How to See More Photo Opportunities
The primary skill of a photographer: To be visually astute, and to SEE photo opportunities.
The primary skill of a photographer: To be visually astute, and to SEE photo opportunities.
Play + Work = “plork”.
A thought: If your goal is to maximize your happiness and joy in life, you must embrace the extremes (in the dark ends). Let me explain:
Practical tips and ideas:
What makes photography so fun, interesting, and magical? Randomness, chance, chaos!
There is a LOT of pretentiousness in photography, art, and life. Why?
Thoughts on influence:
Make photos that express your joy, happiness, and gratitude towards life! To deify and beautify whatever you photograph!
Photography is light writing. Graph means to write, carve, or create.
Take screenshots of photos you’ve shot:
In praise of NOT planning ahead.
“I think that what you’ve got to do is discover the essential truth of the situation, and have a point of view about it.” Burt glinn
The importance of reviewing old photos:
Practical ideas:
The other day I realized that my website can only hold ~1 million files. I’ve hit the limit several times, and had to go back and delete old files to free up new space. But came the question to me: Do I feel OK with having “only” 1 million files as an upper-limit? Which made…
I will die, but my photos shall remain.
You’re free as a bird, the third eye looking into the sky Why do you feel so chained? Is it in your brain, or in your hands? Are you addicted to the marks and brands? Do you doubt, or do you can? You can do anything you want. But how bad do you want it?…
To me, the more abstract the art work, the more YOU must exercise your brain to interpret the image!
Thoughts on black vs white in photography, approach, technique, etc:
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Why this camera is so insanely good:
When I talk about art, I consider it extremely loose and open. Art as anything which is superfluous in life, which brings us aesthetic joy and delight. Art as non-utilitarian.
Calligraphy (Chinese) to me is like writing meets pictogram art, meets Lamborghini brush strokes.
What is good? Anything which augments your strength. What is bad? Whatever weakens you.
The simplest composition possible:
While legislation to set a standard “8 hour workday” was good to prevent workers from being exploited to have to work 14+ hour workdays, if also seems to have been a huge detriment, making it the standard to work at least 8 hours a day (not less).
Epiphany while studying Robert Capa: Think about life OUTSIDE the box while you’re shooting and framing photos.
I used to be very shy, and no longer am. How did I become less shy? And how has this helped me in my personal, photographic, and entrepreneurial life?
If your photos aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.
The genius of Robert Capa: Making his subjects more epic, grand, and larger than life. How? Physical proximity. Getting super close, and shooting from a low angle (while being close to the ground).
Action and reaction. Do what’s interesting not taxing. Rather than beach relaxing, be out waxing poetic and levitate higher. Act even when you feel tired, and strive for a life which is epic, not tired. Retirement is death, unless you let it propel you forward. Higher and above — black winged dove. ERIC
What drives our consumerist desires and wants? Boredom and dissatisfaction of ourselves.
How much of the frame should we fill in photography? What percentage, ratios, and proportions?
One philosophical notion from Taoism I find absolutely fascinating— that of “wu wei”— which means “action without action”, or “effortless action”. Here is what I think it means and how I apply it to my own life:
Where do my ideas come from? My brain, body, and muscles. My mind is simply an external manifestation of my body.
Gas stations — currently a mainstay, but perhaps will eventually be made redundant with electric cars, etc. Thus, perhaps right now it is a good opportunity to pursue a photography project of gas stations! These will one day become a relic of the past:
Simple ideas:
Strive to become a great individual, instead of trying to start a movement or join a movement:
Why is it that Leonardo da Vinci was so fascinated with human anatomy, nature, and all of reality? Because he was BOTH a scientist and artist. Perhaps we shouldn’t separate the both. It is one in the same.
I don’t think anyone has really given a great effort in trying to create a philosophy of composition — especially in photography. Here we go:
A realization and new goal in photography: Never stop striving to make MORE dynamic and MORE powerful photos!
Lesson: Do more of what you love doing, do less of what you hate doing. What does it mean to have a “meaningful” life, or a life full of meaning? Some thoughts:
Why does my 4 year old niece prefer to shoot with a point and shoot camera instead of a phone? Perhaps because of the tactile shutter button? Or superior ergonomics?
Uber small, always with me, super close macro ability, phenomenal dynamic range, the most sublime JPEG for high contrast monochrome, even smaller than Ricoh GR II (more pocketable), and convenience of charging USB-C (same as my MacBook pro charger). Long story short: Buy RICOH GR III. ERIC
To edit your photos means to select and choose the photos you love and which are meaningful to you.
Photography is truly magical — it has the power to transform our reality into something more surreal, beautiful, simple, and elegant.
A new goal: Wisdom for wisdom sake, knowledge for knowledge sake, and virtue for virtue sake.
A thought while getting acupuncture (a new great source of creative ideas): Style in art is highly overrated. Let me explain:
The danger of investing all of your ego into just one identity or thing: If your passion, enthusiasm, or you change — you’re fucked.
A thought: The biggest benefit of blogging — it gives you a chance to think, flesh out your thoughts. Essentially blogging is augmented thinking.