I don’t think I’m a master photographer (yet), but I do think I am a great photographer. How do you make great photos? Some ideas:

1. Shoot with your soul

Ask yourself the question,

Have I seen this photo on Google Images before? Or have I seen this photograph online before?

To make great photos, make sure you are the only one who can shoot it.

That means, shoot with your soul.

What is a soul?

Your soul is what’s makes you you.

For example, what is your perspective of the world? What is your opinion about social, political, economic, of the contemporary world?

Are you a personal historian of personally-meaningful moments of your life…or do you document the world around you?

2. Just shoot it.

Your soul is your conscience. Your soul is your gut.

When you see something that stirs your soul, just shoot it.

The biggest thing that prevents us from making great photos is hesitation.

How do we kill hesitation? JUST SHOOT IT.

I see this happen to a lot of photographers– we ignore our inner-gut. We don’t take a photo because we think,

That scene is cliche. It’s not gonna be a good photo anyways.

Fuck that inner-critic. Just shoot it.

My theory:

Just shoot it, because when you go home, you have the power to share it or not.

You don’t need to share all the photos you make.

Therefore when you’re out shooting, shoot a lot. In a day, you can shoot 1,000 photos. But only choose your 1 favorite photo to share at the end of the day. Or maybe wait a week before sharing the photo. Generally, the longer you let your photo “sit” and “marinate”– the better insight you get whether the photo is good or not.

3. What is a “great” photo?

To me, a great photo is an image that gets better with time.

I usually don’t know whether my photo is great or not, until at least a year, two, five, or ten.

My best images have survived the vicious jaws of time.

For example, there are certain photos of mine that the more I look at them, the more I hate looking at them. Those are bad photos.

But there are photos that the more I look at them, the more I like them. These are the great photos.

4. Swing for the fences

If you want to hit a home run, you gotta swing for the fences.

If you want to make great photos, don’t just shoot easy photos. Shoot hard photos.

To me, a hard photo is a photo that scares me.

For example, there are a lot of scenes or people I see that scares me. I often hesitate.

The photos that are scary to shoot are often the great photo opportunities.

The more risks you make in photography, the higher the likelihood or chance of making a great photo.

In entrepreneurship, the more (calculated) risks you make, the more likely you are to make a successful or profitable business.

Therefore to have a higher chance of making a good photo, take more chances, and take more risky and hard Photos.

5. Simplify

To me, simplicity is the apex of great photography.

To know whether a composition is great, look at the photo as a small thumbnail. If you can get an emotional and aesthetic response by looking at a small thumbnail of your photo, it is a strong photo.

To make a photo simple is hard.

How do we simplify a photo or scene? Ideas:

1. Seek to SUBTRACT from the scene instead of adding. Seek to cut the superfluous from the edges of the frame and the background of your photo. STREET NOTES tip: try to capture a CLEAN BACKHROUND. As Leonardo da Vinci did, start with a black canvas or a black background.
2. Ask yourself, “What is my central subject in the photo?” A great photo should have a strong “anchor subject”– the main focus of the image. You can make a strong multi-layered or multiple-subject photograph (like Alex Webb), but try to find a single strong subject to hold the viewers interest.
3. Monochrome: Shoot high contrast black and white in RAW, and set the preview of your camera into high-contrast black and white jpeg mode. Then use ERIC KIM MONOCHROME 1600 Lightroom preset to profess the image.
4. If you shoot color, keep the colors simple. Make sure the main subject of your photo has the most powerful color. Generally the colors red and yellow catch our attention the most.

Remember the saying from Leonardo da Vinci:

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”

6. Please yourself

To make great photos, make photos for yourself. Make photos that impress you. If you can look at a photo of yours and say,

Damn, that is a good photo.

Then it probably is a good photo.

I generally know my great photos, when i imagine to myself,

If I saw that photograph from a different photographer, and I still like it.

To simplify, look at your own photos like someone else shot it.

Detach your ego from your photos. Don’t forget, you are NOT your photos.

Therefore, if someone insults your photos, they are NOT insulting you as a human being. They are just insulting your photo… a pixelated digital representation of reality, codified into 1s and 0s, on a flat, 2d glass surface.

My tip, don’t call them “my” photos, call them “THE” photos.

If you can judge your own photos with uncompromising sincerity, then you can truly judge whether your photos are great or not.

7. You are what you eat

If you look at shitty photos, you’re gonna make shitty photos.

If you look at great photos, you’re going to (aspire) to make great photos.

For myself, I don’t look at photos on the internet or social media anymore. While there are a LOT of talented contemporary photographers, I generally trust the master photographers (most of whom are dead) more.

Why?

Nassim Taleb calls it the “Lindy Effect”– a photographer who has existed for a long time has existed for a long time for a reason. A photographer who was mediocre would NOT have his or her work exist for several decades.

Therefore, looking at the photos of the masters is a great FILTER. Especially in today’s world, we are drowning in images.

My suggestion:

Look at fewer images. And look only at the photos of the masters of photography. Preferably in photo books (an even more potent filter of great images).

Consider, if you just ate McDonald’s all the time, what would happen to your health? Eating images on Instagram, endless scroll, is like eating unlimited French fries and burgers which will certainly cause you to become obese, diabetic, and unhealthy.

8. Fast from images

Another tip, go for regular periods of time NOT looking at any photos of anybody else.

Why? If we look too much at the photos of others, we forget to make our own photos.

It is medical fact that fasting from food for periods of time (like intermittent fasting) is good for our health. It starves cancer cells, causes us to lose body fat, and helps us focus and have more energy. I know for myself, I don’t eat breakfast or lunch, and I’m fit as fudge (yes, I do have a 6-pack and can deadlift over 400 pounds at body weight of 150 pounds).

Therefore, to focus on yourself and your own photography, periodically fast from images. For example,

1. Uninstall Facebook and Instagram from your phone for a week. Use that time to look at your own photos in Dropbox or Google Drive, or your own personal photo stream…and start choosing your best images. And critique your own photos.
2. Make more photos.
3. Instead of looking at photos of other photographers on your phone, switch your phone to airplane mode and use your phone to make more photos.

Balance consumption of images and production of images.

9. Never be satisfied

If you want to make great photos, you cannot sit on your laurels…or be satisfied with the photos you already have.

Rather, be like JAY Z– onto the next one.

For me, that means constantly evolving. Growing. Switching up your style.

I started off shooting landscapes and architecture. That bored me, then I started to shoot black and white “decisive moment” street photography like Henri Cartier-Bresson. That bored me, then I started to shoot black and white flash street photography like Bruce Gilden. Then that bored me, so I started to shoot color flash photos like Martin Parr. Then urban landscapes like Steven Shore, William Eggleston, and Lee Friedlander. Then I started to shoot up and close street portraits like Diane Arbus and Richard Avedon. Then I started shooting abstract photos. Then I started to shoot film, color, black and white, and medium format. Then I started to shoot with my phone. Now I’m shooting mostly personal photos, shooting self-portraits, nature, and of course– street photography.

The lesson: avoid boredom, and never stop growing and evolving.

Bob Dylan was right when he said, “If you’re not busy being born, you’re busy dying.”

BE STRONG,
ERIC

PHOTOGRAPHY 101 >