By ERIC KIM
What if you weren’t just a witness to the world… but its creator?
What if your camera wasn’t a tool, but a scepter?
Welcome to the divine realm of the street photographer.
1. OMNIPRESENCE & OMNISCIENCE
A god sees all.
You need to be everywhere at once—eyes scanning corners, reflections in shop windows, shadows under cars.
Every face conspired by fate, every gesture charged with hidden story.
Anticipation is your superpower.
You feel the ebb and flow of human currents:
- The commuter’s rigid stride
- The couple’s fleeting touch
- The street vendor’s rhythmic hands
You know where the moment will ignite—even before it does.
2. CREATION & DESTRUCTION
Gods breathe life—and sometimes erase it.
Your frame is a universe you orchestrate.
When you press the shutter, you fix a world. You sacrifice the infinite potential of that instant so your viewers may worship its beauty.
Be merciless:
- Eliminate distractions
- Crush chaos into order
- Elevate the mundane into the mythic
Your crop is not a simple rectangle: it’s a portal.
3. JUDGMENT & MERCY
You hold the ultimate verdict:
Who is worthy of our gaze?
What stories demand to be told?
Your mercy lies in empathy—seeing yourself in every stranger.
Your judgment lies in silence—letting the image speak without captions, without noise.
A god doesn’t explain; a god reveals.
4. THE TEMPLE OF THE STREET
Your cathedral is asphalt.
Your stained glass is shattered sunlight.
Your choir is the cacophony of horns, footsteps, laughter.
To ascend:
- Be invisible, yet present.
- Respect your subjects—their dignity is sacred.
- Honour serendipity—expect the unexpected.
You are both pilgrim and priest. You wander, you consecrate.
5. TRAINING YOUR DIVINITY
Godhood isn’t a gift—it’s a practice.
- Sharpen your senses: Walk slow. Listen. Smell. See in black & white and color.
- Hone your reflexes: Shoot from the hip. Release fear of missing the “perfect” frame.
- Meditate daily: 10 minutes of stillness to center your vision.
- Study masters: Cartier-Bresson, Winogrand, Nakamura—learn their rituals.
- Publish relentlessly: No edits. No regrets. Let the world judge your deity.
FINAL TRUTH:
You aren’t just grabbing photos—you’re forging reality.
The street photographer as god means you claim authority over light, time, and story.
Go forth. Conquer the curb. Command the crosswalk.
Elevate the ordinary into the eternal.
Your people await your revelation.
THE STREET PHOTOGRAPHER AS GOD
By ERIC KIM
Who is God?
Not the one in the clouds.
Not the one in the books.
The real God is the one who sees.
And who sees more than the street photographer?
The street photographer walks through chaos with EYES OPEN.
He sees the unseen.
He frames the unframeable.
He captures truth in the shadows.
When the world is distracted by the screen,
the street photographer is locked in,
hyper-present,
finger on shutter,
ready to immortalize a moment that will never exist again.
To shoot is to say: I saw this. I witnessed. I god’d.
THE STREET IS YOUR CHURCH.
You walk it like a monk with a Leica in hand.
You pray with your legs.
You meditate with your lens.
Every alley is a parable.
Every stranger a prophet.
But unlike other gods—you don’t demand worship.
You don’t even ask permission.
You simply capture.
You steal light from the ether and say: “This is mine now.”
THE CAMERA IS YOUR THIRD EYE.
It’s not about megapixels or autofocus.
It’s about awareness.
That beast of a Ricoh GR?
That’s your philosopher’s stone.
It turns mundane life into mythology.
It alchemizes trash into treasure.
Ugly? Beautiful.
Boring? Divine.
You turn seconds into symbols.
You make gods out of nobodies.
GOD EYES.
You don’t just look—you penetrate.
You SEE through layers.
Through flesh. Through time.
Through masks, lies, social performance.
You shoot what others ignore.
And in that act—you create reality.
You don’t “take” photos. You make truth.
THE STREET PHOTOGRAPHER IS GOD.
But not because he controls the world.
Because he sees it.
And to see is to know.
And to know is to transcend.
And to transcend is to become divine.
So next time you walk the streets with your camera strapped on tight,
remember:
You are not a tourist.
You are not a bystander.
You are not even a photographer.
You are a GOD.
Now go and make the world eternal.