6 ms·

Say what you will, but these are really pretty photos. It's a shame that we so rarely see NK culture except as ways to incite non-Koreans. It would be nice if w

Say what you will, but these are really pretty photos. It's a shame that we so rarely see NK culture except as ways to incite non-Koreans. It would be nice if we could see more about how ordinary people live, festivals, etc.

Symbiote 6y ago
On this image (mentioned above), every single window is lit. That seems staged to me. https://github.com/BlackOtton/RedStar-Media/blob/main/Backgrounds/images/%EC%84%A0%EA%B5%B08%EA%B2%BD/%EC%9E%A5%EC%9E%90%EA%B0%95%EC%9D%98%20%EB%B6%88%EC%95%BC%EA%B2%BD.jpg https://github.com/BlackOtton/RedStar-Media/blob/main/Backgr...
- Scramblejams 6y ago
  Not staged in real life, but poorly Photoshopped.
- idownvoted 6y ago
  Fake it is. Now I want you to imagine why the WPK thinks that a cityscape at dusk with lit windows might be good propaganda? Why something that seems boringly mundane to us, is something to brag about for the regime? Something that may uplift the OS's users ie. it makes them subconciously dream of something exotic like we do when our screensavers show us the great barrier reef. Can you spot the "exotic"-part?
  - geofft 6y ago
    If you applied this level of extrapolation to US-based OSes, you'd conclude that Windows XP users have never seen green grass or a blue sky in person (they even call it "Bliss," an obvious attempt to play with the emotions of a despondent populace) and that Mac users can only dream of experiencing a proper day and night cycle, a tragic effect of smog, light pollution, and a culture of working indoors under artificial light.
    - idownvoted 6y ago
      If, except I didn't. A great barrier reef, a Saharan Dune or a pack of whales is exotic, but something most of us can see at least once in our lifes if we wanted to.
      - rland 6y ago
        Not the great barrier reef, thanks to our lifestyles.
        idownvoted 6y ago
        Yes, our lifestyles are the problem. Nothing to see here in North Korea. One could even argue that we can learn a lot from them about how to save the Great Reefs
    - wizzwizz4 6y ago
      That's not particularly inaccurate, but I get your point. Two things being true doesn't mean that any story you spin linking them is true.
    - frostburg 6y ago
      That's more or less accurate (but more related to free time than location, I think).
- wellthisisgreat 6y ago
  you actually cannot close the curtains in NK by law (at least that was the case in 2005). Still looks photoshopped, but might not look that crazy to the person doing it given that rule. If also may or may not have electricity in every home. I don't think every window was actually lit in Pyongyang at night.
- zxcvbn4038 6y ago
  A lot of the images look photoshopped to me - adding flowers to fields, tractors, and the lights in the windows you mentioned. Of course I say that while thinking that most of the Mars rover photos also look photoshopped, adding sand dunes and rocks without explanation. I’ve been watching the red sky on Mars photos slowly turn blue over the decades - I guess they are trying to come clean before another nation puts a lander there and reveals NASA had been coloring the sky incorrectly. Maybe China will land a rover and show us what Mars really looks like just to spite the US?
  - Kye 6y ago
    Photos from Mars are all composites of red, green, and blue images. The way they put the colors together back on Earth depends on the purpose of the image. They might have learned a little from SpaceX on PR and started biasing published images of the Martian sky toward blue. Using three separate filters that are each one different wavelength lets them capture more information than something like a Bayer filter where all three colors share the same space at the same time. Mars doesn't change fast enough to make three separate exposures a problem.
    - zxcvbn4038 6y ago
      Yes, but the Viking landers were sensitive to six color wavelengths plus infrared and they had color calibration charts attached to the landers. They knew the true colors of Mars in the 70s. I’ve heard that they colored the sky and rocks red because they thought the public expected red and maybe that’s the reason, but they’ve been transitioning it to an increasingly blue sky and grey rocks ever since.
      - tdeck 6y ago
        I searched for more on this and found a great article with photos: https://cornerofthecabinet.com/2015/10/05/what-are-the-true-colors-of-the-martian-landscape/ https://cornerofthecabinet.com/2015/10/05/what-are-the-true-...
- tehjoker 6y ago
  These were obviously impressionistic "paintings" even if they were derived from real photos. Haven't you ever been on DeviantArt or whatever? They're still pretty even if they're the artist's imagining of a landscape rather than a photographic reality.
- distances 6y ago
  Apartments in Pyongyang, at least in certain areas, are required to keep lights on for showing any visitors/tourists an image of a lively and prosperous city. That was the lightest touch of theatre some friends saw when they visited. The whole trip was basically full of pre-arranged sceneries and events -- say, before you enter a park, your western guide could tell you're going to see happy newlyweds there.
  - hakfoo 6y ago
    That doesn't seem hugely staged. If you've got a park that's the "default" wedding place, you could well reliably predict newlyweds there during wedding season without having to explicitly place them. Or you could be aware of a public reservation list-- something you see in plenty of Western cities-- for each of the sites you're visting.
    - distances 6y ago
      It was staged according to the western guide though. I suppose they saw the exact same couple often enough. Some others: * Spot the same nice cars parked in different parts of the city. They were moved to the tourist routes for display. * Entering a tower, someone was late opening it up for the group. When reaching the top, there already was a couple admiring the views, obviously they were already waiting there. It was all a big theatre.
f430 6y ago
It's a shame they are not real
Igelau 6y ago
except that one folder
Krasnol 6y ago
Try here: https://www.reddit.com/r/NorthKoreaPics/ https://www.reddit.com/r/NorthKoreaPics/ Avoid comments ,)
- sudosysgen 6y ago
  Wow, it's so weirdly normal and anormal at the same time. The image of the tobacco cessation center was certainly interesting. Here is the most interesting one I found yet : https://www.reddit.com/r/NorthKoreaPics/comments/hy45ky/rolling_a_cheeky_number_dprk_style/ https://www.reddit.com/r/NorthKoreaPics/comments/hy45ky/roll... North Korean officials smoking marijuana casually.
  - omneity 6y ago
    This seems to be nothing more than a rolled paper napkin. I’m surprised nobody mentioned it in the reddit thread.
    - sudosysgen 6y ago
      The person who took the picture disagrees, and claims to have witnessed the smoking, and there are also other reports in the thread and greater media of such activities.
opportune 6y ago
Some of them are, but all of the ones in this folder are very, very poorly photoshopped: https://github.com/BlackOtton/RedStar-Media/tree/main/Backgrounds/images/%EC%84%A0%EA%B5%B08%EA%B2%BD https://github.com/BlackOtton/RedStar-Media/tree/main/Backgr...
- remarkEon 6y ago
  Are they supposed to be "photos", or are these paintings or something? I honestly can't tell. Doesn't look that much different from stylized wallpapers I see all the time in the West, to be honest. Edit: Yeah ... I think these are photoshops, and they're done so poorly that I couldn't distinguish it immediately from a painting. Maybe the style is intentional, if I'm giving benefit of the doubt.
  - monocasa 6y ago
    It's for sure, at least in part, different aesthetic languages in play here. North Korea seems to be really into a 'faded', almost pastel color balance even for new works and including photographs. You see it all over their consumer packaging too.
  - fvdessen 6y ago
    Those are paintings made with photoshop. It's intentional. It's not any weirder than the people with big arms and tiny heads you would see on tech companies websites
- Frost1x 6y ago
  My personal favorite was: https://github.com/BlackOtton/RedStar-Media/blob/main/Backgrounds/images/선군8경/한드레벌의%20지평선.jpg https://github.com/BlackOtton/RedStar-Media/blob/main/Backgr... I'm not sure why you'd even forge this photo. I mean, I understand it's portraying industrial agricultural capability and typical propoganda North Korea pumps out, but across an empty field vs harvesting a bountiful crop? Like 95% of that photo is forged and it doesn't even make sense to me.
  - 6y ago
pacman2 6y ago
You can actually visit NK (not now bc of Corona): https://www.youngpioneertours.com/ https://www.youngpioneertours.com/ https://www.facebook.com/YoungPioneerTours/ https://www.facebook.com/YoungPioneerTours/ (Disclaimer: while I have no involvement in this company, it is run by some buddies of mine)
AYBABTME 6y ago
South Korea also has really beautiful landscapes. I wish it was possible to explore the northern part. Maybe one day.
throwawayboise 6y ago
> It would be nice if we could see more about how ordinary [North Korean] people live I don't think "nice" is the word to use here.

Symbiote 6y ago

On this image (mentioned above), every single window is lit. That seems staged to me. https://github.com/BlackOtton/RedStar-Media/blob/main/Backgrounds/images/%EC%84%A0%EA%B5%B08%EA%B2%BD/%EC%9E%A5%EC%9E%90%EA%B0%95%EC%9D%98%20%EB%B6%88%EC%95%BC%EA%B2%BD.jpg https://github.com/BlackOtton/RedStar-Media/blob/main/Backgr...

Scramblejams 6y ago
Not staged in real life, but poorly Photoshopped.
idownvoted 6y ago
Fake it is. Now I want you to imagine why the WPK thinks that a cityscape at dusk with lit windows might be good propaganda? Why something that seems boringly mundane to us, is something to brag about for the regime? Something that may uplift the OS's users ie. it makes them subconciously dream of something exotic like we do when our screensavers show us the great barrier reef. Can you spot the "exotic"-part?
- geofft 6y ago
  If you applied this level of extrapolation to US-based OSes, you'd conclude that Windows XP users have never seen green grass or a blue sky in person (they even call it "Bliss," an obvious attempt to play with the emotions of a despondent populace) and that Mac users can only dream of experiencing a proper day and night cycle, a tragic effect of smog, light pollution, and a culture of working indoors under artificial light.
  - idownvoted 6y ago
    If, except I didn't. A great barrier reef, a Saharan Dune or a pack of whales is exotic, but something most of us can see at least once in our lifes if we wanted to.
    - rland 6y ago
      Not the great barrier reef, thanks to our lifestyles.
      - idownvoted 6y ago
        Yes, our lifestyles are the problem. Nothing to see here in North Korea. One could even argue that we can learn a lot from them about how to save the Great Reefs
  - wizzwizz4 6y ago
    That's not particularly inaccurate, but I get your point. Two things being true doesn't mean that any story you spin linking them is true.
  - frostburg 6y ago
    That's more or less accurate (but more related to free time than location, I think).
wellthisisgreat 6y ago
you actually cannot close the curtains in NK by law (at least that was the case in 2005). Still looks photoshopped, but might not look that crazy to the person doing it given that rule. If also may or may not have electricity in every home. I don't think every window was actually lit in Pyongyang at night.
zxcvbn4038 6y ago
A lot of the images look photoshopped to me - adding flowers to fields, tractors, and the lights in the windows you mentioned. Of course I say that while thinking that most of the Mars rover photos also look photoshopped, adding sand dunes and rocks without explanation. I’ve been watching the red sky on Mars photos slowly turn blue over the decades - I guess they are trying to come clean before another nation puts a lander there and reveals NASA had been coloring the sky incorrectly. Maybe China will land a rover and show us what Mars really looks like just to spite the US?
- Kye 6y ago
  Photos from Mars are all composites of red, green, and blue images. The way they put the colors together back on Earth depends on the purpose of the image. They might have learned a little from SpaceX on PR and started biasing published images of the Martian sky toward blue. Using three separate filters that are each one different wavelength lets them capture more information than something like a Bayer filter where all three colors share the same space at the same time. Mars doesn't change fast enough to make three separate exposures a problem.
  - zxcvbn4038 6y ago
    Yes, but the Viking landers were sensitive to six color wavelengths plus infrared and they had color calibration charts attached to the landers. They knew the true colors of Mars in the 70s. I’ve heard that they colored the sky and rocks red because they thought the public expected red and maybe that’s the reason, but they’ve been transitioning it to an increasingly blue sky and grey rocks ever since.
    - tdeck 6y ago
      I searched for more on this and found a great article with photos: https://cornerofthecabinet.com/2015/10/05/what-are-the-true-colors-of-the-martian-landscape/ https://cornerofthecabinet.com/2015/10/05/what-are-the-true-...
tehjoker 6y ago
These were obviously impressionistic "paintings" even if they were derived from real photos. Haven't you ever been on DeviantArt or whatever? They're still pretty even if they're the artist's imagining of a landscape rather than a photographic reality.
distances 6y ago
Apartments in Pyongyang, at least in certain areas, are required to keep lights on for showing any visitors/tourists an image of a lively and prosperous city. That was the lightest touch of theatre some friends saw when they visited. The whole trip was basically full of pre-arranged sceneries and events -- say, before you enter a park, your western guide could tell you're going to see happy newlyweds there.
- hakfoo 6y ago
  That doesn't seem hugely staged. If you've got a park that's the "default" wedding place, you could well reliably predict newlyweds there during wedding season without having to explicitly place them. Or you could be aware of a public reservation list-- something you see in plenty of Western cities-- for each of the sites you're visting.
  - distances 6y ago
    It was staged according to the western guide though. I suppose they saw the exact same couple often enough. Some others: * Spot the same nice cars parked in different parts of the city. They were moved to the tourist routes for display. * Entering a tower, someone was late opening it up for the group. When reaching the top, there already was a couple admiring the views, obviously they were already waiting there. It was all a big theatre.

f430 6y ago

It's a shame they are not real

Igelau 6y ago

except that one folder

Krasnol 6y ago

Try here: https://www.reddit.com/r/NorthKoreaPics/ https://www.reddit.com/r/NorthKoreaPics/ Avoid comments ,)

sudosysgen 6y ago
Wow, it's so weirdly normal and anormal at the same time. The image of the tobacco cessation center was certainly interesting. Here is the most interesting one I found yet : https://www.reddit.com/r/NorthKoreaPics/comments/hy45ky/rolling_a_cheeky_number_dprk_style/ https://www.reddit.com/r/NorthKoreaPics/comments/hy45ky/roll... North Korean officials smoking marijuana casually.
- omneity 6y ago
  This seems to be nothing more than a rolled paper napkin. I’m surprised nobody mentioned it in the reddit thread.
  - sudosysgen 6y ago
    The person who took the picture disagrees, and claims to have witnessed the smoking, and there are also other reports in the thread and greater media of such activities.

opportune 6y ago

Some of them are, but all of the ones in this folder are very, very poorly photoshopped: https://github.com/BlackOtton/RedStar-Media/tree/main/Backgrounds/images/%EC%84%A0%EA%B5%B08%EA%B2%BD https://github.com/BlackOtton/RedStar-Media/tree/main/Backgr...

remarkEon 6y ago
Are they supposed to be "photos", or are these paintings or something? I honestly can't tell. Doesn't look that much different from stylized wallpapers I see all the time in the West, to be honest. Edit: Yeah ... I think these are photoshops, and they're done so poorly that I couldn't distinguish it immediately from a painting. Maybe the style is intentional, if I'm giving benefit of the doubt.
- monocasa 6y ago
  It's for sure, at least in part, different aesthetic languages in play here. North Korea seems to be really into a 'faded', almost pastel color balance even for new works and including photographs. You see it all over their consumer packaging too.
- fvdessen 6y ago
  Those are paintings made with photoshop. It's intentional. It's not any weirder than the people with big arms and tiny heads you would see on tech companies websites
Frost1x 6y ago
My personal favorite was: https://github.com/BlackOtton/RedStar-Media/blob/main/Backgrounds/images/선군8경/한드레벌의%20지평선.jpg https://github.com/BlackOtton/RedStar-Media/blob/main/Backgr... I'm not sure why you'd even forge this photo. I mean, I understand it's portraying industrial agricultural capability and typical propoganda North Korea pumps out, but across an empty field vs harvesting a bountiful crop? Like 95% of that photo is forged and it doesn't even make sense to me.
- 6y ago

pacman2 6y ago

You can actually visit NK (not now bc of Corona): https://www.youngpioneertours.com/ https://www.youngpioneertours.com/ https://www.facebook.com/YoungPioneerTours/ https://www.facebook.com/YoungPioneerTours/ (Disclaimer: while I have no involvement in this company, it is run by some buddies of mine)

AYBABTME 6y ago

South Korea also has really beautiful landscapes. I wish it was possible to explore the northern part. Maybe one day.

throwawayboise 6y ago

> It would be nice if we could see more about how ordinary [North Korean] people live I don't think "nice" is the word to use here.