Dear friend,
A thought:
How can I extract the maximum out of existence?
I think the secret is ‘productivity’ — being able to do more (meaningful) things with your photography and life with our shortness of life. As Seneca said:
Life is long as long as you know how to (efficiently) use it.
Some productivity thoughts:
1. Apple Photos over Lightroom
The big thing I’ve discovered:
To be a more productive photographer, use the simplest photo processing and editing software.
For me, this is Apple Photos.
Why? It syncs all your photos across all your Apple devices. After being a long term die hard Android user, and just buying an iPhone (last year), I LOVE how the MacBook laptop Apple Photos app can sync my ‘favorites’ across my iPhone, to easily text or send my photos to friends and family.
Also, Apple Photos has a great feature that allows you to right click a photo and instantly send your photo to family members and friends (saves a toooon of time).
And of course, Apple Photos is free.
I typically look at my photos in Apple Photos (shot in small JPEG on Ricoh GR III) in reverse chronological order (from the most recent to the oldest). This is a huuuuge productivity tip because when you see an interesting scene and ‘work it’, typically the photos towards the end is better. Thus, by looking at your photos in ‘reverse’ order, you are more likely to more efficiently pick your best photos.
2. Small JPEG
Another huuuuge productivity thing:
Don’t shoot raw, shoot small JPEG.
In today’s world, ain’t nobody got time for RAW. To be frank, RAW is a huge waste of time. If you can optimize your camera in-camera JPEG to look good, you will save yourself a trillion hours of time.
For myself personally, I know shooting RAW held me back. In the back of my head whenever shooting raw I would think:
Damn, eventually I will have to import and sort through these slow and tedious images.
Small JPEG was a game changer for me. Honestly you don’t need photos to be bigger than ~3,000pixels wide. And now, I shoot more, I experiment more, and I feel less restricted. I feel much more liberated and productive in my photography, and I also feel inclined to shoot more ‘risky’ photos.
3. Don’t shoot it with your iPhone
I am a huge fan of the iPhone, and how it has democratized photography for all. However, for us more focused photographers, I think it is a crutch.
Ironically enough, none of my friends who shoot photography who work at Apple exclusively use their iPhone. They all either shoot RICOH GR III, film, Leica M camera, Sony A-series camera, Fujifilm, etc.
So what does this mean?
Whenever you want to take a snapshot, just use your ‘standalone digital camera’ (RICOH GR III).
In fact, ‘snapshot‘ photography is good.
This is the main innovation of Daido Moriyama— shooting for nearly 50+ years in this ‘snapshot’ (street) photography approach. It literally means:
When you see something, don’t think too hard. Just shoot it.
The LESS you think, and the MORE* you shoot, the better.
4. Why are children so productive?
If you look at a kid draw or paint, they have zero obstructions. They have no concept of ‘good’ or ‘bad’– they just directly draw.
Why can’t we adults do the same?
Society has corrupted us. I think the reason why we get indoctrinated with this notion of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ is in order to rank us. Modern society only works with a ranking system. Thus when you can make a hierarchy of kids, you can figure out who to give the prizes and laurels to.
But … photography and life isn’t a competition, nor should it be.
5. Buy experiences
If you want to expose yourself to interesting moments … invest more in experiences, not stuff.
Stuff quickly bores. Experiences live on forever, and often get better over time (when you recollect a past memory, it can be sweeter than it actually was).
Experiences can be as simple as going on a road trip, going on a short Southwest flight to visit friends and family, a quick hike, going to some downtown area, renting an AirBnb somewhere, etc. Anything that gets you exposed to new places in embodied reality is good!
ERIC KIM EXPERIENCE
December 18-19th, 2021: Mexico City Travel Street Photography Workshop Experience >
6. Blog
Make a blog on bluehost.com and install wordpress.org. The blog as the ultimate creative canvas.
For example, if you’re not sure where to put your photos, put them on your own self-hosted blog ‘WordPress media library’. Then you can let your photos sit and marinate in your own blog library, and you can later figure out what to do with your photos.
7. ARS
arsbeta.com to upload your photos to get honest feedback and critique.
8. Walk more
Funny enough, I’ve found that having a kid has made me a MORE productive photographer. Why? Seneca hates staying at home, and loves going on walks. Thus after having Seneca, I now walk 10x more than I used to.
A simple thought:
If you walked 10,000 steps every day … it is impossible to NOT be productive as a photographer.
In fact, I think your productivity as a photographer is directly proportional to your step count. I say:
Rather than trying to ‘track’ your productivity as a photographer, just observe your step count in your smartphone or Apple Watch or whatever.
9. More interest in your future photos than your past photos
FUTURE is good. Too much rumination on the past is counter-productive.
I think when we think about the past, we tend to romanticize it, and prefer it. But why not prefer the future?
10. Live more
I live for a living (JAY Z), I walk for a living (ERIC KIM).
What is life about? Living. And what should we strive for as photographers?
To live more.
How does one live more? Talk to more strangers, eat out more, go to more coffee shops, travel more, think more, wonder more, wander more, photograph more, explore more, and of course ultimately — become more.
ERIC KIM
HAPTIC INDUSTRIES
Become more in your photography:
- STREET NOTES MOBILE // Print
- MASTERS MOBILE // print
- ERIC KIM WRIST STRAP MARK II
- CREATIVE EVERY DAY PRINT // Digital
- ERIC KIM NECK STRAP MARK II
- HENRI SHOULDER STRAP // in PHANTOM BLACK x CREMA BROWN
- HENRI NECK STRAP MARK IV
MASTERS
Good masters to study:
100 lessons from the masters PDF >
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