18 COMMUNITY FRIDAY MARCH 5, 2010

Expat Living is a section dedicated to the daily

living of expatriates.
It is printed on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.
To share stories about your life abroad, send stories
or story ideas to Matthew Lamers at
mattlamers@heraldm.com
Submissions may be edited for length or clarity.

Asia Five Nations PHOTO CHALLENGE -

weekly winner Feb. 28 -

opens in April A Kim Yu-na donut in a

bakery in Seoul.
Joon Hetland

By Jeremy Burks tion decisions against Hong

In the week that the block-
buster “Invictus” premiers in
Korea, teams here are gearing
up for the Asia Five Nations
(a5n).
With qualification for next
year’s rugby world cup in New
Zealand the prize for the win-
ners, competition will be in-
tense.
“Invictus” tells the inspiring
story of South Africa’s attempt
to win one of the world’s great
sporting trophies when the tour-
nament was held in their coun-
try just after the fall of
apartheid. It’s about Nelson
Mandela’s attempt to use rugby
to heal a divided nation and to
convince skeptics that a democ-
ratic South Africa could work for
all of its people.
A natural No. 2 in Asia behind
Japan, Korea really suffered in
last year’s a5n tournament.
Some extraordinary substitu-
Kong meant they just squeaked
out a win they should have
coasted to. Poor preparation
meant they lost on their visit to
Kazakhstan.
This year, they will be hoping
for a much better performance
and for a bigger impact, espe-
cially from their Japan-based
players when they take on
Japan.
Fans wanting to catch any of
this action should note the fol-
lowing dates:
The a5n fixtures for Korea are
as follows:
April 24 vs. Hong Kong (away)
May 1 vs. Japan (home)
May 15 vs. Arabian Gulf (away)
May 22 vs. Kazakhstan (home)
Venue: TBC
Winner: Auto qualification for
Rugby World Cup
Runners up: Playoff against
South America (probably
Uruguay) in July PHOTO CHALLENGE -
weekly winner March 1 -
Brett Crehan, an English
teacher from Boston,

International cast to poses in front of graffiti

along the Oncheon River
in Busan.

present Shakespeare Peter DeMarco

By John Redmond and Juliet,” “A Midsummer

Actors Without Barders, a
new theater company associat-
ed with long established group
the Seoul Players, will present
“A Night of Shakespeare,” be-
ginning tomorrow night at
Roofers in Itaewon beginning at
8 p.m.
Comprising of a selection of
scenes, sonnets and monologues
from some of the Bard’s better
known works, the show will also
feature a scene with dialogue
delivered in French from the
play “Henry V.”
Established late last year by
Kevin Connors, Actors Without
Barders is an international
theater group comprised of
more than 30 expat and Korean
actors, directors and techni-
cians.
Connors stated that the name
spells out the broad nature of
the group. “The name is a play
on words. As in doctors without
borders and Shakespeare better
known as the Bard, we put the
two together,” he said by phone
to the Korea Herald.
He also acknowledged the
company’s aim to give everyone
a chance at getting involved,
and was keen to give many tal-
ented actors the chance to work
on some of the most challenging,
rewarding and powerful dia-
logue and monologues ever writ-
ten.
“If you took the effort to turn
up, we gave you a shot,” he said.
Scenes will be from such di-
verse works as “Macbeth,”
“Hamlet,” “Othello,” “Romeo
Night’s Dream” and “Richard
III.”
All in all there will be more
than 180 minutes of excerpts
from 12 of Shakespeare’s great-
est plays consisting of tragedies,
comedies, history plays and son-
nets.
“We strived to provide a diver-
sity of scenes,” said Connors.
The show will run at Roofers
in Itaewon, on the first two
Saturdays of March.
Organizer, Connors, said:
“As an avid Shakespeare fan, I
wanted to give audiences and
actors in Seoul the chance to
experience the drama, passion,
action and humor of his work.
It’s been a pleasure finding
such an amazing company to
bring the show to the stage,
and I can’t wait for people to
share The Bard’s world with
us.”
The show will run tomorrow
and next Saturday from 8.p.m.
The doors open at 7 p.m.
There will be one intermis-
sion. Tickets cost 10,000 won,
and there are no advanced
reservations.
Further information and pho-
tos contact Kevin Connors at
(010) 3136-2462 or e-mail
seoulplayers@gmail.com.
To get to Roofers leave
Itaewon station (line 6) via exit
3 and walk straight one block,
turn right at Dunkin Donuts.
Walk up the hill for two blocks.
Roofers is on the right, across
from the Foreign Food Mart, up
on the 3rd floor.
(johnredmond@heraldm.com)
In focus: Which camera is right for you?
The Photo Challenge is spon-
sored by Hyosung Camera
(English: 010-7203-9599) and
Babo Shirts (www.baboshirts.
com). Winners of the weekly com-
petition receive a 50,000 won
store credit at Hyosung Camera
and a Babo Shirt. To take part
in the competition, simply up-
load your photo at www.
flickr.com/groupsseoulphoto-
club — Ed.
By Aaron Raisey
So you want to buy a camera?
Or perhaps you’re wondering if
it is the right time to upgrade or
try something new? A casual
walk through any “camera cen-
tral” area, such as Namdaemun
or Chungmuro in Seoul, will re-
veal a mind-boggling and con-
fusing array of choices. Which
choice is right for you?
Well, the short and easy an-
swer to that question is, it de-
pends. As frustratingly correct
as that answer is, it doesn’t help
us at all. Depends on what? It
depends on you of course — the
reasons you want to buy a cam-
era.
I’m deliberately being a little
evasive here to make the point
that before you invest a possibly
significant amount of money
into a device to capture images,
it’s a good idea to examine exact-
ly why you want it, and where
you see yourself going with it.
The usual thought process
that goes into buying a camera
is “Which camera takes the best
pictures?” The answer is that a
camera is in no way responsible
for taking good pictures, it’s
your ability to wield it that de-
termines the quality of the im-
ages you will produce.
In reality, what that bewilder-
ing variety of cameras offer you
aren’t varying levels of picture
quality, but different options to
meet your needs or help you
reach your creative ends. As I
mentioned before and stress
now, it is actually the “why” that
should be the major influence in
your decision.
But to provide some kind of
concrete answer, the camera
that probably addresses most of
the reasons you might want one
is the entry level DSLR, and this
would be my recommendation
for almost anyone. Travel snaps?
Check. Sure, it’s bigger than a
point and shoot — you can’t put
it in your pocket — but it’s very
compact for what it is and not
heavy. Creative ability? Check.
Having the option to manually
control the aperture or shutter
speed enables you to employ
some advanced techniques if you
want to pursue the development
of your photography. Use differ-
ent lenses? Check. To leverage
that creative ability, there are a
wide variety of interchangeable
lenses available. All-round per-
formance? Check. There is very
little to limit you in your pic-
ture-taking. Good low light per-
formance, quality prints at larg-
er sizes, instant feedback on re-
sults, and being digital means
that getting those great pics to
family and friends is very easy.
Of course your budget is also
a crucial factor in determining
what camera you will eventual-
ly purchase, and while entry
level DSLRs are not all that ex-
pensive, there are cheaper op-
tions in the form of point and
shoot cameras. They are unob-
trusive, fit in your pocket and
despite not offering as many
creative options, will still allow
you to take great pictures. This
brings me to my final point.
It’s important to remember
that no camera can be all things
to all people, and every camera
has limitations in one way or
another. Personally, I shoot with
a totally manual, 20+ year old
medium format film camera
and an iPhone.
Each has disadvantages
when compared to even entry
level DSLRs, but each has spe-
cial advantages too. The film
camera is large, unwieldy, slow
to use and requires everything
to be done manually. But
through it I get a sense of satis-
faction and immersion in the
photographic process I feel is
missing with modern auto-
everything cameras.
The iPhone gives me control
over nothing except the most
crucial element — composition
— but does allow me some lim-
ited processing options in-phone
and the ability to upload or send
that image immediately.
Likewise, whatever kind cam-
era you see as filling your needs
— be it a $5 disposable film
camera, a $100 digital point and
shoot, or a $2500 high-end
DSLR — will allow you to pro-
duce great images if used effec-
tively.
The bottom line that many
people don’t like to hear is that
getting a “better” camera won’t
make better pictures in much
the same way a faster car does-
n’t make you a better driver.
Perhaps you will buy more op-
tions and better performance in
some areas, but this in no way
equates to magically improved
driving skills nor magically bet-
ter pictures.
The “right” camera is the one
that best meets your specific
needs. For some it will be the
fact that it fits in your pocket
and for others it will be the abil-
ity to produce quality meter-
wide prints.
Carefully consider your moti-
vations and requirements be-
fore opening your wallet as you
are the determining factor in
the quality of your photographs,
not that camera. Getting to
know and working with your
camera’s limitations means you
can go a long way to getting the
best from it and producing re-
sults that in no way makes
those limitations apparent.
You can check out quality im-
ages from a wide variety of cam-
eras over at the Seoul Photo
Club on Flickr.
(raisey@hanmail.net)

Written by Clayton Foster; Illustrated by Lino Divas; Typography by greenbuddha.com; Concept by Tiger and
Bear in association with Spark Media (2009)