A Journey to See El Papa, Pope Francisco

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Here is another lame attempt at photo journalism.

[FONT=&amp]It was around mid June that I heard that the Pope would be visiting South Korea, early July until I found out that he would be in Daejeon. I’m not Catholic, but have been impressed by his perception of world events, I see him as a truly great leader. The chance that I would actually be able to see him in person seemed improbable. Weeks had passed and I was indecisive about attempting to try to see him in person as one needed a ticket to get in the stadium. There was an area with a big screen where people could gather to watch the speech. I heard that with the massive number of people going that it would be difficult to even reach the stadium due to the traffic.
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[FONT=&amp] [FONT=&amp]It wasn’t until about 7am the day he arrived in Daejeon that I decided to take the chance. I hopped on the subway about 8am expecting that it would be packed with people that were going to see the Pope, but all of the subway cars were quite empty. I later found out that many people arrived at the Stadium at 4am. I reached the stadium at about 8:45 and immediately looked for the way to get in. I looked around the stadium and realized that it was the most security that I have ever seen. I saw the big screen in the distance, with about 5,000 people watching something on the big screen. Even with my telephoto lens I couldn’t make out the screen. I finally made it to an entry point and had extreme doubts as to whether I would see the Pope or not. I thought to myself that if I cannot see the Pope, I’ll document what I can see.
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[FONT=&amp] [FONT=&amp]I finally found a point of entry. I had to wait in line for about thirty minutes before getting in to see what I thought would be the Pope on the big screen. As I passed through the security check point, I could see the custom made pope mobile. However, I never figured that that would be where the Pope was arriving. I walked along the fence where there was thousands of Catholic school children waving their Taeguki in one hand, the day was also Korean Independence day, and Vatican flag in the other. It took me a few minutes to realize that there were fences on each side of the road, with just enough room for a car to drive in between.
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[FONT=&amp]I made my way back to the pope mobile and asked a security guard if that was the point of entry for the Pope, much to my surprise it was. I started looking for the perfect place to get a glimpse of the Pope, right next to the MBC camera man’s platform. Unfortunately, I was told that I needed to be behind the gate. Luckily, I found an ok spot. He would arrive in 30 minutes, which was just enough time for me to figure out a way to get his photo.

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[FONT=&amp]As he arrived, flag waved, arms flailed, and people jumped with joy. Luckily, I was able to get a few shots. As, he passed, I was close enough to see the whites of his eyes. Just as I was about to leave, I realized that he was going to make a loop around the crowd. I immediately changed my position in the hopes of getting some more photos. There he was straight ahead, with the soccer stadium right behind him. As he came to within about 10 feet of me, I put down the camera so that I could get a glimpse with just my eyes.

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[FONT=&amp]This was a great expedition. I am fortunate that it was more rewarding than I could have possibly imagined. [/FONT]



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