18 COMMUNITY
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.
In focus: Some
portrait advice
Six tips to improve your skills
The Photo Challenge is spon-
sored by Hyosung Camera
(English: 010-7203-9599) and
Babo Shirts (www.baboshirts.
com). Winners of the weekly
competition receive a 50,000
won store credit at Hyosung
Camera and a Babo Shirt. To
take part in the competition,
simply upload your photo at
w w w. f l i c k r. c o m / g r o u p s /
seoulphotoclub — Ed.
By Dylan Goldby
Portrait specialist
Portraits are one of the
main reasons photography is
so popular — and the reason
families keep album after al-
bum of embarrassing photos.
They are one of the hardest
kinds of photography to mas-
ter, but there are a few things
you can do to improve your
portraits.
Probably first thing you can
do is to choose your locations
and backgrounds more careful-
ly.
A background that compli-
ments or contrasts your subject
or mood will work best. Be sure
that it has some kind of rela-
tionship to your image so the
shot holds together well. This
could be color, shape, or even
something the subject is touch-
ing.
Everyone shoots their
friends standing in front of the
palaces in Seoul, but how often
do people find a quiet corner,
pose against a wall and use
those long sweeping rooves and
lines of the palace walls to
draw the attention directly to
their subject?
As this is a portrait of a per-
son, another thing to try is to
isolate your subject. Find a
way to make them the only fo-
cus. There are a few ways to
do this. Have them wear a
blue shirt in a field of orange
flowers, for example, or use a
large aperture to blur out the
background, or simplify the
background until the details
of the image are held only on
the subject.
Choice of equipment is also
really important when shoot-
ing a portrait. Unless your goal
“The International
Hub of Podcasting”
SeoulPodcast, sponsored by
— Not your grandfather’s internet radio show.
See SeoulPodcast.com
is to distort facial features, be
very careful with wide angle
lenses (or the wide end of your
point and shoot camera). These
focal lengths tend to make ob-
jects that are closer to the lens
appear larger than those dis-
tant, thus distorting your poor
subject disproportionately,
which I can assure you, most
do not appreciate.
So unless distortion is your
goal, longer lenses are the key
here.
One of the best things you
can do while taking portraits
is to make sure the subject is-
n’t bored. Don’t spend a lot of
time changing lenses, check-
ing your settings, or looking
bewildered; this is where it
can go wrong. Start shooting
and if things aren’t working
out, don’t stop — change
things as you go. Just keep
the momentum going; change
it up!
Shooting with the frame ver-
tical? Change to horizontal.
Subjects’ hands are on their
hips? Have them hold some-
thing, place a hand on a wall,
create some interaction with
your scene.
Finally, and most impor-
tantly from a technical stand-
point, is light. Always be on
the lookout for nice light. This
could be warm evening light,
or a patch of shade on a bright
sunny day — try to avoid di-
rect sunlight if you can. It
makes people squint and caus-
es dark shadows. Move into
the shade, or better yet, read
up on strobist techniques and
make the light your own.
It is always a daunting task
to approach someone and take
their portrait, but being fore-
armed with a bit of knowledge
will give you a little extra confi-
dence.
Check out how some of the
best expat photographers in
Korea do it at the Seoul Photo
Club on Flickr.
(raisey@hanmail.net)
Daniel Scannell and
Jeong Bae get ready for
another busy day at their
restaurant Amistad,
in Costa del Sol, Spain.
Photo by Eoghan Ryan
When adventure becomes business
By Eoghan Ryan
and Matthew Lamers
COSTA DEL SOL, Spain —
You’ve fantasized about quitting
your job, moving to the tropics
and starting a business.
Everyone has at one time or an-
other. But what sets Jeong Bae
and Daniel Scannell apart from
most is that they actually went
through with it.
Amistad is the Spanish word
for friendship, and so an appro-
priate name for an expat bar on
the Costa del Sol. Expat bars on
the Spanish coast are ten-a-pen-
ny, but there are not too many
that are run by the likes of
Scannell and Bae.
“I got sick of working for oth-
er people and wanted a creative
outlet. The beauty of Spain, the
culture and life by the sea were
all incredible influences and I
felt this was a viable way to
showcase my life experiences
and talents,” said Scannell.
Scannell, a native of
Baltimore, Maryland, immi-
grated to Korea in December
Pierre Gagnaire in Seoul
By Daniel Gray
Seouleats
With all this talk about
Korean food globalization, it’s
important to consult those who
would know best.
The international chefs in
Seoul are the ones that will take
Korean food to the world. They
will use Korean ingredients and
techniques in their overseas
restaurants and they will tell
other chefs about the intricacies
of Korean cuisine.
Located on top of the Lotte
Hotel in Myeong-dong is Pierre
Gagnaire a Seoul. Years ago,
Pierre Gagnaire took French
cuisine to the world stage. He
inspired and influenced count-
less chefs and restaurants. He is
an artist that doesn’t compro-
mise quality or his vision.
Eating at Pierre Gagnaire a
Seoul is a once in a lifetime ex-
perience. The restaurant hall-
ways wind around like the
labyrinth in the gardens of
Versailles. The chandeliers look
like magical angelic horns,
which is fitting for each chande-
lier cost $50,000. And there are
private rooms like the hypnotic
Albert Camus, the classic
“Victor Hugo,” the artistic “Guy
de Maupassant,” and the digni-
fied “Stendhal.”
The dinner started in French
fashion with a glass of cham-
pagne. The wines were included
in the dinner course, so there
2006, where he met and mar-
ried Bae. Although his back-
ground was primarily in hospi-
tality, like many, he came to
Korea as a teacher. His plan had
been to make enough money to
open a restaurant in the United
States, but then fate intervened
in the form of love and mar-
riage, followed by the mortgage
crisis in the United States.
With Bae on board, Scannell
was not about to let a little thing
like a world financial crisis slow
him down, so they looked at al-
ternative options.
Bae spent some time in
Malaga a few years back, and so
the couple packed up and headed
to Spain. With Amistad, the cou-
ple has adopted for a fusion ap-
proach to their cuisine, which in
one sense tailors to the diversity
of their clientele, while at the
same time offers something
unique to the area. So far things
are going well, although Scannell
hopes that some family will visit
from Korea soon, as he is strug-
gling to find the right ingredients
for his Korean dishes.
was no fuss over choosing them.
My meal started with five
mini “amuse-bouche toys” that
included a tiny naan bread
topped with curry powder; two
parmesan crisps whose nutty,
savory flavor will leave you in
shock; and a teardrop shaped
plate with fine cerviche.
This pre-course was followed
by the first course: a foie gras
mousse with an ice cream made
of peppers and rice; white tuna
lacquered with a honey soy
sauce and served in a celery
sauce, and a veloute made from
red onions. The silky veloute
had small onions stuffed with
Spanish ham and Emmental
cheese.
The magic of French food is
how they deconstruct a meal
and then concentrate on indi-
vidual flavors. Although I al-
ready had eight dishes, each
dish left a flavor and texture im-
pression that chimed in my
mind. It was a good thing that
these dishes were small, for
larger portions would have been
flavor overload. None of the fla-
vors were too intense.
The next course was our salad
course, which had fresh crab
stuffed with plum, zucchini, and
French herbs topped with a
cream lemon sauce. The texture
of the crab melded with the
spark of plum and the mellow
green of the lettuce, zucchini,
dill, and basil.
This was followed by a fish
“Everyone who has tried our
food has sung its praises, but a
lot do just want their English
breakfast, Sunday roast or
Spanish tapas. We offer a
unique alternative on the Costa
del Sol,” he said.
Bae said they are trying to
create a multinational, relaxing
environment that people of all
places can mesh, relax and en-
joy. “We feel we have a young,
artistic, creative feel to our food
and atmosphere and try to in-
troduce people to new things in
our culinary, art and even music
offerings,” she added.
Her husband said from a
business perspective, it’s a
clean, inviting, relaxing place to
chill with good food, a large se-
lection of drinks and a comfort-
ing atmosphere. “The biggest
thing for us and most our
clients, however, is the people.
People of all nationalities, ages
and walks of life,” he said.
“Although we have had only one
Korean visitor, we hope to have
more.”
Costa del Sol is so beautiful, it
course, which was a crusted
Jeju Red Snapper in a sauce
made from peas. It was an
amazing sensation to feel the
fork shatter the crust and slide
into the luscious flesh of this
prized Jeju fish. The lightly fla-
vored green sauce accented the
fish without overpowering it.
And if your expectations had
not yet been reached, then came
the main course. It was a filet of
hanwoo beef so fine that the cow
must have been royalty. This
filet sat on a throne of couscous
and was surrounded by seafood.
To the right came Carpaccio
made with clam and served on a
perforated plate that exhaled
dry ice. To the left was a mous-
seline made from eggplant and
dotted with an elusive green
sauce.
Although we were eating
French cuisine, there was defi-
nitely an Indian influence. The
couscous had a hint of garam
masala and the eggplant mous-
sline was vaguely reminiscent of
baba ghanoush — yet finer. This
is the magic of Pierre Gagnaire.
He can take many world influ-
ences and meld them into one.
Not to be outdone were the
desserts. They came as a trinity:
Camembert beurre, guava
granita, and a chocolate foam
cake. The desserts had textures
that were unexpected. The gua-
va granita had the crisp, clean
taste of cucumber along with
the tropical citrus of lime and
TUESDAY DECEMBER 1, 2009
is often compared to a Picasso
painting. “Look at a Picasso,
Goya, Dali — there is some
thread that holds them togeth-
er. The clear air, stark sunlight,
Mediterranean sea. Iberico
Jamon, Manchego cheese, Rioja
wine — there is a lot to love,”
said Scannell.
Away from work, Bae, an
artist herself, “adores the crisp
sun and colors the landscape
provides,” she said. Malaga,
which is nearby, is the birth-
place of one of Spain’s most fa-
mous sons, Pablo Picasso.
“The way the light, sea,
mountains interact are very in-
spiring. At the same time, it is a
bit stark in contrast to Korea’s
diversity of flora and weather,”
Bae said.
The language barrier and the
bureaucracy of the Spanish sys-
tem have provided some frus-
trations for the couple, but with
the business up and running,
they are over the worst and
Scannell hopes they will get to
grips with the language, too.
For Bae, leaving Korea was a
guava. The Camembert beurre
had a smooth savory note and
the chocolate cake, although it
sat in a rich caramel sauce had
the accentuating note of salt in
the foam.
A meal here is culture; it’s ed-
ucation. By eating at this
restaurant you can understand
how a world-traveling artist can
unite cultures.
And let us not forget that
Gagnaire has put the spotlight
on Seoul. His restaurant moves
Seoul into the culinary top tier.
He is also taking Korea to the
world by using Korean ingredi-
ents such as hanwoo, omija, and
black garlic in his other restau-
rants.
natural progression for her ad-
venturous spirit, but she admits
to missing, “rain, mom’s food,
family and good friends.”
Scannell hopes that with the
success of the business and their
integration into Spanish culture
that the Amistad adventure will
be a long term one. For Bae, her
hopes away from business re-
late to her art, and so far she is
finding Spanish life inspiring.
“From Korea, we miss the
convenience of things and safe-
ty. Living and running a busi-
ness in a resort area, you find
most people are transient and
relationships come and go too
quickly. Still, in our short time
here we have met and made
some really good friends,” the
couple said.
To contact Scannell, e-mail
danielpscannell@yahoo.com and
go to www.amistadbar.com for
more information on Amistad.
To contribute a story idea to
Koreans Living Abroad, e-mail
mattlamers@heraldm.com — Ed.
Pierre Gagnaire a Seoul is on
the 34th Floor of Lotte Hotel,
Myeongdong. For reservations,
call (02) 317-7181. The restau-
rant is open Monday-Friday
from 12-3 p.m. and 6-10 p.m.;
Saturday from 6-10 p.m.; closed
Sunday. Reservations are rec-
ommended. Lunches start at
80,000 plus VAT and 10 percent
service fee. Dinners start at
250,000 plus VAT and service
fee. English, French, and
Korean are spoken.
Daniel Gray works for O’ngo
Food Communications. You can
follow his food adventures at
www.seouleats.com — Ed.