Jason and I have been in contact for a couple months now but we have never actually met in person. He has been awesome and given us some sweet Kuk Sool Photo Wallpapers and this Interview. Jason also met my UK friend Stuart at the Korean Championships this year. He is currently teaching English in South Korea, training in Kuk Sool, and getting ready to return to his home.
Q: Tell us a little about yourself
A: I am from Brandon, Manitoba Canada which is a small town in the Prairies. I came to Korea 4 years ago, after completing University, to pay off my massive student debt.
Q: What is your Rank and What School are you Currently Training At?
A: Currently, I have my first dahn but will be testing for my second in December if all goes well. I am just awaiting the notification from the head office here in my city. I am currently training at Moorung 6 Dojang in Ulsan Korea. I have been training at this dojang for my entire time in Kuk Sool.
Q: What do you Like About Kuk Sool?
A: What I love about Kuk Sool is the people. When I first started out, I thought that martial arts would be all about stone-face masters who were hard-core and difficult to please, like what you see in the movies. What I noticed when I started Kuk Sool was how nice everyone was, especially the masters. Maybe it was because I was one of the few foreigners training in my area or something but everyone made me me feel extremely welcome. In fact one of the first words I learned in Korean was from Kuk Sool and that was “kah-jok” which means “family.”
It was told to me by my original Master Kwan Jang Lee Young Suk, Who trained me for about 2 years. He kept saying to me “this is your family, this is your kuk sool family” I never forgot that.
Q: How Did you Start Kuk Sool?
A: I started Kuk Sool by complete accident. I had wanted to practice Martial Arts when I first came to Korea but wasn’t sure where to go. I received directions from some friends but mistakenly went to the wrong dojang. I ended up walking into my first Kuk Sool class which was very close to my home at that time. It was very difficult at first but slowly I learned what everyone was saying. It was also difficult after my first year when I waited for my black belt. All of my fellow classmates were promoted but being a foreigner I had to wait. A year later, I received my black and was extremely happy. Now, I am hoping that before I leave Korea I can test again for my second dahn.
Q: How Did you Get Interested in Photography and Martial Arts?
A: I got interested in photography with Martial Arts because I didn’t see a lot of shots that I really liked when it came to any sort of Martial Art. There seemed to be a lot of what I would call “Uncle Clem’s yellow belt test” type shots or studio shots of shirtless dudes doing high kicks. There just wasn’t anything that seems to capture the true essence of what I practiced every day. So I started trying to get the shots that I wanted and found that it wasn’t easy.
After years of trying, I have ended up with only a few shots I really think capture the essence of Kuk Sool Won, but I am sure that in the years to come I will have the opportunity to get more.
Q: Anything Else You Would Like to Say?
A: Other than that, all I have to say is that I have never been happier to have stumbled into the the “wrong” dojang. Kuk Sool has been like my Korean family for years now and it is going to be extremely hard to leave them in December.
Thanks for the Interview Jason
If you would like to contact Jason Teale about his photography or some other interest you can find his website here: Jason Teale Photography
If you would like some of the images Jason has taken in this blog post you can download for yourself here: Kuk Sool Wallpapers
