Life goals and aspirations we do not need to depend on others. To me this is the best type of life goal. Why? Because nothing can thwart our attempt, or accomplishment or achievement. It is all on you.

Once again — set yourself audacious life goals, which you could achieve without the nod or approval of anybody else. Independent aspirations.

MASTER MOTIVATION

Become more:

1. COMPULSION.
2. *BEYOND* PERFECT.
3. BUY BOOKS WHEN YOU WANT TO BUY GEAR.
4. How to Make More Photos
5. JUST MAKE MORE PHOTOS.
6. MY DESIRE TO CAPTURE IT ALL.
7. VISUAL DETOX.
8. Photography is Our Addiction
9. A BILLION PHOTOS
10. THE MOTIVATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER.
11. CURIOUS.
12. PROVOKE.
13. How to Do More Photography
14. PRACTICE.
15. TURBOCHARGE YOURSELF, TURBOCHARGE OTHERS.
16. LIFE IS ALL UPSIDE, NO DOWNSIDE.
17. PHOTO TURBO THOUGHTS
18. No Such Thing as Good or Bad; Simply Stimulating or Not Stimulating
19. The Best Genre is No Genre
20. The Key to Photographic Motivation
21. Pacifying Media, Motivational Media
22. Our Hunger for New Experiences
23. Mental Motivation
24. ALL ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHY.
25. The Photographer as Creator
26. Create *BEYOND* Yourself
27. Let Your Curiosity Drive Your Photography
28. LOVE YOUR PHOTOS.
29. Abstract Monochrome Photography
30. SHOOT WITHOUT THINKING.
31. Just Have Fun With Photography
32. Wu-Wei Effortless Motivation
33. CONSISTENCY x NOVELTY
34. Easily Bored?
35. Face Photography
36. How to Become More Self-Motivated in Your Photography
37. YOUR OWN PHOTOS ARE THE BEST PHOTOS.
38. On Sharing Your Favorite Photos
39. UBERABUNDANCE.
40. Peak Photographic Productivity
41. When to Review Your Photos
42. Serotonin and Photos
43. The Photos You Have Yet Shot are Your Most Important Photos
44. 3 Tips How to Master Photography
45. Do You Like Your Own Photos?
46. The Beauty of Mundane, Everyday Moments
47. Reasons Why to Be Optimistic About the Future
48. A Photography-Full Future
49. The More You Shoot, the Better
50. How Many Photos Should You Shoot Everyday?
51. Why Do We Love Motion?
52. Now is Your Chance to Shoot History in the Making
53. Photo by Photo
54. How and Why Photography Remains So Interesting to Me
55. How to Conquer Your Inner Photographic Critic
56. Thoughts on HDR Photography
57. New Year, New Photos
58. Why Exhibit Your Photos?
59. Photography is Visual Poetry
60. What’s the Purpose of Art?
61. Why Do We Photographers Have Such a Hard Time Staying Inspired and Motivated?
62. On Becoming a More Optimistic Photographer
63. Philosophy of Weather
64. How to Become a More Optimistic Photographer and Human
65. You Are a Creative Photographer
66. JUST SHARE YOUR ARTISTIC PROCESS WITH OTHERS.
67. What Motivates Me to Shoot?
68. How to Maximize Yourself to the Fullest
69. HOW TO MOVE AND MOTIVATE PEOPLE
70. Autotelic Photography
71. The more I go out and photograph the world, the more interesting and beautiful the world becomes
72. Why Photographers Have Such Low Self-Esteem
73. ERIC KIM MOTIVATION
74. Why Am I So Unmotivated?
75. EVERY DAY IS A NEW DAY
76. WHY ARE YOU SO UNMOTIVATED?
77. Movement is Motivation
78. How to Motivate Myself to Make New Photos
79. Never Stop Optimizing
80. How to Help and Motivate Others
81. Feed On Your Own Photos; Let Them Nourish You!
82. Competition is for Suckers
83. A Future Without Travel
84. How Google Can Improve Your Photography
85. DEVELOP YOURSELF.
86. NEVER STOP MOVING!
87. How I Self-Motivate Myself
88. Every Day the Sun is Birthed Anew
89. A Life Without Photography Isn’t a Life Worth Living
90. WIN.
91. 8 Practical Photography Assignments for You
92. Tabula Rasa, Blank Slate, Carte Blanche
93. RELENTLESS
94. LIFE IS THE ULTIMATE RPG
95. HYPER VIGOR
96. FRESH AIR PHOTOS
97. WHO IS GONNA THRIVE IN TODAY’S BRAVE NEW WORLD?
98. ARTISTIC OPTIMISM
99. PASSION, not Discipline
100. Better Bad Photos than No Photos
101. The Empowering Feeling of Failure
102. To Be Human is to Move
103. Enjoy the Process
104. Better Bad Photos than No Photos
105. Why Keep Making New Art and Photos, Indefinitely?
106. Photography Motivation: What if There is Nothing Interesting to Photograph?
107. Move First, Motivation Later
108. Motivation Follows the Action
109. In Praise of Heroes
110. 5 Tips How to Boost Your Creativity
111. How to Have Inspiration to Take Photos in the Suburbs
112. Anything that Motivates You to Move is Good!
113. The Productive Photographer is the Happiest Photographer!
114. Make Today Count!
115. How to Break Through Photographer’s Block
116. The Joyful Photographer
117. The Dancing Photographer
118. The Kaizen Process of Gradual Self-Improvement in Photography
119. It is Your Duty to Make Beautiful Pictures!
120. Making Pictures IS Happiness!
121. NO EXCUSES.
122. The Pomodoro Photography Technique
123. The ABC of Photography
124. Just Shoot It.
125. How to Change the World With Photography
126. How to Find Inspiration in Photography and Life
127. How to Overcome Resistance
128. Create Against the Past
129. How I Motivate Myself to Make Photos
130. Wear Your Camera Like a Necklace or Bracelet
131. Have Your Photos Come to You
132. How to Level Up in Your Photography
133. How Not to Give a Fuck of What Others Think of You
134. How to Overcome Procrastination in Your Photography
135. How to Reinspire Your Photography
136. What is Your Mission in Photography and Life?
137. How to Overcome Photographer’s Block
138. Be a Photographer Now
139. How to Overcome Boredom with Photography
140. Never Stop Growing as a Photographer
141. Why Do You Need “Inspiration” to Shoot?
142. Just Shoot.
143. 5 Things to Do If You’ve Lost Your Passion for Photography
144. How to Have Unshakeable Confidence in Yourself
145. Don’t Give Up On Your Dream
146. Don’t Waste Your Potential
147. Unlock Your Potential
148. Empower Others With Your Photography
149. Why You Shouldn’t Follow Your Passion in Photography

See all articles >

The most virtuous thing you can focus on in photography is yourself as your own subject matter. And this is the thing that I find interesting: as I photograph myself, I no longer associate the photo of myself as myself. Rather, as something else.

Thus this is the irony: the more I photograph myself, the less I become myself. The more I detach myself. My ego dissolving. Or at least my ego detaching from my image of self.

Some simple yet ambitious photography ideas:

1. Photograph yourself every day. Treat yourself as your own ultimate photo subject. The great thing about photographing yourself is that you can never refuse yourself.
2. Create your own photography platform: For example, I deleted Instagram and stopped using Facebook, and instead built arsbeta.com. I believe in this short life of ours, rather than become the guy with 1 trillion social media followers, isn’t it more interesting to create your own social media?
3. Innovate new ways of sharing your photos: for example, creating slideshows of your photos with each photo displaying for only half a second. Or sharing your photos as PDFs.
4. Photograph and shoot videos of your entire daily routine. Instead of shooting it on your iPhone, just shoot it with your Ricoh GR 3 camera, with ERIC KIM WRIST STRAP II.

What does it mean to live a better life, and how does one live a better life?

Some quick thoughts on how to stimulate your thinking:

1. One new hack I’m experimenting with is as soon as you wake up, take a cold shower, drink a cup of strong coffee, and just take a quick loop around the block. Starting off the day with sun exposure, exposure to outdoors weather, fresh air, and even the cold outside is a good way to get your body going, and your mind moving. Also to expedite things, brew the cup of coffee the night before, and just put in the fridge. Then as soon as you wake up you can drink coffee immediately.

2. Music. Nietzsche one said that life without music would be a mistake. Therefore, listening to certain types of music can stimulate your thinking. I also recommend more bass. The best headphones I’ve discovered are the “in ear monitors”, which are noise isolating, yet not noise canceling.

3. Philosophical films: Movies which philosophical also get me thinking. The Matrix, 2001 space odyssey, blade runner, and other dystopian sci fi films. Often ironically enough, mindless action films can also get me going, get my mind thinking.

The reason why I think crypto is the future is that as time goes on, people will care more about privacy, security, ownership, and cutting out the middleman. Also, vendors will not want to pay the 2.9% transaction fee to square, visa, or traditional merchants. Even though Visa and credit card transactions are quite fast, they are still not fast enough. Maybe Digibyte (DGB) can be a viable small transaction crypto, because it is so fast.

For big transactions, bitcoin is fine. Because if you’re going to buy a car or a house in bitcoin, you could wait a little bit for the transaction to process.

For cyber security and other future crypto technology innovations, Chainlink is interesting to me.

For programming on the blockchain, Ethereum is the one.

Extravagant means to diverge greatly. Typically we have been taught that to be extravagant is not a good thing, because it is not economical.

But perhaps in order to live a more interesting and beautiful life, we must strive to live a more extravagant life, and to become more extravagant in our spirit and in our soul. Also more extravagant in our aesthetics, outward appearances, and inner thoughts.

I don’t like buying things, because my tastes always change.

Truth be told, I’m actually not that different from the average American who is into consumerism and buying things. But the reason I don’t like to buy new things is that every year, or maybe every six months, my taste aesthetics and approaches change.

Therefore maybe one of the practical things for me to not buy things, or own things, is because I don’t like feeling stuck.

NEW YEAR NEW PHOTOGRAPHIC YOU.

Dear friend,

2022 is here. Why do I love the new year so much?

New photos await you, and a ‘new you’ awaits you.

1. Get rid of the past baggage

Carte blanche mentality. That which used to define you is no longer you. The new year means:

The opportunity to shed your old skin, and create a new skin.

A new year means a new rebirth. For you to declare new ideals for yourself, and to re-challenge what you used to hold true.

2. New dreams, new aspirations?

What dreams and aspirations do you have in your photography? To publish? To have a solo exhibition?

I have realized with goals– there are no ‘bad’ goals. Just honest and true ones.

It also helps to have a reason why you are interested in doing xyz. Ask zen of ERIC why app to figure out more of why you want these certain goals?

3. To maximize the exploit advantages, and disregard disadvantages

Certainly there are certain places, environments, neighborhoods, and conditions which are less favorable. However, in spite of all these disadvantages, how can you maximum exploit them to your benefit?

For example, I prefer the hustle and bustle of a Mexico City over the suburbs of LA. However, rather than desiring something else, just maximize and leverage the benefits of wherever you are. For example, one of the big benefits of being in LA during the winter time is the sun. Therefore the wise thing to do is spend as much time outdoors as humanly possible during the winter time, with a maximum amount of sun exposure. Also, being able to walk 30,000 steps a day.

Also, it seems that not that many people have done suburban photography. Therefore, my personal interest is to try to make a good suburb Photography project.

4. New life experiments?

I still believe there are lots of new lifestyle innovations waiting to happen. For example in the past, I’ve experimented with nomadic living, and now, I’m interested in experimenting with suburban living. How can you live a virtuous and interesting life in the suburbs? My new goal.

Also, being flexible with your photography. Rather than sticking to a certain genre photography, just take your present day reality, and seek to make interesting photos of wherever you are.

5. New techniques and approaches in your photography

Experiment with new technical approaches in your photography. Different metering systems, different compositions, and different ways to frame your photos. Also experiment with your aesthetics.

The new year as an opportunity for you to get rid of antiquiative notions in photography. This year you are the new innovator in photography. 

6. Starting a new folder

The way that I organize my photos is by creating new folders based on the year. For example, this year in my dropbox I will create a 2022 folder, and fill it anew with new photos. The most interesting photos are the ones you have yet photographed. And consider all the new exciting adventures you can embark on this year.

7. Invest in experiences

This year, use more money on new adventures. Go on little family road trips, rent a nice Airbnb, or go on short travel trips. Or go on bigger ones. It is up to you. Use your car, go on a flight, or go on an epic hike or walk.

Money is always well spent if you use it to spend on gasoline, airfare, or accommodations. New adventures mean that you will be pushed outside of your comfort zone, and you’ll also discover new opportunities to photograph. The more opportunities you have to make new photographs, the better.

8. Create your own book

Make your own photography book. Make it available open and free as a PDF, or get it printed locally somewhere. The simpler the better.

Even something you could try to do is print your photos on newspaper print. Th cheaper it is, the more easily accessible you can make it, and the more widely you can distribute it. Cheaper and many is better than expensive prohibitive printing. no need for a fancy hard cover book. The more flexible your printing options, the better. 

9. Becoming the uber visual artist

Also this new year is a chance for you to become a greater visual artist. To break beyond just photography, and become something more. Photography is only a means to create an expression, not the end in itself.

I actually believe the best way to brand yourself is not as a photographer, but to brand yourself as a visual artist.

So this year, the next time someone asks you what you do for a living, just say that you’re a visual artist. Much more fun and interesting than telling people what your boring job is.

10. Becoming more childlike, and becoming more creative

This year I want to become more childlike, and to become more unrestrained my creativity. Let us consider how children are able to create without any boundaries or obstructions. Let us strive to emulate children.

ERIC KIM WORKSHOPS

Invest in a new photographic you:

• DISCOVER YOUR UNIQUE PHOTOGRAPHIC VISION WORKSHOP 2022 (SAN FRANCISCO, JAN 29th, 2022) – NEW!

HAPTIC PRODUCTS

New year, new strap:

1. HENRI NECK STRAP MARK IV
2. ERIC KIM NECK STRAP MARK II
3. The OG HENRI WRIST STRAP CREMA BROWN // PHANTOM BLACK WRIST STRAP ON AMAZON

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Share the motivation

If you have a photographic friends needing some motivation, feel free to forward this to them!

ERIC KIM MOTIVATION NEWSLETTER

In this new year, better to brand yourself as a visual artist than as a photographer. Visual art is much more open, and free.

To see if I can walk 30,000 steps a day. Will this lead to more creative ideas?

To “appropriate” means to “make one’s own”. Why is appropriation seen as so bad and so evil?

What is life? And what do we want from life? I think it is growth. Improved nutrition, improved upwards growth, and increased expansion. The desire to extract more, to extend more, to create more, to multiply more, and to extend our reach and influence.

To appropriate more materials, and more matter, and to refashion this material into our artworks.

Why do we love the New Year’s so much? My theory: a new year is pregnant with new hopes, new dreams, new desires, new visions.

Therefore our New Year’s goal is to become a newer, better self.