The Joy of Producing

Dear friend,

A revelation: to find more joy and happiness in life, produce more!


Why produce?

I believe in “producerism”, the opposite of consumerism. Producerism is to find meaning in your life by creating/producing stuff! That means making photos, making music, or making any type of art which strokes your inner-fire.


Karl Marx theorized the reason why modern humans were so depressed was because we didn’t have the “means to production”. In his time, only the upper-class/rich had the tools to make and produce stuff.

But today, you have the power! You have the power to share your work with no limits with the internet. You have all the digital tools: laptop, smartphone, tablet, digital camera, etc. You have all these epic digital content creation tools (Photoshop, Lightroom, iBooks author, imovie, Garage Band, final cut pro, etc).

We can host all our files online virtually for free (Dropbox, Google Drive, YouTube, WordPress).

We can create our own website or blog for very cheap (bluehost.com and WordPress.org).

How to produce

To produce means to make stuff. Producing is simple, you just create something!

You can create/produce anything. You can produce a photo with your digital camera or phone. You can produce a drawing with your tablet, phone, Photoshop, Illustrator, or on a piece of paper.

You can write and share your writing for free on Medium.com. You can write with Google Docs. You can produce anything from your imagination! The only thing holding us back is ourselves.


What gets in the way of us making/producing stuff?

  1. Distractions: Facebook, Instagram, Social media, YouTube, Netflix, Amazon, email, text messages, online blogs and websites, celebrity gossip, media, etc. Honestly the more distracted we are, the less focus we have to create/produce!
  2. Lack of inspiration: We have lost our inner-child curiosity, or we don’t find inspiration from the world. Solution: embrace Beginner’s Mind, or “Child’s Mind”. See the world from the eyes of a child, with naiveté and infinite optimism.
  3. Lack of energy: We are so exhausted after working, we don’t have the energy to make stuff. Solution: Sleep earlier, and wake up earlier (do all your creative work in the morning, when your energy levels are the highest!)
  4. Lack of motivation: Drink more black coffee to focus and have more energy. Follow a “ketogenic diet” to have less food coma. Experiment with intermittent fasting. Lift heavy stuff at the gym to get pumped/amped up. Also realize if you create something/share something that can help one other human being on planet earth, it’s worth sharing/doing!

No limits or boundaries on what you make/produce

Don’t just call yourself a photographer. Instead, consider yourself as a “visual artist”. Make any form of visual art! Make photos, make prints, do linocut printing (Cindy did this for “City of Angels“):

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Also make art portfolios with your hands, like we did with CINDYPROJECT:


Produce.

Take the power in your own hands and produce.

Producers shall inherit the Earth!

ERIC

Tools to empower you to produce more art!

  1. Henri Shoulder Strap: Always have your camera ready before the Decisive Moment to shoot and produce more photos!
  2. 30 Days to Jumpstart Your Photography: Your daily shots of inspiration
  3. Street Hunt: Go hunting right now for more decisive moments in your street photography!
  4. CREATIVE EVERYDAY: Create something new everyday.

See all creative tools in HAPTIC SHOP or on AMAZON