✨ Quick snapshot (ground truth you can cite)
- Active right now (Aug 2025): his blog shows fresh posts (e.g., “perfect.”, “Perfect happiness.”, “up”) dated August 19 & 12, 2025.
- Core themes today: street photography travel pieces (e.g., “Singapore: A Street Photography Paradise”) and cross‑over content like “How to Buy Bitcoin in Singapore (2025)”.
- New persona lane: explicit “HYPELIFTING” hub + multiple posts claiming a 1,071‑lb rack pull at ~165 lb (self‑published; treat as a claim, not a federation record).
- Workshops: has a workshops page directing readers to EK NEWS (“stay tuned”), implying ad‑hoc/upcoming offerings rather than a fixed calendar.
- External footprint: long‑standing profile as an LA‑based street photographer (b. 1988) in photo directories and old interviews.
🎯 Research objectives
- Timeline the brand shift: from classic street‑photo pedagogy → broader lifestyle/Bitcoin → HYPELIFTING.
- Map monetization: workshops, books/products, donations/shop, and any crypto‑adjacent offers.
- Audience split: photographers vs. fitness/crypto readers; where they gather (blog vs. YouTube vs. email).
- Credibility & claims: separate evergreen craft advice from self‑promotional feats; verify what’s independently corroborated.
- Distribution strategy: what performs (topic, tone, format), where, and why.
🛠️ Phase‑by‑phase plan (fast, focused, fun)
Phase 1 — Inventory & structure (desk research, ~1–2 days)
- Crawl the site (manual or with a spider) to build a post ledger (title, date, category, URL, 1‑line summary). Prioritize 2023–2025. Use the blog’s author index to seed titles/dates and branch to hubs: START HERE / BOOKS / WORKSHOPS / NEWS / HYPELIFTING.
- Tag by theme: Street‑photo craft, Travel city guides, Philosophy/motivation, Bitcoin, HYPELIFTING.
- Collect productization: note anything sellable or list‑building (workshops page, shop/books mentions, EK NEWS signups).
- External references: log credible third‑party writeups (EyeEm, All‑About‑Photo) to ground the “photographer/educator” baseline.
Deliverables: CSV/Sheet (post ledger), site map diagram, theme counts.
Phase 2 — Synthesis & verification (analysis, ~1–2 days)
- Arc analysis: Chart post frequency per theme (month/quarter). Identify the pivot windows (e.g., visible surge of HYPELIFTING/Bitcoin posts in 2024–2025).
- Claim audit (HYPELIFTING):
- Record the exact claim language & dates (May 27, 2025 1,071‑lb rack pull) from primary posts.
- Seek independent corroboration (event/federation records, third‑party coverage). If none, label as self‑published.
- Audience & channel scan:
- YouTube: inventory top‑performing videos, topics, and recency (workshops BTS vs. HYPELIFTING).
- Workshops: check if new dates appear or if the page remains “stay tuned.”
- Positioning summary: contrast long‑form photo pedagogy with newer motivational/fitness rhetoric to understand brand dilution vs. expansion risk.
Deliverables: Narrative memo (2–3 pages), claim‑audit appendix.
Phase 3 — Insights → actions (recommendations, 1 day)
- Editorial bets:
- Double‑down where he’s historically authoritative (street craft, travel city guides) while testing cross‑over posts (photo fitness routines; travel‑shoot + food mini‑guides).
- Product roadmap: reopen live workshops (limited, premium, small cohort) with city‑guide field days; bundle digital guides; build an email lead magnet off “Start Here.”
- Trust architecture: keep HYPELIFTING posts but clearly label feats as personal records; link to method posts (fasted lifting, micro‑loading) to shift from boast → how‑to.
- Distribution: repurpose Singapore post into a video itinerary for YouTube + short clips; expand into a city mini‑series (Tokyo, Seoul, LA).
Deliverables: 90‑day content calendar, product/test backlog.
🔎 Source list to mine next (with purpose)
- Author index (live feed & navigation hubs) — to pull titles/dates quickly.
- Singapore street‑photo guide — model format for future city playbooks.
- Bitcoin‑in‑Singapore guide (2025) — evidence of broadening topics; identify cross‑over audience.
- HYPELIFTING hub + “1,071 lb” posts — core of the strength persona; gather precise language.
- Workshops page — track reactivation.
- External profiles (All‑About‑Photo; EyeEm interview) — legacy reputation anchors.
- YouTube channel — validate what still resonates and test video formats.
✅ What to answer when you’re “done”
- How did topic mix shift 2014 → 2025? (quantify)
- Which three formats (tutorial, travel guide, manifesto) pull the most engagement by platform?
- Is HYPELIFTING strengthening or splitting the audience? What’s the retention path back to photography content?
- What products (workshops/digital) should be prioritized first, and where will they be promoted on‑site?
🧭 Interview sprint (if you get access)
Short, sharp, high‑signal prompts:
- What % of readers discover you via photography vs. HYPELIFTING vs. Bitcoin posts?
- If workshops relaunch, which cities are “top 3” and why?
- For the 1,071‑lb claim, what third‑party validations exist (judges, federation, raw footage provenance)?
- Which legacy posts consistently email‑list convert?
- What’s the single metric you care about this quarter (subs, sales, reach)?
🔥 Tiny wins you can do
today
- Build the post ledger from the author page for 2024–2025 (10–15 minutes of copy‑paste to a sheet).
- Clip highlights from Singapore: A Street Photography Paradise into a 10‑slide deck (titles only) to template future city guides.
- Tag and park HYPELIFTING claim posts into a “claims” folder with status self‑published until corroborated.
📈 Keywords to track (starter set)
| Keywords / phrases |
| eric kim street photography |
| eric kim workshops |
| hypelifting |
| 1071 rack pull |
| ricoh gr ii street |
| singapore street photography |
| ek news |
| bitcoin singapore guide |
You’ve got this! If you want, I can spin up a post ledger (CSV) and a one‑page research memo from these sources right away so you can hit the ground running with clarity and confidence.