Month: August 2021

Cross-over between photography and video:

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

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, …

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:

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*).

How and why self critique in photography is good:

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.

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

My life in photos:

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, …

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

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 …

This is our goal as visual artists!

We all seek betterment in our photography. But why?

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.

ADHERESteer clear of gossip and distractions, things that blind you from actionAdhere to your goal and own path in life. Stab it close, hardened knife. Adhere and stay solidStay wokeDisregard what’s broken or missingJust …

FREE TURBO THOUGHTS Dear friend, Some real thoughts on creativity:

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 …

All photography is creative. The goal then is this: How do we maximize and augment our creativity?

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

Why street photography? As being good for the soul:

AdvanceKnow how to take epic chances in your lifeWhen the time is right, strike the iron while it is hotBring the fire, bring the flameNo need to explain your blame or shame your chainsBring …

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

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? …

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 …

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).

Philosophical musings:

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 …

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 …

If you want more photographic inspiration and opportunity, black-and-white is best. In terms of the most versatile lens, a 28 mm prime lens is your best friend. When you got nothing left to photograph, …

FREE MOTIVATION Dear friend, The turbo thought of today: Paving your own path is the goal.

Steve Jobs vibes: Think different as a photographer. Delete Instagram Spend a year not looking at any social media or YouTube Publish your works as open source. Pursue your artistry and photography as if …

The future is yours:

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:

A turbo thought: What if your past self were in fact *INFERIOR* to your past self?

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

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 …

A thought: In America, to be ‘unique’ is heralded as the apex of worthiness. But what if this is just a consumerist trap?

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 …

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

ADAMANTINE MINDMy soul divine Let my mind, body and soul be freeFree as can be, with no shackles, limits or ‘needs to be’ Free yourself free your mindDance in the twine and melodic dancePrance …

What do you live for? For me, I live to create, think, share, make, propagate myself, and to empower humanity.

FREE MOTIVATION What is the most difficult thing we face in our photography? The will to photograph. Some thoughts:

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

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 …

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 …

Culture is the enemy of the individual:

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.

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 …

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

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’.

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 …

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, …

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). …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 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 …

A collection of some of my color photos I like:

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 …

What do you do once you’ve got all the successes and accolades as a photographer? Simple — Motivate, move, and inspire others.