Month: September 2018

  • Hypercomplex Cells: How Does Visual Processing Work in Our Brains?

    Hypercomplex Cells: How Does Visual Processing Work in Our Brains?

    Something super powerful I’ve come across in visual science– the notion of a ‘hypercomplex cell‘:

  • The Producerism Manifesto

    The Producerism Manifesto

    Dear friend, This is a call to arms. Let us break free from the shackles of consumerism; let us embolden ourselves with the new ethos of ‘producerism’.

  • Brave New World of Social Media

    Brave New World of Social Media

    Dear friend, I am a huge Aldous Huxley fan, and one of the most influential novels I’ve read is BRAVE NEW WORLD — a future dystopia which is very very accurate in terms of how we’re living our lives today.

  • How to Give a Constructive Critique in Photography

    How to Give a Constructive Critique in Photography

    ARS is so fun. I’m on a comment and critiquing spree, and wanted to share some tips on how to give a constructive critique in photography:

  • My Vision for ARS

    My Vision for ARS

    Dear friends, We just launched ARS BETA VERSION II yesterday, with insane growth and feedback. We introduced the ‘constructive critique’ function; and I can truly tell you– this is a revolution. I wanted to share with you what my personal vision for ARS is, and why I am so passionate about ARS.

  • Goodbye Social Media, Hello ARS: The Revolutionary New Photography Feedback Platform

    Goodbye Social Media, Hello ARS: The Revolutionary New Photography Feedback Platform

    Dear friend, If you are sick of social media– say hello to ARS; the first productive online learning community for photographers and visual artists.

  • Give Us What We Need, Fearfeeds

    Give Us What We Need, Fearfeeds

    Give us what we need, dear fearfeeds.

  • 12 Tips How to Shoot Better Black and White Photography

    12 Tips How to Shoot Better Black and White Photography

    How can we shoot better monochrome pictures?

  • Why ARS is the Answer

    Why ARS is the Answer

    Dear friend, What is the solution to a lot of our problems in life? Simple — art (art).

  • How to reach your full potential by having a more open mind. (First) Guest post by Annette Kim.

    How to reach your full potential by having a more open mind. (First) Guest post by Annette Kim.

    Hi friends, I want to share the greatest personal breakthrough I reached today and how you can apply this to reach your full potential past your wildest dreams.

  • ARS BETA: Breaking the Wall of Social Media

    ARS BETA: Breaking the Wall of Social Media

    Dear friend, I wanted to write you an essay about social media. Is social media a wall that is dividing us, or bringing us closer together? It is a curious question that has gnawed at the back of my mind from age 21 until now (age 30).

  • You Are Hydra.

    You Are Hydra.

    Dear friend, A thought– Think of yourself like hydra. You cut off one neck; and three will sprout out from that stump!

  • Only a limited inventory left! SUITS, Henri Shoulder Straps, Eric Kim Case

    Only a limited inventory left! SUITS, Henri Shoulder Straps, Eric Kim Case

    HAPTIC hand makes limited edition creative tools. Here is an inventory update of our most popular HAPTIC tools soon to be sold out (ships worldwide from California). Pick one up before it’s too late! Thank you for the love over the years! <3 Cindy & Eric SUITS by Eric Kim Limited First Edition Hardcover Photobook [8…

  • Brave New World of Photography and AI

    Brave New World of Photography and AI

    Dear friend, We are currently undergoing a phenomenally exciting time in photography– the marriage of (human) photographers and AI (artificial intelligence):

  • 10 Photography Composition Tips and Ideas

    10 Photography Composition Tips and Ideas

    Some simple photo composition tips:

  • Dictate Your Own Purpose in Life

    Dictate Your Own Purpose in Life

    Dear friend, A very simple yet powerful idea: Dictate your own purpose in life. There ain’t a “right” or “wrong” purpose in life. It is your duty in life to dictate your own purpose in life.

  • The Happy Photographer

    The Happy Photographer

    Dear friend, Simple idea: If you want to be a better photographer, be a happier person! In simple words: First seek to be happier in your life (via studying philosophy and taking more real-life risks), and secondly — just going out more to take pictures!

  • Use Your Strength to Empower the Weak

    Use Your Strength to Empower the Weak

    Dear friend, I wanted to pen a quick essay on some personal thoughts on freedom, free will, and how you have (more) power than you think!

  • OVERCLOCK YOURSELF.

    OVERCLOCK YOURSELF.

    Dear friend, I remember when I was a kid– really into modding computers. There was this concept of ‘over-clocking’– you would push your computer processor to run faster than the ‘stable’ specifications. For example, if I bought an AMD processor that ran 2ghz, I could go into the BIOS and push it to 2.2 ghz,…

  • Who Do You Wish to Become?

    Who Do You Wish to Become?

    Dear friend, A simple question: Who do you desire to become in life?

  • Photography is Augmented Vision

    Photography is Augmented Vision

    With photography, we become super-human with our vision.

  • In Praise of JPEG

    In Praise of JPEG

    A fun idea for your photography: For a month, experiment just shooting only JPEG (no post-processing) — and see if this helps librate you in photography!

  • Every Shot You Take is an Attempt!

    Every Shot You Take is an Attempt!

    Dear friend, A simple idea: Whenever you click the shutter, you’re just taking an attempt.

  • You Are Great!

    You Are Great!

    You are great Dont seek to placate the masses or the herd Seek your own personal apotheosis; give yourself your own self-hyping hypnosis

  • Lady Fortunate Gives Wings to the Audacious

    Lady Fortunate Gives Wings to the Audacious

    We have all heard the saying, ‘Fortune favors the brave.’ I like the saying, but it ain’t accurate or specific enough for me:

  • Kill the Leeches

    Kill the Leeches

    I’m pretty excited for the new VENOM movie, and started to do a little philosophical musings on the concepts of: Symbiotic relationships Parasitic relationships

  • In Praise of Being Naive

    In Praise of Being Naive

    Dear friend, I have been studying a lot of algorithms, AI, etc — and came across this concept of ‘naive’. For example in machine learning, there is a concept of ‘naive bayes‘. Now how can a concept in machine learning be ‘naive’ (like a un-wise and silly human being)?

  • 10 Lessons Elon Musk Has Taught Me

    10 Lessons Elon Musk Has Taught Me

    I’m an Elon Musk fanboy until I die. Here are some practical lessons I learned from him, from his recent interview with Joe Rogan:

  • DISRUPT NORMAL.

    DISRUPT NORMAL.

    Disrupt normal, be unique Be you and smile, cheek to cheek

  • Why Have a Brain?

    Why Have a Brain?

    Dear friend, A simple and funny idea: Why have a brain? In simple words: why have humans evolved to have a brain? And what is the best way we can use our brain?

  • Play Against Yourself

    Play Against Yourself

    Dear friend, A practical idea: In order to become the most epic you, play against yourself!

  • 17 Lessons Steve Jobs Has Taught Me

    17 Lessons Steve Jobs Has Taught Me

    Steve Jobs: one of my heroes. He has taught me the importance of staying true (and stubborn) on your creative vision, the importance of combining the liberal arts and engineering, and the importance of following your own gut and intuition.

  • Avoid the Middle; Embrace the Extremes

    Avoid the Middle; Embrace the Extremes

    To live a better life, embrace the extremes. Avoid the boring middle– either relax 100%, or go hard 100%. “Sleep hard, or work hard”. In this essay, I will try to combine personal thoughts on living, photography, working out, health, and diet (with this embracing the extremes strategy):

  • Blank Slate Photography

    Blank Slate Photography

    Dear friend, A practical idea I have for you: Treat your photography like a blank slate (tabula rasa). When you start off in photography, be totally ignorant of the outside world, and learn on your own (don’t enroll into photography or art school). Then use this chance to build your own unique vision, and as…

  • Post-Traumatic Growth

    Post-Traumatic Growth

    My buddy Nassim Taleb posited a question in his book, ‘Antifragile’ that regarded ‘post-traumatic growth’. I think I’m one of the lucky few who was actually made stronger because of trauma– not weakened. I want to use this essay as a chance to share why I think I was able to grow from trauma, and…

  • Tabula Rasa

    Tabula Rasa

    Wipe the slate clean What new ideas can you glean?

  • The Future of Photography is Editing

    The Future of Photography is Editing

    Dear friend, A basic idea: the future of photography is going to be editing (the art of selecting your best work, and not showing your weak work).

  • Set the Bar Higher

    Set the Bar Higher

    Set the bar higher, high-flyer Don’t mind if you don’t reach the top— just keep hustling hard, and don’t you stop

  • Use AI, Neural Networks, and Deep Learning to Judge Your Photography Compositions

    Use AI, Neural Networks, and Deep Learning to Judge Your Photography Compositions

    Check out the Stanford ‘Image Painting‘ demo to see how AI and deep learning can re-construct your photos; helping you better judge your own picture compositions!

  • Wisdom Augmentation

    Wisdom Augmentation

    Dear friend, I’m studying a lot of AI, and have been philosophizing (my entire life) about technology-human integration. A realization today: We are seeking to ‘augment our intelligence’ with technology, yet what I think we really want to do is to augment our wisdom!

  • AUTHENTIC.

    AUTHENTIC.

    Authentic Whatever life has given you, you’ve been blessed with

  • How to Conquer Fear and Anxiety

    How to Conquer Fear and Anxiety

    What if we lived a life without fear and anxiety — how much more of our potential could we reach?

  • GO HARD: Supersede Your Self-Perceived Limits!

    GO HARD: Supersede Your Self-Perceived Limits!

    To live a more epic life — go hard, and supersede (your self-perceived) limits

  • What is Your Dream in Life?

    What is Your Dream in Life?

    Dear friend, Simple question: What is your dream in life, and what are you willing to sacrifice in order to achieve it?

  • How to Realize Your Potential

    How to Realize Your Potential

    Dear friend, Some practical ideas on realizing your potential (recognition of your talents), as well as having the strength to turn these skills into reality!

  • Augmented Reality

    Augmented Reality

    Should we augment reality?

  • How to Self-Motivate Yourself

    How to Self-Motivate Yourself

    Dear friend, A lot of us want to be “motivated” (Latin means, ‘to move’). Some of us are self-motivated, and some of us lack motivation (the energy necessary to work, or act). In this essay, I want to share some practical ideas on how you can self-motivate yourself.

  • Lag

    Lag

    Dear friend, Do you remember when you were a kid, and you had to deal with ‘lag’? To me, lag (or latency) is one of the worst things as a gamer. But how can we use this analogy of ‘LAG’ in real life?

  • Visual Identification

    Visual Identification

    Dear friend, Something I realized– it ain’t enough just to shoot nice compositions of things. More importantly, we need to know how to recognize potentially interesting scenes BEFORE we shoot them. Or in more simple words, “How do we know if a scene is interesting enough to photograph in the first place?”

  • 8 Blogging Productivity Tips

    8 Blogging Productivity Tips

    Dear friend, I think I am currently one of the most productive bloggers on the internet (and the world). I want to share how I do it– and perhaps a little on why I do it.