FEATURE
Seeing the world through HWANG MIN HYUN’s eyes
The idol tells stories with pictures
2023.03.02
Credit
Article. Lee Jiyeon
Photo Credit. PLEDIS Entertainment

HWANG MIN HYUN takes pictures of scenes he’s stumbled upon, like rainbows and sunsets, because “I feel like I should take a nice picture to share when I see some pretty scenery.” Last year he started the photo account Optimus Sisun so he could share the carefully curated photos of little things he comes across in his day-to-day life with his fandom, Hwangdo.

 

How he fell in love with photography and cameras

HWANG MIN HYUN: Even before I bought a camera, I liked taking pictures of the sky, nature and buildings with my phone, so since I was taking photos throughout the day on my phone anyway, I started to think I should make it into a hobby. I’m not really into active stuff like working out so I was trying to figure out what kinds of things I like and I realized I’m into taking pictures. (laughs) But really, no matter how advanced your phone is, I think you’re always going to get a little different kind of emotion in photos if you take them with a proper camera. So I eventually bought a camera and that’s how I got started doing it as a hobby.

HWANG MIN HYUN’s camera
HWANG MIN HYUN: I mainly use my Fujifilm camera. I like my Fujifilm camera because it comes equipped with a film simulation feature, so it sort of looks like photos from a film camera. It’s kind of a hassle dealing with real film cameras since you have to go get them developed every time and film is expensive nowadays. That’s why I chose the Fujifilm X-T30: I thought it would be the best camera to get to avoid those things. (laughs) Then there’s my X100V and my Ricoh GR3X, which are compact cameras, so they’re really convenient and practical to carry around with you. The Ricoh is the most recent camera I bought. It’s got a narrow field of view and it’s really handy because you can take a quick snapshot anytime, like in the street or if you see something pretty during the day, so I use that one a lot. Then there’s my X-T5 that I got from Fujifilm as a gift. It’s perfect for taking pictures of people so I use it a lot, too.

Favorite lenses and photo editing program
HWANG MIN HYUN: I like taking landscape photos and taking pictures of buildings and other snapshots when I’m walking down the street, so I also like a lens between 30 and 50 mm. There’s a lot of compact lenses that come in those sizes now so I use those a lot. For editing, I use a program called Lightroom. I don’t actually use it much, but I keep paying for a subscription. (laughs) The reason I use it is because I like taking pictures of the sky and nature photos but on overcast days they don’t always turn out well even if the scenery itself is beautiful. So in those cases, I use that program to change the color of the sky a little however I like it. I like photos that feel warm and I like light and shadows, too. I also like the contrast you get when there’s backlighting or shadows and realized it’s usually when I come across a scene like that that I reach for my camera. It’s warm but also sort of cool in a way at the same time, and I really like that vibe.

Exhibiting photos on Optimus Sisun (that means “view”!)

HWANG MIN HYUN: I felt like I wanted to share my photos with my fans since I bought a proper camera and started taking pictures with it. But I didn’t want Optimus Hwang, my main account, to be a jumble of pictures I take with my phone and those I take with my cameras (laughs) so I made an account called Optimus Sisun just for the photos I take with my cameras. I put the word “Sisun” in the name and in the bio because I really like the word. I decided to name the account that because it means I’m sharing photos I take with my camera that capture what I see, and I also added the phrase, “two views, one view,” because I thought it’s about both me and my fans sharing our views.


Why he shares his favorite everyday moments

HWANG MIN HYUN: I post my photos because I think it’s good to share with Hwangdo what I’m interested in and what makes me happy when I see it. Instead of just saying, “I like the sky,” I can keep a record by taking a picture of views and nature that I like. I can share my perspective and make more memories with Hwangdo at the same time. (laughs) And the reason I upload the pictures on both Instagram and Weverse is because I heard they can download the pictures from Weverse in higher resolution. So I upload pictures to both because some of my fans might want to hold onto them.

Iceland was unforgettable
HWANG MIN HYUN: Iceland isn’t a place people typically manage to travel to but I thought there must be a lot of people who dream of going there anyway. So I kept thinking how I absolutely had to take pictures of different things to show to my fans. I took a lot of photos and videos so I would have a lot of beautiful things that would show off how breathtaking Mother Nature is. I even stopped the car in the middle of driving to stop and take pictures whenever the view was nice. I already knew all those little things would make for happy memories for me, so I tried to make sure I captured them with my camera so I could share them later.

The Northern Lights are finally off his bucket list
HWANG MIN HYUN: It was maybe the fifth day of my trip to Iceland that I finally saw the Northern Lights, but I tried really hard to see them every single day before that. Sadly, the weather wasn’t very good when I went, and I kept worrying that I wouldn’t be able to see them. But even during all that, I was having dinner that day I first saw them and my friend went out and said there were a ton of stars out. But then I got hopeful and thought, If it was all cloudy today and now you can see the stars, does that mean I’ll get to see the Northern Lights today? (laughs) So I changed all the settings on my camera right away and then my friend suddenly yelled out that the Lights were right there. So I ran right out and then I saw them. I was so amazed that it’s hard to put into words. All I could say was, “Wow!” (laughs) I stood there admiring them like that until I realized I should take a picture and then took it right away with my camera. And I don’t use a tripod much but I borrowed one from the video crew for my Iceland trip. I thought it would be really tragic if I went all the way there and then couldn’t get any shots of the Northern Lights. (laughs)

Putting emotion into your photos
HWANG MIN HYUN: I think the most important thing about taking a photo is how the photographer feels when they take it. Whether you’re shooting a specific person or object or taking in a whole, wide view, I think the picture will come out nice as long as it captures how you feel toward your subject. And I also like backlighting and candid photography. I don’t think there’s any settings you absolutely must use when taking photos at night, for example. I’m still at the point where I’m learning more and studying about cameras so I keep playing around with things to try different approaches. So sometimes my photos are blurry or the settings don’t line up so they come out looking weird, but then I just keep taking more and learn as I go. I feel good if I can get just one out of that. (laughs)
To Hwangdo who have taken up photography as a hobby
HWANG MIN HYUN: Since I like to take a lot of pictures of the sky and post them, Hwangdo posts their photos on Weverse too, saying, “Now I’m taking sky pictures, too!” Lots of them say, “I’m posting this even though I don’t think I took a very good picture.” Everyone has their own definition of what qualifies as a good photo, of course, but I don’t personally think there’s any one right way. I think it’s good to always think, “My photos are awesome!” when you’re taking them. I think it’s good enough as long as Hwangdo has fun doing it. (laughs)

A special gift for Hwangdo
HWANG MIN HYUN: Since My Summer was my first fan meeting event, I thought about giving Hwangdo a present to remember. It could have been something like food or flowers, but I wanted to give them something that would last a lifetime, not something that would be used once and then be gone forever. I also thought it would be better if I gave them a gift that I personally worked on so I chose some of the pictures I took myself and gave those away as gifts. When I was choosing the pictures, I mainly looked for ones that would look pretty when made into a fabric poster—like clouds, the Moon, flowers or the shimmering surface of Hangang River. It’s all nature, which I like. Just looking at nature photos makes me feel calmer, you know? I thought the fabric posters would mostly go on people’s walls so I chose nature photos that can help people feel calm and relaxed, and later I saw all the photos of posters on their walls that fans posted.

Dreams of an offline photo exhibition
HWANG MIN HYUN: I always think about how I’d like to hold a photo exhibition for my fans. That’s why I keep taking a lot of pictures. They asked me what I would call my offline photo exhibit if I ended up holding one but I haven’t thought about it yet. (laughs) I’ve never been the type to think too much about the future (laughs) but I at least think it might be good to include the word “sisun” like in Optimus Sisun.

What HWANG MIN HYUN has his “sisun” on now
HWANG MIN HYUN: What I want to do more than anything is take pictures of my fans from up on stage next time there’s a fan meeting or a concert. I keep thinking about how I definitely have to take pictures next time I’m on stage. My light stick’s coming out soon and I think it’ll be cute to see everyone holding them up. (laughs) So I would love to have a picture of that and give it to the fans as a gift. I really want to take a picture of Hwangdo with all of them looking toward me.
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