While springtime in South Korea holds a multitude of magnificent bursts of color with the budding flowers and cherry blossom trees, Autumn is magnificent for very different reasons. At the start of the harvest season is a holiday called Chuseok. Much like American “Thanksgiving,” this holiday celebrates the harvest season and the people we are lucky enough to share it with. Apart from the boxed gift-sets of canned Alaska salmon, exorbitantly priced cooking oils, and SPAM (traditional gifts for the holiday, you can be sure) the biggest signal for the coming fall in Korea is the apple season. While they may be extremely expensive, around $10 each, and meticulously handled to ensure perfect shape and color, these delicious apples start popping up everywhere. Recently we were lucky enough to be passing through an area renowned for its apple orchards. Since the fruits were merely days away from being plucked from their branches, we jumped at the opportunity to have an impromptu photo shoot with some of our good friends, Mark and Kayley. While we weren’t sure how the farmer would take to having four foreigners fondling his already-dropped fruit, we made sure to handle his orchard as properly as four trespassers possibly could.
Autumn is a special time in South Korea, and arguably one of its most beautiful. Soon the colors will change and the climate will become that perfect mixture of warm days and chilly nights. Maybe we’ve been here too long, or maybe Fall is just a romantic time of year that evokes sentimental feelings. We hope you enjoy these shots from our impromtu photo shoot as much as we do!
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I loveeeeee them!!! So much fun you guys xxx
It was a lot of fun! Glad we didn’t get kicked out haha
I especially like lurker Ryan…
HAHA he is really good at it. Blends right in with those trees.
Oooh I hope you do do more of these shoots! They came out beautifully. I haven’t been to an apple orchard since high school, and now I want to go (too late now I think!).
Thanks, Sam! We didn’t realize how famous Chungcheongbukdo province was for their apples, but as soon as we saw all the orchards, we knew we couldn’t pass up the chance to get in there and take some photos. Really loved doing the portrait shots and would love to do some more soon!
Great photos guys!!! Loving that you crashed an apple orchard, what a perfect place for an autumn photo shoot!
Thank you, Megan! It was a really fun location and we eventually convinced the guys to join us haha
I love these photos. I would have loved to have taken my girls here for a photo shoot. My two year old toddler would have especially loved this. She loves apples. Where exactly was this here in Korea?
Hi, Tabitha! We had a lot of fun on this shoot and I’m sure your girls would love it as well. We stumbled upon this orchard by accident in Chungcheongbukdo, south of Chungju. We were camping and drove through a little village filled with apple orchards. We drove until we saw one with the best lighting/apple colors and spent 30 minutes trespassing! I believe most of the apples have been harvested by now, but I do believe there to be a Chungju Apple Festival going on all October long. If you can’t make it to Chungju, you might be able to get some pictures with persimmon trees! Those are famous autumn fruit that can make lovely photo backgrounds as well!
How awesome and I love it, trespassing for 30 minutes. Least you were able to capture some great photos and good memories.
Persimmon orchards can be found in Yeongdong (they have a dried persimmon festival every December) and Suncheon (a ton of orchards along the valley hiking trail next to Seonamsa Temple).
Cool and thank you so much!!