KOREA FOCUS

 

At midnight on April 30, 2007, a text message popped up on the cell phone of Suh Sung-Il, 52, whose American name is Jacob Suh: "Congratulations on becoming the new owner, Jacob!" That night he could hardly sleep because of his excitement. Early the next morning, he rushed to Studio Charis in Pasadena, California. In front of the building, staffers were lining up and upon seeing Suh, they greeted him with cheers and gave him a key to the main gate. It was the moment Suh, a native of a remote rural village in Korea, became the third head photographer of the time-honored Studio Charis, which is counted among the world's best photo studios.

 

In the United States, as in Korea, there is an area which most photography students avoid: portrait photography. There is the strong perception that "portrait photography is as good as identification photography" in the United States, too. Phillip Charis shattered the stereotypical perception in 1950. He developed a formula to make photos look like an artwork.

 

At Studio Charis, camera film is printed not on photo paper, but on canvas by applying high heat. It takes as long as one and a half months from shooting a photo until its completion. The process is equal to that of making an oil painting. The studio`s work thus garners the admiration of celebrities around the world. Studio Charis is the place where photography students of the prestigious Brooks Institute of Photography most want to have an internship. Its biggest merit is that, along with photography, a secret process of handling lighting, the most important element in shooting photos, has been handed down from generation to generation. When retiring, Phillip Charis selected the second head photographer through open recruitment. When the second head photographer, Benoit Malphettes, stepped down after 15 years, beginning in 1992, Suh took over the post. Let us trace his journey.

 

Camera and Taekwondo

 

Suh was born in Dunnae-myeon, Hoengseong County, Gangwon Province, as the eldest son among the two sons and three daughters of a farmer. He finished middle and high school in his hometown with poor academic records. After failing in college entrance exams three times, he managed to be admitted into a provincial engineering junior college. But after several months, he dropped out of school and joined the military. Upon being discharged from the Army's First Telecommunications Corps in Wonju, he attempted to enter college again. He scored 170 points in the state-run scholastic aptitude test that year. At the time someone who had barely topped 190 points was admitted into the most prestigious law department of Seoul National University. Suh earned admission into the biology department at a university in his home province.

 

He left the university soon after enrolling. He was invited by his uncle in Kentucky to come to the United States. A professor at Woosuk University in Daejeon, his uncle had to leave the country as he was disliked by the authoritarian regime of Park Chung-hee for his anti-government activities.

 

Suh was good at only two things – photography he had been practicing with a Canon QL his father bought him when he was a child, and taekwondo, a traditional Korean martial art. A graduate of Changmugwan, a leading taekwondo school, he held a fourth-grade certificate. In 1983, he arrived in Kentucky with barely $100 in his hands. His father strongly opposed his son's leaving. Eventually, yielding to his wishes, his father said in tears, "Once you`ve decided to go, don`t ever think of coming back. Take root there as a proud member of the Suh family.” His father passed away in 1988. In America, Suh enrolled at Kentucky State University while working as a taekwondo teacher. There, he met the two greatest benefactors of his life. Lee Anderson, a professor at the Department of Photography, cared for him dearly. Before he died of skin cancer, Anderson passed on all his belongings to Suh. The only non-white student in his class, Suh was able to grab Anderson`s attention because of his poor English. He wasn`t able to understand the meaning of “assignment,” which meant "homework."

 

A female student took pity on Suh. She took him to Anderson and explained what “assignment” meant and what to bring and when. The assignment was photogram, a negative shadow image created by placing objects directly on the surface of printing paper and exposing it to light. Many students sweated as they had had no experience but it was a cinch for Suh. He completed his work, an image like a vase holding flowers, in half an hour. It was the moment Anderson was mesmerized by the young Asian man. On days without class Suh went to church, where he met his wife, Suh Kyu-hui, 50. She didn`t find him likable at first. But this tenacious man began melting her heart with his camera.

 

When his wife, a violin major, went to Hawaii to continue her study, he wrote to her and called her everyday. He even sent her a tape recording, confessing his love for her. Several months later he received an invitation from her to come to Hawaii and meet her parents. They married on October 11, 1986, and she has been his mentor ever since. She translated his recorded lectures and before exams she selected the expected questions and had him memorize the answers. He wrote down the answers without knowing what they meant. When he graduated the Brooks Institute of Photography, his grade point average was 3.78 out of the full 4.0, the highest in his class. Later he named his first studio in Koreatown in Los Angeles, after his wife. Studio Q, he said, was derived from his wife`s first name, Kyu-hui.

 

People are Most Beautiful

 

At first Suh majored in commercial photography. But he was soon captivated by the magic effects of lighting. He came to realize that lighting works on objects most beautifully in portrait photography. He was nearly the only student majoring in portrait photography at Brooks. He is still surprised by responses of people who show “respect” when they are told he is a graduate of Brooks and then instantly change to a “disdainful” look as soon as he says he majored in “portrait photography.” He is even asked the sneering question, “Do you run a photo studio?”

 

- Then, all said, Studio Charis is a photo studio, too, isn`t it? You don`t seem to like the words, do you?

“That's right. It`s a photo studio. But the pictures taken here are different from what we commonly know as identification photos. We call them artworks.”

 

- How much does such an artwork cost?

 

“It depends on size, but usually it is some 5 million won. That's for the size 24 x 20 inches. The price goes up to $10,000 for 50 x 40 inches. The highest price ever was $17,000 (approximately 20 million won).”

 

- It is quite expensive. Do you give discounts?

 

“My studio has a branch at the Macy`s Department Store in New York. Anybody can check the whole process of our transactions with clients on computer. How can we give discounts to some and no discount to others?”      

 

- What if a client doesn`t like your photo?

 

“That`s impossible. We discuss with our clients what to do with the uncorrected initial shots. We repeat this process many times. We even discuss whether to take a full-length shot, or a bust shot, or a three-quarter shot. We offer consulting on where to put the picture, whether to display it horizontally or vertically. The process is similar to making a tailored suit.”

 

- How long does such a photograph last?

 

“They usually last 70 years. Afterwards they will look like antiques. It`s like people getting wrinkles. Photographs are just like people.”

 

- What cameras do you use?

 

“We use large cameras, called Sinar. The film size is 4 x 5 inches. For digital cameras, we use Canon 5D.”

 

- Do you have special reason for insisting on film cameras?

“Digital cameras are better for resolution, but they can`t beat film cameras in expressing colors changing smoothly from one tone to another.”

- I`ve heard you suffered a lot after opening your first studio in Los Angeles.

 

“Ninety percent of the Korean residents there like me very much, while 10 percent hate me.”

 

- What's the reason?

 

“When taking a family photo, Koreans tend to like standing out among other family members. Particularly, housewives have the strongest voice. They turn up in a red dress without thinking why and ask for a bright background when harmony is most important in a family photo. Then, it can`t be a family photo. The housewife would look too prominent.”

 

- You must be getting severe stress.

 

“After about three years in this business I even thought of throwing up my hands. Then, I had an idea: taking a shot as my client wanted and another shot as I wanted, and showing the results. At first they insist on their ideas but eventually accept my opinion.”