Considering how short our lives are, it seems to be a waste of time, life, and energy to focus too much on small and petty lifestyle choices.
Better to focus on your big, massive, and audacious goal in life, and ignore the small and petty.
This means, don’t worry too much about the coffee you drink (or how to extract it), cars, clothes, devices, cameras, foods, modes of living (minimalist) or your aesthetics. Just do what works for you, keep it simple and straightforward, and devote your precious energies on artistic and philosophical creation!
The less energy we waste on petty decisions, the more energy we have to dictate and direct the great decisions in our life!
Where does our initial impetus to create art come from?
For example a lot of older Freudian philosophers assume that the urge to create art is sexual; creating art as procreation (of your own children). This might be plausible, but there must be more to it.
I cannot speak for others, but let me try to best describe where I think I get my personal impetus to create art from:
Similar to Elon Musk — unified field theory of his companies (Space X, Tesla, Solar City) all working together and feeding into one another (Ashlee Vance idea from his biography on Musk).
Basic idea for us as photographers — let us create our own unified field theory to connect all the aspects of photography:
My life purpose: to blog, to share ideas, to think, to plumb deeper levels of knowledge, aesthetics, and art, and to help motivate creators, photographers, and all individuals — to make, wonder, and challenge.
I had a nice chat with my buddy Don Dillonthe other day, and this was one of the big takeaways:
Once you’re a good photographer with a substantial body of work, NOW WHAT?
Meaning — what are your next steps in your photography? Some simple ideas:
Use Adobe Sparkto make a dynamic website/portfolio of your best work. Then share the link with friends and family and ask them: “How do the photos make you feel?” Then add testimonials to the page.
Publish your photographs as an “e-magazine” (digital magazine) by using iBooks Author (video tutorial)
Use Adobe InDesign to create a print book layout, and send the PDF file to a local printer, to make a ‘zine’ (magazine) of your work. Start by printing 20 copies, and distributing them to friends and family for free. Based on their feedback, try to sell them to your followers for $19.95 each afterwards.
Start blogging about your photographic experiences and life experiences. To keep it simple, signup on wordpress.comand start blogging! The secret: your blog posts don’t need to be “good”. Just make them honest, fun, and share your works in progress.
Continue to build your following: Start an email newsletter via Mailchimp.com(what I use here) and keep your followers updated with your progress.
The rolling stone never gathers moss: Keep on rolling. The purpose is for you to keep making photography FUN! (Don’s idea). As long as you’re having fun in photography, you’re doing all the right things!
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Composition as an impression. Fleeting, moving, dynamic, full of life and vigor.
To better understand your compositions and photographic and visual gist, sketch your images. I use procreate to trace my favorite compositions to better understand them, and to also deconstruct them for future reference — to create even more dynamic images in the future.Â
Money is a mode of human and social interaction, of quantifying labor, and a medium of human trust. Money isn’t “realâ€â€” it isn’t a physical thing, it is a metaphysical notion of “value†and “worthâ€.
Thus a life chasing money is the wrong life. The better life — chase artistic creation, human interactions, and pushing sociology, culture, and human thriving forward.
Don’t use money to quantify yourself or your progress in life. When Achilles died we had no idea what his net wealth was. I have no idea how rich Steve Jobs was when he died (or when he was alive). Even Elon Musk’s net worth isn’t interesting to me; what’s more interesting is what he is working on, what his ideas are and what he’s building.
Ultimately the point I want to make is this:
Money isn’t the ultimate goal in life. The goal is personal and artistic greatness and creating a legacy which will empower future humans!
It seems the purpose of utilitarianism and most of modern economics and philosophy is this:
Raise the collective well-being of all humans.
I think this is a good goal, but what does this even mean?
What is “well-being� Is it tied to physiological health and wellness, or is it tied to material wealth, and having lots of possessions?
Let me make the claim that the problem of modern capitalist philosophy and utilitarian thinking is that “quality of life†is tied to material and consumer goods, not physical and physiological/mental wellness, thriving, and health.
I like this notion of a ‘high culture’ (“haute culture” in French).
What if we could do the same in the realm of photography? To elevate the culture of photography to a higher height. To go BEYOND small and petty issues in photography. To think long-term in our photography and artwork, to focus on long-term thriving, and to use this knowledge to EMPOWER ALL PHOTOGRAPHERS on the globe, and far into the future!
The point isn’t to eliminate all forms of pain and suffering.
The point is:
Gain more freedom over your personal life, and channel the GOOD types of pain and “suffering” to propel you to higher heights, and to become more epic and powerful!
War is our business. Self-war to elevate yourself. Struggle as fun.Â
Follow your passion like the winged wind. Meditate on the shortness of your life and strive to use all your energy and willpower to create something epic, lasting, and powerful.Â
On RICOH GR III, I’ve been shooting a lot of videos (1080p, 60fps) in high contrast black and white. This has been great, as it is another way to experience reality, create art, and to EXPAND my self-expression/outpression!
My worst hell: if I lived my entire life on planet earth (until death) living a basic life. A life without wonder, danger, adventure, radical self-experimentation, and searching for beauty, knowledge, and wisdom.
Thus it seems a good strategy in life to AVOID [by all means] living what you consider a ‘basic‘ life.
This means in your entire life never stop exploring, never stop discovering, never stop conquering, never stop evolving, never stop hustling, never stop aspiring for more. Never stop anything!
The ocean is vast
Spread your mast, and spread your wings
Let the liquid air take you where you need to be
The ocean is free
Overwhelming with billows and wind from within
Sail furiously, sail free
Harness the power of the ocean and follow your own internal motions and flow
Like the ocean stay steady and strong
Your tides incircle the earth; your waves will never die.
Many things we buy, possess, or experience is pure novelty. We might enjoy it once, or have fun with it for a day (or a few days), but after a week or two — we get bored with it, and we want to go ‘onto the next one’.
The point of this essay is for me to reflect:
What do we get bored of, and what don’t we get bored of?
If your motive is to make more intimate photos, shoot with a wider-angle lens (21mm, 24mm, 28mm, 35mm lens).
The perspective of a wide-angle lens will create more intimacy in your photos, which means that the viewers of your photos feel like they’re in your shoes. This means you will better make photos which can transport your viewer into your own two feet, seeing the world from your own vantage point and perspective.
You’re brave, what is your duty? If you really knew me, you would know I don’t care much for myself. I don’t think of myself at all.
My ego is just a tool. I yield it to guide my soul. I feel my role is to help empower others. To encourage, and uplift their spirits. To wear my confidence like mail, chained tight to my purpose with no kinks.
Drinking the Dionysian gin and tonic. Staring at my goal, I nod it.
What is your duty to mankind? Only you can say. Let no nay-sayers guide you otherwise. Tie up your loose ends, and seek your own end.
