How does one become stronger? Simple: hyper nourishment and hyper nutrition. Even in bodybuilding, the notion of hypertrophy means hyper nourishment.
One can only grow more, if one has more nutrition. More meat, and also more physically demanding challenges.
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In today’s brave New World in which we have we don’t really go to public places anymore, it seems that which is functional is more important. Aesthetics are becoming more private.
“Enthusiasm is virtue.” – Galiani
Enthusiasm literally means ‘a god dwelling within’. In American English when we say ‘passionate’, what we really mean to say is ‘enthusiastic’. Passionate actually means ‘suffering’, whereas enthusiasm is more about a godly-like overwhelming of love for something.
For us, photography is our primary preoccupation. To discover the fullest soul of the photographer is our goal:
What I love about the new year:
A new year is a new you.
Also–
A new year means new photos.
What is life? Life is newness. Life is growth. Photography is growth.
What is the best photo you’ve shot? The photos you make today.
Funny enough the ancient Romans saw hope as a vice. Why? To hope for something in the future is often a fantasy, a ‘dream’ — something not grounded in reality.
To dream of a better future camera, or a better future ideal lifestyle for yourself … then you can become a fully-actualized photographer seems to be the thought. But no. No more rumors. No more news. Let us best leverage today’s reality, and today’s day to become the photographer we desire to become.
Simplicity is a means towards efficiency. Not simplicity and minimalism for the sake of it. To become a more efficient photographer means:
To create and make more photos, and to edit our photos quicker, and more efficiently.
The simplest tools, the simplest approach. The most streamlined approach.
Apple Photos, iCloud sync, small JPEG, in-camera JPEG presets. Rather than seeking a ‘better’ workflow, seek a faster, and simpler one.
Upload the photo you’re most enthusiastic about this year to arsbeta.com
Perhaps as a personal new year resolution, this year:
Only pursue that which you are enthusiastic about.
And also–
DON’T do anything you are not enthuasitic about.
The Occam’s razor of simplified living.
ERIC
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Something I learned for myself:
The most virtuous thing you can do is plumb your own thoughts and ideas, and ignore the suffering, pity of others.
Too much interest in others is a bad sign — it means we get some sort of low-key schadenfreude (delight in the suffering of others).
Upon much consideration on what the aesthetics of the future are, a thought:
Perhaps the aesthetic of the future is white and black.
For example, when you think SpaceX and space ships … what aesthetic are they? Mostly white with black accents. Same goes with the new SpaceX astronaut outfit.
Why white? It seems to be the most efficient color in terms of dissipating heat. Also, when looking at the new Tesla cars, it seems the most eye-catching contrast is a white/black Tesla, with a white/black interior. It feels uber-clean, and uber-modern.
Black on black cars is a mostly boring aesthetic. Even with our iPhone’s… perhaps getting a white phone feels cleaner, more modern and efficient than a (boring) black space grey one. Remember with the original iPhone 3G/iPhone 4 … when the white one came out… how crazy everyone went over it? Also a reason why the iPhone and MacBook chargers are all-white, and AirPods are all-white.
LEICA, we off that. We onto the RICOH and the HASSELBLAD.
We off social (anti Instagram), and we’re onto ARS and our own blog.
We off Lamborghini, and onto that TESLA PLAID.
We off that Silicon Valley, we’re onto our own new thinking and thoughts.
We off NIKE and Jordan, and onto our own new shoes (mountaineering, Goretex shoes).
In praise of Starbucks. Even though Starbucks is seen as to coffee aficionados as anti-coffee, I really like getting a treinta cold brew (no water, no ice) there, as well as a big cup of water. Also fast reliant Wi-Fi, and friendly staff, high activity with people — good to go now in this brave new Covid world. It seems third wave coffee is on the decline?
Still of course cannot beat hipster espresso coffee shop vibes, but if you don’t have a good coffee shop close by home, Starbucks will satisfice.
Some ideas for the new year:
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Read my Matrix 4 critique review (still recommend watching it).
If this sparked any creative ideas, feel free to forward to a friend!
To ‘edit‘ your photos means to ‘bring forth’ (your best photos), from Latin ‘edo‘. To edit is also from the French (editer) which literally means ‘to publish’.
A simple workflow:
I say just use Apple Photos. The simpler software, compared with Adobe Lightroom. Also, better sync with iCloud between all your Apple devices.
If you give people what they want, then … you would just keep giving people soda, high fructose corn syrup, Facebook and Instagram feeds, mindless Gmail reloads, sugar, ‘natural’ sugar, weed, alcohol, etc.
Tricky — offer people what you think they *should* need (based on your own taste). However, do not *FORCE* others to have the same taste as you do. Simply expose them to it!
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A thought on my mind: what are the clothes of the future, and future clothing?
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In order to become more productive, take more naps. I called this a minimum viable nap, just lying down on the ground for even five minutes is quite sufficient.
To sleep more, to nap more is virtuous.
My ideal:
Eagles don’t fly in company, leave that to the partridges and pigeons (Galliani).
What if you stuck for a year — to just go solo? True and deep independence.
Simple idea:
Strip yourself of all foreign brands.
Wear no clothes with have branding on it. Wear no watches. No association with any brands with yourself.
If you want to choose a brand, just choose yourself (your first name, last name is the ultimate brand).
One of the life hacks I learned from my friend Jeffrey Lam, something he learned on a podcast. One way to hack your metabolism is immediately after waking up, go outside and expose yourself to some natural light.
Personally natural light as something I believe in for myself, my ideal house would just be a glass cube, surrounded by trees, with tons of natural light.
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Inherent in every photography, and every photographer is a certain psychology. For example, it is very easy to smell optimism or pessimism in a photographer, or their photographs.
For example, when I look at the photos of a Araki or Daido, I don’t really see hope or optimism, I only see confusion, despair, and suffering.
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My anti-retrospective life philosophy. Spend a long time thinking before making a certain decision, but after you’ve made your decision, don’t second-guess yourself or turn back. Stay firm and keep marching forwards. No looking back. No regrets and no pangs of conscience.
No being wishy-washy, and certainly don’t keep flip-flopping your decision, like John Kerry.
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Something I learned from psychology and sociology is the notion of thin slicing. Basically the notion of thin slicing is that when you meet somebody, you could get a pretty accurate sense of who they are even the first five minutes. Certainly you will not get a hundred percent depiction of who they are, but in my personal experience, you can get 80% accurate judgment of somebody’s personality based on the first five minutes.
The same thing goes with movies and books, if you’re bored in the first five minutes, most likely you will be bored until the very end. Or in other words, if you’re watching a movie or a film and you’re bored, just turn it off, or leave the theater.
Therefore the practical strategy is if something bores you in the first five minutes, don’t complete it. Life is infinity too short to be bored of boring books, or boring films. And even worse, boring people.
One of the most badass ways to stay fit, and become hard and harder is just have one heavyass kettlebell. That is all you need.
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Which designs are the best? The lightest ones.
For example, even with website design, the website that is the lightest in terms of code, and the smallest file size is best. Loads quicker, and has less bloat. The enemy of modern technological design is bloatware. This is why I am very anti-Samsung, because it packages the phone with so much bloatware which is unnecessary. And if you have ever felt stomach bloating, we know that bloating is bad.
Also with traveling and packing for a trip, when in doubt, leave the heavy stuff at home.
Once again, with laptops, phones, camera, always optimize for lightness. Better to have something that is lighter and less powerful than something which is heavier and more powerful.
Or in other words, better to have a McLaren or a Mazda Miata, instead of a heavy muscle car even if it has 1000 hp.
Do not dwarf yourself. Do not make yourself small.
What is the role of modern society? To make you as generic and insignificant this possible. It seems that this preaching of equality of rights is anti-extraordinary individual. It is a disbelief in great individuals.
Why are so many people anti-Elon Musk? Because the critics themselves are small, and they cannot understand how such a great man like Elon Musk can exist.
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When it comes to design matters, design for yourself. Design as if you were your own ideal user.
What is it like traveling with a kid or a baby, and doing photography?
Difficult. But maybe not as difficult as you would think.
(more…)My new personal metric when it comes to decisions when to buy things, upgrade things, create things, share things, etc:
Is this 1000x different?
For example, don’t upgrade your iPhone unless you think the new version is at least 1000x better. Same goes with clothes, cars (perhaps electric cars are indeed 1000x better than gasoline cars), etc.
Also with your personality, and thinking … strive to become at least 1000x different than others?
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Look at your photos as small thumbnails in iPhone, and click and hold a photo to favorite it. Then filter your photos by your favorites, and make a new album with it.
This is the small thumbnail test applied to iPhone.
Much of the social world is a simulation. Which means, we follow the same old Scripps, and we always talk the way others talk.
Therefore the notion of breaking the simulation is simple: go off script, and refuse to talk like others. Surprise people a little bit, and be fun and clever with your socializing skills.
Dear friends, the new year is ahead of us. As 2021 comes to arrive, incipit is 2022.  I have great optimism for the next and upcoming year. Why? Our philosophy as photographers is to make new, and become new.
Therefore the idea is that this upcoming year, we will make new photos, go on new adventures, become new again.
A thought:
If you got cool shoes, or a cool car, or cool clothes, but nobody is there to witness you wearing it or using it … does it make it still ‘cool’?
No.
Thus, we must have things or use things or wear things as if we were the only one to witness it or appreciate it.
For example, the reason I prefer to wear all black clothing is when I look at myself in the mirror, it is the most aesthetically pleasing to me. When I wear grey t-shirts, I don’t like it from an aesthetics perspective. And I also prefer all black shoes, because it is the least distracting to me when I am walking.
The best clothes are the ones in which you forget you’re wearing clothes, the ones that feel invisible.
For example when I wear merino wool (very fine high micron), I forget I’m wearing a shirt — which is good!
Or, perhaps the best clothes are the ones that let you be the maximally low-key and stealth?
Something on my mind: what will be the Aesthetics of the future? For example, which colors or color combinations evoke the strongest feelings of progress in the future? Maybe hyper yellow, hyper orange?
Or aesthetics that provoke healings of progress? For example, my new favorite camera design is the hasselblad XD II — more so than retro Leica M cameras.
Be more clever on how to use or reutilize things you already got than buy something new.
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I believe it is possible to live a happy life regardless of where you are. And truth be told, there are certainly certain places and certain cities *more conducive* to living a happy and productive life.
Yet, after realizing that Mexico City is a perfect city (as well as Hanoi, and Saigon), also Kyoto/Osaka/Tokyo — I believe:
(more…)You can truly live a happy life regardless of where you are, but it takes skill, a certain mindset, and practice.
Just finished watching the Matrix 4, and I really didn’t like it. Some reasons:
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My personal joy and interest: the best design and innovation is thinking about the future, and making a clean break from the past. Perhaps homages and nostalgia are bad.
I’m currently watching the new MATRIX 4 (I love the original), and I really don’t like it. Granted I have not finished it yet, so I cannot make a proper critique or criticism yet. Yet the question that comes to my mind: what is the purpose of criticism or critique?
The only idea I have is this: a constructive critique is the only worth critique given. That is, when your critique something or somebody, you must use that information and knowledge in order to improve yourself, or to not make the same mistake you don’t like.
For example, when I witness or observe certain character traits or actions of others that I don’t like, my personal goal is to not mirror that same activity or behavior. Thus to critique others with uncompromising sincerity seems to be the goal.
Simple– when your income/money outstrips your expenses and costs.
Thus, if you’re ‘net positive’ with money, you’re technically rich. My binary.
Just got back from Mexico City to LAX, and it was a full flight. Good news, everyone who is on the flight tested NEGATIVE for covid (you must have proof of a negative COVID test before boarding the flight). Thus the irony:
Those who travel are a self selecting population, who are most likely vaccinated, and at least have taken a negative covid test.
Thus the irony– you are technically ‘safer’ against COVID on a flight, than even back home at the local COSTCO.
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Now that I am a parent and have a kid, my free time is very short. Thus the need for extreme efficiency with processing and going through my photos.
Even in matters of mental psychology — as Nietzsche said, the irony is that it is the duty of the healthy to keep the sick away from the healthy.
For example, I love the proportions of the high top Air Force one sneaker. It seems the biggest innovations is making it lighter, using the new Flyknit technology, or even making it Gore-Tex.
Also my delight at the new Nissan Z car, which takes the classic car in the classic proportions, yet mix in modern.
Another reason why Tesla Model S Plaid as the best, most innovative and motivational car.
Perhaps the best use of money is for movement. So the question on my mind: how can one use money in order to move more?
Certainly we could use money to travel. To pay for flights, Airbnb‘s and hotels. Also, we could use money to Uber.
Also, the best use of money to buy things which facilitate movement.
Also with crypto currency, the biggest benefit is that you can move money faster. With less restrictions, fewer fees, and fewer boundaries. crypto is money without borders.
Another pro tip when it comes to traveling, hotels or Airbnb‘s: optimize for hygiene, cleanliness, and peace and quiet.
With design matters, clothes, and things in general, optimize for ultrathin.
Midweight things are a compromise. A bad compromise.
Ultra thin phones, ultra thin laptops, ultra thin clothing (ultra thin shoes, with ultra thin soles, ultra thin socks), ultra thin devices, and of course ultra thin condoms.
Maybe even with bodily physiology, we prefer the ultra thin, yet muscular.
To be always and constantly on the road is not that efficient. Sometimes we need to spend a little bit of time in one spot. That’s the goal isn’t to always be on the road, but to be semi nomadic. For example, living in one city, or a foreign place for three months or six months at a time, and then onto the next place.
Don’t on anything that hold you back. Don’t on your home, don’t own a desktop, don’t own a car, and don’t own a lot of things which prevents you from packing up and going.
Thinking about the movie free guy, and just life in general. Do we live life like a video game, and should it be like that?
Just had a great two weeks in Mexico City, and about to fly back home. My lesson learned: the reason why traveling is so great is because it pushes you outside your comfort zone, and forces and challenges you to adapt. And when you adapt, it is a road to growth.
Not the best, but the most beautiful?
In life, there are certainly things which are the ‘best’. But … what is most beautiful is often not the ‘best’. Thus, perhaps best to optimize for beauty … instead of optimizing for the ‘best‘?
For example when it comes to certain design things and design objects, certain objects or designs are more *beautiful*, but less functional. Typically that which is maximally functional is the best.
But, perhaps better to get thing which are sub-best, but the apex in beauty?
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I like living on the streets
I think this is why I love street photography so much. My ideal lifestyle.
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The best way to gain muscle mass, and lose body fat.
For ‘vegetables’, no starchy veggies (cauliflower, broccoli etc). Only bitter dark leafy greens (kale, spinach). Also, fermented foods like kimchi or sauerkraut.
My design ideal: to create or discover designs which are 1000 times more unique and different and interesting.
Or creating a certain design or product that does not yet exist. For example, my Eric Kim line of products, which are optimized for Ricoh GR cameras. No other straps are compatible with Ricoh GR cameras.
Become fascinating to yourself, or become fascinating to others?
With fashion, the question I have on my mind is this: the desire to wear certain clothes or fashions is to become more fasting to others, or to become more fascinating to ourselves? (more…)
Better to risk boldness than triviality
A saying from Peter Thiel (Zero to one) I love.
