The Key to Photographic Motivation

Something which has been on my mind ever since I was 18 years old:

What is the secret and key to photographic ‘success’, motivation, and thriving?

For example, I always found myself lacking motivation to go out and shoot new photos, thus the pursuit of GAS (gear acquisition syndrome)– as a means to finding new motivation for photography.

So what is it that we *really* want? Photographic motivation. And what is photographic motivation? It is having the energy, impetus, and the strong desire to go out and make *NEW* photos, or the motivation to take the pre-existing photos we already got to make new types of artwork (PDF E-BOOKS, slideshows, print books, etc).

Some thoughts:

1. Make a compilation of your photos

Man with grimace. Shot with flash. Tokyo, 2011.
Tokyo, 2011. Leica M9, flash, f16

Not to just publish single images on social media, but to make a set of images, and to share/publish them as a set/collection. For example, making a PDF e-book (or an e-book ‘zine’).

Or you can even make them as a compilation via blog posts, via the ‘slideshow’ feature, or make galleries in WordPress.

You can even ‘double dip’, by taking a project you’ve made (digitally) then make it into a physical object, like what we did with DARK SKIES OVER TOKYO:

Another idea I learned from Cindy’s students is this:

Use Google Slides to make digital e-books or an e-portfolio of your works, and you can use it to publish your e-book into a PDF, or just share the link to have others view it.

The benefit of Google Slides or Google Sites (or even Blogger) is that it is Google– the links will probably exist forever. The big issues with most things digital– eventually sites die.

2. Find inspiration from others

The benefit of studying photo books and the photos of the master photographers is that you create a virtual library of images inside your head, which you can imitate when you’re out shooting.

For example when I started my SUITS project, I studied all the other suits projects (OFFICE by Lars T) for some visual inspiration.

3. RICOH GR III

I’ve shot with all the cameras out there, and by far the best camera is RICOH GR III. The other best camera is RICOH GR II. Why? RICOH GR III always fits in your front pocket (ERIC KIM WRIST STRAP MARK II) or it is the lightest camera you can always have with you (ERIC KIM NECK STRAP MARK II).