Cross-over between photography and video:

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How do I judge my own photos, and figure out which photos I love?

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Perhaps the goal in Street Photography is not to become a “better” photographer, but to become a more profound and philosophical photographer.

Therefore our goal is to think about the philosophy of our photography, and the philosophy of our street photography in general.

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Perhaps this is our inner motivation and impetus behind our street photography?

Heraclitus on my mind.

I was always curious on how Kodak Portra 400 looked. Here are some files and examples, with different scanning settings. Some shot with flash, some without:

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The secret to making better monochrome photos:

Make your photos as black as possible (under-expose your photos to the maximum darkness, to the point where you can still see *something*).

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How and why self critique in photography is good:

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Like our friend JAY Z says:

Don’t be good, be great.

And something I realized:

In studying the masters (great photographers) of photography, what we are truly seeking is our own personal greatness.

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Something on my mind: we all strive towards productivity, but productivity towards what ends?

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My life in photos:

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What do we delight in? Faster flow. A faster and higher bandwidth for internet (5G and Fiber Optic Wi-Fi at home), faster recharge times, less lag and bigger and faster spouts to stream more, faster!

What’s the biggest benefit and boon of photos? The ability to spark and conjure up great past memories.

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What is our goal as photographers? To become more free-spirited. To see fewer boundaries between different types of things to photograph, and to just photograph it all; the fullest and widest scope and depth of human existence and experience.

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This is our goal as visual artists!

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We all seek betterment in our photography. But why?

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Stronger compositions, becoming more fearless (more brave, more brazen and audacious). Less hesitating. More prideful in our work and more optimistic for the future of our photographic life!

Resentment as a vice and disease. To us high and lofty philosophers let us banish resentment as below us and as a cancer to our mind and soul.

ADHERE
Steer clear of gossip and distractions, things that blind you from action
Adhere to your goal and own path in life. Stab it close, hardened knife.

Adhere and stay solid
Stay woke
Disregard what’s broken or missing
Just follow your own internal muse and listen.

ERIC

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FREE TURBO THOUGHTS

Dear friend,

Some real thoughts on creativity:

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The notion I got from Berlin which I love:

The notion of ‘upcycling‘.

Essentially it is the new hipster notion of ‘recycling’, but to *UP* cycle it means:

To take the old, add to it, IMPROVE it, and then put it back into the human ecosphere.

All photography is creative. The goal then is this:

How do we maximize and augment our creativity?

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We are often told that being ‘stubborn’ is bad and being flexible is ‘good’. Why is this?

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Why street photography? As being good for the soul:

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Advance
Know how to take epic chances in your life
When the time is right, strike the iron while it is hot
Bring the fire, bring the flame
No need to explain your blame or shame your chains
Bring on the pain and the difficulties
The pain is great, but the reward is greater!

ERIC

To become more ethical means to figure out what *NOT* to do in your actions and activities with others:

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FREE TURBO THOUGHTS

Dear friends,

The turbo thought of the morning:

Perhaps we all just need to become a bit more philosophical in our photography.

Because what is needed in today’s world in photography? Not more cameras, equipment, or lenses or better iPhone cameras, but more philosophical understandings and notions in our photography. More ‘photolosophy‘ (photography philosophy).

To spark you and ramp you up, I am now offering PHOTOLOSOPHY OPEN SOURCE COURSE (produced by ANNETTE KIM x HAPTIC) for free. Feel free to share, store, download, and use on unlimited devices, and share it with your friends!

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If you want to create your own YouTube channel (or even make podcasts) just use the iPhone. Best microphone on the planet according to Kanye (Kanye West even used the default voice recorder app on the iPhone for many of his new songs!!)

Some photo turbo thoughts:

Every photo you create, is just a stream.

Each and every photo like a particle in a light stream (Einstein vibes).

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Philosophical musings:

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A concept I got from my friend Ryan from Backyard Brew in Palo Alto (I am quite sure Ryan is the one who truly invented the notion of a ‘minimum viable product‘ in Silicon Valley). I wonder — how can we apply this concept to our photography?

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Perhaps rather than striving to “train until failure” (not a good concept)— best to strive for the best “simple and sinister” (Pavel) concept of workout. The minimum viable workout in terms of time, but with maximal force and difficulty (like one rep max powerlifting), and once you’re done, just get on with your day! Like a single Turkish getup with a kettlebell as great.

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1. If you want more photographic inspiration and opportunity, black-and-white is best.
2. In terms of the most versatile lens, a 28 mm prime lens is your best friend.
3. When you got nothing left to photograph, just shoot your selfie.
4. If you want photographic composition motivation, watch old-school films. For example, any film by Akira Kurosawa, or any of the film nor classics.
5. Rather than optimizing for the best camera, strive to optimize for the best shoes.
6. In my experience, the best all day carry camera is a ricoh gr 3. 
7. Any camera that collects dust on your shelf and isn’t shot with all day every day, is useless.
8. The ideal number of multiple subjects to photograph is three. Strive towards triangle compositions.
9. My three favorite photographers of all time include Henri Cartier Bresson, Josef Koudelka, and Richard Avedon. The three black-and-white masters.
10. The best way to improve your photography is to walk more. Perhaps best to use your walking tracking app to see how many steps you walk in a day, and accord that with your photographic productivity.
11. Better to shoot a bad photo than no photo.
12. The best photo you have shot should be easily recallable in your mind.
13. The best way to become more innovative and your photography is via negativa: that is, to delete your Instagram.
14. With COVID-19, the best place to travel and shoot street photography is Mexico City.
15. The more photos you shoot in a day, the happier you will become.
16. Buying a new iPad is a better investment than buying a new iPhone.
17. To best way to study the compositions of other master photographers, is to trace over their photos. I recommend using the Procreate app on iPhone or iPad.
18. Approach your photography as if you were already a billionaire.
19. The best way to spread your influence as a photographer is to start your own blog, and to post every single day. Ideally, several times a day.
20. The best way to think about the future of photography is to think about the past of photography.
21. How to know if your photos are good or not: ask yourself, will these photos still ring an emotional feedback 300 years from now?
22. No photography project is ever finished. All photography projects are always a work in progress, and always in flux.
23. There is no right or wrong in photography, only tips and suggestions.
24. Going on on the photography road trip is a very productive practice.
25. Ultimately digital photography is superior to film photography. However, studying and practicing film photography will make you a better digital photographer.
26. Do you never really know how you feel about a photograph, until 10 years later.
27. If you can make one memorable photo in your lifetime, your job as a photographer has been justified.
28. Never ask the opinion of another photographer about your photographs, until you have consulted your own.
29. What is photography composition? Knowing what to subtract rather than add to the frame.
30. Buy books, not gear.
31. Best to shoot photos while you’re hungry, and praise of intermittent fasting during the day when shooting photography. 
32. When in doubt, just shoot it.

FREE MOTIVATION

Dear friend,

The turbo thought of today:

Paving your own path is the goal.

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Steve Jobs vibes:

Think different as a photographer.

1. Delete Instagram
2. Spend a year not looking at any social media or YouTube
3. Publish your works as open source.
4. Pursue your artistry and photography as if you were already a billionaire.

The future is yours:

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To ‘pivot’– one of the good concepts which have come out of Silicon Valley. I think it is a great notion to apply to our photography and artistic pursuits:

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A turbo thought:

What if your past self were in fact *INFERIOR* to your past self?

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What is ‘progress’? And why does this matter, and is this what we are striving towards?

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FREE TURBO THOUGHTS >

Dear friends,

A quick turbo thought to start the week:

Being unique in photography is overrated.

It doesn’t matter whether you shoot with a unique camera, whether your subject matter is unique, or your project idea is unique. What matters more is whether you truly LOVE what you photograph, and whether your photography is self-motivated (autotelic) or not.

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A thought:

In America, to be ‘unique’ is heralded as the apex of worthiness.

But what if this is just a consumerist trap?

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A random thought I had one driving, and seeing a matte black Mercedes coupe: it seems that the design is very self-assured. This means, it doesn’t desire to follow trends, and its content into itself. Compare this with other car brands, like Audi or BMW, in which is always trying so hard to impress others and always uncertain of its own design language.

Certainly at the end of the day assurance and self assurance should not be predicated on the car you drive or the things your own. But perhaps a more important thing is for you to become self-assured. This is, assured into yourself without always having to look over your shoulders and see whether others are watching.

If we take this further to art and art work, perhaps our real goal as artists is to become more self-assured in our personal artworks and creations. That is, we don’t need others to tell us whether our artwork is good or not. Rather, we simply share artworks because we love it, and the small chance to others might like it too, makes it worth sharing.

Just watched INFINITE the new Paramount+ film, and some quick thoughts:

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ADAMANTINE MIND
My soul divine

Let my mind, body and soul be free
Free as can be, with no shackles, limits or ‘needs to be’

Free yourself free your mind
Dance in the twine and melodic dance
Prance further, dance further, godlike light toes
How far can you go? Only you can know.

ERIC

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What do you live for?

For me, I live to create, think, share, make, propagate myself, and to empower humanity.

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FREE MOTIVATION

What is the most difficult thing we face in our photography? The will to photograph.

Some thoughts:

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A riff off the Nietzsche quote: ‘Without music, life would be a mistake’.

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Wipe the slate clean,
You’re on an ultralight beam
Sometimes it may seem trite or rife with fury and might
But stay with it, things will be alright

Every day is new again. Every you is new again.

My thoughts as of late:

I have sooooo many photos I am processing and going through — how can I most effectively and efficiently share my photos with others, especially those who I care for?

Some thoughts:

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Culture is the enemy of the individual:

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FREE MOTIVATION >

Dear friends,

For a limited time in the HAPTIC SHOP, MASTERS DIGITAL EDITION is now FREE! You can also pick up a first-edition printed version of MASTERS here.

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I thought randomly on my mind: what if I were worth $120 billion? If that were the case, how would I live my life differently? To be frank, I don’t really think I would change my life that differently.

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Many writers are unsure what to write about. But the simple thought: simply write about what you would like to read.

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Ironically, the best way to be ‘productive’ is to never force yourself to be productive, nor think about it. Certainly not to feel guilty when you’re NOT being ‘productive’.

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Random turbo thought:

Perhaps the root of nihilism is simply poor health.

To me, misery, depression, anxiety are simply manifestations of poor health (fatigue, overwork, no recovery, sleep deprivation, physiology out of whack from over-consumption of alcohol/weed/caffeine). Thus the sentiment:

Life is no good and has no purpose

Is this simply a reflection of poor health? Because if you are in great health, you desire the ‘eternal return‘– you desire to seek to live a lifetime!

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A turbo thought when it comes to media:

There is no such thing as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ media — rather, it is either stimulating or not-stimulating (boring).

Avoid snobby commentary on things. For example, SUICIDE SQUAD was one of my favorite films of all time, even though it was given ‘bad reviews’ by ‘critics’. And what is a ‘critic’ anyways? Someone who has a passion for film-making or arts-creation, but lacks the courage or the skills to do so (note to self, only trust the commentary and criticism from fellow creators. For example only listen to film reviews from *OTHER* film makers).

Even the more recent INFINITE by Mark Wahlberg is quite good in my eyes (pumps you up, and love the physique and how buff Mark is).

Lesson:

Seek stimuli which pumps you up and gets you going (motivation), and ignore anything which bores you.

ERIC

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A concept I learned while in Berlin:

‘Upcycling’

Imagine a more sexy re-interpretation of ‘recycling’, but the concept is this:

You take old stuff, breathe new life into it, and make something new (cool).

So basically the gist is this:

Take things you’ve created in the past, and breathe new life into it (remix it), and make something beautiful and new out of it!

ERIC

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It seems in today’s world, we strive to buy new tools that we think will innovate our art creations. But perhaps it is best to just stick with the tools we already got, and to strive to innovate our creations instead.

Why do this? Because it is more challenging, fun, and interesting.

Also this is a way to avoid equipment creep, which is to have more superfluous equipment than you need.

Even if you were a billionaire, best to as many as few tools as possible and ideally own nothing. Even consider how Elon Musk about a year or two ago give away all of his stuff, and doesn’t even own his home. Also for myself, I would prefer to never own a car, and just Uber everywhere instead. Also, instead of owning a home, I would just ideally live inside a hotel, which is what me and Cindy did for about three months in Saigon Vietnam and I loved it.

All black NIKE FREE RUN 5.0 shoes. The best, most minimal shoe, extremely light and very stylish.

Your shoes in Street Photography are probably more important than your camera.

Also, can be worn without socks quite comfortably. This means less friction to get in and out of the house. Also, the laces are purely aesthetic. This means you don’t have to tie your shoes and take them on and off, you can just slip them on and off. The ultimate via negativa shoe.

When in doubt, don’t buy it. More things as worse — the more devices you got, the more stuff to charge and maintain. The more things you got, the less counter space you got and more distractions. Strive to have as little as possible— and whatever few things you got, maximal quality. The smallest footprint, the best quality.

So next time you want to get x, y, or x— ask yourself — “Is this equipment creep entering my life?”

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Rather than seeking the biggest thing (biggest phone, biggest car, biggest laptop, biggest bank account etc)— perhaps we should optimize for the “minimum viable size”.

For example iPhone Mini over iPhone Pro (either size). The smallest minimalist luxury apartment studio or 1 bedroom you can find. Performance version Tesla Model 3 over the Model S or X (even if you can afford them all). MacBook Air over MacBook Pro. Ricoh GR III over Leica M.

The future of freedom:

Don’t optimize yourself, your art work, or your creations for the algorithm (search engine optimization [Google SEO], for the YouTube algorithm, for FacebookGram [Instagram], or anything.

Optimize for your own artistic genius and self-expression:

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A collection of some of my color photos I like:

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One of the benefit of having kids:

You essentially ‘clone’ yourself, and that child can continue to pass on and continue your legacy.

And the great thing about photography:

With digital technology, and with your own self-hosted blog (WordPress.org), your information, ideas, and artwork are in theory infinitely scaleable.

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What do you do once you’ve got all the successes and accolades as a photographer? Simple —

Motivate, move, and inspire others.

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