Bae Bien-u


Bae Bien-u is a South Korean photographer. He is a professor in Seoul Institute of the Arts.

Early life and career

Bae was born in Yeosu, Jeollanam-do in 1950, and graduated from Hongik University's College of Arts in 1974 and the graduate school of the same university in 1976.
Renowned as a professional photographer with themes especially concentrated on pine trees, he has become a representative photographer with the reputation of capturing the characteristic sentiments of Korea including the pine trees, oceans and mountains with his camera rather than a brush.
He became better-known outside of South Korea after selling one of his pine tree photographs to English singer Elton John in 2005. Former South Korean president Lee Myung-bak later gave a collection of Bae's pine tree photographs to U.S. president Barack Obama during a summit held in Washington.
He served as professor of the Department of Photography at Seoul Institute of the Arts.

Selected solo exhibitions

Some of his solo exhibitions are listed below: