The Physical Strength Required for Creative Productivity
On creative muscularity:
…The Physical Strength Required for Creative ProductivityRead More »
February 2020
It was all ultimately justified, even for one great photo!
What is the purpose of life? There isn’t an ‘ultimate’ purpose of life that applies to everyone. But for us brave streettogs, this is my thought:
The purpose of our lives is to devote ourselves to photography.
Our goal:
…Use our entire lives, our entire power to make great photos, share great photos, innovate photography, discover new compositions, and push the genre and culture of photography forward!
It was all ultimately justified, even for one great photo!Read More »
Why I Prefer Apple Photos over Adobe Lightroom
The other day I was using Adobe Lightroom, and for some reason, got kicked out. I forgot my login id/password, and thought:
Damn it, I don’t want to go through the bother of recovering my ID/password, etc.
I then thought:
Hmmm — if Adobe has these kind of annoying lock-out things, perhaps it is best to NOT use it at all, and discover some sort of alternative.
Thus, I tried using Apple Photos instead. And honestly, I think I prefer Apple Photos over Adobe Lightroom. Why? Let me explain:
…
Nothing Lasts Forever
The beauty of life : the impermenance and ephemeral nature.
For example, realize any consumer good you buy won’t and shouldn’t be forever. I always got suckered with trying to buy the perfect device: the perfect camera, phone, laptop, tablet, etc. But it seems the more realistic goal: just buy stuff expecting you to not own it for so long. Also realize anything we buy, we will eventually get bored of it. Thus we should still aim to buy things which will be more robust to time, but nothing will be robust forever.
Ephemeral
Our lives are ephemeral. We will die. At best we can live to be around 120 years old. At worst, we might die today.
Nihilism: the philosophy that “what’s the point of doing anything or living or striving for anything if we’re gonna die anyways?”
My thought: the fact that everything is ephemeral is what makes life so beautiful, worthwhile, and great. Death and impermenance is the best accompaniment to life, and the best invention! A life of immortality is a boring one, and even the gods strain (vainly) against boredom.
I Am Not the Same
Thoughts on Identity
There is a lot of talk about identity and ‘identity politics’. But I wonder — why do we care so much for identity? And is identity overrated?
…Longevity
Art is long, life is short (ars longa, vita brevis).
Our human biological lifespan is limited. At best we can live to be 120-140 years old. But what do we desire? Perhaps to EXCEED the tyranny and confines of our singular human lives, and aim for some sort of immortality through our art, ideas, and offspring.
…What if the spot you’re standing at right now is the best spot to be standing?
It seems most of us are dissatisfied with where we are right now, and would prefer to be somewhere else.
For example, we often get the feeling that “the grass is greener on the other side”. But what if your grass were supreme? What if the grass is greener on YOUR side? What if the optimal strategy in life were to stay put, and to maximize your own garden — right where you are living and standing?
Why I love to look at my old photos
When I look at my old photos, I almost feel as if I re-experience the experience again like it were my first time!
Devote Your Life to Photography
What should you dedicate and devote your life to?
A thought:
Perhaps we can devote our lives to photography — to explore the depths of photograph, aesthetics of beauty, secrets of motivation and inspiration, and the great will to live and photograph.
We shall become the new photographer-artist-philosophers of the future par excellence!
…The Beauty of Chaos
Something I realized —
Cities which are more chaotic are more interesting and fun to photograph.
For example the joy of naming photos in Hanoi, NYC, or Tokyo. The chaos wakes us up!
…
Why Color?
What’s the purpose of color? My thought: color as a strong visual stimulus which puts more energy, vigor, and movement to your legs and body!
…Unlimited Photography
I hate notions of limits. Even with my blog, website, and server — I got a hard upper-limit of 1 million files. But what if I want to upload 10million files? Or 100 million? Or 1 billion photos?
…
Are Your Photos Sincere or Insincere?
It ain’t about good or bad photos — it is about sincere or insincere photos.
…
Publish is Pleasure
There is the common saying in academia “publish or perish”. This is often seen in a negative light.
But what if we flipped the notion upside down, and thought that publishing IS PLEASURE?
…Why Do You Love Photography?
Why do you love photography is the question we must always ask ourselves and ask others:
…How I Select My Photos
One of the most important things in photography — the art of selecting your photos.
My current fun workflow:
…ERIC KIM Photography Composition Studies – Yellow
New composition studies from some of my photos:
…ERIC KIM Photography Composition Studies – YellowRead More »
In Praise of Cold Showers
I have been a cold shower devotee for the last 6 years or so, and it’s probably one of the best “life hacks” I know.
…Active Leisure
Many us of us desire to retire. But once we retire — then what? My idea: use your retirement in a very active way, to actually become MORE creatively productive and prolific, and to pursue artistic and philosophical aims that don’t depend on utility or money-making!
…Photography and Nothing but Photography!
The most fun and enjoyable life — focusing our lives on photography and nothing besides photography?
…Cold Purchases
An idea— perhaps the best way to buy things is to buy it cold. Don’t feel the heat of passion and desire when you want to buy something. A purchase should be a cold, rational, and pragmatic decision. Perhaps this will help us be less suckered by consumerism for the sake of it.
Sketch and annotate your own photography compositions
One of the best ways to teach yourself composition:
Look through your photos and sketch/annotate them.
By doing this, you can better internalize, understand, and digest your photos. I do this with my iPad, Dropbox, and the built-in Apple Photos screenshot/markup feature:
…Sketch and annotate your own photography compositionsRead More »
The Quest to become Hyper- Human
My personal life goal:
To become hyper-human.
What does this mean?
- Hyper-human in terms of loftiness of mind.
- Hyper-human in terms of insanely overflowing physical, mental, and artistic strength.
- Extreme artistic productivity and prolific ness
How to achieve this?
- Extreme weight lifting. Extreme meat-eating.
- Pushing everyday to the upper-limit— living life at the edge.
- Not being distracted by petty matters— to value and prioritize your own personal self-development and growth above everything else.
- Treating yourself as a life experiment. Subject yourself to all the most interesting tests and feats of strength for yourself.
- Extreme sleep and recovery: To perform at this level, prizing sleep, rest, naps, recovery, strength augmentation, massage, acupuncture to make you hyper-healthy.
Live Life at the Edge
What is the most fun and rewarding life? When you’re living life at the edge and extreme!
…Black and White Leaves More to the Imagination
Why black and white over color? Color is great, but the benefit of black and white:
…It leaves more to the imagination of the viewer!
In Praise of In-Person Shopping
Online shopping is great, but I’d rather encourage in person shopping. Why? The ability to touch things with your hand, and actually try and hold things in-person.
For myself, when I try things in-person, I often discover I don’t really like it. For example testing the new iPhone in store is useful, because I can see how the phones feel in my hands, instead of getting suckered by marketing and online tech specs.
Also I find I discover how much I truly like objects when I touch them in-person. Like Marie Kando says, when you touch something, does it “spark joy” or not? There’s so much intelligence in our fingers and hands. So when possible, test things in person, hold them in your hands, and you’ll discover how you really feel about something.
Do this with laptops, phones, cameras, clothes, shoes, watches, cars, etc. Maybe also with human beings!
Archimedes’ Lever: Exploit Your Strengths, Ignore Your Weaknesses
Where Should You Stand?
…“Give me but one firm spot on which to stand, and I will move the earth.” – Archimedes
Archimedes’ Lever: Exploit Your Strengths, Ignore Your WeaknessesRead More »
How to Abstract Your Compositions
Take photos you find have an interesting composition and then break it down — make it more abstract, inverse it, apply color, gaussian blur, trace it, and fill it in:
…Create the Optimal Conditions for Your Personal Thriving
What is an optimal way to live life?
…Create the optimal conditions for your own personal thriving in life.
Create the Optimal Conditions for Your Personal ThrivingRead More »
Practice is Pleasure
Never stop practicing. Practice is like it were your first time. Retain your child-like “beginner’s mind”.
…Retire Now
It is obvious that retirement is a good thing. I retired. Why did I retire? In order to focus on artistic and philosophical production.
But what holds us back? Fear. Also, perhaps we should put a stake in the ground and state:
I have retired.
More thoughts on retirement:
…The Pursuit of Mastery
Someone who inspires me a ton is Eminem. Why? He is rich as fuck, but he still raps. Why does he still rap? He is striving towards self-mastery. My thought:
…As long as Eminem keeps rapping (and never stops), he will become the GOAT (greatest of all-time).
Why am I So Positive and Optimistic?
My thought:
I don’t have the “free will” to “will” myself to be positive and optimistic; it is simply who I am and how I feel.
But how did I become so positive and optimistic? My reflections:
…What Will People in the Future Want?
People of the future will desire what we already desire today:
…
DEVELOP YOURSELF
What is one of the noblest goals you can have in life? Simple:
…Focus on your own personal development.
Full-Stack Photography Entrepreneur
The secret of success in photography —
Become a fully vertically-integrated you.
Become a “full-stack” photography entrepreneur: you do all the marketing, blogging, YouTube video making, branding, advertising, communicating, publishing, designing, editing, selling, teaching, and creating!
…