Archives for February 2018

Show Your Love for Street Photography: New Shirt by Annette Kim x HAPTIC

HAPTIC presents I SHOOT STREET PHOTOGRAPHY by ANNETTE KIM.

I SHOOT STREET PHOTOGRAPHY is the perfect way to proudly display your love of street photography.

I SHOOT STREET PHOTOGRAPHY is part of the minimalist collection, priced to be inclusive for people of all budgets.

I SHOOT STREET PHOTOGRAPHY is an original artwork created by Annette Kim. Inspired by Eric Kim’s first shirt released 10 years ago, I SHOOT STREET PHOTOGRAPHY is the updated version with modern typography and a minimalist illustration.

100% of the proceeds directly supports the artist.

See the HAPTIC SHOP >

See all our products on Amazon >

FEATURED ARTIST: ANNETTE KIM

The Complete Works of Annette Kim

Video Interviews with Annette Kim

See the HAPTIC SHOP >

See all our products on Amazon >

What is Haptic?

HAPTIC means ‘relating to the sense of touch and proprioception.’ HAPTIC honors the meaning of ‘touch’ by making artistic tools, educational resources, and collaborative platforms. HAPTIC also inspires the making of art that touches others and uplifts our spirits.

How to Overcome the Fear of Judgement

You have much latent energy, potential, and inner-greatness … just willing to express itself. But do you ever let fear of judgement of others get in your way, or prevent you from expressing yourself, sharing your artwork, or just being you?

Sean Lotman “The best things happen when you keep on keeping on”

Last week to pick up a copy of Sean Lotman’s Sunlanders available for a limited time in the HAPTIC SHOP.

VII.

For my last postcard for now I would like to post this image from my photo book, Sunlanders, because it means so much to me as something emblematic of a street photography image. When I was working on the project traveling throughout Japan, I had Robert Frank’s The Americans on my mind. Like Frank, I was a foreigner attempting to interpret my adopted country with photography. Of course, this picture is made slightly in homage to Frank’s cover shot for this book– a passenger on a bus. The light was so good that day that it created a triptych of reflections, including the brick on the passenger’s face. The passenger himself is an everyman, a man in his twenties or thirties with glasses and a flu mask, a man you might see anywhere in Japan but who has come into some poignancy with this light, a poignancy he never knew he had at that moment. I love the tricks light plays on surfaces and mirrors and the good luck the photographer has in occasionally finding and seizing it. And I photographed this on Shijo, a busy thoroughfare in Kyoto where I live, after a long day of walking back and forth, hoping to see something beautiful. The best things happen when you keep on keeping on.

My Simple Joys in Life

Here are some of the simple joys in my life:

Boston Diary III

Invitation to Open Beta Testing of ARS: Photography Feedback Platform Startup

Dear friend,

I cordially invite you to the open beta of ARS, an innovative new photography feedback platform, that gives you real, unbiased feedback on your photos from a community of real-life photographers.

What is ARS?

ARS is an innovative platform that gives you the opportunity to get frictionless feedback on your photos.

With a simple ↑ Upvote and ↓ Downvote mechanism, you can share your photos and get real feedback from the community on whether you should “↑Keep” or “Ditch↓” a photo.

Why use ARS?

If you have a photograph that you’re not sure whether you should “↑Keep” or “Ditch↓” — share it on ARS to get real feedback from other members in the community.

ARS thrives on your feedback– which means that you must also give feedback to other users in order to get feedback on your photos.

Follow the golden rule:

Treat others the way you would like to be treated. Provide honest feedback to as many photos as possible and others will do the same for your photos.

How does ARS work?

www.arsbeta.com

Signup for ARS with your Google Account. If you have any issues signing up, copy the link and open in a different browser such as Google Chrome, Firefox, or Safari on your mobile device or computer.
Upload a photo and ↑Upvote and ↓Downvote the photos of others.
For every 5 photos you vote on, you can upload 1 more photo for feedback.
Have fun: Keep up-voting and down-voting photos to give honest feedback to other photographers.

Signup for ARS Beta Testing >

Let us know what you think!

You are part of an exciting new platform and community and we would love to hear your thoughts, suggestions, and ideas. Let’s build something amazing together.

For feedback and support, email ArsBetaHelp@gmail.com

Ars Beta: http://arsbeta.com

Story Behind ARS

Over dinner, good friends Eric, Kevin, and Cindy discussed our dream to build a ‘productive’ community to learn photography by giving and receiving real feedback.

We emphasize the word ‘productive’ because we do not want this platform to just be a mindless ‘consumptive’ platform. Late one night Cindy realized that she was wasting her brain power on the meaningless act of scrolling and clicking like/favorite on others’ photos. She realized that there were so many people around the world like her, who had to much to give but the platform was not conducive to channeling that feedback in a productive way.

How is ARS different from Facebook or Instagram?

The existing platforms for photographers to give and receive feedback are limited to Instagram and Facebook. However, photographers never actually receive feedback because how well a photo is “liked” is dependent on closed social media networks and popularity algorithms. In other words, currently on Instagram and Facebook the photo that you share is not evenly shared to everyone equally.

We – Eric, Kevin, and Cindy – want to change the way photography was shared, seen, and provided feedback. We aspire to revolutionize the photography community by going back to the core of photo making and photo sharing.

Thus, we built ARS. We want to make ART ours again.

Fair feedback on your photos

Your photo will be uploaded and shown to others anonymously. No hidden algorithms based on popularity, your posting time, or your social media networks. Others will vote on your photo honestly and you can use that feedback data to help you learn and understand whether you want to “keep” or “ditch” a photo.

Learning photography is difficult without a sense of feedback and understanding what makes a good photo. Of course, we should like our own photos, but giving and receiving feedback on our photos is a crucial part of the learning process.

BETA Testing

This is beta version one, with the simple act of just voting “keep” or “ditch.” We have big dreams for ARS, but also want to keep the beta version simple, because the simple feedback of “keep” or “ditch” is valuable information for photographers to learn and improve their photography and help other photographer’s understand their photos along the way.

Let’s learn and grow together as a photography community.

Eric, Kevin, and Cindy

February 19, 2018
http://arsbeta.com

ARS, Be Part of the Movement

We’re still iterating, improving, and experimenting. Join us by beta testing ARS and provide feedback to email ArsBetaHelp@gmail.com

ARS =

MAKING ART, OURS
ART REALIZATION SYSTEM
AUTHENTIC RATING SYSTEM
ANTI-SOCIAL MEDIA
A ROAD TO SEEING
ART REVOLUTION SOCIETY

We have big dreams, and so do you!

(Update March 24, 2018):

On Cindy’s 30th birthday (February 19, 2018) we had an extremely successful beta launch. We received hundreds of e-mails from excited and enthusiastic users providing valuable feedback and suggestions of features to implement to improve community and user experience.

We have so many big moonshot dreams and visions to build up ARS as a revolutionary community of photography, photo sharing, and learning!

Currently we are looking for

Front-end developer to produce a mobile version of ARS for iPhone and Android
Investors and collaborators
Ambitious, self-driven visionaries who aren’t afraid of Nay-Sayers

Please contact us with your 1) Resume and work experience 2) Innovative big moonshot ideas or collaborations with the subject heading: “ARS Work” at ArsBetaHelp@gmail.com

FAQ

Q. I received a “403” Error Message from Google.

A. Copy the link www.arsbeta.com and open it in a new browser such as Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, on both your mobile device and computer. Do not open the link in an embedded mobile browser such as Facebook Messenger or e-mail app.

Q. I do not have a Google account.

A. Currently our beta version only supports Google login. We apologize for the inconvenience and plan to implement more login options in the future.

Q. What are the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service for using this service and uploading my photos?

A. Here are the full Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, and Community Guidelines.

Q. I have another issue or feedback I want to share to improve ARS.

A. We welcome all feedback, ideas, responses. Please let us know what you think and send Eric, Kevin, and Cindy an email at ArsBetaHelp@gmail.com If you have a technical issue, please send us detailed information on how that issue occurred (including device, browser, specific steps) so we could work to solve the issue as quickly as possible.

Q. I received an “Internal Server Error” on the signup page.

A. Currently our beta version can only handle ASCII characters (no diacritics, accent marks, non-Roman characters). We apologize for the inconvenience at this time.

Early Reviews of ARS

“The simplicity is actually the strength of this new idea.”- Daniel Mitchell: Eric Kim’s ARS
“ARS might just give people back a small platform to share their work away from the billionaires’ playgrounds. And for that, I have a lot of hope.”- Simeon Smith: Human Nature- Some first thoughts on ARS Beta

Keep Desiring to Create More, Not Obtain More

Dear friend,

A little mini-epiphany: to feel more happiness, human flourishing, and joy in life– seek to NEVER STOP CREATING (making stuff), instead of seeking to obtain more stuff.

Never Stop Striving

My theory: life is all about striving for more. More power, more influence, more impact.

[Read more…] about Never Stop Striving

Boston Diary II

10 Tips How to Take Better Travel Photos

If you want to make better photos while traveling, here are some practical tips:

Life Lessons I’ve Learned Living Abroad and on the Road for the Last 2 Years

Dear friend,

I want to reflect with you some life lessons I’ve learned while living abroad and on the road for the last 2 years.

Life Update From Boston

Dear friend,

I am currently writing these lines in (cold) Boston — a city which is incredibly beautiful, historic, and has fascinating juxtapositions.

How to Overcome Guilt in Street Photography

One interesting thing I’ve noticed in a lot of street photographers which debilitates them from shooting street photography: the feeling of guilt of photographing a stranger without their permission, the feeling of guilt that they are “bothering” or “upsetting” their subjects, and the feeling of guilt that what they’re doing is inherently wrong or “evil”.

15 Photography Assignments of Different Places to Shoot

If you’re looking for photographic inspiration, shoot in these different places:

How to Become More Self-Confident

What is self-confidence, why is self-confidence important, and how can we become more self-confident?

Random Pictures 011

[Read more…] about Random Pictures 011

CREATIVE DYNAMITE

Creative dynamite
overcome your pain and strife
keep flying high; creative kite
be excited for the future, its all joy no bite

Creative flight,
this shit is tight
and rife with hope and opportunity
never feel fear; just make art and do it fluidly
make art like a child, stupidly
and foolishly.