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STREET PHOTOGRAPHY IS EVERYTHING.
No street photography, no life.
July 2021
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Should We Avoid Goals in Life?
I’ve heard both thoughts: Having goals in life is good (the common thought in America) and the other thought (having goals in life is bad, because it is anti-zen). Some personal thoughts:
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Exploit your current situation and scenario to the maximum
Certainly there is a hierarchy of favorable or unfavorable life situations and scenarios. But it seems the trick to extract the maximum out of life and existence is to take your current (“inferior”) scenario and exploit it to the maximum.
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High Key vs Low Key
A simple thought: Have your outward appearance and things you own be super low key, but barbell that by making your personality and art super high-key. Or as Andy Warhol said: “Look poor, think rich.”
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Insane or Nothing
Life is too short for the boring. This is why Lamborghini design is still probably my favorite, because of the unabashed extreme and excessive nature of it. Anything that is restrained and pedestrian is bad. In life, be extremely picky and optimize for insane. Even Steve Jobs said his favorite quote was he wanted to…
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Start with Black
When it comes to aesthetics, start with black and figure out how to add the colors later. Better to have black as a base and have a pop of color somewhere else. For example, think about a black Camaro with white racing stripes. Even Leonardo da Vinci said start with a black canvas. With clothing,…
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An Extension of Your Photographic Domain
The more you can extend what you decide to photograph, the better. The uber-photographer as the individual who shoots more of everything — tramples over all boundaries and captures all of life, embodied existence and disdains any categories which attempt to hold him/her in.
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WE MUST GO DARKER.
With our photographic aesthetics in monochrome, the best way: Under-expose your photos to make them as dark as possible. Or just think: “We must go darker”.
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JUST START IT.
“He who starts is already halfway done.” – Publilius Syrus The best way to conquer ‘paralysis by analysis‘: Just start it. This means, better to start something (half-ass) and half-way, than to never attempt and start at all! Because my theory: When you start something, you’re more likely to continue it until you get bored,…
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Only Visual Things Interest Me
A realization: For myself, only visual things and artwork interest me. My fascination with forms, shapes, colors, lines, tones, textures, aesthetics, design, fashion, art, sculpture, photography, industrial design, the human body, architecture, 3D (virtual reality/augmented reality), video, cinema, film, paintings– it is all good. Takeaway point: Focus on all things aesthetic and visual.
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One Interesting Thought
A thought: All of existence, your life will be worth it just for the sake of one interesting thought– a thought which excites you, motivates you, and uplifts you.
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Not Boring
The best life and way to approach almost anything? Just do it in a ‘non-boring’ way, or consume things and produce things which aren’t boring to you! In this way, being easily bored is a virtue. Not boring cars, not boring fashion, not boring thoughts. Not boring music. Not boring philosophy. Not boring is the…
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Perpetual Photography
Perpetual photography is the goal. This means to never stop shooting. Imagine like having perpetual energy for your photographic and creative pursuits. This means always be shooting throughout the day, always be reviewing selecting and editing your photos, and always be sharing your photos. In praise of photography blogs where you update and publish multiple…
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Private vs Public Design
Some thing I realized: all design is social. There is a certain sociology of design, which means there is some types of designs which are created for impressing others (public design) then there is design which is designed for your own private enjoyment. For example, would you desire a Lamborghini with the infamous Lamborghini scissor…
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BARE BONES.
The other day I went to an Amazon fresh store for the first time. It is truly an epic view of the future. Essentially they have carts that could way in automatically check you out, and I love the design of the place. The thought that came to my mind was bare bones. Imagine like…
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What Lasts? What Doesn’t Last?
Will this last? Will this not last?
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Health Over Money
A simple thing I learned in life: health is far more important than money. Why? Simple — What’s the point of being a billionaire if you have the worst physiological pain and suffering in the world? In life we often make the sucker mistake of trading health for money. This is the worst trade. If…
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YOU ARE THE ICON.
Don’t seek to obtain luxury brands and things. Rather transform yourself into the icon, brand, hero and cult of yourself.
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Future Humans
A thought on my mind: what will future humans look like? Funny enough, it seems that future of humans will look like more of our ancestral hunter gatherers. For example when people become silicon valley tech billionaires and retire, what do they do? They go hiking camping backpacking get into working out and lifting weights…
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THE FUTURE IS IN THE PAST
What is the future of anything? It is a return to the classics. Or a return to more ancestral or minimal concepts.
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Mental Motivation
How do we put our minds into motion?
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The Best Car for Thinking
Perhaps I am the first person to have thought and considered this: Rather than thinking about what is the best ‘car’ in general … perhaps better to think about what is the best car for thinking?
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ENGAGEMENT
To get full engagement out of life … for things we care about, perhaps this is the secret to living the best and fullest life. And that is why living a more ‘dangerous’ life is good — we actually must use our faculties to FOCUS. This is why powerlifting is so much more fun and…
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Fewer Choices, More Creativity
Ironically enough, the fewer choices and options we got, the *MORE* creative we will become. Lesson: If you desire to be more creatively productive, perhaps better to SUBTRACT and GET RID OF superfluous tools, equipment, gadgets, tools, cameras, etc from your life … and to maximize the use of just one.
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Are you doing it out of strength or weakness?
When it comes to our personal ethics or how we live our lives or how we design it, ask yourself — am I doing this out of strength or weakness? All things done out of strength and superfluous power is good— all things done from weakness and desperation is bad.
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UBER-UNIQUE
Our pride and joy is to be uber-unique — uber unique in what we drive, what we own, what we wear and how we interact with the world. Our greatest hate is when we see someone else similar to us. The distaste of seeing someone drive or own the same car as us, wear the…
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*BEYOND* ZEN
Zen as a means not the end.
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Subtraction in Photography
Photography is the most effective when you subtract from the frame. That’s when you’re shooting a scene, strive to subtract superfluous elements from the frame. The fewer distractions in your photos, the better.
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Independent Photography
To find joy in shooting by yourself, for yourself without social media, likes, followers or other ways to metricate yourself.
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Photography Creativity Productivity Hacks
If the goal is to be more creatively productive, here are some practical ideas:
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CONTENT
CREATE CONTENT YOU WISH YOU CAN CONSUME. PODCAST
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ZEN POEM
Zen friend is always thereRegardless of the weather or the modern day caresZen daring goes farTriple motor speed in the Tesla car Shards and ragsGuns and mags60fps, no lag. Tag, you’re it. You’re lit. No need to get with the times or find meaning in rhymesOur only impetus is to create great. Wipe the slate…
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CREATIVE DARING
What is creative daring? To dare convention, to dare your own past ‘style’, and to create with the bold audacity of a child — unrestrained, wild, and naively pure.
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CREATIVITY over PRODUCTIVITY
In today’s world there seems to be this mania towards ‘productivity’. And what is ‘productivity’ according to modern thoughts? To always be doing something, in order to become more virtuous (like a machine, in the spirit of ‘Taylorism’), in order to produce and create more in order to make more money. Thus the modern goal…
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A WOUND STIMULATES THE RECUPERATIVE POWERS
Next time you incur an injury or wound, rather than bemoaning your foolishness or regret a “mistake”— better to instead think: This injury can and will be a benefit to me — it will help me address my weaknesses or inefficient movements in order to make me stronger than I was before the injury. For…
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iPhone Creativity
iPhone as the ultimate creative device — how come nobody has truly discovered the insanely awesome powers of this miracle device? And instead just using it for basic email, texting and time wasting games?
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The Upside of a Smaller Canvas
Just gave away my iPad Pro to my mom, who has been making great art works with Procreate app. Which leaves me without an iPad — just my laptop and phone. Been doing some sketches with iPhone and procreate and zen brush 2– and there are some upsides of having a smaller canvas:
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PURE PERFORMANCE.
Aesthetics aren’t that much of a concern to us. Focus on pure performance.
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BUILD!
To build is our joy:
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Never Stop Shooting
Our motto in photography: to never stop shooting, to never stop exploring, never stop moving, never stop drinking coffee, and to never stop exploring and desiring more.
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The Joy in the Building, Not the Buying
Excelsior, ever upwards. The joy of the architect in creating and building things, always to strive for more, to strive to always build more and go higher. And this is also why I understand about people who work in construction, that is the joy in constructing new buildings, and it seems that the goal is…
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The Joy of Modifying Your Photos
Seeing change through the act of modification — this brings us great joy as artists! The joy of customization, change and modification.
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HAPPINESS IS ALWAYS ASPIRING FOR MORE.
Happiness not as a state you must achieve, but the active flux of always aspiring for more.
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CULT(URE)
Better to create your own cult(ure) than to just join one:
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iPhone x PROVOKE CAM — The RICOH Spiritual Successor?
Much to my disappointment, the Ricoh GR 3 didn’t have an integrated flash. I think the stunted me a little bit creatively. However after around poking around the App Store and I discovered the Provoke Camera app. It’s built in the spirit of Daido Moriyama, that is high contrast black-and-white. It works really well with…
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ERIC KIM WRIST STRAP MARK II x RICOH GR III
ERIC KIM WRIST STRAP MARK II: The apex strap for RICOH GR III (or Ricoh GR II/I) streettogs — optimized for the little ‘loop’ strap. Always have your RICOH ready, fast draw (JOHN WICK STYLE) to never miss the decisive moment:
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TURBOCHARGE YOURSELF.
Instead of seeking the turbocharged or supercharged car, or even the tri-motor PLAID Tesla Model S, or a hypercar, or a McLaren, or a Lamborghini, or the uber-fast sports car of your dreams, isn’t it better to turbocharge or supercharge yourself? This means: More intermittent fasting (eat your dinner as late as possible). Don’t break…
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PRIDE IN YOUR OWN NAME / BRAND
Our obsession with brand-named things, ‘brands’, consumer goods, etc. For example, we want the Porsche 911 Turbo, but what is a ‘Porsche’ anyways? It is just a dude’s last name. Same with Lamborghini — it is the Lamborghini *SPIRIT* we desire, not the Lamborghini itself. And once again, Lamborghini as a man’s last name. What…
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Where is Your Ideal Location?
At home? The gym? The streets? The mall? The coffee shop? In nature or the wild outdoors? In front of your laptop? Inside VR? Inside your car? Where?
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THE DANGER AND RISKINESSES OF STREET PHOTOGRAPHY IS WHAT MAKES IT SO FUN.
Our joy in street photography is the joy in the riskiness! Thus rather than trying to avoid risk and confrontation in street photography, delight and joy in it!