Please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about who you are.
My name is Simon. I’m a street, travel, and lifestyle photographer based in Vancouver, and I often describe myself as a nomad. I was born in Korea but lived in at least a dozen different cities there. I also spent time in the U.S. and the UAE before eventually coming to Vancouver, the one city where I have now lived for a third of my life.
Growing up in a military family meant constantly adapting to new places and people. By the time I finished high school, I had lived across three countries and attended 12 different schools, or 14 if you count kindergarten. Wherever I went, I was often the new kid in the room.
That experience shaped the way I see the world as a photographer. Being a foreigner in every environment I found myself in, I learned to notice the small details that shape cultural nuances wherever I go. That habit continues to guide how I observe and capture the world.
Joining STADE as an editor is part of my pursuit of discovering and sharing different perspectives. The different sides of who I am have been shaped by the people I have met along the way. I hope to find new inspiration through their stories and share it with a broader audience. Everyone, in every place, has a story to tell.
Can you tell us more about your past experience and how it relates to photography?
While my portfolio includes a lot of travel and lifestyle photography, my passion lies primarily in street photography. Among its many forms, my style has always been that of a quiet observer.
Having been a foreigner in every place I’ve lived, I developed an obsession with observing. Over time, I realized that this habit of noticing light, movement, and emotion had become the foundation of my photographic approach.
For years, I have believed in carrying a camera everywhere, every day. It is rooted in the belief that a frame exists within everyday routines, not only in places that are fancy or noteworthy. When I travel, I do visit popular photography spots, but I also try to blend in like a local and find my frames there. Morning rush hour, lazy Sunday afternoons, and late-night street scenes are where I tend to wander.
Tell us more about a community you are part of.
For the past year, I’ve been building a community of Vancouver creatives alongside four amazing friends through Busy Creatives. We host events, organize photowalks, and bring people together through casual socials and other creative gatherings.
Through these events, I’ve met so many wonderful people, and it has been equally rewarding to watch new connections form among others. In fact, I met both Jameses (James C and James N) through a photowalk that James C and I hosted more than a year ago.
There is something genuinely joyful about surrounding yourself with people who inspire you. Busy Creatives has given me that more times than I can count, and I’m grateful to be part of a community where people continue to encourage, challenge, and inspire one another.
You shoot both digital and film. Could you describe how you approach and balance those two?
These days, it really depends on how I want to go about the day. If I want to fully immerse myself in an observer mode, I go analog. Most of my occasional commercial work is done digitally, of course. Film is expensive, so the camera I carry every day, everywhere tends to be digital.
Even when I’m shooting digital on the street, though, I still lean toward an analog kind of feeling. All of my digital gear at the moment is Fujifilm, and one of the biggest reasons is the tactile, analog-inspired controls, especially on the X100VI with its hybrid optical viewfinder. It just feels closer to how I like to shoot.
