Month: August 2018

A simple question: why walk?

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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.

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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?

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

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

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My best pictures (so far):

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“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.

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

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

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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?

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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:

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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!

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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!

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Dear friend,

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

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

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Dear friend,

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

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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.

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Dear friend,

To be happier in life, create more!

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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.

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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!

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Dear friend,

An aesthetic and life philosophy I strive towards; subtracting the superfluous.

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Dear friend,

Shoot more with your phone. Why? Some ideas:

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Dear friend,

Take your photography seriously — it is your art-work, the expression of your soul, and what gives you the spirit to live!

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Impossible, or improbable?

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Dear friend,

A fun idea to ponder: aren’t you curious what your limits are?

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What I think differentiates a good photographer and a great photographer is this: a great photographer is a better observer of the world around them! But how can we observe better as photographers, and why observe better?

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The New ERIC KIM PORTFOLIO BAG: Create, travel, be prepared for every photography adventure EVERYDAY.

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Dear friend,

A philosophical question — why be noticed?

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Never stop shooting:

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Dear friend,

A practical idea for you: if you want to shoot more, don’t baby your gear. Instead, give yourself permission to use and abuse your gear!

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Your life is short. Why not pursue your passion?

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What is your personal street photography philosophy? It’s different for everyone; discover it for yourself.

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Elevate yourself and your own inner-wealth. Play the cards you’ve been dealt; but be clever and be sly. Don’t be shy, you got great potential, my friend. Self-mend your broken heart; stay bright, today is a fresh new start!

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Continuation of PART 1. Battleship Potemkin, an epic film from 1925– apparently Stanley Kubrick would watch the films of Sergei Eisenstein on loop. Watch it here.

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Why do we wait to get “discovered” by others? Why not just self-publish, and publish ourselves?

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Some simple photography tips and ideas for you to start shooting more!

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I have a passion for pictures; all pictures! Paintings, photos, illustrations, graphic design, typography, sculpture; any visual art and all art in general!

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A realization while at the gym: photography must be fun, or else it isn’t worthwhile.

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Personal sketches of Leonardo da Vinci — trying to better analyze and digest his paintings:

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Two years ago, Eric and I (Cindy Nguyen) got married and officially launched HAPTIC INDUSTRIES with STREET NOTES and THE CITY OF ANGELS. Now HAPTIC is now in its terrible twos. We’re terribly excited to keep making art, building community, and sharing our love for education. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for the love and inspiration to keep experimenting!

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You never know whether you will make a good photo or not before you shoot it. Thus to me it only makes sense that you must just shoot a lot; and the more you shoot, the luckier you will get!

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Simple is elegant. Here are some (super) simple street photography tips to integrate into your shooting:

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Dear friend,

A very basic idea– what we truly desire as artists is “creative freedom” — to create what we desire without anyone else preventing us from doing it!

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Some personal lessons I’ve learned while studying Stanley Kubrick’s early photography collection:

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Dear friend,

I believe one of our tasks as humans is to progress. To improve. To advance, and for us to visibly see our own progress, and actually be proud of our progress!

But how do we know we are advancing or progressing in our photography, art, and life? Some personal ideas:

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Eric Kim CASE: Always have your RICOH, film, SD cards, and accessories with you. Eric Kim CASE now available in the HAPTIC SHOP in BRONZE LEATHER or PHANTOM BLACK.

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Placate yourself, disregard your wealth
Keep careful eye over your health, stay strong and stand tall; don’t stay knelt.

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“A backward glance can always lift the heart.” – Dante (The Divine Comedy)

We are often told to “count our blessings” to find more happiness, joy, and satisfaction in life. I would say it’s more effective to “consider all the people who are less fortunate than us, people dying of disease, enduring war, and exile.”

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Dear friend,

A realization I had: if it weren’t for my scars and suffering and difficulty in the past, I wouldn’t have become as strong as I am today.

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Never stop shooting. No matter how boring or uninteresting you feel like your life is; there’s always something to shoot! Some practical ideas to always stay inspired to shoot:

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Dear friend,

Do you respect yourself? Meaning– do you trust yourself? Do you consult your own conscience before consulting others? Can you look back into your own soul, and truly see and understand your own thinking and intentions? Do you have high regard, consideration, and do you trust in yourself?

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Dear friend,

This is an attempt (an essay/assay) into making a comprehensive (yet simple) manual to street photography composition. It will be based on my personal experiences, turned into theory.

Let’s begin.

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Personal studies of the dynamic, elegant, and epic compositions of Raphael:

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Treat your phone like a pencil; take fun, and quick visual sketches of whatever you see, constantly workout your visual muscles!

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Dear friend,

A practical tip to speed up your photography workflow: use the ‘thumbnail test’. Look at your photos as small thumbnails (contact sheets) to more quickly and efficiently choose your best photos!

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Dear friend,

I believe we should seek this duality in life– to be BOTH social AND solitary. Or in Kendrick Lamar’s words, an “anti-social extrovert.”

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Dear friend,

Welcome to PHOTOLOSOPHY! The course is organized numerically. Feel free to skip around, and there is no real order you need to go.

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For more dynamic street photography, shoot head-on!

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Battleship Potemkin, an epic film from 1925– apparently Stanley Kubrick would watch the films of Sergei Eisenstein on loop. Watch it here.

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Dear friend,

As a photographer you’re an artist. Never let anyone else tell you otherwise.

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To me, powerlifting and deadlifting is my zen meditation. Not only that, but powerlifting and deadlifting has taught me — I have no limits.

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One of the best compositions we can integrate into our photos is the “arabesque”, which is an elegant curve shape. But in Cindy’s words, the idea of a “squiggly line” is easier to remember and more sticky.

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A technique I like in street photography is the ‘decapitation technique’– literally cutting the head off your subjects (or just showing their limbs):

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Dear friend,

A random thought I had this morning– what if we never blamed anyone else, but ourself? To me, this would be one of the most empowering sentiments. Why? It means that we have 100% control over our lives, and it is silly for us to blame anyone else!

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Let’s say you have an “uninteresting” life. If so, is it still worth photographing? I say yes!

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Dear friend,

I want to share why I personally photograph.

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My favorite compositions of Henri Cartier-Bresson:

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Claude Monet: I love his colors, and his personal writings. Here are some practical lessons I’ve learned from him:

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