There's something to be said for debuting with a "cute" image. Dressing, acting, singing, dancing, all infused with cuteness. In this way, a group of five young teenage boys started the generation of "flower boys."

U-Kiss debuted with "Not Young," asserting that they were no longer kids to be played around with. 2AM started out dressed in suits with a ballad on their lips. 2PM hit the ground running with acrobatics, b-boying, and flashing abs in their first performances and a music video featuring daydreams about a very y G.NA.

But then there was SHINee, who in their first music video stole glances of a noona and sang of a relationship with an older woman. The song wasn't so strong on the beats yet it also wasn't a sad ballad. But with this public image, so directly pulling at the heartstrings of noonas wasn't something that everyone did.

Strangely though, there's a logic behind it. The cuteness appeals to everyone, young and old, and every culture too. They say that everything's forgiven as long as you're cute. With that in mind, they cranked up the aegyo in their dance practice videos and crossdressed for variety shows.

Flower boys, the very definition.

The plan turned out successful though, creating a solid fanbase with a wide range of ages. But these developments also had other effects.

SHINee fans had more financial stability from working and more free time due to finished studies. The former led to more albums being purchased, but both characteristics led to fans picking up photography. Having the means, as in the money and the time, to invest in cameras, lenses, and other equipment and leaping over the learning curve to be on par with professional photographers.

So SHINee had their photographs taken. A lot of them. And really good ones at that.


Jonghyun was the one first and most fascinated by their antics.

"Guys, did you see?" He stared at his laptop while the two youngest played video games.

"See what?" Kibum came over to the table. "I can see that you haven't put up your dinner plate."

"Oh, shush. OIAM noona just posted pictures from the recent KBS half-year special!" He looked not unlike a puppy showing a giant picture of himself to Kibum.

"I see. But I don't see why this is exciting."

"Come on, you have got to appreciate their efforts," the second eldest whined. "We put out good songs and perform. They take our pictures and share it with the whole world! Not to mention editing and uploading and managing and everything else. It's amazing, what they do."

"Lam noona updated you guys' photos too." Jinki added mid-chew while passing by to watch the virtual soccer match between Taemin and Minho.

"Really?" Now they had Kibum's attention.

Jonghyun rolled his eyes. "I caught that. It makes you happy too."

"Of course it does."

At that precise moment, some far-off light bulb flicked on in Jonghyun's head.

"Hey, how about we try being them for once?"

There was a slight pause in the room as a few others questioned how serious he was. Taemin and Minho, though, maintained their concentration on the faux soccer ball.

"....No." Kibum waved off the idea. "Ain't nobody got time for that. I don't know where you're going with that, but we've got places to be and songs to perform."

"So why not take the fans with us?" Jonghyun wondered.

"We have that. They're called sasaengs." Jinki piped up again.

"No, like let them see the world through our eyes. Using our own cameras. We've got quite a couple collected through fan support gifts, that are getting lonely anyhow."

The fan gifts often decorated their dorm on a rotating basis, but if less-usable gifts such as ill-ftting clothes or unnecessary items came by, they often shared them with others or donated them. In that second category were also cameras, but Jinki's resourcefulness ("You might want this one day, you never know!") maintained a few cameras in a stash in their apartment.

"And what would we take photos of?"

"Anything!" Jonghyun threw his hands up in the air in part exasperation, mostly excitement at his own idea. "I've seen things called 365-day challenges where you fulfill daily challenges to take certain kinds of photos or at least something once a day. Let's all have some sort of blog or account where we could share them all. At least one photo per day."

"I already have an Instagram. I beat you guys there."

"No, it's not just to make an account, but to take pictures of our own and show it to all our fans."

"Is this a challenge I hear?" Game over with Minho the winner, the other two had joined by now.

"Take a photo every day and post it, sure, it can be a challenge."

"A challenge in remembering to do it." Taemin glanced around to find the other members eyeing him.

"And in who gets the most love and responses from the fans."

Now it was up to their own skills and perspective to garner interest and rack up the votes.

"Count me in."