₿LOG
A thought while at the gym today:
True happiness is the striving for more.
Once you got the thing, you aren’t “happy” anymore. Happiness is the joy of overcoming difficulties, challenges, the joy of battling an obstacle/opponent.
This means:
Never stop striving for more.
When in doubt, just share it.
Even if there is a 1% chance you can help someone else, it is worth sharing!
As a photographer you got a trillion things to shoot.
Question — what should I photograph? Meaning — Are there certain subject matter which is more interesting or less interesting to photograph? Are there certain things you shouldn’t photograph?
An idea I got from my buddy Ryan from Backyard Brew in Palo Alto:
Perhaps the best way to live life is directly. To think about your personal ‘end game’, and attack it directly.
A simple way to approach blogging, sharing, or publishing online:
Just share your own life experiences and journey with others.
It ain’t a matter whether your life is ‘interesting’ or ‘boring’. Just keep it direct, unfiltered, uncensored, and true:
When analyzing your photos or the photos of others, integrate ‘Bounding Boxes’ [in red] to think about the spacing/composition of your photo:
Get free photography and life inspiration on ERIC KIM NEWSLETTER >
A thought:
Perhaps we should focus on tiny (incremental), 1% improvements everyday (no breaking the chain).
Currently reading the ‘What happened to the future?’ essay on Founders Fund, and trying to think:
What is the future of photography?
I don’t know about you, but I hate banner-based advertising on blogs and websites.
The practical question is:
How do you monetize a blog WITHOUT using advertising?
Thoughts:
My epic vision [and the vision of all of us at ARS: Cindy, Kevin, Jun, Annette] is this:
ARS is social media ‘done right’ for photographers.
A social media platform for photographers that isn’t based on advertising, that isn’t a popularity contest, and isn’t based on toying with your emotions. A social media platform which actually EMPOWERS us as photographers and visual artists.
Anti-perfection in art. Just because someone else did it before doesn’t mean you shouldn’t attempt doing it as well (you will always do it differently).
Anti self-criticism. Making art as a creative process, of playing. No finality in your artworks.
ERIC
It seems we are are obsessed with growth. But my questions:
What is “growth� Why is it so desirable? And how does one actually “grow�
Don’t worry about it being a “good” or “bad” photo in the eyes of others. Instead, select your photos based on whether YOU like the photo or not.
If you’re not sure whether the photo is good or not, upload it to arsbeta.com
To feel guilt in photography is nonsense, and improper of us.
To feel guilt is to let external societal pressures guide our own instincts and intuition.
We should not prioritize the needs of society and others over ourselves. In praise of following our own gut, our own instincts, and obeying our own needs.
When we blame ourselves, essentially we are signaling to ourselves that we’re too weak to change things. “Blame” is essentially signaling of who has power.
When you blame others for certain conditions of your life, you’re saying that they have more power than you, and that they have power over you.
By putting 100% responsibility on yourself, this is quite liberating. It means we have 100% power and aren’t dependent on anyone or anything else.
A photo idea: document 24 hours of your own day!
What I think we desire to do as artists:
Create [more] beautiful things!
A fun chat with Cindy about running HAPTIC PRESS, our favorite photo books, and thoughts on photo book publishing. Part of our HAPTIC Summer Book Club!
Books shown:
Free photography inspiration on Eric Kim NEWSLETTER >
Hey streettogs,
Happy Friday! I wanted to start sending you some more email newsletters to hopefully keep your mind full of ‘turbo thoughts’, and also to keep you more inspired in your photography. I’m currently loving the new RICOH GR III [I highly encourage you to order one], and want to share some of this new-spring of photographic inspiration with you.
Photography is fascinating because it is supposed to be a ‘factual’ depiction of reality. Thus, to somehow ‘fuck’ with a photograph seems to be immoral. Why? It loses its ‘authenticity’.
The RICOH GR III is easily easily easily the best camera ever made [thus far] for street photography.
All photography is good photography, but I still think street photography is the best:
Dissatisfaction and the desire to beautify our reality is what drives us as artists and creators:
Photography and nothing but photography!
Reduce friction in your life in order to maximize what you truly desire to do.
Simple ideas:
A life without photography or art isn’t a life worth living.
When I don’t walk around all day, leave the house all day, or have the opportunity to engage in any physical activity– my brain, mind, and soul gets strange. But the second I leave the house, walk around the block a few times, go lift weights at the gym, commute and hang out somewhere, my mental issues dissipate.
Which makes me wonder:
What if much of our “mental” issues were rooted in the physiological (pertaining to our physical body)?
Composition and boxes are really interesting to me.
Is there an “ideal†way to compose a box, series of boxes, or a rectangle?
Practical ideas:
What does it mean to become a ‘full stack visual artist’?
Essentially you become a fully-integrated pillar in which you can do everything yourself, without being dependent on anyone else!
A good incentive to giving constructive critiques on arsbeta.com
The more critiques you give to others, the better you understand your own photos, and gain better understanding how you can improve in YOUR OWN photography.
Currently participating in Y Combinator’s “Startup School” for ARSBETA.COM and enjoying this idea:
With your startup, what kind of really big problem are you trying to solve?
As kids we are told ‘sharing is caring, it can be fun!’
But as adults– what is the pragmatic upside of sharing? Why share at all? How do we benefit from sharing?
My basic idea is this:
Share from your overflowing bounty of epicness. Don’t “self-sacrifice” in order to share.
I think what we desire is this:
Optimal simplicity in order to maximize what is important to us.
Simplify our photo equipment (RICOH GR III in JPEG x iPad x Apple Photos) to quickly and effectively look through our photos, to quickly select the photos we consider meaningful to us, and to quickly share the photos with others (on your own website/blog).
Simplify our lifestyle and daily schedule. Less time commuting, more time creating.
Simpler foods— less indigestion, more strengthening for our bodies (simple meats and eggs). Simple coffee (all black), and just water. Maximal strength, extreme frugality in sustaining ourselves.
Lightness is the closest thing to godliness.
The lighter, simpler, and more intuitive your camera, the better. In praise of RICOH GR III and iPhone.
I think some of us artists strive to make artworks which are ‘eternal’, and ‘timeless’.
But it is my belief that nothing should last forever. If our artworks were eternal and never decayed and were never forgotten– future generations probably wouldn’t have the opportunity to create new things.
Wouldn’t it be horrible if there was a future in which no photographer was allowed to create art-works better than Henri Cartier-Bresson? Or better than Picasso? Or better than the great artists of the past?
Kind of sounds like a silly question, but I think very relevant in today’s world:
Why think?
What is ‘thinking’? What is the value of ‘thinking’?
Do we like to think? Do you like to think? Do you want to think more or less in your life?
![Getting ready for my 'Creative Every Day' presentation at Google [thank you Cindy/Kevin]](https://i0.wp.com/erickimphotography.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/R0007643.jpg?fit=1568%2C1046&ssl=1)
