Written and Photographed by Seth Cullen Scott

Artist

You can see my work on my Instagram. There you can see some of my recent works from countries like Sudan, Somalia, and Iraq.

Inside North Korea

I have always been interested in traveling the world I remember about 5 years ago reading about different countries around the world and the possibilities of traveling to them. When one day I came across a page talking about tourism to North Korea, non-stop I would read about it. I could never get the image of going to such a mysterious nation out of my head. Finally, I had saved up enough money and decided to go for my 24th birthday!

I got into photography when I was around 21 years old, I picked up an old Pentax km and had been using it off and on for a few years. I always enjoyed shooting film and the slight mystery behind every photo. I shoot about 50% analog and 50% digital, I enjoy editing digital photos when I travel and having the surprise of analog when I get home months later. But there is just something special about loading a roll of film into a camera that I can’t explain and for that reason, I will always have a soft spot for analog photography.

When I was heading to North Korea I decided to pack my digital camera as well as my favorite old Pentax km with a 50mm 1.7 and 5 rolls of film. Two Kodak UltraMax 400, two Kodak Tri-x 400, and 1 Fomapan 400. I wasn’t actually sure if I would be allowed into the country with the film because there is no way for them to look at the photos! Luckily they just looked at me like I was crazy for still shooting film and mocked me for a second and that was the end of it.

Photography in North Korea

When you get into the country they say you can take photos of most of what you see except for some exceptions

No photos of poverty
No photos of military
Always take photos of the whole statue or propaganda posters.

Most of the time I took photos freely. I was yelled at by my tour guide once when we were driving through a city. I unrolled the window and took photos of people walking down the street he pushed my camera down and said to me “you are not at home! You cannot take photos wherever you want! Now put your camera away!” I always have that moment stuck in my head with the image I took. North Korea was a very interesting and eye-opening experience seeing the belief the people have in their leader. Lots of the trip felt staged but there was the odd time when you were walking down a street, entering a train station or driving through the countryside where I felt I got to see a tiny glimpse of the true country. I really hope to go back again one day and get more of an inside view of this mysterious nation.

I feel like North Korea helped shape how I photograph the world. Before I traveled there I felt like I never knew what exactly I wanted to photograph but when I got home and developed my images it made me realize how much I loved showing humanity and the lesser-known nations to the world. Now whenever I travel I always have my camera slung on my shoulder I spend time walking alone and trying to interact with locals trying to break the barrier of language and get to the human-to-human aspect. Sometimes I will just walk through the streets alone for hours and I will just see an image appear before my eyes. I love seeing human interactions and people in their home environments whether it be at home or work.