Bae Bien-u (born May 22, 1950) is a South Korean photographer. He is a professor in Seoul Institute of the Arts. Early life and career Bae was born in Suncheon and grew up 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: 2008: Sacred Wood, BOZAR - Palais des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles, Brussels 2009: Sacred Wood, Aando Fine Art, Berlin 2009: Sacred Wood, Galerie zur Stockeregg, Zurich 2009: Soul Garden, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Korea - Deoksugung, Seoul 2011: ConvexConcave, Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Antwerpen 2012: Windscape, Aando Fine Art, Berlin 2012: Windscape, Christophe Guye Galerie, Zurich 2014: Counterbalance, Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Antwerp 2015: Dans un forêt l’autre, Château de Chambord, Domain national de Chambord 2016: Bae Bien-U -分合 Part:Meet, Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Hong Kong 2016: Bae Bien-U - L'Esprit du Lieu, Musée de la Mer, Cannes Collections of photographs To live in a thickly forested mountain (청산에 살어리랏다), 2005, Changdeokgung (창덕궁), 2009, References External links Korea Digital Archives for the Arts "Bae Bien-U (배병우)" "Bae Bien-u Exhibit" Naver 1950 births Living people People from Yeosu Hongik University alumni Academic staff of Seoul Institute of the Arts South Korean photographers