The SEOULHIO Project: Bringing Seoul to Your Sizzle
Seoyu, a K-POP dancer, is seeping with Seoulish sizzle.
SEOUL’S SIZZLE
We’re bringing the soul of Seoul to the American heartland. The 80s and 90s were about ninjas, samurai, and anime. The coolest, quirkiest city on the planet was Tokyo. But now, it’s about the ground zero of global cool, Seoul. And this is far from a fad. Between BTS blowing past the #1 hit record World’s record set by the Beatles themselves, Korean films sweeping up whole handfuls of Oscars at a time, or Korean children’s games taking over Netflix, Korea has taken the center of the world stage in a way no other place has been able to do.
Before most people outside of Korea even knew that The Korean Style was cool, Dr. Hurt was already covering it.
Dr. Hurt shot Paris Hilton wearing Korean designer YounHee Park’s GREEDILOUS brand dress in Seoul in May, 2019. Beyonce wore GREEDILOUS gear several times back in 2015~2017, to the great delight of Korean stylistas.
THE INSIDE TRACK
Everybody young, hip, and connected knows that Korean stuff is simply cool. Feeling-filled Korean dramas are cool; gritty Korean cinema is cool; Korean K-POP is hypercool; and Korean beauty/fashion defines the very aesthetic of how cool looks, moves, and resonates. There’s a Korean look, a way of being. And from JYP to Jessi, real Korean stuff has swag. This is what the rest of the world outside Korea is only finding out. Korea ain’t basic; it’s baller. Do you have the Seoul sizzle inside you, ready to be put down on film?
Even when we shooting Squid Game, we don’t play games. We shoot like we’re Vogue, with the right costuming, colors, and technical chic.
THE K-STYLE DOCTOR IS IN
Dr. Michael W. Hurt has been photographing in Seoul since 2002, becoming the first professional street fashion photographer in Korea from 2007 and publishing The Seoul Fashion Report, the first English-language book on Korean fashion, in 2009. He has covered Seoul Fashion Week non-stop as a photographer since then, for publications ranging from America’s CNN and China’s Modern Weekly, The Japan Times, Korea Times and the Asia Times, and even German Glamour. Dr. Hurt hails from Dayton, Ohio, and is likely the most Seoul fashion world connected non-Korean citizen in Korea, and still covers Seoul fashion regularly for a local fashion industry newspaper, TIN뉴스 (the page is in Korean but is mostly pictures with English captions) in KOREAN. Dr. Hurt documents, researches, and knows the Korean aesthetic, the current trends, and also how to put them back out into visual form through pictures — with you as the medium. Dr. Hurt will put YOU into the Korean aesthetic. He’s done this in places from Vietnam to Japan, having shot Korean fashion people across the world. After Hanoi and Tokyo, the American Heartland is the next stop. Will you be the project’s next model?
DR. Hurt covered real Gangnam style in 2012 for the Huffington Post Style section.
Real Korean style at Sookmyung Women’s University for TINNews in 2010.
This is is from China’s Modern Weekly in 2017. It’s in Chinese, but we think you get the point. Beijing called Dr. Hurt cuz China is crushing hard on Korean style.
Dr. Hurt shooting Saigon in Seoul (Vietnamese ao dai dress on Korean models) in 2017.
Dr. Hurt shooting Korean designer PAK Youn Hee’s GREEDILOUS brand worn by Salim (@salimhwg), one of VIetnam’s top influencers, in 2018.
Dr. Hurt shot a Vietnamese model recruited from Vietnam International Fashion Week doing Korean modern hanbok fashion in Hanoi in 2018.
Dr. Hurt shooting Korea’s flagship style brand in Harajuku in 2018.
Dr. Hurt with Paris Hilton in Seoul after interviewing her on her new beauty line launch for Women’s Wear Daily in 2019.
The Package: Quick & Dirty, and Definitely Digital
Dr. Hurt developed most of his fashion photo chops in Seoul, so the style is hypermodern and the methodology is digital. Seoulites have already been living in the Metaverse for years; all culture in Seoul is screened culture. Screens are where people live, with electronic avatars defining digital life. Koreans ain’t got time to wait. Two weeks, a week, or even a few days — Seoul kids ain’t got time for that. With a $250 Seoulhio shoot, Dr. Hurt edits during or right after the shoot, and will have your digital originals in your phone before you go home. A given shoot of around 3 hours will often yield around a 1/10 or 1/20 ratio of best shots, and such shoots often have around 2000 shots fired. The output of decent, well-exposed shots in which the model didn’t blink, the flash didn’t cut out after a burst, or the particular pose isn’t perfect — is usually around 100-200 decent shots to you, in your hand. A professional, experienced model can often yield around 400-500 shots from a shoot. You’ll get a delivery of all the digital originals straight out the camera that you can edit and with which you can do whatever you want. After the fact, I will take some of the best shots you like and make an edit out of 5-7 and attempt to publish them in a post-project writeup. But the goal would be to produce several portfolio-quality shots for you that could substantially update your comp card or other needs. Also, you can use the shoot to get an edgy, urban head shot or even something more traditional with the professional lighting gear that will be in tow.
Summary:
Price: $250
Immediate Digital Deliverables: ~100-200 well-exposed, editing-ready shots in your phone
Post-shoot Digital Deliverables: 5-7 exposure-adjusted, filtered, edits.
Extras and Accessories: We will have a properly-colored, teal-green 067, women’s L Squid Game uniform, as well as honeycomb cookie & dish, and the red/blue paper envelopes from the show as fun options.
Suggested styling: Check out the Seoul Street Studios @seoulstreetstudios and Dr. Hurt’s personal Instagram @kuraeji for some Korean style trends. But in short, Fila Disruptor II sneaks, fishnet anything, high, athletic ankle socks, and off-shoulder shirtdresses are nice things to accessorize.
We do fast, simple, and hypermodern, digital delivery. You’ll get exactly what you need — stylish and unique pics that will distinguish you and your feed in an often staid and mom-and-pop style market. In Seoulhio, you won’t be stuck with safe, nice pics to show Nana, you’ll get the kind of editorial-style work that can add both Edge and Art to your feed. But don’t take our word for it — Google “Michael Hurt Korea” and his work and confirm this for yourself.
Her Squid Game is for ALL the marbles.
Please contact us here with any inquiries.