ERIC KIM

Photography Assignment: Photograph Your Own Hand

A simple photo assignment you can do while in quarantine — just photograph your own hand (think Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam painting).

The idea

  • fist ERIC KIM
  • hand blur ERIC KIM
  • Hand blur
  • light hand ERIC KIM
  • ERIC KIM hand blur
  • hand light

Take 100 photos of your hand (either left hand, right hand, or both?). You can shoot your hand in-focus or out-of-focus. Experiment with different angles and such.

In terms of inspiration, think Renaissance paintings. Michelangelo or Leonardo da Vinci.

Photograph your hand with a flash, or without. Put your hand against the light, or with. Shoot upwards or downwards. Curl your hands in different ways.

When you have a photograph you love, upload it to arsbeta.com to get honest feedback on your photo. Also, make sure to give honest feedback to others in the community as well.

Respark your passion for photography and augment your courage

This Saturday (12-2pm Eastern Time / New York City Time), I am teaching an online CONQUER YOUR FEARS workshop. If you’re hungry to augment your courage in street photography or learn new techniques how to overcome ‘paralysis by analysis’ in street photography, this workshop is for you. Learn more here.

You’re already a photography entrepreneur

If you’ve ever shared your photos online, you are a photography entrepreneur. I’m teaching an Uber-exciting and interesting course (two weekends from now) on Photography Entrepreneurship. The gist:

  1. How to successfully monetize your passion for photography.
  2. How to build an online presence, and build a (small) yet loyal following.
  3. Interesting and new effective ways to market yourself online as a photographer, and new ways you can display and exhibit your photos online
  4. How to differentiate yourself in the over-saturated world of photography.
  5. Why I deleted my Instagram (in favor of building your own self-hosted website)
  6. How to achieve your dreams in photography (pragmatic advice and suggestions from me).

The workshop is Saturday June 27, 2020 / 12-2pm Eastern Time. If you’ve attended one of my workshops in the past and you want to up your online photography presence and marketing prowess, hit up Neil at neilta@gmail.com for your returning student discount. Also if you’re curious about the workshop and want to learn more, read more here.

What I’m thinking

  1. Thinking of the new role of the photographer. Photographer as the apex artist. Why? We are the most interesting artists. We can create artwork, and also document the real world.
  2. Why I’m so passionate about entrepreneurship. The gist is that in todays modern capitalist world, the only way to get true freedom is by becoming self-employed.
  3. My thoughts on the joy of working out at the park.
  4. Study geometry to improve your photography.
  5. If you want to monetize your photography or build a name for yourself, don’t strive to get a sponsorship or brand deal. Better to advertise yourself and to use your first and last name.

Books I’m reading

  1. The birth of tragedy by Nietzsche
  2. The Satyricon by Petronius

What I’m listening to

A written testimony by Jay Electronica / JAY Z. See the Live Stream here.

What ideas are interesting to me right now

  1. To best help society and the world, best to buy kids “in the hood” MacBook Air Laptops (either new, used, or refurbished). Teach kids how to code, build websites, and blog.
  2. Chromatism: Wondering why we judge one another based on the chroma (color or Pantone shade) of our flesh?
  3. The birth of a hater: Why do haters hate?

HAPTIC INDUSTRIES

Stuff from the HAPTIC SHOP which can breathe some creative inspiration within you:

  1. Street Notes: Mobile Edition
  2. Film Notes (Print Edition). It seems right now (if you’re stuck in quarantine) might be a good chance to self-teach yourself how to shoot and develop your own film.
  3. Henri Neck Strap Mark III (both in Phantom Black and Mahogany Brown). You can order Mahogany Brown on Amazon here / Phantom Black is an HAPTIC SHOP exclusive.
  4. MUSE BY KIM: The apex strap.

You can also see all of our dope products on AMAZON >

Free downloads to get you going

  1. ERIC KIM PRESETS: You can download the CLASSIC Lightroom Presets here or download new ERIC KIM MONOCHROME presets for the New Lightroom Cloud CC version here. Experiment adding them to your JPEG or RAW photos.
  2. BOOKS BY KIM: Some books which are fun to read for inspiration: The Art of Street Photography (text only for sparking new shooting ideas). COLOR MANUAL to spark some colorful ideas / PDF download here. Street Photography Contact Sheets [PDF Download]

Upload your best photos to arsbeta.com

If you’re stuck in quarantine, one of the best things you can do is curate your portfolio.

Take today to look through your best photos of all time, and upload your #1 best photo of all time to https://arsbeta.com

SHOOT ON FELLOW STREETTOGS!
ERIC

Some more motivation and inspiration here:

  1. New YouTube Videos >
  2. New Podcast Episodes >
  3. New Blog Posts >
  4. New Photos on ERIC KIM Portfolio >

If this email inspired you, feel free to forward to a friend (they can also subscribe here). 

And let us not forget our streettogs motto:

When in doubt, just shoot it!
ERIC