A realization:

For my whole life, I’ve always wanted to be *somewhere else*.

For example, even as a student at UCLA, I wanted to be in Paris, skipping around like Henri Cartier-Bresson and shooting street photography there– not noting for a second that LA was actually a superbly fantastic place to shoot street photography.

If pandemic has taught me anything, it is that perhaps… your home (control center, bunker) is perhaps the best place to be. For example, I’ve realized the best coffee shop is my kitchen. Why? I have all my tools, equipment, wifi, and great coffee at home — and the ability to use the restroom without worrying someone stealing my stuff. Also with pandemic times, going indoors to a coffee shop is quite a non-concept.

(more…)

Or in other words, the effort is the reward.

(more…)

Something that is quite cool about the future — the trend towards non-ownership.

(more…)

To shoot much, not tire and not lose motivation … perhaps this is more important than “happiness” in life. For me, my photographic productivity is my highest state and value. So if you’re living in a bad scenario or suffering *yet* you’re photographically productive, ignore your own pain and suffering and delight in your photography!

(more…)

FREE MOTIVATION ON ERIC KIM NEWSLETTER >

Dear friend,

A thought:

Perhaps the best end-goal in life is to just focus on your photography.

What I mean by that is this:

Whenever I meet uber-successful, rich or retired people, it seems their end-goal in life (after earning money, accolades, etc) is to just focus on their artistic photographic production.

This means using their money to travel to shoot photos, use their money on photo books and education-workshops, using their money on camera equipment, printing their work, building their website, building up their personal brand and portfolio, etc.

And the more I think about it … there is no joy in life greater than photography. Consider how photography combines all elements towards general wellness. Walking a lot, thinking a lot, practicing a lot, the joy of composition, the joy of traveling and novelty (travel and photography), and the joy of the adrenaline in the streets (street photography).

So as a simple thought — optimize your life for photography.

(more…)

Why I prefer Bitcoin as the best cryptocurrency — it is the most simple, will probably not undergo many changes (no bitcoin ‘version 2’, like Ethereum 2.0 or Chainlink 2.0). This means less stuff to follow, read up on, and stay updated with. The benefit of buying Bitcoin:

Just ‘set it and forget it’ (or just ‘buy it and forget it’).

I have a very high certainty that 20 years from now, BTC and Bitcoin will be up. Frankly speaking I have no need for money or Bitcoin myself– I will just give it all to Seneca when he turns 21 (or perhaps, 33– the age where Cindy and I conceived him).

To think decades ahead is annoying, but perhaps the best solution.

(more…)

Fun thing– 24fps in RICOH GR III high contrast video mode, just recording my warmup. Love watching the slower frame rate, and out of focus monochrome:

(more…)

A thought:

Why is it that Zen Monks seem to love drinking tea (green tea, caffeinated beverages)?

Also– why is it that I love coffee so much? My thought — a connection between adrenaline and zen (an advancement of Mihalay C’s notion of ‘flow’ — the ‘optimal mode of existence and performance’ based on doing things which are slightly dangerous and doable-difficult, in order to become fully-one with the activity at hand). This is why I have the most zen when powerlifting, shooting street photography, or having ‘risky’ social interactions with strangers.

• The Zen of Street Photography
• ADRENALINE & ZEN

(more…)

if you try to optimize for everything, you optimize for nothing.

(more…)

A thought: in life we often speculate in other things people stocks cryptocurrency‘s etc.

However why not spend that extra money time and energy to speculate in yourself? this means investing your money in cash into yourself, your own self development, books, education, workshops, tools, equipment, services, and other random things would strike your fancy.

Perhaps put in $10,000 into your own self development is a better investment than putting into random stocks cryptocurrency Etc

Rather than investing in other uncertain ventures, know that you are the ultimate certain venture.

A big personal lesson I learned once having a kid is that you must radically adapt and adjust your life and lifestyle towards pursuing your passions while taking care of baby. This baby carrier has been a godsend, which still allows me to walk around, shoot street photography, think, and work mostly on my phone.

Furthermore now that I have a baby, I cannot really walk around with a laptop. As a consequence I’ve walked around and voice dictated mostly via Siri, which ironically has been far faster and more productive than typing on the laptop, with less carpal tunnel.

So perhaps irony is that having a baby has made me more productive.

Also now that I have to take care of the baby, I have to find new and creative innovative ways to integrate baby into my lifestyle, which means going to the park and doing chin-ups while he is still strapped into the baby carrier, and also doing dips with baby strapped in. Free weight vest. This is a lot of fun and interesting to me.

My personal question ambition: to conquer photography and master all forms, aspects, and elements in philosophies around it.

(more…)

A critical inquiry and questioning towards a deeper truth, for your own personal benefit and the benefit of others, the collective and society.

In praise of black and white to simplify photography and perhaps simplify life. Even when it comes to cars clothes and devices and accessories, perhaps to embrace the black-and-white, and the yin and yang is key.

Even when looking at your images, think about the proportion of black versus white or white versus black in your imagery as a way to think about how dynamic your compositions are.

(more…)

Photography as a tonic for the body, mind and soul.

Level with the bass and the treble rumble hard go fast your life won’t last.

Just look around you life is a blast. It doesn’t matter what your ranking was in class, just make sure you have class.

Stick with your own style your own unique look. Wherever you look there’s only you. Ignore others why do you care for them? Stay focused on you and stay in tune.

This is the funny irony: we think we need motivation or inspiration before we go out and shoot. However, it seems better to focus on just drinking a lot of coffee in the morning and getting out of the house and trying to step and walk as far as you can, and then naturally let the photos come to you.

Photos in photography is all real, you regardless whether it is digital or film or shot with the phone.

In deeply thinking and philosophizing about life in general, we all understand that money is not “real”, however photos exist and therefore photography might be the most worthy focus and pursuit in our lives. In short, devote all of your attention, energy, creative metabolism, force, motivation, and mind and soul to photography.

One of the huge new benefits of the ultra wide camera on iPhone and lots of smart phones in general is that you can get really really close to things or approach things from a unusual angle, and when you share with ultra wide angle lens you create a very unique and interesting image.

There is nothing sacred in photography. The goal is to use photography and the camera as an artistic tool in medium to create artworks which deify and glorify reality, life, and your own creative vision of the world.

(more…)

HDR can unlock a whole new creative outlet for you in your photography — I’d recommend experimenting with the in/camera HDR function, especially if your camera has it like the RICOH GR III in camera HDR — to unlock new shadows and to create new types of imagery.

Also you can shoot in camera HDR, and convert it and process it later into black and white for another more dynamic look and aesthetic!

(more…)

A random thought I had this morning. Money has a technology is great and fascinating because it motivates people to move. But then I thought deeper – – what are some other things that motivates people to move? My answer: photography as a great way to get the people moving to get yourself moving and let us remember motivation is all about movement.