YOU ARE AN ARTIST-PHOTOGRAPHER

If you make photos, you’re an artist.

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Ignore the art critics, and little people.

Never let any pretentious asshole say you’re not an artist.

Just ignore them.

You are a photographer.

To start off, if you have a phone and like to make photos, you are a photographer.

And if you’re a photographer you are an artist.

You can become a good photographer with enough practice.

Now, not everyone is a “good” photographer. Just because you know how to play chess doesn’t mean you are going to beat a grand master.

But there is no talent in photography. You can teach yourself to be a good photographer and make good photos.

Don’t buy an expensive camera you don’t need or can’t afford.

No, you don’t need to buy a big fancy expensive digital camera to become a “photographer.” As long as you have a passion for seeing, documenting, and analyzing the visual world – you’re a photographer.

Definitions, shmefinitions

What is a photographer anyways?

• Photo: light
• Grapher: writer

You’re a writer with light.

Any author with a pen can write something. Or a pencil. Or a phone, or tablet or laptop. It doesn’t really matter.

You can cook anything with even shitty cooking equipment. You can deadlift without fancy shoes, just do it in your socks like I do, and of course without a stupid belt.

You don’t need to buy expensive hiking shoes to go hiking. Just go in your sandals, like the folks in the hilly mountainside of Sapa, Vietnam do (while carrying a child, and 40 pounds of weight on their shoulders inside a straw basket, not a North Face Trekking backpack).

Photography 300 years from now

300 years from now, we will still be making photos. Probably with some device with a lens on it. It will probably still look like a phone.

Regardless, in the future, there still will be fancy, big, bulky DSLR cameras, medium format and large format digital cameras, and more megapixels. Why? Human beings like to show off. And we all think that buying a bigger camera will make us a better photographer. This sad fact will never change.

So in year 2017, we have the iPhone and high-end DSLR cameras. DSLR camera users often feel the need to differentiate themselves from “iPhone photographers” by buying bigger cameras and lenses and equipment. Kind of like how men with small (ahem) buy big trucks and attack silicon testicles to the back. It is a self-esteem issue.

I’m not saying to not buy expensive digital cameras. I’m just saying, don’t think that buying an expensive digital camera will make you feel more self-confident. Don’t fool yourself, it won’t make you a better photographer either.

If you have a newbie cook (like myself), buying an expensive knife or pot won’t make me a better cook. It won’t make my food taste better.

Rather, I need to learn how to cook better food, by studying ingredients, taste, and just by cooking a lot. My grandmother never went to “chef school”, yet she can out-cook anyone from a 5 mile radius.

I advocate always, for practice over theory.

The only way to become a better photographer: make more photos.

How to make good art

Good art: study the masters. Study not just the master photographers, but the master painters. Study Leonardo da Vinci, Picasso, Raphael, Matisse, and the other giants. Check out the site “every painter paints himself” for inspiration.

But just remember,

You are what you eat.

If you’re just consuming advertisements, “lifestyle photos”, and junk images on Facebook or Instagram, what is going to happen to your waist-line and creative health?

Consuming a never-ending stream of Instagram is like consuming endless McDonald’s hamburgers. Delicious in the short term, but will cause obesity, sloth, and detrimental health.

Of course there is good stuff on social media. But just like a good diet: curate what you consume.

ERIC KIM VISUAL DIET

So what does ERIC KIM do?

First of all, I deleted my Instagram. It was like equivalent to removing a leech from my leg, or leaving a mosquito-ridden swamp. I feel a lot cleaner, happier, and more full of creative energy.

I still consume a lot of art. But now, I study great artists. I love Andy Warhol, Roy Litchenstein, Diego Rivera, Matisse and Picasso.

I also find inspiration from music, from Kendrick Lamar, Jay-Z, Kanye, jazz, and freestyle rappers.

You can find inspiration everywhere. Just turn off your phone and look around.

Solutions

Some things that have helped me build self confidence as an artist:

1. Think of “art” as a lower-case “a” instead of an UPPER-case “A”. Acknowledge you’re an artist.
2. If anyone tells you you’re not an artist, just ignore them and move on.
3. Make more art. Make more photos, paintings– digital, or analogue. It doesn’t matter. Just “fux wit it” (fuck around with it) and have fun.
4. Be creative everyday. Make art with your phone during your commute. When you’re waiting in line, sketch something on your phone. Read ebooks on your phone. Sketch on a piece of printer paper at the office when you’re bored.
5. No excuses. You got this shit.

BE STRONG,
ERIC

Share your photos and art on ERIC KIM FORUM.

For more inspiration, buy HAPTIC TOOLS and attend an ERIC KIM EXPERIENCE.