ERIC KIM

5 Photography Motivation Tips

Dear streettogs,

Happy Monday! Every start of the week is a good one. Why?

Think about all the great photos you have YET made.

It is a cliche when people say: “My best photo is the one I haven’t shot yet”. But it is a good cliche, and a good hopeful and optimistic one.

I just wrote an essay on ‘Photo Motivation‘ on trying to figure out why we lose motivation to make new photos. My conclusion was this:

We compare ourselves to others, feel small, and then self-sabotage ourselves.

My general thought is to discover motivation in photography, don’t compare yourself to any living contemporaries. Instead, look at the work of the dead masters. And the goal is this: strive to make BETTER PHOTOS than the masters did before us. And also, see the masters as our equals, and know that you have the ability to become GREATER than them (if you desire).

And here is a summary of the 5 tips to get you re-sparked and re-motivated in your photography:

  1. Buy RICOH GR III and always have it around your neck when you’re out and about (ERIC KIM NECK STRAP MARK II), or use RICOH GR III without a strap and just keep it in your front pocket at all times. Shoot high-contrast JPEG black and white mode (or for color, positive film JPEG mode), and keep your camera on “P” (program) mode. Simply shoot whenever you find anything interesting to you.
  2. Don’t trap yourself in a photo genre: All photos are good photos. Shoot family photos, landscape photos, flower photos, food photos, street photos, selfies, abstract photos, etc. Increase your optionality in photography; all subjects are good and legitimate.
  3. Stop uploading photos to social media (Instagram/Facebook)– this will simply discourage you. If you want real feedback on your photos, upload them to arsbeta.com instead.
  4. If you want a place to publish your photos, publish them to your own website. A simple provider is bluehost.com, and install wordpress.org.
  5. When looking at the photos of the masters, ask yourself: “How can I become BETTER than them, and make BETTER photos than them?”

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