Updated usually on Mondays and/or Thursdays!


Monday, June 29, 2015

Our Amateur Vogue-cation


Some of you may or may not have known that Letrendary has been published on Vogue Italia's PhotoVogue twice now! We were first published on February 24 for 'Hanbok,' and we a second entry was just published again last Wednesday called '1920s-esque Hanbok film.' I definitely think that the main reason Diana's photographs were chosen is because hanboks are so idiosyncratic. It's different, and that's what Vogue Italia is looking for. We thought we should share the exciting news with you all, so here are several pictures! Vogue Italia is selective with their choices, so we are both ecstatic to be featured. Thanks for reading, and look forward to even more posts this week!








Dig Into Your Roots

Korean Heritage Camp 2015

I had the honor and privilege of going to the 2015 Korean Heritage Camp for adopted children! I am not adopted, so I wasn't a participant of the activities. Instead, I was the camp's cinematographer, in which I was able to go around and film everywhere. KHC is hosted annually in the Rocky Mountains at Snow Mountain Ranch. It began 24 years ago and has grown tremendously over the years. Because of Korean Heritage Camp, 12 other Heritage Camps have been created; it was the first and original of all 13 Heritage Camps. There were nearly 1,000 people involved with KHC this year. 

KHC is a family camp, so the entire family is there for four days and three nights. The purpose of KHC is to educate Korean adoptees and their families about the Korean culture and to provide a sense of Korean identity and community to them also. Because the majority of Korean adopted children do not have Korean parents, they are unfamiliar with the Korean culture. Thus, this camp gives them an opportunity to appreciate and learn about their roots. 

Camp activities ranged from calligraphy to cooking to counseling. This camp was so unique and cultural that it is must-share! While I was there, I met families from various states. Some came from foreign countries or all the way from Korea. It was so touching to see how the parents cared and loved their children. Because of my experience, I am truly considering adopting children one day. All the parents I spoke to talked about how they felt so grateful and blessed. One mom told me that she doesn't know how it happens, but you always get the child you are meant to have. The families were so special.

A lot of the photographs below are still-frames from video clips, so they may not be very focused. I am currently creating a documentary on the camp, so I will share the link with all of you once it is completed. Here is the link to the KHC website if you're interested in reading more:  http://www.heritagecamps.org/what-we-do/the-camps/korean.html

Left: The view outside my cabin Right: Korean Tea Ceremony
Left: Dongman Han delivering a seminar to the adults and high-schoolers//Consul General of the Republic of Korea in San Francisco Right: Pam, Mimi, Jacqueline, and Kelli//KHC Camp Directors
Left: Korean Lantern Craft Right: The Anderson Family//Mr. and Mrs. Anderson adopted 3 Korean children
Pre-schoolers learning to play the Sogo (소고), a traditional Korean drum.
During lunch, over 800 people gather to eat a meal prepared by the Korean community. 
Right: Middle-schoolers learn how to cook kimbap (김밥), a popular Korean dish.
Kids compete to make the best tasting kimbap!
Another middle-school group learned calligraphy and to write in Korean.
Left: Excited pre-schoolers! Right: Dad and adopted son
Left: Two little girls dressed up in hanboks (한복). Right: He was showing off his magical watches!
Taekwondo is Korean self-defense. It has become a popular sport, and you are likely to find a studio nearby you. 
Left: Elementary school kids learning to read Korean and do crafts. Right: Picture of the Korean traditional dress, hanbok. They were selling used ones at a cheap price. I was so close to buying another one.

The most rewarding part of this camp was realizing how lucky and proud I am to be Korean. As a Korean-American, I have grown up getting the best of both worlds. The Korean culture is exceptional, and I am so thankful that it has shaped me as an individual. Dig into your roots!





Thursday, June 25, 2015

ToT #2: U n' I(verse)

  
This is Dorothy in the Claremont village:


This is a map of the Greater Los Angeles area. Are those icons for bowls of noodles on the map? Heck yeah. Ramen is forever deserving of appreciation: 
 

This is Los Angeles in California:

This is California in the United States:
 

This is the United States in the world:
This is the world/Earth:

And these are snapshots of the universe all taken by the Hubble team at NASA {a universe where Earth is smaller than a mote of dust, yet so infinitely, impossibly, terrifyingly large to us}:
NASA's Great Observatories Examine the Galactic Center Region

Hubble M31 PHAT Mosaic 

Westerlund 2 Hubble image

I will not lie. I cried a bit when I saw these photos. But I am getting ahead of myself.

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

coloRADo ADVENTURES

Bonjour! Our website is officially letrendary.com! Woohoo! Thanks so much for reading and supporting. We love you guys!

Summer Travel Diary #1

My first travel destination for this summer is Colorado! I flew over by myself to stay with my relatives for 2 weeks. It's hard for me to even fathom that I was stressing about finals 2 weeks ago because my life is so drastically different right now! So far, I've been doing a lot of filming. I'm currently working on several big projects that I'm extremely excited to share soon. Since I'm leaving Colorado this Saturday, I thought now might be the best time to share my favorite photos from my trip so far!
Here are a few pictures from my 3 day trip in the Rocky Mountains! The profusion of green in Colorado is so awesome!
Rocky Mountain National Park
My relatives and I drove up to the very top of the Rocky Mountains. It's fascinating how there's still snow in June. This is a tundra, which is the coldest of all the biomes. Pretty awesome because I had never seen a tundra prior to this trip. It wasn't all that cold, so that's why I'm wearing shorts if you were wondering. It's pretty hot in Colorado; it's been in the 90s for the past week. 

I spent Father's Day at this beautiful garden restaurant. I'm definitely a sucker for pretty outdoor venues.

Colorado has industrialized and grown immensely in the past decade. A huge number of individuals from different states and countries have been moving into Colorado in the past decade. Denver and Boulder are normally in the top 5 for best cities to live in the US, which explains the influx of settlers. Downtown Denver is so quiet in comparison to Los Angeles. There aren't as many people out at night and it's known to be very safe. They have a free bus that stops at each block on this particular street pictured above, which I thought was pretty cool. 

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Thanks for reading and stay tuned!