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1. Camera in the hand, and don’t make any plans.
2. Understand you need to make a lot of photos to get a few good ones.
3. You don’t need to be in London or Rome, to photograph good pictures.
4. Let your own inner-critic be your best judge of your own photos.
5. Ignore social media numbers.
6. Only upload photos you like.
7. When in doubt, throw it out.
8. If your photos aren’t good enough, your camera isn’t expensive enough.
9. Don’t seek to add to your frame, seek to subtract, like a sculptor chipping away a block of marble.
10. Make interesting photos of a boring place.
11. Follow your own artistic taste.
12. Lace your photos with your own personal emotions and soul.
13. Don’t follow any photographic mold– follow your own voice.
14. Find inspiration from all the arts: theater, sculpture, poetry, drawing, paintings, illustrations, digital, or film. Fill your creativity to the brim.
15. There is no winning on social media.
16. You can never have enough likes.
17. Your wife or husband is often the best judge of your photos.
18. To see more photo opportunities, keep your phone in airplane mode.
19. When you see a fork in the road, go straight (Jay-Z)
20. When in doubt, click.
21. Only pack one camera and lens for a photo trip.
22. Don’t shoot from the hip.
23. Make photos; don’t take photos.
24. Shoot film to re-inspire your digital photography.
25. The best camera is your phone.
26. There is no red velvet chair in the social media throne.
27. Paint your own reality in monochrome
28. Photograph emotions in colors.
29. Like a child, follow your curiosity and your own wonderment.
30. Buy books, not gear.
31. For photography poetic inspiration, read King Lear
32. Don’t steer your photography style; let your style guide you.
33. Photography equipment: not every shoe fits every foot.
34. To make more photos, walk more.
35. There are no rules in photography, only tips and suggestions.
36. Let your photos cook before sharing them: don’t take half baked images out of the oven.
37. Don’t make an online photo gallery have more than a dozen photos.
38. Be your own photographic self-promoter.
39. If you start getting hate on your photos, you are staring to get successful.
40. Photographers are artists: to find more happiness, create more.
41. Realize you can make interesting photos in your own home.
42. Originality: take something old, and give it your own spin– says Eric Kim.
43. Street photography: capture your own reality.
44. Your first (digital) million photos are your worst (a play off the “Your first 10,000 [film] photos are your worst.)
45. The best zoom: foot-zoom.
46. To capture more emotions in your photos, capture hand gestures.
47. Every photographer shoots him or herself.
48. Share your photographic wealth.
49. When you have nothing to shoot, photograph yourself.
50. Photography is a meditation on death and life, so never fall victim to bullshit and strife and pettiness– be the best person you can today, and pray that tomorrow will (also) be a good day.

Be strong,
Eric

PHOTOGRAPHY 101 >