Doctor instills van Gogh into photography
.jpg?w=728)
Dr. Yoon Sang-min publishes a book containing his photos, “Photos from the future.”
Yoon Sang-min
By Yoon Ja-young
Yoon Sang-min, an otolaryngologist in Uijeongbu, Gyonggi Province, liked pictures of Vincent van Gogh as a child. The doctor is becoming famous with his photographs that resemble the pictures of the great artist.
“I saw a picture on calendar as a child and it left a deep impression on me. I wondered, ‘how can one draw a picture like this? Who painted this picture?’ It was a painting by van Gogh,” recollects Yoon.
The boy once dreamed of becoming a painter, but he majored in medicine at Catholic University. He had served as a professor at the ENT department of St. Mary’s Hospital in Uijeongbu until he opened his own clinic a few years ago.
He was drawn to mountain biking and photography as hobbies. Then one day, he came to take a very unique photo by chance.
“It was not the ordinary photo that people think of. It looked like a painting. It reminded me of a painting by van Gogh. I thought at the moment, ‘Maybe I can make it with photography.”
He started looking for ways to make his photography catch on, making huge efforts.
“My wife passed away a few years ago. I was lonely and reluctant to meet other people. I think that made me dedicate myself more to photography,” the doctor said.
After thousands of trials, he found the way to his technique. He recently published a book containing his photos, “Photos from the future.” Now, photographers are having discussions and analyzing his work. Painters are also contacting him to get motifs for their paintings. “People contact me saying they want to buy my photos. I never expected this, which perplexes me.”
Though he refused to disclose his methods in detail, he gave a few hints.
“When you look at a moving train, it looks different when you look at the front of the train, or at the middle of the train, or at the rear of the train. If the trains looks different from these perspectives with your eyes, then it would also appear different through the lens of a camera.”
He added that while a shaky photo is taboo in photography, he approached it from a different perspective. “If you change photography methods, you get a completely different picture with the same object.”
The doctor is sure that his method has no precedent in the world. While there are photography methods that aim at presenting a “new impressionism,” he said they are fundamentally different from his.
“Photography has become a main part of my life. I think it changed my life,” the doctor said.