보고 좋은지 나쁜지 좀 평가내려주실분...?
The reason I decided to go to Yeoungdeungpo red-light district with Jinmyoung to take a picture was because of the strong curiosity rather than the consciousness of the social issues. I wanted to know whether the women worked in the red-light district really wandered around the street even in the daylight as my aunt said and wanted to see houses made of glasses, where the women touted for the men on the street. For one hour on the way to Yeoungdeungpo by bus, Jinmyoung and I were really excited by the curiosity and a little bit of anxiety.
But, the reality wasn’t incredible enough to satisfy our childish excitement and curiosity. There were no wandering women, but an old lady who was cleaning the street. Although houses with glass doors consisted of the whole street, we couldn’t see inside the houses because placards which were used in demonstrations in May covered the entire glasses. We, who were really disappointed with the vacant ambience of the red-light district, went to a small supermarket located at the end of the district and bought some water
At that moment, a woman was entering in the glasshouse. I, without hesitance, grabbed the Cannon 500d camera firmly in my hand and adjusted focus of the lens on her. She moved slowly, it was the daylight, and my lens was good enough to cover the long distance between her and me. It was a perfect surrounding to take a picture. All I had to do was to press a shutter. If I shoot, It would be my first documentary photography in my life.
Suddenly, when I was about to press the shutter, the woman turned and looked at me through the lens. Very ominous feeling that she could take my camera away aroused. However, different from my thinking, she did nothing. All she did was to gaze at me.. maybe for a five or ten minutes? I couldn’t take my first documentary photography in my life, eventually.
She, who we often designated as a whore, dressed in a big T-shirt and short pants, clothes I often wore when I dropped by a store near my apartment. She was a whore but first of all, she was a human like us. Inferring from the statement of the red-light district in Yeoungdeungpo, she probably had a hapless childhood, may also had big family members who were consisted of young children and disabled adults so she was the only person to support the family. Maybe my supposition goes so far, but it was certain that she had unlucky life than me. Do I deserve to snap her life with my camera and report it with a title ‘ Yeongdeungpo red-light district after the demonstration’ and became the honored reporter of the month? Do I deserve to spray salt on her wound of mind? The answer was no. I didn’t deserve to reveal other person’s wound to the public.
But when I leave the red-light district and arrived at home, I recalled what my grandpa, who was a herbalist, said to me ; good salt has a powerful curative effect, although it gives enormous pain temporarily. He was true. Writing an article or taking a documentary photography of the hardships of oppressed people could be a really painful task for the people and the journalist himself. Maybe the journalist could open their wound again, or could give more pain by spraying the salt. However, if the salt that the journalist scattered was the good salt, as my grandpa said, although it would be painful temporarily, wouldn’t it be better for them and for the society?
I decided to keep my dream of becoming a journalist, who let people know the tragic of suppressed people so heal their deep wound faster than anyone could.