Exhibition photographs are often polished and flawless, making it difficult for viewers to fathom the complex process of choosing and producing such images. Eschewing this facade, three ongoing photo exhibits in Seoul offer viewers a glimpse of the behind-the-scenes process of photographers by displaying their contact sheets and photo-developing materials.

Magnum Photos agency and the Museum of Photography, Seoul gathered some 70 iconic images of Magnum photographers and their contact prints, which are original photographic papers containing shots captured on film. 

Often likened to an artist’s sketchbook, contact sheets serve as a photographer’s first look at what he has captured. They offer an insight into the photo-taking processes of photographers and the decision-making process that ends in the selection of a single image.

The exhibition displays some of the well-known images by Magnum’s famous members at iconic moments in time, including the D-Day landings by Robert Capa, the painter of the Eiffel Tower by Marc Riboud and the 9/11 attacks by Thomas Hoepker.

French photographer Riboud’s contact sheet contains 36 images he took while shooting a painter of the Eiffel Tower. He shot the painter from a variety of angles as well as the tower itself and the surrounding landscape. In the process, he captured the moment in which the painter had balanced precariously on a steel beam while holding a brush to paint another steel beam, a pose reminiscent of an acrobat. 

The Magnum Contact Sheets exhibition runs until April 16 at the Museum of Photography, Seoul. Admission is 6,000 won ($4.90) for adults and 5,000 won for students. For more information, call (02) 418-1315.

In another exhibition in Seoul, photographer Zu Do-yang moved entire shelves of photo-developing chemicals from his studio to the Savina Museum of Contemporary Art. He did so to allow viewers to better understand his work.

On display at the museum are the photographer’s unique natural landscape images -- 360-degree depictions of park and forest landscapes that are how the artist imagines the world to be seen by insects. 

“Moving my studio here would help viewers understand my work,” said Zu in a video playing at the exhibition. “The display of chemical bottles also adds fun to the viewing experience.”

Also in the exhibition are discarded original film sheets with crosses marked on photos that have had their limited-edition prints sold out. Visitors can try their hand at making prints using a simple photographic printing process called cyanotype. “Insect Eyes: The Origin of Sight” runs until March 18. For more information, visit www.savinamuseum.com.

Over at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, is an exhibition featuring first-generation Korean fine art photographer Yook Myung-shim.

The retrospective of the photographer, encompassing the artist’s 51-year career, follows the unprecedented paths that Yoon took to explore the various possibilities of photography in the early days when the medium was simply perceived as a way of documenting events and people.

The photographer’s works reveal his distinct perspective towards ordinary objects and people. The “Baekmin (Ordinary People)” series captured faces of farmers, shop keepers and elderly people in rural villages, subjects that were once considered too common for a fine art photographer. 

Yook’s fascination with ordinary people and their lives led him to capture the unique culture of Jejudo Island where older women visited beaches to take baths in the sand during the hottest days of summer to reduce fatigue and muscle aches, scenes which the artist compared to being buried after death.

The Yook Myung-shim retrospective runs until June 6. For more information, visit www.mmca.go.kr.

By Lee Woo-young (wylee@heraldcorp.com)