PHOTO SHOOT in Myeong-dong, Seoul

I was still freezing from yesterday’s cultural tour with HaB Korea, so today the plan was to do something indoors, aside from sleeping.

I did a little research and found something exciting to do: experience wearing the Hanbok, South Korea’s traditional attire!

I’m really bad with directions so I took the train to Myeong-dong station, then took a taxi to the Goguan Photo Studio.

I’m glad I did that because I don’t think I’d be able to find this small doorway squished between  colorful shops, in the middle of a busy shopping street.

See the narrow entry? This staircase is the entrance to a whole new world!

They accept reservations and walk-in guests. The standard package includes the traditional clothes plus unlimited use of their selfie booths.

The other packages have add-ons like hair styling, makeup service, and a photo shoot with their professional photographer.

You can choose from hundreds of traditional attires for men, women and children.  Certain dresses, accessories and hairstyles have added prices.

The dressing room has lockers to store your personal stuff.

The white dresses are called “sokchima”, the undergarment you wear under the Hanbok. I used to wonder why a bulky underwear was necessary. If I lived in the olden times, will this hide or show my fats more?

This is what I learned from my friend Wikipedia:

“Women usually wore several layers of undergarments, the more layers they had the richer they were. Undergarments were considered very important, thus the quality and material of the underwear was better than that of the visible outer layers.”

If you want to do your own makeup, they have a well-lit corner for you.

I don’t know how to do a proper makeup so I chose the complete package.

Honestly, I came into the studio wanting to wear an ancient Korean warrior clothing. But as soon as I got into the dressing room, the staff quickly gave me dress options.

I sensed she wouldn’t even understand my English if I told her what I really wanted.

My friendly make-up artist worked swiftly. In less than 15 minutes, tadaaa!

The session with the photographer took 5 minutes.

I didn’t know what happened here. The photographer moved so fast and had me in a girly pose all of a sudden! Before I can even react, he was clicking away. Haha.

They give you only 2 poses. If I only knew, I would have done a jump shot. 😦

So what do I do in this situation? Embrace my womanhood and enjoy the studio’s creative corners. Here you are free to roam around and take your own shots.

The CD of raw shots and final print-outs were ready by the time I finished my selfie session. Look at the awesome shots I took here.

Know more about Goguan: http://goguan11.cafe24.com/