Month: June 2021

We are seeking the supreme simplicity in life, design and aesthetics. But once you achieve supreme simplicity in all domains in your life … then what? Then the next goal: Create *BEYOND* yourself.

Less is more beautiful:

Not seeking the “best” aesthetic, but the most zen one. The aesthetic which affords you the most peace, calm, quiet and strong stoic tranquility in order to *NOT* think about the design and aesthetic. …

Human art:

Typically from the past. Great cinema — Akira Kurosawa (7 Samurai), classic Renaissance painting (Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael), great photographers (Henri Cartier Bresson, Richard Avedon, Josef Koudelka). Any compositions which inspire you are …

The secret to boundless self driven motivation for your photography: Boundlessly love your own photos, far more than the photos of others.

Our photographic aesthetic Dionysian ideal. Perhaps also more tragedy in cinema, art as a superior form of beauty and storytelling. The Philosophy of Aesthetics The Philosophy of Aesthetics Depressing or Affirmative Art?DISDAIN DETAIL. Pragmatism …

We photographers as visual poets.

The great thing about having a son: > Becoming the father I wish I had. 

The goal is the most streamlined photographic workflow. Simple ideas: Just shoot small JPEG (faster buffer speeds, faster time to upload your files, fewer issues with storage space) Use a preset or filter while …

“The service is twofold greater when it is promptly rendered.” – Publilius Syrus Perhaps the key to success or dominance — optimize for speed. For example Tesla Model S in Plaid+ mode, or Google …

Your own photos and those of others:

A fun pursuit and photography assignment: Shoot high contrast abstract photos in monochrome. For example: Shoot under-exposed photos (as dark as possible). -1 or -2 or -3 exposure compensation. Photograph textures, light, interesting surfaces …

Street photography you shoot for yourself– street photography you shoot for the pure joy of the activity and the experience of shooting street photography.

My joy of photographing bodies (legs, feet, bodies, torsos, hands, faces) is this: The human body is pure poetry.

In life, there’s a trillion things for us to pursue (money making, crypto and investing speculation, and other random pursuits). But perhaps out of all these pursuits, photography as the most interesting and worthwhile …

It isn’t a “simple” lifestyle we want, but a more *streamlined* one — with fewer annoyances and blockages and “friction” which prevents you from doing what you truly desire to do in life.

Why it is probably best to just buy the cheapest (manual transmission) car:

Minimalism because I easily bore of things and nothing satisfies me. I just strive to get the “least hateful” design, and just stick with it — even though it’s never perfect. And when it’s …

Yes perfect exists. But once you get it, achieve it or buy it, things are boring. Thus never seek happiness, fulfillment and satisfaction from perfect — but perhaps the pursuit of perfection is the …

The ethos of the creator:

As minimalist as possible:

“I bought every V12 engine, wish I could take it back to the beginning.” – JAY Z The purity and innocence of the beginner mind. Take yourself back to your high school self — …

Curiosity as the root of philosophy. A life with no curiosity is a dead life. One doesn’t need to cultivate curiosity — one just needs to return to ones childlike curiosity about everything in …

Think black and white, high contrast, textures, macro mode:

And photography helps us capture and immortalize this!

AspireFly higherKiss the wings of GodKeep flying higherWhat level are you on? AspireBreathe in hopeNo nopes or dopes to hold you back Keep it black, simple and cleanNo need to dream beyond the sheenYou’re …

Our entrepreneurial motto in life. A life with no risk taking is boring. And boredom is far worse to be feared than any other pain or suffering in life!

More reading means less thinking. If you want to think more, read less and stimulate your brain less.

My personal desire and pursuit: How to extract the maximum out of life. Seeking maximal engagement, creation, sharing and becoming.

I’m starting to think that what’s more important in photography than feedback and critique is motivation, new ideas, new techniques, new sights and new experiences. Thus don’t worry too much on getting feedback on …

Strive to make your photography life more simple and more streamlined, easier. Easier camera settings (program, P mode, autofocus and auto ISO), and make it more fun. The easier we can make the technical …

Why minimalism? Not minimalism as just an aesthetic — but minimalism as reducing friction and “activation energy” in your life which means less “paralysis by analysis” decision making in order to get you out …

To be quite honest and frank, nowadays with the global pandemic it is a success to even leave your house. Thus the new way to think about street photography: no good or bad street …

In today’s Brave New World, what is the attitude we need to thrive? Ruthless adaptation is the technique and the way.

What do we desire and hunger for? An ever feeling of expansion, growth, fullness, and augmentation of physiological power and well-being. How is this achieved? Great sleep, nutrition (meat), fresh air and bright sun, …

The apex of photography technique — to shoot without thinking.

A realization and re-interpretation or re-articulation on the concept of ‘productivity’: It isn’t actually ‘productivity’ we want, but power-expression. I realized this becoming a parent. You suddenly have 100 fewer hours in a day …

A concept I got from my friend Jeffrey Lam: The great thing about living in very close walking distance to a park (2 minute walk) is that it requires little to no ‘activation energy’ …

Let us be like children and treat our photography (play) very ‘seriously’ — just have fun with photography; this is the great way to always stay inspired in your photography and never tire of …

Children are most drawn to human faces. We adults are the same! Lesson: Shoot more faces! In praise of street portraits, or photos which reveal and show the faces of your subjects!

What we are heading towards: Art photography. Photography as ‘art tech’.

Why I always keep all my devices (iPhone, iPad, and MacBook laptop) in Beta Mode (always with the BETA version of all the operating systems) is this: Life is more fun when you are …

Ambition is the great tonic of life. My hunger and desire to create the most epic images that the world has yet seen before.

The camera as a technological tool to create art out of nothing, or perhaps the only ingredient we need is embodied reality, our legs, our imagination and creativity.

We are often taught that it is good and virtuous to invest money in our “future “, and to secure a prudent retirement future. However that notion is upholding Puritan values of self sacrifice …

What is photography? An active *CURATION* of images (curation means what you ‘CARE’ [cura] for).

Something I’ve been wanting to work on for a long time: A comparison between the original Blade Runner vs the New One (2049). Some thoughts:

Denis Villeneuve (Director of the new blade runner) said in an interview: “Cinema is poetry. And poetry is free.” Perhaps we should apply this philosophy to photography as well. And you are the sole …

If photography is our art, then our camera is our arts creation machine. Isn’t the power of the camera magical? That this machine could create art objects out of nothing, perhaps all we need …

Shadows are wonderfully simple thing to photograph, and to make abstract mysterious images. Focus on shooting more shadows— it is very fun and interesting.

This quote from the philosopher poet and aphorist Publilius Syrus puzzled me for a long period of time. But I think I understand it at least in the terms of photography. The general gist …

When I first heard Kanye tweet “I watch blade runner on loop” I was intrigued to rewatch it. And I was not disappointed — it’s a truly great film. Beautiful, great cinematography and color …

Photolink — inspired by Chainlink (chain.link). The idea — Uncovering and sharing how all photos are connected.

Why Bitcoin and cryptocurrency is so interesting to me — open source money. A glorious future with nobody controlling the money, but humans and people and technology. Bitcoin and cryptocurrency as the future of …

Made with ‘cookbook’ theme, on Affinity Publisher: Towards a more effective, interesting, and creative way to publish and share your photos.

Social media (Facebook, Instagram) is lame platforms to share your work. Why? The procrustean bed — just uploading one photo at a time (to maximize your likes). Sure you can do the ‘slideshow’ feature …

Why do I love fashion, product design, automotive and car design, graffiti, architecture, photography, painting, films and sculpture? My extreme joy of visual things. Visual things also as personified through human beings and the …

I got a grocery market within walking distance from my home, which is a Whole Foods and surprisingly it is a very fun place to shoot street photography and just kill time. RICOH GR …

What is the difference between photos and photographs and pictures? Well, back in the day they used to call paintings pictures. Now they call paintings paintings, and they call photographs pictures. But what are …

Almost everything in life has a certain degree of novelty. For example Lamborghinis and scissor doors, and to even an extent the Tesla model X and the falcon wing doors. We all are searching …

Thought — Perhaps much of the existential dread, ennui, and maybe even depression is because many moderns aren’t having kids anymore. For myself at least, I realized — when you’re raising a kid, you’re …

One of the easiest ways to make more interesting and enigmatic photos — drastically under-expose your photos. Make your photos ‘as dark as possible’ while still being able to see *some* detail: