Month: December 2021

What is the best mind? The most empty one. The more empty your mind, the more open your mind, the more interesting and unique ideas can come into your mind. Thus, it seems the…

Just strive to make the “minimum viable image”. In order to do this, shoot with the smallest JPEG setting possible, shoot black and white, and when you’re composing and framing, get closer and fill…

Deeper integration with nature, more natural light. More innovative lighting design, exposure to the public. Blurring of indoor and outdoor, and blurring of public and private. The priority is pedestrians, not cars. In fact,…

Then perhaps just share your enthusiasm and thoughts with others?

The source of all of our intelligence, or bodily wisdom, and what does it mean to be human? To walk. To be bipeds. Therefore, the most important shoes are the ones that motivate you…

One of the things I love most in my current Airbnb apartment in Mexico City is the massive floor to ceiling windows. Which allow in a massive amount of natural light. I’m so surprised…

As opposed to going endlessly shopping, striving to find the perfect product that perfectly fits your needs.

Why I prefer Japanese photographers over western or American photographers: Japanese photographers focus more on soul and emotion, whereas American and western photographers focus too much on technical aspects. Good Japanese photographers to study…

You’re out and about shooting, strive to show less of the scene. Another reminder that photography and art is more about subtraction than addition.

While here in Mexico City, some thoughts:

Still my favorite city, especially the Roma Norte neighborhood:

Just go to the local market and buy eggs, go to the market and buy “chiccharon pensado” (pressed meat for chiccharon, more meat heavy). Get arrachera on the streets, even bone marrow! And the…

In photography, to disorient your viewer as a good thing.

Don’t put too much faith in your LCD screen, whether it comes to matters of framing, or reviewing. Rather, stick to ‘highlight exposure‘ priority, and just wait later until you download your photos to…

Everyone wants a self driving car or a Tesla or any other futuristic car. But isn’t NOT to own a car better? To just Uber everywhere?

I think so. Then it seems the ideal strategy is not trying to hard to be different. If you are perceived as being the same as others, so be it.

Dear friends, A thought: Perhaps the greatest benefit of street photography is helping us build supreme confidence in ourselves. And if I think about it, even my workshops are mostly about conquering your fears,…

Or in other words, we desire to show off, in a more low-key way?

Some material thoughts: even though there are some materials which are great, aesthetically they don’t really look that nice. For example, I recently got these black merino wool shorts, and even though the material…

In praise of stainless steel, and other materials with extreme durability. Perhaps what this means is find a design that you’re 80% happy with, and no matter how good the design is, sooner or…

More interest in ephemeral, experiential or non tangible things.

10x or 1000x gains versus trivial 3-5% gains.

Currently here Mexico City, and I love it. Great street life, great street food, great restaurant, bread cafés, and very conducive to thinking. I’ve noticed that my thinking here is much more prolific than…

Something I’ve learned and realized about myself: I don’t really care about price that much. Rather, I just desire the best possible thing.

Mexico City— still one of my favorite cities in the world, especially for travel and street photography:

Dear friends, One of our greatest challenges: staying motivated in our photography. How does one have infinite motivation in their photography? I think I got it figured out:

What is the greatest stumbling block for photographers? Motivation. The question: How does one stay productive, motivated and encouraged throughout their photographic life?

Better be a stoic in an ugly harsh world, then epicurean in a beautiful closed world.

How does one gain in their photography? By expanding your perspective, figuratively and literally. Expand your perspective in terms of a photographic subject matter, expand your perspective in terms of your focal length and…

The ethos of the innovator: becoming more unreasonable. What is reason anyways? The status quo. The innovator is extremely dissatisfied with the way things are, and desires to create a novel new solution which…

Just make it into a PDF A new innovation for publishing for photographers: just turn it into a PDF. Why? PDF as the most efficient way to compact your photos. Easy to download, share…

Something I’ve noticed: the higher you go up in society, and the more elite and bougie people become, their clothing becomes more simple and basic, gets more expensive, exclusive, and obscure. With elite brands,…

Super nice. Great weather, just T-shirt weather all day. Good wind, super friendly folks, restaurants are great. Feels like pre-pandemic, all nice places require temperature check upon entering, and they also make you sanitize…

The more obscure the better.

Optimus, optimal means ‘best’. And it seems nowadays we like the notion of ‘optimization’. But the question: How do we apply this notion to photography?

A personal lesson: never be obedient. Especially to your parents. Rather, always do what is best for you, given your own personal instinct and gut. Obedience to others is a vice, a sign of…

An ethical thought: I never want any man to feel guilty towards me. For example, I don’t care when other people are late for my appointment, as I just use that time to read…

I’ve always been a big fan of all you can eat Korean barbecue, and more recently all you can eat shabu shabu. And every birthday I go to Fogo de Chão for unlimited Brazilian…

Then just focus on philosophical introspection, arts creation, writing, and thinking.

Everything else follows.

In life, don’t optimize for comfort. In fact, perhaps a level of pain and discomfort is actually more motivational.

Typically we are taught the impulses are bad. To be impulsive is seen as a lack of willpower, which is considered a bad trait. But what if the opposite were true? That our natural…

I’m about to go to Mexico City for two weeks, with Cindy and Seneca, and always the thing is trying to create the best and most optimal packing set up. But how does one…

Now that I have a kid, I don’t really have the opportunity, nor the strong desire to go to a gym anymore. I would always prefer to be close to Seneca. But as somebody…

It seems that a modern desire we have is to ‘optimize’ things, that is to make things better, more efficient, etc. But the question: Once you have achieved the summit of optimal, … then…

A photography lifestyle concept: rather than forcing ourselves to make photos, just live your life and have your photography accompany it. Photography should be a stimulus to your life and every day living, rather…

A design thought: when it comes to clothes, tools, cars accessories and things, avoid the middle. Either get something that is small, or large. Avoid the middle size.

A good friend of mine, Takeshi told me this pro tip: when it is colder, or you’re traveling, and you want to be as light as possible, just wear two merino wool T-shirts, on…

Some thing I have discovered: almost everything in life, and even most design objects are far more similar than dissimilar. Many of the differences are superficial at best.

We new photographers of the future. What is our new ethos, our goal, and our future?

Contentment is slave morality, or a pacifying morality and ethos.

Some thing I’m really into is trying to find the perfect wallpaper for my iPhone. Same goes with my laptop wallpaper. Ultimately what I discovered is this: best to design your own wallpaper for…

What is the best design? The design which invigorates you. Design which pumps you up, and get you going. Perhaps this is why we also love red cars, as the color red invigorates us.…

What are the best shoes? The shoes which are most barefoot. Who is this I have all these L run shark shoes slippers, which are actually water shoes. They are great because they practically…

I think you could live a happy life anywhere you are. Yet, it seems that in order to become happier, more productive and more photographic, the more you walk the better. Therefore I think…