Month: February 2019

Personal tips:

As photographers, we have it in our DNA to desire to create new photos, for all of eternity!

Personal thoughts on happiness and photography:

Virtues that I care about in my own life:

Photography is only possible with contrast: contrasting subject matter, contrast with light vs dark, and contrasting elements.

What I’m currently living with on the road and traveling with:

My ideal of the photographer:

To delight in your own self-development in your photographic artistry– independent from the opinion of others.

Fresh new batch of videos out of my favorite city in the world– Mexico City:

My practical tips on how to become a more productive photographer:

There are a trillion and one reasons to become a photography blogger. Let me outline some of my personal reasons why become a photography blogger:

Practical thoughts and ideas:

Perhaps the cause of our ills in life is that our lives are TOO predictable, safe, and comfortable.

Upload your photos to arsbeta.com to get real and honest feedback on your photos (double-blind algorithm pairs you and a stranger). Otherwise when you sit down with another photographer (in real life), ask them: “Please help me kill my babies.”

Allow your style to constantly change, but be firm in your artistic vision:

Conventional wisdom says that contradiction is bad, evil, and wrong. But what if contradiction was the source of our creativity?

To keep photography (and life) fun, never stop challenging yourself, and pushing yourself to new limits!

Today I walked around the streets of Mexico City, shooting with my Lumix G9, Leica 12mm f/1.4 Lens (24mm full-frame equivalent) x Henri Wrist Strap Pro, in 4:3 ratio, medium-JPEG (vivid color preset, with max color and saturation), with the electronic viewfinder (EVF), and had so much fun!

Creative ecstasy 

I’m one with peace 

And an epic elation of soul 

I wish to dance and proclaim my joy to all the world. 

Feast your eyes with colorful, gritty, and multi-vareigated images:

To photograph is to dance:

Practical thoughts and tips on how to expedite your photographic workflow:

In praise of RICOH GR II for travel and photography:

Only work when your guts and instincts propel you to work, to create, and to produce. Whenever we “force” ourselves to work or create, it will never be any good.

Some basic photography tips:

We have the power in our own hands to dictate our own personal values in life:

Resentment: drinking poison and hoping the other person dies.

A thought:

Perhaps we should prioritize our artwork over our own personal “happiness”.

As I’m typing these words, I am enjoying life in Mexico City (going to live here with Cindy at our AirBnb for the next month or so).

Practical photography tips when traveling abroad:

You are distinct, one of a kind. To distinguish yourself, creatively isolate yourself from others, then follow your own internal promoting, pursue your own creative and intellectual interests, and learn to respect your own curiosity, and deem yourself as a searcher of personal truth.

I hate being indoors. For myself, I’m happiest when I’m out and about in public spaces, surrounded by other people, and when I have the opportunity to walk and think.

Perhaps my ideal lifestyle is a “street lifestyle”; a lifestyle that maximizes my time outdoors (outside of the house), in coffee shops, at public parks, and surrounded by other human beings.

Charlie Kirk, one of my good friends and mentors has just released that his first and probably last photo book (Katil Var, “There is a Murderer”) is available for pre-order.

True Happiness and Human Flourishing is Achieved Through Creating:

New YouTube videos and vlogs, fresh out of Mexico City. See all on My YouTube Channel >

Currently walking the streets of Mexico City, enjoying street photography both on my RICOH GR II x ERIC KIM WRIST STRAP, as well as LUMIX G9 x HENRI Wrist Strap PRO.

To become more, see danger as the desired state:

The Gratitude of Life by the Photographer Artist

Question:

To what degree do you value life and being alive?

Continually create new photographs!

What feeling “wealthy” is to me:

Digital is convenient (no need to process film), yet also very frustrating. My gripe with digital is that there are TOO MANY OPTIONS (when post-processing your photos). Furthermore, another downside of digital is that there are often too many photos to look through (upside of digital is that you can shoot tons of photos, but the downside is that you have too many photos to cull down).

Thus a thought:

How can we make digital photography more zen?

A simple idea:

To have a more fun, enjoyable, and interesting travel experience, embrace the extremes (barbell) between super “scrappy” (cheap) and “bougie” (expensive/fancy) experiences.

Fresh new YouTube videos and vlogs out of Mexico City:

I’ve always been seeking the “perfect” or ideal lifestyle. So far, it seems to be living “intermittently” in different spaces, cities, and countries, for indeterminate periods of time. But is this a “better” life, or more ideal life, and for who?

I’m currently in Mexico City, and man– shooting street photography here is so fun and epic! But why?

A simple entrepreneurial principle which seems like it can help you become more successful is to upload more than you download.

A practical thought:

Make photos that delight you, impress you, and give YOU more motivation and inspiration in your life; this means, finding more beauty in the (real) world around you!

A silly bias in photography:

Why aren’t photographers seen as artists?

Furthermore– why don’t we photographers see ourselves as artists?

I’ve been passionate about high-contrast “crushed blacks” monochrome as an aesthetic.

Today, I realized and had a thought:

What if I tried to innovate a new aesthetic– a super high-contrast and super-high color saturation — essentially the monochrome 1600 look, except this time, focusing on color?

Perhaps the Point of Life Isn’t to Reach a State of Zen?

As photographers we generally only shoot still photos while traveling or abroad. Why not shoot both video and still photos while traveling abroad, or perhaps just in general?

Fresh batch of new Mexico City videos and vlogs from my YouTube channel:

You only live once. Why live a generic, boring and “safe” life when you have it in your power to life a more fun, risky, chaotic, and interesting life?

Strive more to become more:

When living abroad (or at home), no need to be shy! Better to be perceived as weird, awkward, and rude than to be shy.

You already have it in your power to be more creatively productive. Some practical thoughts:

Cindy and I are gonna live in Mexico City for the next month. Which made me think:

We are technically not just “traveling” here, we are going to be living here.

Which made me wonder:

What is the difference between “traveling” and living in a foreign country?

Currently in Mexico City– and man, I forget how much I love this city:

Personal meditations on the purpose or end goal/game of photography:

Today I’m leaving with Cindy to Mexico City, planning on living there for a month. What’s goes on in my head before my trip? This is an insight:

Why do the aesthetics of a photograph matter?

Very big fan of the Fujifilm GFX 50R, and think digital medium format is the future of photography:

Nothing is holding you from being happy right now:

How to gain new inspiration in your photography:

Wealth: hustle hard with the wealth you’ve been dealt by Fortune’s hand
Live everyday with no plans
Treat everyday like a mini life-time and make it grand
Draw your name in the sand

Post-Processing RAW Digital Medium Format Files:

Have more fun in photography and life by using the camera to explore the world, and to transform the world according to your own artistic vision:

Memento mori, and remember how short life is. Why waste or squander any of your sweet and precious time?

Photos you shoot for yourself are more authentic, and are more likely to last:

Life is too short to be negative. Why not just become a yea-sayer for the rest of your life?

Digital medium format is a game-changer in photography — some of my personal thoughts while shooting with the Fujifilm GFX 50R: