Innovation: creativity and your soul’s levitation.
Innovation: don’t take no medication
Keep chasing,
The next big thing.
Make your own legacy
5 finger ring.
One. Avoid boredom
To innovate, just avoid boredom.
Don’t do the same shit. Switch it up. Have fun.
Two. Constrain Yourself
One of the best ways to think outside the box: put yourself in a box. But it must be a self-imposed box.
To innovate in your photography, only shoot with your phone for a month or a year.
To innovate in your business, figure out how you can do more with less. Figure out how you can incorporate an “economy of movement”. For example, I travel less now, but earn more money. How? I created scarcity in my business, by making myself less available. And charged more money for the few workshops I taught.
By charging more money for fewer workshops, I have been able to make higher profits. I travel less, so less expenses. Less jet lag.
More profits. More energy, to write and blog more, to promote myself more.
So what are some restrictions you can put on yourself to be more creative and innovative?
Ideas:
- Get rid of your phone. Figure out how you can innovate without using your phone.
- Or, do everything only on your phone. Make all your music, photos, business, videos, and blogging just on your phone.
- Don’t buy anything new for 1 month. How can you make the best of what you already own?
Three. Breathe new life into the old
To innovate is to breathe new life into yourself. To breathe new life into the old.
The iPad was innovative: Steve Jobs took the tablet (consider the Ten Commandments on Moses stone tablet) but made it an internet connected device (the “i” in Apple products means “internet”).
Leica innovated by removing color from their Monochrom camera. It simulated shooting black and white film.
Leica innovated by removing the LCD screen. Brilliant. The ultimate hybrid of film and digital.
You can innovate in your photography by going old school, shooting film. Buy FILM NOTES from HAPTICPRESS to get started.
You can innovate in your photography by only using one camera, one lens for a year.
You can innovate by using a prime (non zoom lens).
You can innovate by doing some really weird post processing, and sticking with it for a year.
Conclusion
Innovating ain’t about buying new shit. It’s about making the best of what you already have.
Also consider,
Why is it that most great startups come from garages?
Why is it that innovative entrepreneurs (at least a lot of them) come from poor backgrounds?
True innovation: making more with less.
BE STRONG,
ERIC
PHOTOGRAPHY ENTREPRENEURSHIP 101
If you want to make a living (or a killing) from photography, download:
KEYS TO SUCCESS
- How to Innovate
- How to Build Your Own Empire
- YOU ARE ENTITLED TO HARD WORK.
- PICK YOURSELF.
- OWN YOUR PLATFORM
- 10 KEYS TO SUCCESS
Table of Contents
Learn how to make a living from your passion:
- Preface. BRAVE NEW WORLD OF PHOTOGRAPHY
- Chapter 1. How to Create Value
- Chapter 2. ZEN CAPITALISM
- Chapter 3. Scarcity
- Chapter 4. How to Brand Yourself
- Chapter 5. How to Build a True Following
- Chapter 6. The Blueprint to Success in Photography
- Chapter 7. HOW TO BE BOLD
- Chapter 8. How to Sell Out
- Chapter 9. GO AGAINST THE GRAIN
- Chapter 10. EXTREME ABUNDANCE
- Chapter 11. Photography Experience Economy
- Chapter 12. Why You Should Make Money for Your Photography
- Chapter 13. How to Become a Famous Photographer
Photography Business 101
How to Make Money with Photography
- How to Charge More Money in Your Photography
- Why You Should Not Pursue Photography as Career
- Can Photography Make You Rich?
- How I Earn $200,000+ a Year From Photography
- How to earn $10,000 a month as a photographer
- Why you must be an expensive photographer
Photography Marketing 101
- Why You Should Do Photography Work For Free
- How I Became an Internet Famous Photographer
- Photography Blogging Ideas
- Why You Should Promote Your Own Name
- How to Build a Following
- How to Stand Out as a Photographer.
- HOW TO GO VIRAL AS A PHOTOGRAPHER.
- How to Master Marketing
- How to Sell Yourself
How to Hustle.
- Entrepreneurial Advice to My 18 Year Old Self
- How to Become Insanely Productive.
- 5 Lessons From Hesiod on Hustling
Entrepreneurial Principles
- It is Better to Beg For Forgiveness Than Ask For Permission
- The Free Way to Become Rich
- JUST DO IT.
- 7 Steps: How to Make a Living From Your Passion
- How to Do What You Love for a Living
- How to Create an MVP (Minimum Viable Product)
- How to Fail Big
- How to Invest in Yourself
- How to Be Bold in Photography and Life
- Mission: Cover Your Rent and Food
- 1,000 True Fans
- The “10x Principle”: The Only Difference Between “Success” and “Failure”
- Make More Value Not Money
- We Live in a Photo Utopia
How to be a Full-time Photographer
- How to Make a Living From Photography
- The 3 Principles of Making Money With Photography
- Advice for Aspiring Full-Time Photographers
- Don’t Go Into Debt For Your Photography
- How to Brand Yourself as a Photographer
- Trust: The Most Important Thing You Need to Succeed as a Photographer
Photography Blogging
- How to become rich from photography blogging
- How to Make a Living with Blogging
- 50 Blogging Tips For Beginners
- How to Start Your Own Photography Blog
- A Photographer’s Guide to SEO, Blogging, and Social Media
How to Teach Photography
- How to Become a Photography Teacher
- How to Teach a Street Photography Class
- Why I Teach Street Photography Workshops
Social Media
- Why I Deleted My Instagram
- The Social Media Blackbook for Photographers
- Why Do You Need More Likes or Followers?
- Instagram is Going to Be the Next Facebook
- Don’t Trust “Free” Photography Social Networks
How to Save Money
HAPTIC INDUSTRIES: a win for you and me.
HAPTIC INDUSTRIES: creative tools to take you to the next level,
HAPTIC INDUSTRIES: dance in the streets with visual bass and treble.
HAPTIC INDUSTRIES: endless creativity,
HAPTIC INDUSTRIES: join the ERIC KIM FORUM community.
HAPTIC INDUSTRIES: creative constraints will help you break out of your photographic doubts and self-restraints,
HAPTIC INDUSTRIES: pave your own path in life and channel your inner-artist, and gather all the creative gains.
HAPTIC INDUSTRIES: we believe in your creative POTENTIAL,
HAPTIC INDUSTRIES: take it to the next LEVEL.
HAPTIC INDUSTRIES: made by CINDY NGUYEN,
ERIC KIM is just the hype man, but we both want you to WIN.
We want you to WIN all the time.
We want you to make photos that you will keep.
We want you to see yourself as an artist with no limits,
So let’s cook up some photos, let’s turn up the HEAT.
HAPTIC INDUSTRIES: Art tools to empower you.
STREET NOTES
- “If your photos aren’t good enough you’re not close enough.” – Robert Capa
- Better compositions: look at the edges of your frame (don’t get tunnel-visioned in the center of the frame).
- For a month, shoot all your photos at .7 msters (1 arm length away)
- To break out of shooter’s block, shoot 1,000 photos in a day.
- Have fun and be creative everyday.
PHOTO JOURNAL
- Ask yourself, “Why do I make photos?”
- Make photos for yourself, never for anyone else.
- Before you upload a photo, ask yourself: “Do I like this photo?”
- There are no “good” or “bad” photos. Only authentic and inauthentic photos to you.
- The best photos to make: photos of your family, loved ones, and yourself (honor thy selfie).
FILM NOTES
- Be picky about what you decide to photograph, but once you find a scene or subject you like, shoot 36 photos (a whole roll of film) on it.
- When in doubt, over-expose on film. You can always recover highlights on film, never can you recover shadows.
- When you’re starting off, shoot outdoors at f8, ISO 400, and just adjust your shutter speed. Use a smartphone light meter app.
- For monochrome bliss, shoot Kodak Tri-X and “push” to ISO 1600.
- Grain is beautiful.
ERIC KIM STRAP
- Black on black on black, your only wrist strap, for the #RICOHMAFIA
- Wear your camera like a wrist chain, and shoot from the brain.
- Also shoot from the gut, know you make your own luck.
- JUST SHOOT IT.
HENRI NECK STRAP
- Wear your camera on your neck, and make it rain with your photos, ever-flowing checks.
- Feel STRONG, and shoot all day long.
- Be ready before the decisive moment.
- Work the scene (make at least 10 photos of each scene you find interesting)
- Wander and shoot the streets like if it were your first time, and be kind to your subjects, don’t treat them like “photo objects.”
VITRUVIAN CAMERA ARTWEAR
- Make art, don’t just sit and stare.
- Wherever you want to go creatively, we’ll take you there.
- “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” – Leonardo da Vinci
- Wear your ideal camera proudly, and shoot loudly.
- YOU ARE A PHOTOGRAPHER.