Archives for August 2018

Why Walk?

A simple question: why walk?

Don’t Seek Perfection

Perfection is Undesirable:

In life, I think it is good to always have the spirit of improvement, however I think we need to be careful of the Cerberus (false ideal) of perfection.

Why Image Quality is Overrated

Dear friend,

Something I want to reflect with you is this:

What is image quality, is it important, why is it important, and what is the function of image quality? And is there an objective way to judge image quality– or is it all subjective?

Visual Experimentation in Photography

Treat photography as visual experimentation. Have fun with it! And be like a visual scientist; never stop experimenting!

How to Curate Your Own Photography Portfolio

Taking photos is easy; curating your best photos is hard.

Eric Kim Photography

My best pictures (so far):

[Read more…] about Eric Kim Photography

Keep it Super Simple (KISS)

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” – Leonardo da Vinci

Dear friend,

A practical idea: in photography, life, and art, strive to keep your work super super simple.

Desire Both Pleasure and Pain in Life

A powerful idea I got from my buddy Nietzsche; in order to grow, we need BOTH pain and pleasure!

How do you know if you’re making progress in your photography?

How do you know if you’re making progress in your photography? Is it important to make progress in your photography?

In the philosophy of photography and aesthetics, we can categorize photos into a binary categorization: either beautiful or ugly. But what makes a photo beautiful or ugly? Or what makes things beautiful or ugly?

[Read more…] about Beautiful vs Ugly

How to See Like a Machine

We are in a brave new world of photography; we can leverage machine learning and artificial intelligence to make better photos! Some things I’ve been learning:

Photography Composition: Which Direction is Your Subject Looking?

Dear friend,

A simple technique we can integrate into our photography — let us draw imaginary red arrows whichever direction our subjects are looking, or the direction they are walking!

How Do You Know Which Photos to Keep or Ditch?

In photography, one of the most challenging tasks we have:

How do we know whether we should keep or ditch a certain photo?

This is what inspired me to build ARS BETA with my friend Kevin, Cindy, and Annette, to make a photography platform which helps you select your best photos!

Why I Love Wide-Angle Lenses

Dear friend,

I love wide-angle lenses. Why? Let me share:

5 Simple Tips How to Shoot Better Street Photos

Some of my favorite and may best street photography pictures, and why I think they are good:

7 Tips How to Be Inspired to Shoot New Photos

Dear friend,

One of the most difficult challenges we have as photographers is to find inspiration to shoot new photos. Some practical ideas:

Why Do We Delight in Visual Change?

How to Critique Photos

To critique a photo means to judge a photograph. But some questions to tackle: why critique photos, how to critique photos and what value do we get from photo critiques? In building up ARS BETA, I wanted to share some practical ideas on photography critique.

Why Create?

Dear friend,

To be happier in life, create more!

[Read more…] about Why Create?

Point of View

Dear friend,

A realization I’ve had after having a nice conversation with my buddy Christophe Wu: photography (and life) is all about point-of-view (POV); your perspective of the world.

[Read more…] about Point of View

Life Update From San Jose

Currently in San Jose, enjoying time with my mom, Annette Kim, Cindy, and loving life. Gonna teach a few workshops here, then off to NYC for another workshop, then Montreal in November (first time), then back in LA in December!