Korea has come a long way in the past few decades. By the time the two Koreas emerged from the war more than 50years ago, both were badly damaged. Their economies had suffered severely.
But South Korea, commonly referred to simply as Korea, has emerged beyond anyone’s imagination. The Economist magazine wrote an article about South Korea in 2011 with the headline: “What do you do when you reach the top?” It was in praise of Korea’s unimaginable rise.
The American research company Gallup not long ago published the list of median per capita and household income for various countries in 2013. South Korea ranked 8th in household income, with families showing media income of just under $41,000. When it came to per capita income, South Korea ranked 15th with $11,350.
That fame has changed the country, and people living in it. Korea, like much of the world, used to be a more traditional, more conservative country. When couple got married, the bride and the groom and their respective families went to a Korean wedding photo studio to take individual and familial pictures to record perhaps the happiest day of the couple’s joint life.
A Korea pre wedding photoshoot would then be followed by the actual wedding. In the old days, the groom would ride on a horse to take his wife to his parents’ home. But nowadays, the wedding ceremony is probably followed by more elaborate celebratory events.
Major hotels and wedding halls now provide Korean couples wedding packages that cost a lot of money but save them time and hassle of having to organize everything, including Korean wedding photography.
Wedding photography in Korea has changed over the decades, just as has the country, just as has the world. The fact that photographers have changed with time is to their credit.
