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J ust like most photography enthusiasts living the expat life in Korea, Diana Lim scarcely leaves home without her camera. And if she’s got her camera, you can be sure that she’s also brought along her two favorite models — bound up in winter socks — awaiting their next adventure. The Princess and the General are two Korean figurines Lim picked out at a store in Insa-dong after receiving a gift card. “I just bought the cutest things in the store,” she says. With no real plans to do anything specific with them, Lim says her future muses sat around for a while before they made their debut in her photographs. A self-confessed rookie when it comes to toy photography — that is, the photography genre devoted to shooting small figurines and the like — Lim says she only started fiddling with cameras for the first time when she arrived in Korea four years ago. “My job in social media within the tourism industry let me fall into photography,” she says. Within a week on the job, Lim was already bored of her simple point-and-shoot camera and swapped it for a more advanced gadget. Lim said she had originally planned to photograph traditional land- scapes, but just couldn’t find the patience required to do it well. It wasn’t until a few months later on a mid-winter’s eve that she found her inspi- ration: “I wanted to go photograph the fresh snow but I hate the cold weather, so I decided to be lazy and just go take photos on my rooftop. I took the Princess and General up with me, and while I was taking pic- tures of them the General fell flat on his face.” www.groovekorea.com / September 2014 70 Edited by Emilee Jennings (emilee@groovekorea.com) MuSIC & ARTS Toying w iTh photograp hy M e e t t h e P r i n c e s s a n d t h e G e n e r a l ‘I took the PrIncess and General uP wIth me (on the roof), and whIle I was takInG PIctures of them the General fell flat on hIs face.’ - diana liM Story by Remy Raitt / Photos by Diana Lim