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81 35 mm film, traditionally used for filming motion pictures, and instructs them to use the film to take still photos. This project inspires his students to think about film in a differ- ent way. Lee also likes to experiment with environmentally friendly procedures. “We develop our black-and-white film using coffee. When you mix coffee with vitamin C and washing soda (not baking soda), you can make a developer to process your black-and-white films, and it’s totally green,” he ex- plains. “You can throw it down the sink, and you don’t have to worry about dumping it as chemical waste. So, it’s good for the environment, and it’s fun, too.” Lee had been working with an array of subjects when he stumbled upon an online forum that inspired a new direction in his photography work. A man was selling a 100-year-old camera in “terrible condition.” Despite the condition, Lee had a longing to buy and rebuild the cam- era. Never having worked with a camera like this, the project was quite the challenge for Lee. When he finally succeeded, he was invigorated by both the process of re- building the camera and the quality of the photos he was able to capture using his new instrument. Later, Lee found another aged camera for sale online. “(The camera) was made in 1903. It’s a very panoram- ic format and is 7x17 inches long.” This antique ban- quet-style camera was traditionally used for photographing large groups of people. However, Lee intends to use the extreme panoramic qualities of the instrument to capture the vast landscapes of Korea and enlarge the images in a showcase: “I want to make some nice scans out of it and make some really huge gallery enlargements, and blow people’s socks off with the technology of the early 1 900s combined with the technology of today.” He believes that by utilizing old and new techniques he can produce a pic- ture with better quality than that of a single digital image. To complete this venture, Lee has started a Kickstarter project to raise funds for the film needed for his camera. “The film is unavailable. It’s only special order, so I have to place a minimum order of $15,000 with Kodak, and then they’ll cut the size down for me. But it will probably be enough film to last me, probably, five or 10 years.” This project is still currently underway. In a time period when it seems that everyone owns a digital camera and millions of pictures are uploaded online every day, it is inspiring to hear Lee speak about his careful work process. “Koreans like kimchi when it’s fermented well,” Lee says. “I like to compare my work process to fermenting kimchi. I take my images and put them away in a notebook … and later I’ll come back to these images, after they’ve kind of rested, and then I look at them again freshly. At that time, I can make a better judgmental deci- sion on whether I like the images or not.” His creativity and passion for his work leave his audience wondering: “What will Lee ferment next?” ABouT LEE Lee is an American photographer and professor living in Daegu with his wife and son. He has recently been featured in a short “human documentary” on EBS and will appear on KBS in the near future. More of his work can be found at www.photoevangelist.com. ‘We develop our black-and- white film using coffee. When you mix coffee with vitamin C and washing soda (not baking soda), you can make a developer to process your black-and-white films, and it’s totally green.’ — Lee Smatters