Minho was the easiest to persuade. Any hint of a competition and he was all ears.

Ever since their short individual vacations, documented as their "wonderful vacation" (although in truth, all that planning that they had to do was way more stressful than usual), he had been itching to pull out his Canon EOS 5D Mark II again. The fan gift wasn't actually intended for him, but just like the other presents, they divvied them up according to their tastes and he ended up with the DSLR after the last holiday season.

Pacing around the practice room with camera in hand, he contemplated what to take a picture of.

In London, every had been new and scenic and so picture-worthy that it had been easy to find something to take a picture of.

In Korea, he had to improvise. Everywhere was normal. He had passed that market in Apgujeong a million times. He had visited Lotte World before. He had been to various parks. He had been to Seoul World Cup Stadium so many times.

Then there was Google. Anyone could find a picture of anywhere he had already been in all of two seconds online.

He sighed, already dismayed without even beginning.

The challenge was exciting but difficult.

The camera, the lenses, the filters, the remote, the tripod, everything was there and ready to be used. Over the past few months, especially before and since going to London, he had learned how to arrange all the settings correctly and change exposure so that highlights and shadows aren't jarring and adjust white balance so people don't turn blue and use filters for color saturation. All that technical stuff he had down pat. He knew how to use a camera.

The previous night, he pored over websites on how to take a good picture. How. Exactly how. This he wanted to know. He wasn't ever completely satisfied with his work. He had put together lots of videos and photos from London and received praise and admiration, but it didn't feel like it was worthy. Something was missing. At least one thing, maybe many.

At the end of one of the videos, he picked up one new line.

It's not the camera. It's who's behind the camera.

So basically he needed to find, or rather, develop, a good eye for photos. He searched more about this "eye", or perspective, but no website told him exactly how. Apparently it was something acquired.

He frowned at the empty conclusion. It would take a lot of time and practice.

But this just as much as anything else was something conquerable. And patience was on his side. Patience and concentration, focus. It was something innate to him but also ingrained into all their brains from years of practice and training.

Stuck in the practice room most of that first day, he stared at things and contemplated them. He couldn't leave for long, not long enough to find and take a good picture.

Not very exciting, but he did learn some new things. He looked over and readjusted the cloud curtains to see if it was more photogenic that way. He watched the other members practice individually. He watched cars and people pass through the streets near the building. He watched the sun arch over the sky and change the angles of light around the city. He watched customers in the shops nearby. Maybe he was looking for what made them that way and what gave them character of their own.

"You're so quiet today, you know." Key was first to comment as he went over and over part of the new dance break in Everybody. "Feels weird, you staring into space like that. Did something tragic happen recently? It's almost like you're absorbing your camera into your hands; you've barely let it go."

Minho glanced down at the camera in his lap, its shutter yet to click that day.

"No."

"Hmm?"

"Nothing tragic happened."

"...Oh. Oh, right. Well, you could say I didn't really expect anything tragic to happen because we've all been together for the past, what, 32 hours now."

Life at its most normal.

Kibum sat down, his back against the mirror. It was the evening. The instructors had gone home, and they were waiting for manager hyung to bring the dinner he had promised.

"Hyung, photo!"

Minho looked up to find Taemin sitting a few steps away, V-sign and smile ready.

He fired up his camera, quickly made sure all the settings were intact, and pressed the shutter button.

Looking over the photo together, it was a good one. Taemin's smile was lively and touched his eyes. His crossed legs and posture was relaxed. He had been physically tired, but somehow the picture was vibrant.

What made a good picture? It had been pretty spontaneous. Posed, but unplanned. Maybe it was in that.

Later that night, he decided that that photo was the one to post for the day. The fans went crazy in excitement over Taemin and praise for Minho.


Was it spontaneity? Minho walked along the riverside park one morning a few weeks later. Blue hour the photogs called it, the hour before dawn with good lighting.

Minho looking around, searching for a subject. He found a takeout delivery man on a bike, working so early in the morning, and took a photo as he passed. The few bird were too far for his lens to reach. He took the bridge from a couple different angles as he passed. He snapped a passing jogger with his dog following.

He sat on the grass and looked through his photos. They're alright, I guess. Maybe. They weren't just right yet. They looked..normal. Maybe that was the word. It frustrated him that he couldn't put his finger on what wasn't right, on the thing he needed to take better photos.

As the sun came over the horizon, Minho took the customary sunrise shot. He made sure to use the proper neutral density filter as well. It looked cool, but also normal.

Hmmm. What could he do to make it different? Something a little different.

Since it was digital anyhow, he propped up his camera on a rock (mumbling in complaint that he forgot a tripod) and tried different shutter speeds. The longer the shutter speed, the more it blurs the river water. Technical knowledge again.

As he was leaving, he saw that the light was slowly creeping down the glass skyscrapers on both sides of the river. He was too close to take it all in one frame, so he instead tilted his camera way up to get a few buildings splashed with different light from shadows and glass and reflections of the early morning sun.

And he made his way back for another day in the life of an idol.


That night was the time they had to themselves.

Minho glared at his photos, his eyes piercing the screen. He was in Adobe Lightroom, trying to see if how to edit the photos to make them possibly a little better. Was it really this much work for every photo?

"WHOA THAT'S COOL."

Stopping short in his thoughts by surprise, Minho turned his head to find Taemin over his shoulder.

"Hyung, look at all those colors! How did you do that?"

"The sun."

"No, like the buildings look so cool! It's red and blue and white and purple and pink and yellow and orange all at once. Aren't they usually blue? Wait glass doesn't really have a color though you could say it's tinted blue usually."

"And the way you took it makes the buildings look like they're touching the sky!"

"Hey, that's neat." Jinki came over as well, munching on a biscuit. "It's like they wrapped a rainbow around the building. Sort of. Or they shredded it and paper mache-d it to the building."

"That sounds..slightly violent, hyung."

"In any case, it's really cool. I think you should stick with it." Taking part control over the laptop, Jinki looked through the previous photos. "This one's cool too! Weren't you really close to the bridge? From this angle it looks like it's almost you in with white ribbons and ties."

"Also violent."

Jinki shrugged and slowly continued on his way to his bedroom. "Either way, those are really cool pictures. Post all of them! And next time you want to photograph bridges, we can go to Banpo Bridge at night and make it look really cool." He gave a smile and a fighting sign before leaving.

"Yes, do it do it do it, hyung." Taemin shook Minho by the shoulder a little. "They don't need editing, just go for it."

"Are you sure?"

After much motivation and "yes hyung it's awesome"'s, Minho accepted his own work and posted them to his blog. His photos were well-received, naturally, by fans. The other members approved as well. All said that they were well taken and many at angles they wouldn't have thought of. As for the jogger and delivery man, the fans read into some deep meanings behind making something out of a chance encounter and other complex concepts.

And that night, he figured that maybe it wasn't spontaneity and it wasn't thinking either but it also didn't require some mysterious gift only given to a few people. You could make bring happiness in small ways through a photo. It didn't have to be so planned but maybe it was waiting for the plan to come together. Waiting for a shot to compose itself. And that what made a good photo.

It was kind of like himself. He had worked hard to make his parents happy. It was a kink in his dream that his father didn't want him to play soccer, but reforming his dreams by becoming an idol, kind of like a good picture itself, required work and training. But it wasn't immediately satisfying for him as it was for the others. He was seen as a weak link in places like singing. Five years later, he's comfortable on stage and ready for most anything that he would have never thought. Happy. It wasn't easy to find, but s rewarding afterwards. Finding a good photograph takes the patience and practice just like it, and with both, can make for one awesome picture.