Human artist blog / Street photography / Philosophy
Basic. Think about the past, human nature, and societal and sociological-technological trends. For example — People of the future are going to be MORE addicted to their phones. Internet speeds (5G and beyond) will …
Do we love the future out of love of the new, or merely as a way to hedge or mitigate risk about the future?
No independent thought and thinking, no advancement of humankind and society.
How does social media make so much money? Simple — Fear marketing, and FOMO marketing (fear of missing out).
Let us not get suckered: All news is fake news. What do I mean by this? Well–
Many benefits to becoming more muscular, and having less body fat (adipose tissue): Higher self confidence. Perhaps this comes from increased testosterone production? Better bodily aesthetics. Better to admire your naked (flexed) body in …
Just a few mega-conglomerates. For example, Hearst Communications owns:
What is the worst thing holding back free thinking and free thought? Political correctness (‘PC’ culture).
The best life — maximize both the good and the bad in life. The zenith and the nadir.
We all know that Facebook owns Instagram [bought for $1 Billion dollars], What’s App [$19 Billion dollars], Oculus Virtual Reality systems (like Rift, Quest, etc) [acquired for $2 Billion dollars], Giphy [$400 million dollars] …
Use the upside of quarantine and the new COVID lifestyle to pick up film, if it interests you!
Honest thoughts:
Hong Kong photos from around 2013, shot on color Kodak Portra 400 film, Leica M6 and Leica 35mm f/2 Summicron ASPH lens. Some with flash:
If you’re uber-critical of yourself as a photographer … who benefits? Not you, just your random social media followers. And ultimately your own critique and criticism and low-self esteem only benefits FacebookGram, who runs …
The goal: Shoot more dynamic street photos. Dynamic street photos means: A photograph with more dynamic force, dynamistic energy. To make photos like dynamite. Make photos which inspire you to move, live, and interact …
Photo, video and life … it is all about constant experimentation, iteration, and fun!
A life where you could never forget isn’t a life worth living. For example, while I appreciate looking at old photos, I also hate it. It reminds me of embarrassing things in the past, …
My new heuristic: You know you’re doing something right if you start losing followers. My thoughts:
The fact of the matter is that capitalism and consumerism has brought much of the world out of poverty, has improved standards of living and hygiene, and quality of life for millions of individuals. …
The idea: Debt is the devil; avoid all credit card debt, loans, even the ‘good’ debt. All debt is bad. If you still have (any debt), you are still a slave. Just buy really …
Continuation of my ‘He Who Owns the Media Owns the People‘ essay: These mega corporations exist in order to distract us to death (in order to maximize their money-earning). These corporations aren’t evil per-se. …
In today’s brave new world… let us not get fooled: Don’t get suckered by the news and media. Why? It is in the best interest of the news to maximize their advertising dollars. Also, …
I am convinced — the Lumix G9 (and the Leica-Lumix 12mm f/1.4 lens) in JPEG (intelligent auto mode, iA mode) is the best food camera. Why? Great macro ability: You can focus uber-close. The …
My thought: I believe if countries and individuals were ‘allowed’ or tolerated to be more nationalistic … then perhaps we would be less racist. My thoughts:
My theory: With black and white, you gotta use your brain and imagination to ‘fill in the gaps’. Color makes it too obvious what you are looking at. With monochrome, it is more mysterious.
You cannot get a certain message to spread or stick without propaganda: The basic thoughts: Propaganda is just a tool, it ain’t evil in itself. To attach ideas more effectively, know your oppositions’ opinion. …
What is propaganda? It is simple: To propagate (send forth) a message. ‘Propago‘ in Latin: to extend, enlarge, or increase. From proto-indo-european ‘pegh‘ which literally means “to attach”. Thus if we think about Propaganda …
A new concept from my friend Jeffrey Lam: Mind Space. What is mind – space? My thought: A zen–taoist notion … we need empty mind space in order to give birth and genesis to …
Getting a 6-pack is actually quite easy. The secret: Increase abdominal muscle mass (through exercises like planche, chin-ups with your legs up, squats, deadlifts) and also through reducing your body fat percentage (you need …
From the get-go, I have always been passionate about both street photography and architecture. Why? My thoughts: Architecture is the human spirit and will concretized. It shows the grandeur of human ambition. When I …
New Haven (and Yale campus) actually really good for street photography! Why? Great diversity: Lots of different folks in the downtown, and a lot of people dressed up and going out. History of the …
What is true difficulty? My thought: True difficulty is experienced deep fear, and somehow being baptized through the fire to become stronger than you were before.
To me true innovation is doing new things, creating new things, or re-arranging things in novel ways.
Facts. If you’re poor, working class, always busy … you don’t really have the chance or opportunity to even feel depressed, anxious or worried. Certainly basic stuff like stress and anxiety about paying the …
Just went to New Haven and Yale for the first time… and I really love it! Some thoughts:
If your goal is to succeed long term, open and free will always win (in the uber-long term).
In life, do you prefer to be dominant or submissive? First question.
And of course, lift heavy weights. Aim for very difficult body weight exercises (dips, planche, muscle up, 1 legged pistol). Aim for a ‘one rep max‘ style workout, not boring reps.
To speed up and simplify your photographic workflow, just shoot small JPEG. Don’t shoot RAW. Use a nice JPEG filter you like!
My thought: A lot of people are disgusted with themselves and hate themselves because of reasons x, y, z. And a lot of people are looking for the reason *WHY* they feel this way. …
Okay let us think — what better gift to humanity than the Chromebook? Yeah yeah we all know Google is taking over our lives, whatever. But real talk — if you got a Chromebook, …
Our focus as street photographers: Create photos which commentate on, critique, and judge (with love) society, people, and the world.
Optimize for the now, not the future. The future is uncertain and unreal, the present and now is real, tangible, empirical, and can be articulated, changed and modified.
For myself and my past self: Zero tolerance for dad beating mom. Stand up for your mom, and get your dad the fuck out. Stay scrappy. Don’t get suckered by the pursuit of money. …
Interesting thought: The meritocracy of a 6-pack and physical body physiology — it don’t matter how rich or poor you are, technically any human being can get a 6-pack. Perhaps this is why rich …
Street photography is just applied sociology — with a camera. A visual sociology. Street Sociology.
Question: Is our goal and desire to *understand* human nature or to (artificially) change it? It seems we sociologists desire to understand human nature without any spiteful judgement, whereas philosophers, political scientists, “behavioral economists†…
Why do we think meat is bad for us? Simple — We conflate (confuse) the difference between dietary fat in meat and the fat on our stomach (adipose tissue). Thus the simple thought: Eating …
Or I hate you because I am no match for you. As Nietzsche says … has any men ever admitted to this? My theory: When we hate people, we hate them because we are …
Of course my body will physically die (I strive to live to be 140 years old in hyper health), but my memory and legacy shall remain, and live on!
Very rarely are people actually coerced to do something against their own free will, forcibly. Typically the coercion is more insidious, sneaky and low-key: fear tactics include potential loss of income, blackmailing personal family …
My belief: Unless you are a practitioner, one should not critique, judge, or commentate. Why? You don’t got real-life (experienced, empirical) experience. Better: Only talk about your real life experiences and talk about what …
With anything in life, just keep practicing the motion and you’ll get better at it! Even weight lifting and powerlifting — it’s all about practicing the motion.
If we took all the time we “grind†in video games and took that energy to real life and embodied reality … how much more could we achieve?
My turbo thought when walking around: Certainly free will exists. However this is the caveat — Some people have *MORE* free will than others. Also, free will can be cultivated like a muscle. It …
How does the economy work? Simple: the movement of money and human beings (flesh-based bodies):
A random entrepreneurial and YouTube SEO idea: In the description part of your YouTube videos, add a lot of information (as if they are mini blog posts). Ironically enough I make a lot of …
Simple ideas to stimulate the local economy:
Fresh from the ERIC KIM NEWSLETTER > Dear friends, Sending you lots of love from sunny Providence Rhode Island. Feeling pretty good, and have a good caffeine buzz from my light-roast blonde coffee (Wink …
The joy of going out, getting good sunshine, talking to strangers, being out and about in town, exploring new things. A life with street photography is the best life!
I go on walks without a phone or headphones. While I walk outdoors, I get new ideas. I read a lot of old school classics. Read Ancient Greek philosophy for the best ideas — …
“That which is, grows and that which is not, becomes.†– Galen on the Natural Faculties Or in other words: If you already exist, you grow. If you don’t exist yet, your genesis is …
The camera is the ultimate truth, and photos and videos are irrefutable proof, according to the new world religion of today, Silicon Valley, data, and social media.
Sooner or later, every human being on planet earth (all several billion of us) will have a smartphone, which is just a camera with an internet connection. This will mean: All human beings will …
Before asking others whether something is ethical or not, first go on a long walk and ask yourself: Do *I* think this is ethical? Yes or no? If anything best to NEVER ask others …
What I have realized: Even if I were a quadrillionaire, I don’t like to own things. Why? More stress, more liabilities, and more crap to maintain. The nouveau riche of today’s age is minimalism, …