GUT PHOTOGRAPHY.

Gut photography,
Shoot from your gut– not your brain.

Wisdom from the gut.

The problem in photography is we rely too much on our brain. Rather than thinking, we should shoot photos from the gut.

In ancient times, it was thought that intelligence came from the gut, or stomach.

To me, it makes more sense.

For example, how do humans stay alive? We need to eat.

Prague

We are motivated to move, by hunger. We need to use our brains, and coordinate movement, in order to hunt, or forage food– so we can please our stomachs, and eat to live.

My stomach is smarter than my brain.

Therefore, it makes more sense that the stomach is more intelligent than the brain.

I don’t know about you, but a stomachache feels 10x worse than a headache. I imagine dying of pancreatic cancer is also 100x more painful than dying of a brain aneurism.

My theory:

Shoot when you’re hungry.

If you want to motivate yourself to photograph, workout, or do anything– be hungry. Physically and mentally hungry.

Think about it: a lion doesn’t eat a granola bar then hunt. Rather, the hunger is what stimulates and motivates the lion to hunt. Once the lion has captured its prey, and has a buffalo buffet, it takes a 3 hour nap.

ERIC KIM x HENRI NECK STRAP

Even in my street photography workshops I notice this: in the morning the students are motivated to shoot. Then after lunch, they fall into “food coma”– and have very little energy or motivation to shoot.

For myself, when I’m hungry, I either drink more black coffee (espresso) or eat cacao nibs (100%, no sugar), to squelch my hunger a bit– to continue writing, shooting photos, or thinking. Once I have my first meal of the day (usually past 4:30pm), I’m lazy and satisfied with my food.

I can apply this to many things.

I’m hungry for knowledge, wisdom, and information. If I were 100% satiated with what I already knew, I would have no more motivation to study, research, and let my curiosity lead me.

STAY HUNGRY, STAY FOOLISH.

So friend, be hungry. Realize that the world is your own visual buffet.

So are you hungry or satisfied?

My suggestion:

Stay hungry, stay foolish. (World Earth Catalogue / Steve Jobs)

BE STRONG,
ERIC


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