Month: July 2018

RICOH GR II in JPEG positive film preset, with Lightroom iPad additional contrast processing:

Why do I keep all my photos open source, and free for you to download and “steal”?

Ethics is a tricky business. There are no ultimate ethics which apply to everyone, nor should there.

A good rule of ethics is the silver rule: don’t do unto others as you don’t want others to do unto you. #zenoferic

Dear friend,

I’m quite convinced: one of the keys to “true” happiness in joy in life is to be self-employed; to NOT have a boss– to work for yourself, according to your own schedule; to essentially create your own business and job for yourself. #entrepreneurship

An essay means (in French), an “attempt”. A photo essay is attempting to tell a story or show a certain perspective of something through photographs!

You got your personal power
To give you the strength to Hustle hard, hour after hour

RICOH GR II jpeg in high contrast positive film JPEG setting, and some work the LUMIX Lx100:

Dear friends,

A life update from Saigon:

Insofar much as I know, true “happiness” in life is eliciting more joy, meaning, and purpose in our lives. I don’t have the answer for others, but I know (some) of the answers for myself:

In today’s crazy technological world, we are always trying to “optimize” our lives. But what does “optimize” really even mean, and is it actually something desirable, to have the most optimized life?

Dear friend,

I think what we’re trying to do in street photography is capturing the souls of others, as well as reflecting our own soul in the photos we make.

Some practical #photolosophy thoughts— don’t seek to add in your photography, seek to SUBTRACT from your photography, in order to make better photos, be less distracted, and to distill more purpose and meaning into your photography and life!

Dear friend,

The cool thing about life: our future is not pre-determined. We have the power to change our own future, by creating our own culture, or even importing parts of culture from other places on earth (or cultures from past history), for you to become the most epic you possible!

New HAPTIC Notebooks available. Contact Cindy at hapticindustries@gmail.com and tell us which cover you like!

A philosophical inquiry: what were you designed to do in your life? Or in more precise words, what do you wish to designate yourself to do in life? #zenoferic

I’m often criticized for being to aggressive in real life; but for myself, I see myself as “friendly-aggressive”.

Dear friends,

I am super excited to share that PHOTO JOURNAL: Mobile Edition is now live!

New batch of photos from Saigon, shot on Lumix G9 RAW (processed with VSCO a6 preset), and some LX100 photos:

If you’re shooting street photography while on the road, here are some practical tips I’ll give you (advice I wish I could have given myself:

Will power: the power of our will to enact change which we desire to see in reality / the power to create things we desire to create! #entrepeneurship

To promote my first print photo book, SUITS, I wanted to share some personal lessons and tips on working on your own photography project.

Dear friend,

I was philosophizing about life, entrepreneurship, and risk-taking with my sister ANNETTE KIM, and I asked her– what keeps potential artists from continuing what they do? Annette told me — perhaps because people lose encouragement? Or they become discouraged?

But what does it really mean to be discouraged? What does it mean to be ‘encouraged’? And what does the root word, ‘courage’ even mean anyways? #zenoferic

Preorder SUITS, available for preorder now.

I shoot photos because for me, it is applied visual sociology; I can use the camera as my research tool to analyze, critique, and hopefully change society.

Color photos with RICOH GR II in JPEG, processed with ERIC KIM KYOTO preset.

Dear friend, I think a lot of us fall victim to a “social media treadmill”; we seek to get more and more followers for the sake of it; without really knowing or asking, “Why?”

This is our last installation for the cinematography and philosophy of the Matrix film:

And now the Trumpets terribly from far, / With rattling Clangor, rouse the Sleepy War. / The Soldiers Shouts succeed the Brazen Sounds, / And Heaven, from Pole to Pole, the Noise rebounds. – Virgil

Take the red pill
Disregard the 1s and 0s of the dollar bills
Follow what’s real and true to you

I don’t concern myself with metaphysics or any other “pie in the sky” type of philosophy. I’m only interested in practical philosophy — wisdom that can help us live a better life today, with more meaning, purpose, and direction. If you’re curious like me, this is an introduction for you. #zenoferic

Shot on RICOH GR II, RAW, and ERIC KIM MONOCHROME 1600 preset:

What’s your prime mover in life? Or in Latin, your “primum movens” in life?

Dear friend,

A fun concept I came up with: don’t think of mere survival; think of “thrivival” (a life of thriving). #zenoferic

Dear friend,

A practical life philosophy: to live a more fun, joyful, and exciting life, avoid boredom at all costs! #zenoferic

Congrats to everyone who participated in STREET CLUB #1: Cafe. Week 2 Assignment now live: PARK Assignment. Read more to see some photo feedback I gave on composition:

Weegee: the master of flash, multiple subjects with flash, as well as social-documentary/reportage in street photography. Some of my favorite photos of his, painted compositions with iPad screen capture tool. Note: this post contains nudity and might be NSFW.

From the Iliad. I was reading an ebook PDF of the Illiad, and came across these epic compositions in the book. Worth studying — note the balanced yet dynamic compositions, the position of the subjects, the curves, etc:

Dear friend,

A philosophical and economical question I’m having with myself, in regards to entrepreneurship, business building, and benefitting yourself/society; how do we create wealth? What is “wealth”?

A thought when studying Nietzsche: with evolution and animals, they’re ruthless. They “steal” the useful adaptations from other animals, and incorporate these behaviors or attributes to themselves. Which made me wonder– as artists, shouldn’t we do the same?

I’ve recently started to re-study the work of Weegee, and I’m so inspired by his work.

Photos shot on Digital Medium Format by Pentax 645z and processed in VSCO Mobile preset on iPad Pro 10.5 inch:

Isocrates: another master of wisdom who can benefit us with his wise thoughts. For more inspiration, pick up ZEN OF ERIC

Shot on phone, and processed with the VSCO mobile app:

Much of street photography is surrealism, owing to the surrealist tendencies in our godfather, Henri Cartier-Bresson:

Dear friend,

If you want to discover more purpose and meaning in your photography, I encourage you to start your own long-term photography project!

Dear friends,

A life update from Dalat, Vietnam! I wanted to share all the exciting stuff we’ve been making at HAPTIC.

Practical thoughts, tips, and ideas on starting your own photography business:

Get off the rat race, like the Red Queens, you keep on running and stay in the same place.

Behind the scenes. SUITS print edition coming soon. Email hapticindustries@gmail.com to reserve your copy.

A recent understanding — you can better measure your success by the amount of “haters” you have, instead of measuring your success by how many “fans” you have. #zenoferic

I love to travel and live nomadically. I also think most people would benefit from traveling more. Why?

Is satisfaction good? Is dissatisfaction bad? #zenoferic

Dear friend,


I believe what we all intuitively desire is more power in our lives — the power to live our lives the way we desire, the power to control the hours of our day, the power to say “yes” and “no” to the requests of others, and to have the faith and self-confidence for us to pursue our own interests, and the power to make these dreams into a reality! #zenoferic

A preview of my upcoming print edition of my book, SUITS. First print run will be limited to only 30 hardcover copies. Email hapticindustries@gmail.com to reserve your copy.

Dear friend,

A philosophical question I’ve been pondering to myself:

Are we more than our memories?

ZEN OF ERIC: Your personal manual to empowering yourself in photography, philosophy, and life.

What time is the best time to shoot? Now! Also in other news, my new book: ZEN OF ERIC is now live!

Dear friend, if you’re gonna buy a new phone for photography, I recommend buying a Google Pixel, or any Android phone that allows you to use HDR+ from the Google apk (works on OnePlus, apparently the new Samsung Galaxy devices as well) #computationalphotography

Seize today
Not tomorrow
Live today to the fullest with no regrets to prevent sorrow tomorrow

There’s nothing which brings me more joy and delight in life than innovating new things, new processes, and new ways of sharing!

In Vietnamese there is a saying: “Go/do for the sake of understanding it.” (di cho biet):

Kodak Trix 400 black and white film pushed to 1600, with yellow filter. Buy FILM NOTES to learn more.

VSCO A6, a love letter to Zach and the team at VSCO. Keep building your epic tools, which is empowering all of us creators and visual artists!

A realization: what is holding us back from achieving our fullest potential in life? I don’t necessarily think it’s because we lack willpower or because we’re “lazy” and bad/evil people. I think the problem is that we’re a nation being sedated with drugs, alcohol, entertainment, video games, and media.

Why do I love color photography? Simply put, I think the colors of color film just aesthetically look nicer than digital color photos!

My friend Josh White is my favorite contemporary photographer. Why? He shoots with his soul, his photos are authentic, and reveal who he is, and how he sees the world.

Dear friend,

Recognize that if you have some epic photography entrepreneurship idea; don’t be afraid to take a risk and just do it. Why? At worst your “failure” is just feedback to try again in a different way!

Dear friend,

A suggestion when you’re working on photography projects, or selecting/editing your best work. Don’t share dull/boring photos:

The silver rule of ethics in photography: Don’t photograph others the way you wouldn’t want to be photographed. Much thanks to Nassim Taleb (Skin in the game book) for the idea and inspiration.

I see photography as a meditation on life and death: gratitude on being alive, but also a reminder — that I (and my loved ones) will all eventually die.