Korea

Chong-Sik Lee and Photographer Mike Langford's brilliant photo compilation "Korea - Land of the Morning Calm: A Journey through North and South Korea" is an good coffee table style photo book of the Korean Peninsula. The book focuses on the rural and traditional scenes of Korea, with only a couple of near-urban photos. Langford's photos capture mostly traditionally dressed Koreans engaging in day-to-day activities. The skill of the photographer is remarkable and the processing and presentation bring his hard work to the reader. I disliked only one point in this book; the excessive white space surrounding some of the photos. In several cases, the photos are centered on a page surrounded by three to four inches of white space frame, seemingly for lack of material or in an awkward attempt to emphasize the photo. I believe this is likely a publishing issue, one which detracts from an otherwise wonderful text.