Month: February 2021

Extreme risk-taking to strive to become yourself:

In this short game of life, why not grant yourself great exceptions? To disdain the popular prejudices and virtues of our time. To form ourselves, to select our own virtues for ourselves, and to cultivate ourselves into something new.

What makes an artist or what is an artist?

Someone who is passionate about aesthetics, and how he or she perceives external visual stimuli.

Certainly nobody makes it through life without experiencing or feeling regret. But what is regret? How can we positively channel it? What wisdom is there in regrets, and do we desire a life in which we don’t have regret?

Or how every moment is a photo moment:

It seems the art (photo) world sneers at digital photography, and somehow puts film photography on a pedestal. But what if digital photography (given COVID) is the only reasonable and logical step forward? And what would it take for us to rate digital photography as artistically and aesthetically *equivalent* to film photography, or perhaps even *superior*?

Thought:

We obsess over luxury cars, luxury homes, luxury lifestyles, luxury goods, luxury devices, clothes, etc … but what is *true* luxury versus ‘weak’ (unsubstantive) luxury?

My belief:

Health as the ultimate luxury.

Health as defined via great sleep, great tranquility/peace/quiet, great physiological strength, clean air, bright light (lots of natural light), freedom from the cold and ill weather, and surrounding yourself with lots of green and verdant surroundings (in praise of homes with floor-to-ceiling windows, facing the sun [lots of natural light], and also overlooking trees or nature).

In these extreme times, the best way to approach life seems to be through extreme adaptation — to never plan a day or moment in advance, extracting the maximum from every moment in the day, and creating new values for ourselves and despising the values of the old (predictable) past.

Towards a non-planning future. Instead, an ethos which maximizes opportunity, situation, optionality, positionality, and unique and present circumstances.

To plan is the current ethos of modernity. But why plan? Is it even a good idea?

You best show your beliefs via what you are anti, more so than what you are “for”.

Also you exhibit your true beliefs via what you decide *not* to do, *not* to say, and actions and behaviors you decide *not* to engage in!

What if your present scenario and situation were in fact, the best?

Or in other words, how to extract the maximum from existence.

Not RAW like the file format, but RAWNESS, in terms of emotional rawness, directness. Your soul imputed into your photos.

This means:

1. More contrast (crush the blacks in monochrome)
2. More chiaroscuro (dark blacks, deep shadows)
3. Strong emotional content
4. Personal photos (photos of things and people and moments you personally care for)
5. Direct emotional impact.

A thought and realization:

We often speculate too much on investments, future returns on certain gains, speculate with stocks and crypto, speculate with real estate, and speculate about money in general.

But what if we speculated more in ourselves? For example, instead of putting so much money into crypto investments and speculations, investing that money into ourselves, our self development, lifestyle experiments, self edification, self education, and self growth?

What is the secret to intimate story telling through photography? The focus on the specific moments, and specific details:

A new realization ever since becoming a father, and having a newborn child:

Making long-term, or even weekly plans is not good. Best to take it moment by moment, day by day.

We speculate on investments, money matters, economic matters, and things *outside* of ourselves.

But what if we instead put these resources to ourselves? To our own self-development? To use ourselves as experiments unto ourselves … to see how far we can soar to the heavens?

What is the end? To focus on photography. Your photography.

Perhaps then the simple idea:

Optimize your life, lifestyle, living choices, city, neighborhood, etc to maximize your photographic optionality!

A thought:

When you have the option in life, opt for the riskier, more interesting, newer developments.

This can be in regards to life, lifestyle, homes (new luxury apartment buildings), new development neighborhoods, new economic developments, or perhaps the ultimate development … in yourself!

A thought when driving downtown the other day:

Wow, how blessed I am to be alive, having the chance to experience the beauty of a city, the joy of photography, the joy of interacting with other humans!

What a huge blessing (the greatest blessing of all) of just having being born!

In other words:

Let us not forget how blessed we were to being born… but also … how much of a huuuuge blessing it is to have GIVEN BIRTH to new life!

Another modern societal critique:

Stress is not a virtue, it is a vice.

For example when you ask any working class professional or educated person, “How are you doing?” it seems 99% of the time they will respond with “busy, stressed, sleep deprived, tired, depressed, or anxious”. And somehow this is supposed to be virtuous. To say “I feel great! I slept 10+ hours last night, and I’m in a fabulously great mood” seems to be bad manners, or bad taste.

How and why did we believe stress to be a virtue? Perhaps we should abolish this notion, and change the table of values the opposite way:

Stress is a vice.

And tranquility, calm, peace, zen, exuberant high spirits as a virtue!

ERIC

Too often than not, we feel we need to justify ourselves, justify our decisions, justify our purchases and our lifestyle choices.

In today’s world, it seems the apex justification is economic. For example, we justify our need to exercise and sleep “in order to be more productive at work, and thus make more money, or increase our earning potential”.

We justify our “vices”, because we “deserve” a break from work, or we just want to “treat ourselves”.

But isn’t it more robust to just do what we desire, without a need to justify ourselves, or to kowtow to some third party or authority?

In Silicon Valley we talk much about the “minimum viable product” (MVP). But how can we cross pollinate this concept to living?

Towards a new way of thinking about the ego:

True passions: an unadultured passion you’ve had since you were a kid, teenager or high school/college student. For example my passion for working out, fitness, diet and nutrition, modding cars, photography, blogging, travel, new experiences, desire to become self employed.

False passions: passions society superimposes unto you — for example, desire for luxury cars, buying a home, money, etc.

Then it seems in life, one of the great steps towards self wisdom is learning how to distinguish between true and false passions, and to devote more time and effort towards your true passions, while becoming even more mercurial towards the false passions.

You are the camera, the tool, the instrument. You decide what to photograph and what *not* to photograph.

You don’t need to ‘buy’ a new camera if *you* are the camera!

Photos not reviewed aren’t worth shooting:

Typically we are taught: “The more space, the better”. But through my life experiences, I’ve found this to be patently false. More often than not (due to complex scaling effects) bigger, more space, more heavy, more stuff is worse.

In terms of space, let’s talk about living scenarios. The more space you got, the more difficult it is to light up and brighten, the more difficult it is to keep clean and vacuum, harder to reach or find your stuff, etc.

If you have the option, always opt for a good home (your ideal apartment or living situation) over having a fancy car.

If anything, because we spend so much time at home now, being extremely picky with our living situation and abode is more important than ever!

Or in other words, optimize for your lifestyle over your material possessions, tools and things.

What do we desire? Exuberant, high spirits. Ideally, permanently elevated high mood and spirits.

Rational — ratio, to compute (reor). Comes from PIE (hreh) to think, which is a reanalyzed root of her- (to put together).

So in some ways, to be “rational” means:

Make decisions based on a “well put together” series of thoughtful reflections.

But this is to give too much credence to “thinking” or “rational thought”. It is of my belief that much of our “thoughts” are simply after-the-fact rationalizations of our “irrational” body-mind.

Thus, rationality doesn’t exist. It is simply a phantom or chimera of our bodily sensations. The mind and brain as the laggard behind our true decision making processes which actually occur in the body.

Life is a series of decision making. But how do you know what the “best” or “right” decision is?

You don’t. But I’ve discovered for myself, the happiest I am is when I have deep certainty in the decisions I’ve made, which are typically more emotional and subjective than “rational” and “logical”.

All photography and art, knowledge and wisdom goes back to your self.

Know thyself

Oracle at Delphi

The only and most meaningful knowledge which can be more accurately ascertained — your knowledge of your self. Self knowledge.

What is a “true desire”?

A true desire:

The self knowledge in knowing what is best for *you* and not others.

Seeking your own greatest personal advantage in life. The knowledge and recognition that your own virtues and vices are subjective… and which only (and should only) apply to you.

We are taught and trained that logic is supreme and irrationality is bad. But what if logic is overrated, and if we desire to live the best and most supreme life, we should harness our “irrational exuberance” to the extreme?

Obey your desires, especially the strong ones.

And another thing:

Ensure that your desires at the “true” ones — don’t get suckered into desiring “false” things you don’t truly care for.

In other words, obey your strong desires for your true desires and true preferences. Ruthlessly shun false, fake, or the desires of others. And also ignore your “weak” desires.

Each moment in your day is the same and equal, which means:

Leverage each and every moment to make photos and to document and record it all!

What is the end of our money-getting, our entrepreneurial hustle, our investments and speculations, etc? The hope for a better tomorrow and brighter and more prosperous future.

But what does that even mean, and how is it manifested?

I am currently in a state of deep and profound tranquility. Unperturbed, strong, calm, and zen.

Many seek tranquility yet never get it. Why not? And how can we gain tranquility? Some thoughts:

Photo by photo — each photo as part of a particle steam or wave. This means:

It isn’t about a single photo, single moment, or even a contained photo “project” or set.

All your photos as part of one continuum or stream:

What is the secret behind making immortal photos? Simple:

Shoot with your soul.

You cannot fake love and enthusiasm, especially when it comes to your photos. Shoot with your entire soul and being, and impute all your artistic faculties, skills, techniques and powers to make the most aesthetically beautiful and powerful images.

“Love without sacrifice is theft.” – Nassim Taleb

What makes love so great? The level or degree of sacrifice we put forth in order to verify that love.

The other night when doing the midnight shift taking care of baby Seneca — I remembered and thought:

If having a baby were so easy, the profundity and elevation of joy and love associated with parenthood wouldn’t be verified.

In other words, anything you get, do, receive in life which doesn’t require sacrifice or “skin in the game” isn’t meaningful. In simpler words:

The more we sacrifice for something, the more meaning it has.

It seems modernity says impulses are bad. But there can also be great wisdom behind impulsive behaviors, especially when it comes to art.

Simple thought:

Impulses which come to our “base pleasures” are bad, or financial ones.

Good impulses are related to artistic thoughts, philosophical or poetic thoughts, or anything around your artistic creation!

Dear friends I am convinced:

If you desire to extract the maximum from existence, live as maximally a risky, entrepreneurial and adventurous life as possible!

Hypothesis:

Much of our boredom, ennui, depression and existential dread comes from a life and lifestyle which is *too* predictable, caged, domesticated and static.

Going in reverse — Cindy heroically birthed Seneca Thien Anh Hanul Kim after an arduous 52 hour labor. For personal reasons, I wanted to keep the pregnancy photos “low key”, but now that Hanul is here and I also wrote about photographing his birth, I wanted to use this opportunity to review the last 9+ months of Cindy and pregnancy — and to reflect on this beautiful journey:

Some lovely color photos and words from Savannah Condon, straight out of Mexico:

Simple ideas:

A thought leader —

Someone whose opinion, thoughts and ideas sway and impact and influence the crowd and society.

For example, Elon Musk as meme lord of the internet and more recent Dogecoin advocate (I wonder when Elon Musk will tweet when you can buy a Tesla in DOGE?)

Simple ideas:

Now that I feel like a billionaire, what is my final end and goal? Simple — photography.

Ever since the birth of my son, my priorities include Cindy, Seneca, and my photography — nothing else really matters to me. I will even let entrepreneurial matters go to the side.

To piggy back off of yesterday’s thought:

Once you become a crypto billionaire, then what?

My simple answer to that:

For me, I already have everything I need. As long as I can continue to pursue photography with an earnest fervor, I’m happy.

As Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, and other crypto technologies continue to rally, the thought that came to my mind:

Once you become a Bitcoin or Crypto Billionaire, *then what*?

As photographers we don’t just make photos, we make stories:

In reverse chronological order. Life before Seneca Thien Anh Kim:

Witnessing the birth of my first child Seneca was the most phenomenal thing I’ve ever experienced — both in terms of seeing the pure strength, power and perseverance of Cindy, as well as the awe of life —

How is it that the coitus between a man and woman result into a new life form, a new life being, which is both the father and mother?

It is truly the most beautiful, phenomenal thing a human being can ever experience. Witnessing the pregnancy, birth and postpartum of Cindy and Seneca has given me renewed spirit in life, the future, and endless possibilities.

Contrary to popular wisdom, I feel there is a huge deficit of bloggers in the world. Too much information trapped on social media — not enough on independent self hosted blogs (WordPress.org).

Why does the world need more bloggers? Diversity of voices. Your opinion is important and matters. And disregard this line of thought:

What’s the point of sharing my opinion, when I’m not as “qualified”, “legitimate”, or “educated” as others?

All voices are equal. There is no better “voice” or “opinion” than others. Certainly some people have more impact than others, but the purity of your voice counts.

Don’t water down your thoughts and opinion. Become more audacious with your thoughts and spread them more widely!

ERIC

Street photographers as being one of the most versatile forms of photographers. Our ability to predict and anticipate the decisive moment, our ability to quickly capture these fugitive moments, our skills for edgy and beautifully complex and simple compositions (layers), and to not just take the traditional boring studio or sanitized family photos.

Typically we bore of the standard family baby photos. But why not cross pollinate your street photography skills and take it to what probably matters most to you — your family photos?

Impact — how your photos affect and change and move people. Simple thoughts:

What are the best photos? The photos which boost your serotonin!

Perhaps this can be a good measure of how we should choose, select, and edit our photos?

Contrary to what I’ve said in the past, the world wants your photos. To see, witness, experience and impact them.

Your photos as having the potential to give others a serotonin boost!

The goal is to master photography:

I didn’t realize this until Seneca Thien Anh Hanul Kim came into the world:

You cannot even imagine how much more massive future joy awaits you.

Domain expertise:

What you are really good at, what you are the master (dominus) of.

For me, it is certainly photography and blogging.

Then the thought:

Focus 90% of your efforts and skills on your domain expertise (the 90/10 principle), and for the other 10%, allow yourself to speculate on other (very uncertain, risky) ventures!

I am convinced: if you desire to maximize your photographic ability, you must get RICOH GR III.

Why? Let me outline some thoughts:

Simple principle and idea:

Focus 90% of your strength on your ‘archimedes lever‘ (what you are insanely good at, and what you *already* are doing to maximize your impact) and then use your superfluous 10% of energy and focus on very risky, uncertain entrepreneurial ventures to expand yourself.

This seems to be the optimal way to leverage your strengths, while still allowing yourself the opportunity to explore NEW ventures outside of your ‘domain expertise‘.

Recursive photo editing — this means:

As you shoot new photos and create new photo albums, every once in a while go back to all the older photos, and make a newer (tighter) edit of your old photos, and make a new album of them.

Photographing the birth of my first child (Seneca Thien Anh Hanul Kim) as the most meaningful thing I’ve ever photographed (thus far). Some more thoughts:

Photography motivation:

Having a motus and a motive to shoot.

Motivus— a moving cause. To be “stirred” to do something.

Motus— aroused, excited, impulse, passion, emotion, advance, progress.

Whatever your life story is, photograph it. Whether it be photographing a funeral or death, your wedding, or the birth of your child.

No life story is less worthy than another. As long as it is your life story, it is worthy!

ERIC

Simple nugget of a thought:

Hard to know what we’re passionate about; easier to know what we’re *NOT* passionate about.

A via negativa way of approaching things:

Don’t focus on pursuing your “passion”. Perhaps more robust to simply AVOID anything you hate or you’re *not* passionate for!

ERIC