This series was shot during my first visit to South Korea back in 2018. I was invited by Pinzle Magazine to spend some time in Seoul. The plan was to have a solo exhibition, to give a workshop and to have time to work on my photography. The goal was to publish a special issue of the magazine about me and my work. This was the first time I ever got such an invitation, so you can imagine the level of excitement I was going through.
When I received the invitation I spoke to my boss (I used to be marketing manager at a UX agency). I told him I was going to take one month off to go to Asia invited by a magazine. He told me what I should do is to follow my heart, put all the eggs in the photography basket and never come back to the office. I quit my job and never looked back.
So I arrived to Seoul without a plan B. I was (made) determinant to become a professional photographer or die trying.
The exhibition was a success and so was the workshop. I was having the time of my life in Seoul, and I was taking some of my best photos. Seoul is a vibrant city full of great modern architecture to photograph. But on day 11th of my trip, accidentally, my plans changed. I got a bit lost in the city and found myself in a school playground. I turned my lens towards the school entrance and fell in love with what I saw - the symmetry, the colors, the clock, the trees and an alphabet I couldn't understand. The moment I clicked that photo I immediately felt I needed to explore more schools to discover their aesthetics and figure out if that photo was the beginning of a series. From then on I put most of my time to that goal. I visited dozens of schools in Seoul and Busan and the result is 'Korean Schooling'. It was a moment to trust my gut and so I did. Luckily the magazine had given me full freedom for my time in Korea, and actually they liked these photos so much a few of them were included in the magazine.
