20180428_175256 eric kim and cindy nguyen samsung selfie kyoto emperor garden

Life Update From Kyoto

20180428_175256 eric kim and cindy nguyen samsung selfie kyoto emperor garden
Selfie in front of the Kyoto Emperor’s Garden, 2018

Dear friend,

Greetings from Kyoto! I wanted to give you a life update, and to share some brand-new and very cool stuff, and also life lessons I’ve learned while I’ve been here!


Travel update: Osaka to Kyoto

Part 1: Osaka

Last month we were in Osaka for about a month, staying at a fun (and very small) AirBnb. We lived inside Kuromon (the fish market), and lived a simple life: everyday working in our (tiny) apartment, going out for little “time sale” breaks (to buy discounted fish), and nice motsunabe (beef inward) hotpot dinners. During this time I got re-inspired to do more GoPro POV street photography videos:

And also started to do more fun food vlogging on my Youtube channel!

Part 2: Kyoto

After bidding farewell to Osaka, we moved into a new apartment in Kyoto, where we have been for about 3 weeks. Here the apartment has been a (LOT) bigger, and we have also settled into a nice little life here. I have personally been having SO MUCH FUN doing all this new video stuff for YouTube with my new GoPro Fusion (360/virtual reality camera), and coming up with innovative new ways to use it for GoPro POV (virtual reality) videos in street photography. See all my POV videos on YouTube here >


Brand-new online Udemy Courses

"Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Mastering Photography" now live on Udemy!
“Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Mastering Photography” now live on Udemy!

Also while Cindy and I were in Kyoto, we launched our brand-new online Udemy courses. This is the first time I have ever done an online course, and Cindy and I hustled hard while we were in Marseille, working on these videos for around 12 hours a day (for around 2 months). We are both so proud of the two courses:

  1. Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Mastering Photography: Taking it back to basics in photography to respark your initial intent on why you started photography in the first place! Super refreshing to start photography all over again with the fresh new eyes of a beginner. Learn More >
  2. Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Photography Entrepreneurship: Put a dent in the universe with your passion in photography! Build a following, potentially monetize your passion, and learn what makes you unique in order to stand out and thrive creatively! Learn More >

We so appreciate your support if you signup for the courses. They really help us with our finances, and help us continue to make free content on this blog, and of course to feed my coffee addiction ;)

Learn more about both Udemy courses >


Photography Entrepreneurship

My brand-new Udemy Course, "Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Photography Entrepreneurship" now live!
My brand-new Udemy Course, “Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Photography Entrepreneurship” now live!

I’ve also been super empowered for a new direction in my photography/life/career — not just doing street photography stuff, but also photography entrepreneurship. The reason why I’ve been so passionate about entrepreneurship is that when I was 18 years old, it was a dream of mine to make a living from my passion in photography. But at the time, I didn’t know it was possible.

Fast-forward 12 years (I am 30 years old now), I’ve been able to successfully monetize my passion for photography and make a living out of it– and I now want to “pay it forward” by sharing my knowledge on how to make a living from photography. Of course all the recent articles I’ve been writing is just specific to my life experiences, but I hope that my experiences can give you some ideas or inspiration.

Some new entrepreneurship articles I’ve written which I quite like:

All entrepreneurship articles >


Next stop: Tokyo

Tomorrow Cindy and I are packing up our bags, and taking the bullet train to Tokyo (it is amazing, the trip only takes 2 hours!) We had a phenomenal time here in Kyoto (I loved my zen walking meditation, enjoying visiting the park and seeing the nature, and all my new GoPro POV Videos I’ve been making for YouTube.

Tokyo is one of my favorite cities in the world for street photography. I hope to do a lot more new videos for you, and to try to figure out new innovative ways to teach street photography approaches/techniques, and also make more resources on entrepreneurship.

We are staying in a cheap businessman hotel (APA) where there is actually a free onsen (hot bath) inside! We will stay there around 2 weeks, then back to Cindy’s mom’s house in Orange County. Then later the year, I have a few new workshops in SF which I am super pumped for:

For more info for the workshops (or for returning student discounts), hit up my manager Neil at neilta@gmail.com

Then after Orange County? Not sure. Will keep you updated.


Free PDF Visualization: Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Smartphone Photography Visualization PDF

My sister Annette has also been busy making new visualizations and designs, the newest one being the: Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Smartphone Photography Visualization PDF. You can also make sure to check out all of her FREE Photography Visualization Resources in the HAPTIC SHOP >

I personally find there to be a good Zen flow from shooting street photography on your phone (with your phone in airplane mode), and with the new iPhone X and all these awesome new smartphones, I find that shooting with a phone is great. I just recommend downloading VSCO, and buying the “A6” (Aesthetic) preset (costs around 99 cents).

Also for your desktop version of Lightroom, I have bought the VSCO Mobile Presets 01 (and have been using the JPEG A6 preset for my recent Lumix LX100 photos). Of course, you can make sure to also download all of my Free Lightroom Presets here >


Community

For feedback on your photos, I recommend uploading your photos to ARSBETA.COM (for a simple keep/ditch feedback). Learn more about ARS BETA >

Also if you want to engage in passionate questions with other passionate photographers, join ERIC KIM FORUM >


Products

Empower yourself with all of our epic products in our HAPTIC SHOP, and you can also see all of our products on AMAZON >


Thank you

As always, I am eternally grateful for your support, love, kindness, and words of encouragement over the years. Remember friend– never doubt in yourself, always shoot for the moon, and also memento mori (remember that you will, and must die). You don’t need permission to attempt anything in your life. Let’s both do epic stuff together!

BE BOLD,
ERIC