Homigot, Again

Homigot might be my favorite place to photograph in Korea.  It's such a weird place to find in Korea, what with the giant grounds it sits on (like a Wal-Mart parking lot), the bronze hand statues, the gift shop that sells actual Korean souvenirs.  It's just a place not like a lot of others around Pohang.  Couple that with the photographic oddities that are the two hands rising out of the sea and the land, and the place has got me hooked.  I think I'm searching for the perfect photograph of Homigot.  Something with the water, the birds, the sunset/sunrise, the groups of fascinated people stopping to take picture after picture, and of course the hands.  I don't know if the perfect picture exists, but I think it's why I keep coming back to the place.  I'm obsessed with catching that perfect moment that makes Homigot click for me.  I can read the signs and understand the surface reasons for why the place exists, but somehow it feels that in making that perfect picture I'll get something more.  I'll understand the need to build it, the need for people to see it, the need for me to photograph it.  Was this it?  Is the perfect shot in this set?  Can I let Homigot go, move on to another obsession, maybe a temple tucked in the woods, maybe a set of rocks lining the coast, maybe my son's tiny toes and fingers.  I don't think so.  I like some of the pictures here, but I know I'll be back, looking for that perfect time of day, that perfect wave against the rocks, that perfect photograph.

These first three are probably my favorite of any I've taken here.  

Summer in Korea means non-stop rain and clouds.  The sunsets aren't great, but the clouds are dramatic.

My goal is to one day take a pair of waders to Homigot, get in the water, and take this shot of the hand that's in the water.  But I feel like I'd have to do it at four in the morning in the dark, so I'm not super motivated. 

There's also a lighthouse museum out here, but it always seems to be closed.  

And one more, because the clouds were just crazy.

I only waited for three days before Ziggy was born, but in those three days we did everything we could think of within two hours of Pohang.  It was a great start to my vacation and a great way to pass the time while we waited for Ziggy.