January 2022

What actually interests you, and why?

…

What Interests You?Read More »

A thought on my mind:

When it comes to finances, time, design, etc … how much buffer is enough buffer?

For example, with liquid cash (USD in your checking or savings account) — how much is enough?

For example, it seems wise to get to the airport early. People say get to the airport at least an hour early for domestic flights, at least 2 hours for international flights. But for myself, I add at least an hour of buffer for each — 2 hours early for domestic flights (even though I got TSA pre-check), and at least 3 hours for international flights (also, we don’t check in luggage or baggage — only carry on). And the upside is that I actually like hanging out at airports — so I am able to get the upside of both. But a big lesson:

When in doubt, spend extra money to *NOT* have to go on that early-morning flight.

I prefer flights in the afternoon, so I don’t need to sacrifice my sleep in order to get to the airport early.

Back to the financial buffer thing

A simple thought:

If you don’t think you got enough financial buffer, you probably don’t.

And also with finances, when in doubt, add more buffer. Because having additional cash lying around can be a very good thing, for example, when Bitcoin dips you can buy more at a discount.

Because black is so impractical.

We are always in motion, even when sleeping, resting or napping. Why? Our bodily chemicals are always moving. And our body actively is rebuilding while we sleep and rest. To sleep much is also a virtue in body building, muscle building, strength building.

What is death? When our bodies no longer move — either internally or externally. No more breathing.

Source—

Plato, Theaeet. 160d .
Homer, and Herakleitos, and the whole company which say that all things are in motion and in a state of flux. Cf. 152 D. H.
Plato Kratylos, 401d.According to Herakleitos all things are in motion and nothing abides.Cf. 402a, and frag. 41; also 412d, 440c.

1. For camera, RICOH GR III.
2. For laptop, maxed out MacBook Air space grey
3. For phone, the newest iPhone Mini
4. For mirrorless strap, HENRI NECK STRAP MARK IV in PHANTOM BLACK. For Ricoh GR, ERIC KIM NECK STRAP MARK II.
5. For wallet, ERIC KIM WALLET

After much experimentation, I think I’ve discovered the perfect outfit:

1. For T-shirt, black merino wool Outlier.nyc shirt model 1.
2. For shoes, all black Nike free 5.0. No socks.
3. For leggings, black Uniqlo heattech leggings. For shorts, black Uniqlo ultra stretch athletic shorts.
4. For boxers, ex officio black boxer briefs.
5. For glasses, Lindberg. Titanium for maximum lightness. In black.
6. No watch. Neither Kanye West nor Elon musk wears a watch. In an interview Elon Musk said he doesn’t wear a watch, if he needs to check the time he just checks his phone. Apple Watch, no matter the model is bad because it will become outdated, and you need to charge it. If you do really really want to watch for aesthetics, just get a Rolex.

All clothes in size medium.

Better to produce your own adrenaline internally, then getting it secondhand or elsewhere.

For example, in the world in which we got porn, and even virtual reality porn, POV porn, etc., what is the purpose of pursuing women in real life? I say it is a matter of hormone secretion, receiving the hormone signals from the woman, and the difficulty in drama between you and the woman. Because if you are watching videos or images of a woman on a computer, and it is all already pre-recorded, there is actually no interaction between you and the woman. Whereas in real life, if you try to stare or make eye contact with a beautiful woman, there is the risk that she will notice you doing so.

I think this is the real joy of “pick up artists, etc — The joy of the difficulty in challenge of charming a woman and exercising ones personal charm and prowess, rather than the actual sexual act. Imagine an alternative approach in which the goal wasn’t actually to bed somebody, but, the joy of just the social interaction.

Passive versus active adrenaline

I always thought it to be a bit bizarre how so many people are into sports. But this is what I’ve realized: The reason why people love sports so much is that you put yourself in the shoes of the athlete, and you think you are the athlete, dominating the competition.

And when we witness this, we get a huge boost of adrenaline, and uplifting hormones, which we get secondhand from watching the athlete.

But, this is all passive. Isn’t it better for you to just play the sport yourself?

What is the best life like? A life of leisure. A life in which you have maximum mind space, as few distractions as possible, and supreme focus.

Also, I’ve discovered that you need lots of lots of leisure, and lots of lots of mindspace, and lots of free and undistracted time, in order to have interesting thoughts. I think this is why true philosophers of the past needed abundant leisure in order to come up with interesting thoughts, or even have the mindspace to ruminate on thoughts, reflect, meditate, and then write and share their ideas.

Much of modern society and living our distractions, “the siren of luxury”. But, what we really seek is leisure, not luxury.

…

Leisure > LuxuryRead More »

The solo stack, the solo solution. This means only pursue things that you can do by yourself, things that you could do solo. Being able to do things and create things without needing the skills and expertise of others.

Lessons I’ve learned on becoming a new parent:

…

New Parent LessonsRead More »

What drives my personal curiosity is not finding answers, but having certain interesting questions to mull over.

What is philosophy anyways? To me, it is about challenging conventions, and wondering why things are the way they are, or trying to challenge the purpose of things.

My thought:

Rather than bemoaning everyone is always on their phone, isn’t it better to just discover new and more virtuous ways to use your phone?

Simple ideas:

1. Blog and write from your phone. IA WRITER and WordPress app. Or just directly blog from your phone using the Safari web browser.
2. Use Apple photos to review and select your photos. Nowadays what I’ve been doing is using my MacBook laptop to import my Ricoh GR III JPEG images, and when it is all sync on iCloud, I could also flag select and filter my photos from the Photos app on my phone.
3. Use Zen Brush 2 app on iPhone to make calligraphy on the go.
4. Use Procreate app on the iPhone to make abstract images, or to glitch and edit your photos.
5. Read books, e-books an EPUB format with the built-in books app on the iPhone. Honestly, the Books app on iPhone is one quadrillion times better than the Google play equivalent. For me this is enough to justify never buying another android phone ever again, and only sticking to iPhone.
6. Use voice dictate, and Siri voice dictate to take out notes. Also, nowadays a lot of my blogging is just done through my voice.

What’s the purpose of humanity — for what? Wherefore? Towards what end?

Silicon Valley says—

Let us all get on a spaceship and ditch this dying earth! To Mars and beyond!

The socialists and Christian say: “let us end suffering on planet earth! No more pain and suffering for anybody!”

The utilitarians say: “let us make everybody equal on planet earth! Let us create a society in which nobody needs to work or labor or toil anymore, in order for all of us to pursue our own creative and artistic ends!”

My practical thought is this: don’t concern yourself too much with “humanity“. Rather, focus on your solo self.

With design and life matters, strive to make it as simple and minimal as possible.

What if the world doesn’t need “saving”? Then what?

Mobile computers (phones), more walking (30,000 steps a day challenge), mobile website design, mobile apps, mobile platforms, mobile living (mobile homes, the new “overlander” movement), hiking, travel, nomadic living, etc.

Let personal curiosity, personal enthusiasm and fun and play drive and motivate you. Not money, “success”, etc.

What if in the future, maybe 30 years from now, you could buy a house with just one bitcoin?

For example, the number of bitcoin you own might not change, but, the value of each individual bitcoin will go up. Especially, as the public slowly but surely will lose faith in Fiat currency.

EK EK EK EK EK
I can do this all day day
Walking with the thoughts, I got a verbal AK
I spray and shower, don’t count hours or days or care to amaze.

I stay focused on myself- my self passion, my life. My kid and my wife.

Why impress others?

It gives us a power boost, or self esteem boost. The ego which feeds itself based on the feedback and reactions of others.

But what if you no longer care to impress others? Is it possible for a certain ego to feed on itself, without needing to recourse to impress others? Or in other words, is it possible to increase your ego, in isolation? I think so. As long as you have access to the Internet, and can publish your thoughts and artwork.

Always challenge the Why? of something.

…

FIRST PRINCIPLES.Read More »

A Hidden bias I’ve discovered within photographers is this: it is often said that if you shoot a photo of somebody else’s artwork, it is a very little artistic worth. For example, let us say that you’re walking around the San Francisco mission district and you see a piece of street art that you love. You photograph it. But inherent in that, you have identified something that you found worthy to be photographed, you select the exposure of the photo, and you decide whether to shoot it in black-and-white. This is all a creative act.

Now , there is certainly a hierarchy of things. I actually do think that there are certain things that we do which are more creatively innovative than other things. But, ask yourself whether you’re aiming for originality, or just having fun and being creative for the sake of being creative.

In photography, in order to make more powerful and enigmatic and interesting photos, best to show less. For example when you’re framing, don’t show the whole story, just show one portion that you find the most interesting. Let the imagination of the viewer do the rest.

Right now, everyone wants to become YouTube famous, or Instagram famous, or now even TikTok famous. But, if you use any of these platforms, you become a digital indentured servant. It is called digital sharecropping, which is, you build your land and platform on someone else’s land, thinking it is yours, but in actuality, it is not. You have no control. And even if you become the richest person on YouTube, you’re still a slave to YouTube-Google. Even if you’re the number one most followed person on Instagram, you’re still a slave to Facebook.

TikTok seems to be the new up-and-coming competitor, yet the reason why we should be very suspicious and wory of TikTok is that ultimately it belongs to a Chinese corporation.

Soft censorship

The thing that is interesting about social media is that they do not overtly sensor you, rather, they only low-key and soft sensor you. For example, if you say something which is controversial or anti-the terms and conditions of the given platform, they will either not show it in the newsfeeds of your followers, reduce the ranking, or maybe get rid of it all together. A lot of people in Internet rally that certain corporations are tyrant centers, but they also fail to realize that in fact, in America corporations are not bound by free-speech. Conceptually and legally in America, we are given the right to free speech. But, if you use Instagram Twitter Facebook YouTube or any other platform, these are not government platforms.

Even a tangentially related notion is that regarding Tesla, and Tesla vehicles. I’m not 100% sure about the terms and conditions of Tesla vehicles, but technically you do not really 100% own your car. I believe legally, you are not allowed to hack or modify the firmware, and also even if you purchased the auto pilot self driving feature, it is under the terms and conditions of Tesla.

You control the platform

If you pay for your own website hosting, and if you use an open source platform like wordpress.org, you own the platform, and you own yourself. Just like Jay Z said, until you own yourself you can’t be free, until you own yourself you can’t be me.

Why become an owner, and why own things?

When it comes to publishing your artwork or thoughts, this is what I have learned: if you do it on any social media platform, it will ultimately ruin and harm you. How? It seems that essentially all social media platforms are predicated on metrics. Likes, comments, views, chairs, etc. Therefore, if you start to become trained to think that the worthiness of your artwork or thoughts is predicated on these metrics. And also, slowly but surely overtime, you start to only create and share things which will placate to a popular audience, or to your followers.

And we all know that popular is bad. If popularity was the most important thing in the world, then McDonald’s the best “restaurant”, Starbucks would serve the best coffee, Netflix would have the best cinema, Facebook would be the best publishing platform, and a Toyota Corolla would be the best car. Also, that smoking is good, drinking Coca-Cola is good, and sugar is good.

Why blogging is great

I still think that blog is very underrated. Because if you have a thought, opinion, photo or video, audio, or artwork, they can be represented in a digital way, the blog is the ultimate publishing and sharing platform. To publish something is essentially free and instantaneous, can be edited at any time, and you could combine any amount of media on your blog or in a given blog post.

Also, hyperlinking. The ability to link within your own website, and to link to outside websites, this is essentially the foundation of the Internet.

The difference between an aspirational reality, and that lived reality this: the aspirational lifestyle is what we desire to do, or how we desire to structure our days in our lives. The lived reality is based on your experience.

For example, aspirationally we like the notion of black cars, and black phones and black devices, and black clothes. But if you live in hot and sunny Southern California, or any other hot weather city you will quickly discover that black is very bad. A black car is the worst type of color if you live in Southern California, as you literally spend 90% of your day cleaning your car, waxing your car, and also blasting your AC to keep your interior cool. Also, the downside of a black car in Southern California is longevity. Paint of black cars simply don’t last. Even if you get a matte black wrap on your car, it might only last three years tops.

Even something subtle I’ve discovered is that living in Southern California, and when it’s really hot and sunny outside, if you own a black phone, it overheats very easily. When the phone is too hot, it automatically makes the screen much more dim, to prevent the phone from overheating. If you live in Southern California, buying a white iPhone is much more smart. Also, if you live in Southern California do not buy a dark car. The best car color for Southern California is either white, yellow, and if you want something more edgy, go for red.

Avoid dreams, or fantasies.

In America, we are taught that having a dream is a good thing. The dream job, the dream lifestyle, the dream girlfriend or wife, the dream car, the dream everything. Even Martin Luther King Jr. said I had a dream. But is having a dream such a good thing?

If you think about it, dreams are not real. When you sleep, you have a dream which is not rooted in reality. I say better than dreams is challenges. Because a lot of peoples dreams are materialistic and consumptive dreams. But the true order of things is to do, create, be active, and change and accomplish things. Therefore, if you set certain challenges for yourself, you actually have the opportunity to use your strength and ingenuity to attempt to achieve these challenges. And once you’re done with the challenge, make an even greater one.

For example, if you’re somebody who is always out and about, maybe it does make sense for you to spend a lot of money on your phone. But if you’re mostly homebound, don’t waste your money on the phone, especially if you don’t even use your phone to make phone calls much.

Also, I thought: now that I spend so much time outdoors, walking 30,000 steps a day, to me it actually makes sense for me to optimize the design for my website to be mobile first. Why is that? Because now, I am mobile first. Nowadays, I think I spend less than 30 minutes a day in front of my laptop.

If you’re at home all day, or working from home, you probably don’t need a laptop anymore. Just get a Mac mini.

First thing about your life, and your lifestyle, and then the products after the fact.

In America, and I suppose elsewhere in the world, products are an aspirational thing. That is, we want to buy the all-wheel-drive Subaru in order to do more hiking and camping and nature stuff.

Similarly speaking, we want or we think we want to buy a certain camera in order to do more photography, which is our passion.

Similarly speaking, the Lamborghini is also an aspirational thing, as we think that by buying the Lamborghini it will make us cooler, sexier, more powerful, more confident, and more egocentric.

Same goes with Apple products: we think that by buying the newest iPhone, or the newest apple something will make us more technologically suave, more current, more modern, more productive, more efficient, and happier.

With Tesla, we think that buying the Tesla will make us more superior, more futuristic, and also make our lives more efficient, and proud.

The best advice for new parents, or parents to be

Funny enough, the best advice I got about becoming a new parent is this: choose a password for your computer that you could type with one hand. My personal takeaway is this: get a phone that you could use with one hand easily, and also with your less dominant hand. In other words, no matter how good the iPhone pro may be, only buy an iPhone mini.

What is this? In lived reality, when you have a kid, you are typically holding the kid with one arm, and doing something else with other arm. For example, holding the baby with one arm, and using your other hand to warm up the bottle, or holding the baby with one arm, and using the other arm to open and close doors. Therefore the simple take away is this: we should optimize for one handed design. That is, being able to easily use your iPhone with one hand.

The genius of Steve Jobs was that at least with the original iPhone 4s, which is probably the last iPhone that he guided, he made the point that one should be able to reach every single corner of the screen with just their thumb. Even when the original iPhone 5 came out, there was a huge hubbub, because honestly, the only reason they made the iPhone 5 a little bit taller, was to add a few inches of screen to their marketing materials, which was in order to drive more iPhone sales, rather than considering whether it was actually the right design choice.

Even nowadays, the drive for the iPhone to keep getting bigger and bigger is a bad one. It is a slavish imitation of Apple copying Samsung phones, the whole “phablet” notion, in order to get more people to upgrade and buy the newest iPhone.

Your actual lifestyle versus your aspirational lifestyle

Much things in life are aspirational. That is, we desire to become something or become someone, and we desire to purchase certain products in order to become more of that thing.

Therefore, perhaps the wisest thing we can do is this: clearly identify what we are, what our current lived reality is, and whether we actually do want to live a different style of life, or mode of living.

Assuming life is a stream of becoming, then the best question to ask yourself is this: “What or whom do I desire to become?“

Certainly, you don’t want to become anyone else but yourself. And even if you wanted to, you physically cannot become anyone else but yourself.

I think it is good to have role models, and heroes. Yet, they should only serve as motivation and stimulus to you, for you to become more of yourself.

No the question is, what does it mean to become yourself? I say it is to identify your strengths, your Archimedes lever in life, and best maximize your energy and strength to exploit that. Also, to become less distracted and more focused. To become stronger, both physiologically (muscular strength) and mental strength (willpower).

And, it isn’t a matter of becoming rich or famous, or influential. Because even if you become a billionaire, you’re still you. The better question is asking yourself how do you want to build your body, your mind, and what kind of art do desire to create?

It isn’t pleasure seeking, or novelty seeking, or material gathering that we think is the goal. Even if you became a billionaire and bought every single exotic sports car on the planet, enjoyed every single sexual pleasure, and traveled everywhere in the world, you would probably bore quickly. Then your next true task in life is self development. And sharing your insights with others.

Filters are good.

For example, photo filters are good. To shoot without a filter and digital seems a bit silly.

Email filters are good. You only want to filter the most important information of signal to you, while filtering out the noise and spam.

Also if you think about it, all the photos that we make are our filter of our reality. We don’t photograph everything we see. We only photograph that which is filtered through our perception, and what we perceive is interesting.

Without a coffee filter, we would not be able to drink our delicious coffee.

Therefore I suppose the practical takeaway is this: filter wisely.

…

ERIC KIM LIFE PHOTO STREAMRead More »

Pain is good. Why? When you experience pain, it is your body telling you what not to do. A body that cannot feel pain would probably lead to death, or severely adverse health consequences.

Therefore as a practical note, don’t take painkillers. I haven’t taken a single painkiller in almost 8 years, why? I want the memory of the pain to embed itself into my memory, as if an instructor told me exactly what I shouldn’t do.

Same goes when I’ve had experiences of extreme stomach pain, from either eating spoiled food, or eating at unsavory places. This is what my pain has taught me— when it comes to food and beverages, when in doubt, throw it out.

Or similar experiences, the pain of sleep deprivision or sleeping poorly. This pain has taught me then saying importance of sleep. That sleep is 1 trillion times more important than any ounce of additional productivity I might be able to squeeze out. Thus, no more coffee after 12:00 noon. Also, in the evenings no exposures to screens, and also another note, don’t watch any movies or read books, as it often messes with your sleep and dreams.

Upload it, then delete it.

I use the ‘Downloads’ folder of my Mac Laptop as my ‘scratch drive’– in which every day, I have my working files there, and at the end of the day or night, I delete them. Same goes with my Desktop (where my screenshots on my laptop are automatically saved) — once I am done, I delete them.

What to do with files you’re not sure what to do with? Just upload them to you WordPress media blog, then delete them.

And when really in doubt, just delete it.

It is currently the year 2022– it is insane, we are living in the superfuture. But what do we want out of this uber futuristic current reality, and the future ahead of us?

…

2022Read More »

Just Use And Repurpose What You Already Got

Rather than buying something new — better to simply use what you already got at home (Cindy and I call this “home shopping”), and repurpose it, or rediscover it?

For example, instead of buying new clothes or new outfit, maybe it’s better for you to just dig into your closet and just wear something that you haven’t worn in a while. Also, even to use the clothes you already got, but to reconfigure it in new ways, or to match your outfit and unique combination is in itself a new outfit.

Rather than buying the newest iPhone, or any new device, maybe better to just uninstall superfluous apps from your phone to make it run faster, or just figure out new ways to use it in new creative ways? Or better yet, maybe it’s best for you to just use your phone less?

Maybe instead of buying a new car, best figure out how to modify and customize what you already got. Maybe it is more interesting to refurbish your old car, add new paint or a wrap, get new rims, or even figure out ways to shave off the emblems or superfluous elements from it? Even more clever, figure out ways to walk more, and drive less?

Maybe instead of buying new headphones, maybe it’s better to go more ghetto and just play music off the speaker on your phone? On your laptop? Or just listen to new music? Or actually listen to less music, and enjoy more peace and silence instead?

Maybe instead of buying a new house, moving into a new apartment, or remodeling or refurbishing your home, better to just go on more adventures outside of the house instead?

I forget who said it, but studying history as a good way to avoid mistakes in the present and future. Avoid the follies of the past.

In order to become a better photographer, think less. If you see something which interests you, instinctually photograph it without thinking. Do not think of the consequences, whether you might make somebody upset, or how you might be perceived.

…

Shoot Before ThinkingRead More »

Similarly speaking, health isn’t the opposite of sickness.

A turbo thought while embarking on my arbitrary 30,000 steps a day challenge: perhaps it is better to have a challenge, rather than a goal. What is the difference? The purpose of a challenge is not necessarily to hit it. Rather, a challenge is a certain testing of your will and your strength, and for filling a personal curiosity, whether it is possible for you or not.

To become growth focused means, will this thing you do cause you to grow or not? Perhaps then optimizing for growth is a good one.

For example, growing your muscles, growing your mind, growing your endurance, and growing your impact.

How does one become stronger? Perhaps we need to become more cold and callous, especially when it comes to those around us, and the world around us. For us to become more self focused, and avoiding the trap of thinking of doing “good“. Because often when we try to do “good“, we actually end up doing more harm than good.

Why experience ? The philosophy of experience — experience as a means to philosophy ideas?

Why share your experiences?

The photographer as somebody who share their experiences via photos? Also the vlogger is also somebody who shares their life experiences, but with video.

Perhaps the best style of living is in which you do not see a clear demarcation between indoors and outdoors. Maybe the future designs of homes will be more Japanese or Korean; meaning, they let in the natural elements outside indoors. More glass, less separation between outdoors and indoors, more exposure to natural light and natural foliage. Easy access to walk indoors and outdoors. No concern about locking doors.

More open windows, less clear demarcations between public and private life. A blending of public and private.

One of the best ideas I’ve gotten from the philosopher Nassim Taleb is the notion of via negativa. That, in order to improve things, best to subtract things.

This agrees a lot with my thoughts on minimalism and photography. that is, in order to become a better photographer, and a more focused and productive photographer, figure out what to get rid of, rather than what to add.

For example, the less camera gear you own the better. With composition the fewer distractions in your photo the better. Also monochrome photography is good because it subtracts color.

Editing down your portfolio

Typically speaking, the fewer photos you show the better. For example, if you meet other photographers, better to show them your best number one photo, than 10 above average photos.

Or, on your portfolio website, just show your top five photos. I like the number five because it is the number of digits in your hand. Also, it is easy to remember five images, difficult to remember any more. Even with the most famous photographer of all time, Henri Cartier Bresson, his most famous images are only about three.

What to subtract?

What else can we subtract when it comes to photography? Or what are some other creative constraints we could add to our photography? Some thoughts:

1. The zen of one camera, one lens
2. Restricting yourself to one focal length
3. Restricting yourself to only your blog, deleting and getting rid of social media
4. Subtracting color from your photos, only shooting black-and-white
5. Not using raw, only JPEG
6. Subtract your subscription services. For example, cancel your adobe subscription, and just use Apple photos instead. Also if you want to use Photoshop or indesign, just buy affinity designer and affinity publisher on your Mac. For myself, I am anti-subscription model. I like the idea that I could just pay a premium price, and just own it forever.
7. Via negativa location: this means, get rid of the desire to be anywhere else then you are currently. That is, imagine if you could never drive, or travel anywhere else besides the 2 mile radius of your own home. If that were the fact, how could you maximize it for yourself, in terms of making photos?
8. Anti-print: another thought, what if you could only publish your photos digitally? That means, only on your own website, blog, or as a PDF e-book? How could this thought liberate you?
9. What if for a whole year, you did not allow yourself to acquire any new camera equipment? If that were the fact, how could you maximize the camera are you currently own?
10. Anti film? While I do believe there to be many virtues of film photography, I also think that it holds back a lot of photographers back. It seems that a lot of photographers who seek a certain look or legitimacy shoot film. And it also becomes kind of a cult, which is, when you have a preference for film photography, you almost see digital photography as less legitimate, and the devil. Personally speaking, I’ve made the biggest strides in my photography re-accepting digital photography as my preferred medium. Digital is at least 1 trillion times cheaper than film photography, 1 trillion times faster to process, and publish. Shooting digital photography is like driving a Tesla model S plaid, and shooting film is like driving an old Toyota Tercel. Also, philosophically speaking, better to be future oriented than retrospective. Film photography and romanticism says that the best which has ever existed was in the past, and can never be superseded. The philosophy of futurism and growth is the opposite: the best is yet to come, which is a great and optimistic thought for me.

BOOKS

1. Zen photography PDF
2. Monochrome manual PDF

More books

HAPTIC PHOTO SUPPLY CO

Achieve your personal maximum in photography:

1. Henri Neck Strap MARK IV
2. ERIC KIM NECK STRAP MARK II

All products

Amazon Prime Products

---

What I’m doing

1. Reading ready player 2 ebook
2. Walking 30,000 steps a day
3. Thinking about embodied reality vs virtual reality

All thoughts

---

Minimalism photo challenge

Your photography challenge is minimalism. Strive to make the most minimist photos possible, and upload it to arsbeta.com for feedback

If you want to share minimalist thoughts with your friends, feel free to forward this to them!

---

ERIC KIM NEWS LINK

Some personal philosophical meanderings: what is the point of embodied reality, and why embodied reality when we got the internet, the metaverse, virtual reality and online things?

…

Why Embodied Reality?Read More »

By photographing it, you own it?

The other day I saw a brand new red Porsche GT 3 in a parking lot, and enthralled by design, I showed a bunch of pictures of it. And this is a funny thought: maybe instead of owning things, there’s actually much more effective to just photograph it. Why? Because ownership is a mindset. If you own it in your mind, it is almost like owning it in real life. Also, much more effective.

What is the meta-verse anyways? The meta-verse is just your mind and imagination. Ideally, I would not own anything in real life. I would almost desire a Diablo 2 horodric cube to store all my possessions, so it does not take up any space or real estate in embodied reality.

Wealth is a mindset

Something else I’ve discovered: the reason why I like to own bitcoin, is that it makes me feel wealthy. Knowing that I have bitcoin in the back my head gives me a hidden confidence boost, and a feeling of wealth and riches. And what is the benefit of feeling rich and wealthy anyways? Fewer distractions, an improved focus and confidence in your creative pursuits.

Also, the upside of feeling abundance is you know what you really care for, and what you don’t care for. If you know that you no longer need to make money, what do you decide to do with your time in your life is actually a reflection of what your truly passionate about. And isn’t this the greatest life possible?

A thought about design: assuming that black-and-white photography is our passion, when it comes to design, technically anything we photograph will only render as either black or white. Therefore, maybe the idea then is when it comes to purchasing things in real life, assume that it will only render as either black or white.

For example, let us say that you buy that brand new hyper sports car, maybe the best is to buy a white car with black accents, with maximum contrast which will show up in the photograph. Because if you buy a red car, and you shoot black-and-wife photos, you will not be able to see the red in your photographs. Therefore, if you buy a brand new Porsche GT 3, or even a brand new Lamborghini, maybe it is actually best to buy it in white, with as many black accessories as possible.

The downside of buying a car which is all black is that you don’t see any of the design subtleties, and you cannot actually see much of a silhouette.

Also, maybe when it comes to fashion, the best fashion design is actually both black and white. Not all black everything. For example, if you desire to wear a black shirt and black pants, may be best to wear white shoes to show off the contrast. Or have black shoes with white stripes. Or another thought is if you wear a black shirt, wear white pants.

Add more white to your life

It seems that nowadays black is the dominant color. But, do you remember how revolutionary Apple was when it first made the white iPod, and the white headphones? Even today, Apple only makes its AirPods in all white. In the all white design for the AirPods is great, as you could see the black accent marks.

Matte white is the Future?

It seems that matte black is a bit played out, that means, everyone has already done it. Much more innovative to do matte white.

Then perhaps, your next Apple device should be white. Also I’ve discovered the downside of owning a black iPhone is that it gets really hot, especially in Southern California summertime. If you own a white iPhone, it stays much more cool, therefore perhaps it has better battery life. Also, if you think about it, the silver aluminum of a MacBook laptop is more pure than a space gray one. Why? Space gray is simply a coating applied to the aluminum, whereas the aluminum is actually the pure substance. In Japanese aesthetics, they call this honesty of materials. For example, if something is plastic, don’t try to make it look like fake wood. If something is wood, don’t paint over it and make it look like something else.

What is the mindset of the entrepreneur? And what is an entrepreneurial mindset? Some thoughts:

1. Can I build it and design it myself? Rather than buying it, we have much more pride in building it, and designing it ourselves.
2. It doesn’t matter that much to be unique or different, the more important question is whether we are passionate about it or not. For example, since high school and college, when I discovered that photography was my passion, I like the idea that maybe I could make photography my living. However, I actually did not think it was possible. Therefore the pragmatist in me strove towards marketing instead, which I knew would be much more secure as a profession. There has been many photographers who have come before me, yet I was able to pay my own unique way, combining my interests and expertise in sociology, marketing, social media, blogging, education, and the Internet. Therefore, my desire to be a photographer was not unique, but it was my passion. No need to be different.
3. Producer mindset over consumer mindset: are supreme joy isn’t producing and creating, rather than buying it. I call this producerism.