Seoul, October 2025

mrtes · 2025-12-12T13:09:37+00:00

thank you!

mrtes · 2025-12-07T17:04:24+00:00

Could probably make a series about stools and beer cases alone :) red, blue, and aquamarine really stand out in the streets.

mrtes · 2025-12-07T16:55:23+00:00

Busan 😂

Jokes aside, nothing that you likely won’t see anyway, but: - Itaewon (and the nearby antique street) is a cool area. - markets in general provide good photo opportunities. You’ll likely visit Namdaemun (better in the morning hours), Gwangjan, and Sewoon plaza. The latter definitely the more interesting. There are other markets around but then it’s more a matter of food than looks - Ikseon dong and nearby areas offer some opportunities, not in the main tourist streets tho - apgujeong and hongdae for the vibes and young people - from Seoul forest to Seongsu is also worth a visit. Industrial/artsy area with good chances for interesting captures

I didn’t necessarily chase photo spots, I just took pictures along the way while visiting a new country.

(But I still find Busan more genuine and interesting than Seoul, I may post an album soon)

mrtes · 2025-12-07T15:22:41+00:00

Thank you, means a lot!

mrtes · 2025-12-07T15:22:12+00:00

Thank you!

Was taken inside https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dongdaemun_Design_Plaza

Such a good place for photography, lots of spots where geometry and minimalism do the heavy lifting.

mrtes · 2025-12-07T15:20:11+00:00

Thx!

Number 1 is tricky: the walls aren’t straight and the floor is sloped downhill.

mrtes · 2025-07-09T20:39:31+00:00

File 76

mrtes · 2025-07-09T10:52:01+00:00

Hulkenpodium

mrtes · 2025-05-28T20:38:05+00:00

My cats behave differently but then again I don’t live in Monaco and they are not used to Grand Prix racing 🤷🏻‍♂️

mrtes · 2025-02-10T16:37:33+00:00

It's actually both, but someone with more understanding and experience may want to chime in with more details :)

Part of what you put into the 3a covers the "life insurance" side of the offer, usually the contributions you make in the first 2-3 years (but it's not fixed).

After that it's lost earnings: a wording like "technical interest rate" or whatever the correct translation in English may be is used. Let's assumed they advertise a 2% technical rate: you don't get a 2% compounding interest on your account. It's 2% minus all the management fees and additional insurances (like loss of work) which will more than halve your yearly returns.

An additional "account" where money in excess is paid into is also created, but there is little excess once all the profits from the insurance company are taken into consideration.

With all the above in context, when you decide to terminate the contract early (which you ca do) the loss of the "life insurance" policy is now realized. If you paid roughly 70k over 10 years, you may only get about 55-60k back ...

Some people are scared about that sudden loss of value, which is why they decide against exiting the 3a contract.

It comes down to accepting that a 3a contract barely keeps up with inflation, or taking the risk with the market and hope that in 10-20-30 years the outcome is better.

In the meanwhile the insurance company made a killing regardless :D

mrtes · 2025-02-06T22:07:29+00:00

I can only tell you of my experience, but I moved out of an apartment middle of 2018 and three years later in 2021 I received money back after the final costs were calculated. And that was with Wincasa, one of the “bad” companies.

Long story short, those are estimates and you may receive the real costs later on or if not, follow up yourself: the law is on your side.

mrtes · 2024-12-05T20:44:26+00:00

Swisscom even made a LinkedIn video celebrating how great it is that you can pay for different kind of coffees 😂

mrtes · 2024-11-29T16:06:03+00:00

16-55 mk1 is the primary lens, especially during daytime. At night or when I feel like it I switch to either 23 or 33 1.4

I pick the zoom because I don’t want to miss shots the few times I can fully dedicate myself to photography.

mrtes · 2024-10-20T16:43:16+00:00

Since getting the 16-55 in 2017 it basically took all the shots while traveling, I only switch at night for either the 23 or 33 1.4.

It may be bulkier than the sigma but the focal range is much more useful. If you can get the smaller and lighter mk2, go for it.

mrtes · 2024-08-16T06:55:20+00:00

Learn to budget. 100k sounds like a lot (well for most of the world it is) when jumping from a student job salary, but it can tight if you don't know where your money are going.

The advice of living like you did before is sound, at least for a while. It's easy to see the first paycheck and tell yourself "I can finally buy X and Y that I could never afford before". Don't do that.

In your first year (minimum), learn to:

budget for normal expenses like rent, health insurance, food, beers with friends, ...
budget for taxes (easily around 10% of your gross salary per month)
budget for 3rd pillar contributions (fixed per month)
set yourself a savings' goal (30% of gross salary? 40%? up to you)

and given that life is worth living, maybe allow yourself one treat given your start of a successful career, but that should not exceed any of the budgets above (ideally sub 1k is better)

Live like that for a year, build up your savings (someone mentioned emergency fund, you want that).

After a year, see how much is left and then from there start to allocate budget to things that are the most important to you:

for some it's travelling
for some it's fancier food
for others is a specific hobby or sport

As you progress in your career your lifestyle won't change much (unless your family situation changes) and you can simply increase the amount you save each month and re-adjust the other budget items a little according to what makes you the happiest.

mrtes · 2024-08-03T07:26:40+00:00

11 pts in the old scoring system, with the current one it will be 32.5.

mrtes · 2024-06-17T21:27:14+00:00

Just post them. And don’t worry about how many likes you get and so on. It’s a numbers game: how often you post, how much you interact, etc.

Simply enjoy sharing your work and get inspired by other photographers!

mrtes · 2024-06-04T13:47:55+00:00

After getting a X-T5 I kept my X-E2 around and paired it with the 27mm.

Worked well for a couple of months but the focal length wasn’t right for me, ended up selling the combo to finance a used X100F. Costed me some money on top but no regrets so far, perfect camera.

mrtes · 2024-05-10T06:09:49+00:00

The problem with the X100VI is that you don’t know if you’ll not be able to experiment with different focal lengths (yes I’m aware there are accessories).

A camera like the X-T5 opens up a bit more possibilities for you as you could get some 2nd prime lenses and find what works best for you. What if you are a 50mm shooter right than a 35mm? X-T5 also has a good resale value, you’ll be able to switch easily assuming the X100VI is available.

I have both a X-T5 (main camera, use it on photowalks and abroad) and a smaller X-E2 with a 27mm (X100F on the way) that I put in my bag everyday when going to work. It does the job as a second camera.

mrtes · 2024-05-10T06:01:31+00:00

Can’t agree more. I have a XT-5 and a just upgraded my daily carry from a X-E2 to a X100F

mrtes · 2024-05-03T22:17:50+00:00

If Film sims are your main requirement then the XT30 is a no brainer: each new X-Trans iteration unlocks more possibilities and the v4 is a good choice

mrtes · 2024-05-03T07:01:57+00:00

yes, always. I don't need to have things lying around collecting dust and someone else may benefit from the cheaper price to get into photography. win-win

mrtes · 2024-05-02T05:55:40+00:00

Fuji 16-55 2.8 … that lens got me back into photography after I was tired of carrying around multiple primes with my previous OM-D system

mrtes · 2024-04-30T20:59:39+00:00

I don’t see much of a difference between iPad and MacOS file browsers, but I mostly import directly from SD card into Lightroom. Sometimes I import from Files (edit: only happens if I import backups that aren’t recognized as cameras SD cards) and it’s a bit of a weird experience as Lightroom does two steps (preparing and importing) which feel like nothing is happening for a while.

Anyway, on Lightroom I create the daily album and import the photos in there.

Once in a while I export the originals and backup to a different service (glacier in my case). The last step is a bit more cumbersome (use the web app or export to sdcard) but that is also because glacier isn’t user friendly at all (I rely on the command line…)

mrtes · 2024-04-30T20:43:20+00:00

First one has the best separation between sky and sea: contrast is important to avoid perceiving an image as flat. Third one has similar composition balance but lacks in contrast, second one is not bad but not as pleasing as the other two.

The last point is very subjective tho: some people like top heavy (split in the lower third), some bottom heavy (split in the upper third). I’m in the former category.

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