Human artist blog / Street photography / Philosophy
I just gave a talk at Google on the topic of becoming ‘Creative Everyday’ [pdf download link to Slides], and wanted to change the definition of “creativity” from the notion of “artistic innovation” to …
As a photographer, make fun compositions for the sake of it!
With muscles to make your muscles bigger/stronger, they call it ‘hypertrophy‘: Ancient Greek ὑπÎÏ (hupér, “over, excessiveâ€) + Ï„Ïοφή (trophḗ, “nourishmentâ€). Hyper (over, excessive) = hupeir (beyond) trophe: nourishment, food. Applied to photography and …
A thought: There is no ultimate ‘truth’. Furthermore, to strive to search for ‘truth’ seems to be a waste of time. Another issue: We can strive to discover deeper self-knowledge about ourselves, and perhaps …
This is the problem — When we think of “creative photographyâ€, we typically mean to say “artistically innovativeâ€. But who is the judge whether a certain photograph is “artistically innovativeâ€? And is artistic innovation …
RICOH GR III is sharp as a mofo: No anti aliasing filter, JPEG— super epic. As my friend Jun says, “physics don’t lie†(bigger sensor generally = better image quality/aesthetics for photos).
Personal photography: shooting photos to spark more joy in your own life.
How to become a hyper-human? We want hyper-cars. Why not become a hyper-human?
What I think we are striving towards as photographers and visual artists is this: Create images [art works] which are beautiful. Now, how do we do this?
My goal — More people to become self-employed, in order to allow more individuals to do great things. Best way to move humanity forward?
Use ‘Gaussian Blur’ to better determine your compositions in photography:
Shoot and create art works with visual clay, beautiful people around you all day.
Street photography as a way of life. As a way of seeing the world, interacting with the world, and making art works out of people! HAPTIC: Creative tools to empower you >
Simple street photography assignments to get you going:
21mm is one of the focal lengths which have been over-looked by photographers [for a very long time]. I will make the case that perhaps there is still a lot of unpaved photographic/composition grounds …
The simple formula for photography, art, and more: Make stuff and share it. Don’t have anywhere to share it? Upload your photos to arsbeta.com
Simple idea: You must shoot A LOT [quantity] in order to make GOOD PHOTOS [quality].
We must assert ourselves as artists, not just ‘photographers’. To simply think of yourself as only a photographer is quite demeaning towards yourself.
A thought: What if the best thing you could do for yourself and humanity is to create the most epic art-works you are capable of? For example, don’t think of yourself as a photographer. …
When I first started working my first 9-5 job, I desired deeply to become self-employed. Why? I desired freedom! To show up everyday at an office at an arbitrary time, to leave everyday at …
Originally sent on ERIC KIM NEWSLETTER: Monochrome tips:
The best learning is self-learning. Some practical ideas for you:
The deepest black. Jet black. Phantom black. Perhaps this is my ideal aesthetic.
Shoot More Randomly! Why shooting randomly will help improve your photography:
Photography as the ultimate hybrid and synthesis between art and technology.
My ideals of composition in street photography: How to make more ambitious images which are more elegant, stronger, yet simpler?
To improve, we usually think it means to make progress from Point A to Point B. Questions on my mind: What does it mean to “improve” your photography or art? Is “improvement” even something …
Perhaps we can thrive and achieve our apex of strength if we embrace the notion of the “greatest possible economy”?
If your passion is photography and you desire to monetize your passion and if you have the opportunity to get a free education, I encourage you to go to business school (instead of photography …
Something I’m thinking a lot about entrepreneurship: Why scale? Or in other words: Why is scaling up seen as desirable? And also– are there hidden downsides of having a really big scale?
Delete and stop using social media; build your own platform instead!
A philosophy from my buddy Nietzsche: How could you live your life in accordance as if you were to live it indefinitely, on loop, and to think this was the most sublime thing in …
Everyone writes differently. This is my writing process.
A practical thought: If you want to invest in a new creative tool, better to buy a new RICOH GR III (instead of a new iPhone). This is my rationale:
A new way of thinking about life: I will optimize my life to live in accordance to myself. To optimize my life which is best for me. To optimize my life to not put …
Practical ideas:
I want to go beyond the notion of ‘creativity’ as this “innate ability to make novel connections and to think differently”, into thinking about creativity as frequency and power of creating new art-works.
Beyond content marketing. Let us strive to create substantive ‘substance’ (not “content”).
Currently enrolled for ARSBETA.COM in Y Combinator’s “Startup School”, and thinking of Kevin Hale’s question for Week 1 lecture: What is your unfair advantage?
A simple principle in life: Share your dopeness (awesomeness) with others.
Through art, we desire to exert (ex+press) our inner artistic power.
An idea inspired by Cindy: Is the purpose of photography to remember or to forget?
Once you’ve retired (no longer need to do toilsome labor in order to pay your rent and groceries), what is the “optimal” (best) way to live your life?
You make photos, you make illustrations, you make videos, you make music. You derive artistic stimulus from all sources: from listening to music, from films, from dance, from exercise, from philosophy — from anything! …
Also another idea: Spend more time looking at your own photos instead of watching movies or Netflix? As visual artists, perhaps we can only maximally thrive if we are continually making new images, every …
If you desire more freedom in your life, strive to become more frugal.
The first version of PHOTOGRAPHY COMPOSITION MANUAL (download as PDF).
(Listen to as podcast) One of the best silicon-valley thought concepts is the idea of the ‘MVP’ (minimum viable product). It is anti-perfection. It is PRO-quick iteration, and just getting it out there! I …
Been testing out the beta iPad OS on my iPad pro 10.5 inch and loving it! It has simplified my photographic workflow by at least 10x!
What is the motive force which induces us to photograph? Some ideas: Desire to immortalize a moment. Great joy and thanksgiving towards reality. Desire to create visual art works. Photography as faster and more …
When in doubt, just share it. Even if there is a 1% chance you can help someone else, it is worth sharing!
A thought: Many of us try to predict trends, or identify trends in order to follow them. But what if we can create our own ‘reality distortion field’ (Steve Jobs), and create our own …
Life is about growth. Our passion is photography and visual arts. How can we optimize our own artistic growth in photography and beyond?
Do your photos take your breath away? Recently when viewing my RICOH GR III photos on iPad Pro, I took my own breath away.
What is your passion in life? If you don’t know what your passion is, should you have a passion? If you know what your passion is, should you pursue it? To what extent? Should …
To photograph is to live. The more you photograph, the more you live. The more you shoot, the more you wonder (and wander), the more hidden beauty you discover in life. Photography is life.
The RICOH GR III is the best camera ever made. Done deal. Get Eric Kim NECK STRAP on AMAZON >
Never go anywhere without your camera around your neck or on your wrist (or at least in your front pocket).
“‘Til you own your own you can’t be free. ‘Til you’re on your own you can’t be me. How we still slaves in 2016?” – JAY Z (I Got the Keys song) Until you …
Photography as Self-Expression Photography is a tool to “express” yourself (ex+press — to press out your soul into the world, via your photos).
If you desire to thrive as a photographer, #deleteinstagram and join ARSBETA.COM instead.
A thought when walking around today: Do you love being alive? Are you living your life in a way in which you suck out the marrow of reality? Where you deify existence, and being …
If we envision the entrepreneur as someone who creates our of hyper-abundance and super-abundance, certainly the entrepreneur must be the ultimate GIVER!
(Listen to as PODCAST) An idea I’ve been playing with for a while: Perhaps when it comes to things in life– we should classify it as a toy or tool.
(Listen to as PODCAST) “Necessity is the mother of invention.” Is this statement really true? What if the opposite were true: Abundance is the mother of invention. Let me explore these ideas with you.
Perhaps we prefer gritty black and white photos that don’t look like reality, because we need to fill in the gaps, and engage our imagination? The upside of gritty, blurry, and out-of-focus photos. The …
There is no ultimate ‘truth’ — only varying degrees of “truthiness” (degrees of truth).
Perhaps it is our evolutionary advantage that we delight in visual change. Visual change in landscapes, our environment, our fashion, our cars, our objects, and the visual art works we consume and create!
Active thinking: thoughts which arise when you let your mind go empty and fallow. Reactive thinking: you must read or expose yourself to external stimuli in order to think.