In my 공주님* Era
So you know all those k-dramas about princesses and what not, we decided that it’s time to tryout ourselves, LOL
(공주님 = Gongjunim/Princess)
It’s the closest experience to know how it feels like to be a princess in another era.
Though to be very honest, I probably will not be able to survive as a princess ≽^•⩊•^≼
So then, while Paula and I have travelled together a couple of times together now. We were usually each other’s photographers to document our holidays. I thought it could be fun if we were to hire someone to take our photos. It also feels like something that’s super trendy these days, so after seeing some of my friends hiring photographers. I decided to do the same. Besides, 2023 hits just right because that also marks our 10 year “friennivasary” So it was almost like a decade long friendship milestone photoshoot.
٩( ᐛ )( ᐖ )۶
We found ourselves with Dianne and Tak.
They were a husband-and-wife couple that loves to shoot humans. I dm-ed them on Instagram and the booking was super fuss-free. They have a few “package-offers” . We were easily hooked on to the idea of dressing up in hanboks and acting like princesses. We planned for a 1hour shoot at Gyeong Bok Gong and voila!
The more complex part was picking the right hanbok rental stall.
Of course, we didn’t super plan in advance. We only scour through Little Red Book the day before our photoshoot *opps* 😂, to look through reviews of different hanbok rental studios. It’s a little odd how the prices can go from 10 000won to 80 000won. I guess it goes down to the different quality of the hanbok rentals.
We ended up at Yes Hanbok.
We were worried that we might have to fight other tourists, so we decided to get there earlier. Our photoshoot was planned at 11am and we reached the hanbok rental studio at around 9.30. It was right beside Gyeong Bok Gong by the metro station. Super easy to get to!
And we were very right! There were another group of tourists, around 7-8 girls already choosing their hanboks. But somehow, Paula and I were super fast!
We got there roughly knowing our plan = we had to match nicely so fit a nice photoshoot ٩( ᐛ )( ᐖ )۶ #priorities Paula already knew she wanted something lilac, and I was thinking about something white or blue tone to match. We also opted for the premium hanok dresses because the regular ones had too much gold embroidery that didn’t look very good in my opinion. I was imagining a light/fluffy hanbok that “floats” in the magical light of winter ✌︎︎
The ladies in store were quite friendly. They all seemed to be more well verse in Mandarin, so we communicated without problem easily. Me being me, the super un-prepared woman, did not go with the right amount of heat-tech in the cold winters of Seoul. I ended up with a TINY THINSY LAYER of shirt under than silky-nylon top, which basically meant nothing at all in the cold winds of -4~0ºC that entire morning (×_×)
Yes Hanbok
You will be greeted by rows of bags and dresses. Instantly filled up with over 1000 choices that potentially makes choosing difficult if you haven’t thought about it.
Hair Station
We were somewhat impressed that hair styling was included in our offer. Plus they really have a lot of options to pick from ✮ ⋆ ˚｡𖦹 ⋆｡°✩
Styling
I am so impressed by how they could easily do up hair styles, even for my sadly short hair (๑ > u < ๑)
Look at this? Am I not a fake princess?
(๑ > U < ๑)
We were dressed in less than 40 mins. It was so cold that day, and it somewhat looked gloomy, while we were paying for our hanboks, we saw that flurry capes were available for add ons! We immediately took it without a second thought. HA
It cost us around 45 000won for a 4hour rental. It was extra 5000won for the cape and an extra 10 000won for the premium hanbok. The shop assistants quickly settled everything so that we could quickly leave and head towards the palace to watch the change of guard ceremony.
Starbucks Run
We were too fast with our hanbok selection, we had almost 1hour to kill before meeting our lovely photographers. We found a closest starbucks to warm ourselves. It was funny walking into the store full of people in business suits while we had poofy skirts and had difficulty sitting down.
But soon we got chased out into the cold because we opted for “take away” 🥲 Off we went, freezing outside in the palace grounds. Luckily we kept our gloves with us.
It was time!
Because we were dressed in hanboks, you are entitled to a free entry to Gyeong Bok Gong! Originally, Paula and I waited at the wrong entrance, but luckily we were not too late to get to Dianne and Tak. Both of them are super friendly! And gosh, you wouldn’t have imagine but they were in fact very much unnie/oppa in terms of age compared to us. And here the both of us were thinking about how old we are ( ꩜ ᯅ ꩜;)
As you can tell by now, Paula and I takes hundreds of photos to get that 1 perfect shot so it was actually a little awkward posing in front of a professional (,,>﹏<,,) Dianne and Tak are super funny. We chatted about all sorts of stuffs, keeping it casual so that it makes us less awkward. They would make jokes and create imaginary scenarios with our favourite oppas and then capture the perfect moment (๑≧▽≦๑)o
Gyeong Bok Gong Palace is hugeeeee!
We didn’t stay at one spot, instead we moved to different areas. However the weather was a little gloomy and it snowed a little before, the ground was wet / muddy ( 〃．．)
Downside of our hanbok rental was that it didn’t include shoes!!!
Σ(°△° ꪱꪱꪱ)
So here you can see us, all beautifully dressed… until you see our modern day sneakers (๑﹏๑//) #firstworldpains I especially asked for a running shot, just to catch that flowy hanbok skirt. So clearly, we did not do any justice!
Tip: Please don’t forget to rent your matching hanbok shoes! Especially if you’re hiring a photographer!
Voila! That’s it with the professionals!
Actually, an hour flew by really quickly. Dianne and Tak didn’t exactly spent an hour with us either. Because the palace was huge and we also did spent quite some time walking from places to places to avoid human crowd, they easily recovered the walking time with the little extra time.
We took lotsa of photos! Dianne delivered over 200 photos fully edited in 3 days! As photographers, they have their own presets and editing. However, as a fellow creative myself, I wasn’t too much of a fan of their color aesthetics. So i requested for raw photos. I couldn’t pick which are the best photos, but this series are some of the best and funnier ones edited with my own preset (๑≧▽≦๑)o
This was the reality of the palace if you’re wondering… plenty of people everywhere!
But it’s not the end! Remember? We rented our costumes for 4 hours (❁˃́ᴗ˂̀)(≧ᴗ≦✿)
Eventually, after we bid goodbyes, we went to look for different spots to take more photos! Of course there were hundreds of photos… it’s so difficult to pick the nicest ones to post!
We found an icy quiet corner in a small yard and braved the cold winds. Of course, these were few of our 100 over shots!
( ◕▽◕)人(≧▽≦)
I mean, we were already dressed… though can I say, I really cannot deal with all that “cheek” holding pose. Especially this one, it really makes me wanna smack you @paula Σ(°△° ꪱꪱꪱ) LOL
