Every year the weekend before Buddha's birthday, the city of Daegu hold a wonderful lantern festival at Duryu park. We didn't buy tickets online. From what I read online, it was a bit futile to try to buy them because the previous year 15,000 tickets sold out in around thirty seconds and the website does not have an English version. The tickets also go on sale at midnight which is way past my bedtime. So Andrea and I started early in the hopes of getting a first come first serve ticket.
The day started with an alarm at 4:45 am. After getting dressed and a quick cab ride later, we were at Suseo station for the 6:00 am train to Busan. At 7:40, we had arrived at Dongdaegu station. The subway is pretty simple with only three lines. There was only one transfer to get to the Duryu subway stop from Dongdaegu. One stop past Duryu station has a McDonalds for a quick bite and coffee.
We got to the park at 10 am and there were already quite a few people in line for the free tickets. According to the Korean man that was sitting next to us, there were only 2,000 free first-come-first-served tickets this year and you couldn't buy tickets for the other zones the day of. The free tickets were for the blue zone which faces away from the tower. However, free tickets are nice considering the price we paid for our train from Seoul.
The blue section.
By 11, there were blue wristbands on our arms and we had a few hours until they opened the venue at 3 pm. We grabbed some lunch and a few snacks at a convenience store outside of the park before heading to wait in line. When they did open the gate, we were some of the first people inside and grabbed a very nice spot. The section didn't fill up for a few hours so, unless you want a good spot for photos, you can come later. Because the blue section faces the sun, I recommend you bring a hat, large umbrella, and a lot of sunscreen to protect yourself. The sun is intense until it dips below the tree line around 7 pm. There was a lot of waiting that day. There are performances on the main stage but they are far away and difficult to see from most of the outer sections.
Using their jackets to shade themselves.
We were far from the entertainment.
Andrea and I spent a number of hours hanging out, talking, and reading. As time went on we noticed a good number of people sneaking into the red section, the inner grounds of the stadium. It didn't seem as though the guards cared much at all because one man pointed out people were sneaking in and I'm confident they saw a few people make their way in but they didn't do anything. A few minutes before the lanterns went up, I went through the barrier and down the short staircase into the red zone. I wanted to see the lanterns let go up close and get a few shots with the tower in the background.
Write here…
I didn't have much time to scout before they released the lanterns at 8 pm. It all seemed to happen so quickly. A sea of lanterns lit up and rose into the fading light of the sky. The wind took them into the distant sunset. There were great moments with kids looking up with wonder and families coming together to send off their wishes.
It didn't take long before the last lanterns were gone, the lights came on, and most people headed to the exit. The event was over but there was still a monk dancing on the stage with vigor.
Outside of the stadium, there is a lantern parade that starts a few minutes after the lanterns which is fun to watch. If you go to the Seoul Lantern Parade the previous Saturday, you can probably skip this one to get home sooner. I booked the 11:30 train back to Seoul because what I had read said the event lasted until 10:30 or 11 but, if you skip the parade, a 9:30 or 10 pm train might be better.
Camera Stuff
Not knowing what to expect, I'm fairly happy with a few of the shots I have. The "hero" shot of all the lanterns rising in front of the tower is best taken from the south section of the yellow or northwest section of the pink zone. My biggest tip would be to expose for the lanterns. The camera will blow out the lanterns because the rest of the scene is quite dim.
Because this is a night event with fast-moving lanterns, I would recommend bringing fast lenses with image stabilization. I used a 20mm 1.4 and 50mm 1.4 for most of my shots but, if I did it again, I would choose a 24-70 2.8 and 70-200 2.8. Those should cover the field of view needed and require fewer lens changes. Don't be afraid to bump your ISO up into a high range. Many of my shots of people holding a lantern were at an ISO of 2000-6400 while the wider shots were ISO 800-1600. Many people brought tripods and many ended up not using theirs. I didn't bring mine because I wanted to go light and didn't foresee myself using one. It's a tossup if I would bring one if I go again. If I knew that I would be in the central portion, the red or green sections, I wouldn't so I could be flexible. If I had tickets for the yellow or pink, I would bring one to have a few more stable shots.