux of the irony is located.  What plays against what else for ironic  
effect?  For one set I would propose "sign up on a tour" versus  
"forbidden or inaccessible to foreigners."

I have also heard it reported on good authority-- a former NASA  
astronaut with three space flights and continuing work with the  
Agency-- that in the not-too-distant future, space flights, earth  
orbit or eventually even the moon, will be available to anyone who can  
pay to go.

What precisely is the point that Charles and Michael seem to wish to  
register?  That any schmuck with a camera can take pictures of those  
government-approved places and those people in North Korea?  I think,  
ironically, that Aidan made exactly that same point, only-- as Charles  
and Michael both noted-- they were
 indeed done well.

David McCann

On Aug 5, 2011, at 11:21 AM, Charles K. Armstrong wrote:

> With all due respect to Aidan, I agree with Michael that there wasn't
> anything particularly unprecedented or striking about the subject
> matter of the photos, although they were done well. There is a
> widespread notion that North Korea remains  forbidden or inaccessible
> to foreigners, and while there are certainly large parts of North
> Korea that are off-limits, pretty much any paying customer from North
> America or Europe can sign up on a tour and see the sights that the AP
> reporters visited.
> -- 
> Charles K. Armstrong
> Professor of History
> Director, Center for Korean Research
> Columbia University
> 930 International Affairs Building
> 420 West 118th Street
> New York, NY 10027
>
> Tel: 212-854-1721
> Fax:
 212-749-1497
>
>
> Quoting "Robinson, Michael E." <robime at indiana.edu>:
>
>> These are very nice, but not new scenes.  Very standard by my eye,
>> but nice to have a professional do them.
>>
>> Mike Robinson
>>
>> From: koreanstudies-bounces at koreaweb.ws
>> [mailto:koreanstudies-bounces at koreaweb.ws] On Behalf Of
>> Afostercarter at aol.com
>> Sent: Friday, August 05, 2011 6:00 AM
>> To: Koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws; baks at jiscmail.ac.uk; members at asck.org
>> Cc: coyner at gol.com; news at nknews.org; nkeconwatch at gmail.com;
>> Philip at londonkoreanlinks.net; nkleadershipwatch at gmail.com
>> Subject: [KS] Striking photographs of the DPRK from AP's David
>>
 Guttenfelder, in The Atlantic
>>
>> http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/08/inside-north-korea/100119/
>>
>> Inside North Korea
>> AUG 2, 2011 |
>> 148<http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/08/inside-north-korea/100119/#disqus_thread 
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Earlier this year, David Guttenfelder, chief Asia photographer for
>> the Associated Press, along with Jean H. Lee, AP bureau chief in
>> Seoul, were granted unprecedented access to parts of North Korea as
>> part of the AP's efforts to expand coverage of the isolated
>> communist nation. The pair made visits to familiar sites
 accompanied
>> by government minders, and were also allowed to travel into the
>> countryside accompanied by North Korean journalists instead of
>> government officials. Though much of what the AP journalists saw was
>> certainly orchestrated, their access was still remarkable.
>> Collected  here are some of Guttenfelder's images from the trip that
>> provide a  glimpse of North Korea. [37
>> photos<http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/08/inside-north-korea/100119/ 
>> >]
>>
>
>
>


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