I don’t think people want a ‘better’ life, or necessarily to be richer. What people really want is to live a more *exciting* life.

Some tips:

1. Look at your photos as small thumbnails, to quickly sort through them and flag them.
2. Even though you may be tempted, don’t turn your photos into full screen until the very end, after flagging all your photos.
3. Don’t review your photos unless you have the energy and power for it. If you’re tired, just go to sleep, and wake up the next day, and review your photos in the morning (with a nice cup of coffee).
4. Keep shooting and reviewing your photos a lot. Stick to extra small JPEG, RICOH GR III/IIIX.
5. Think of your overall compositions as a balance and a feeling and a visual gist.
6. Deal with the fact that there may be sone photos that fall to the wayside, but that is okay — it is part of the game!

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My thought:

I let Seneca play as if I wish I were a kid again, and I would allow myself to do stuff that I wanted, but that my parents didn’t allow me in the past.

My personal joy of owning Bitcoin:

I love seeing Bitcoin things in the (mainstream) news.

For example seeing Fidelity– to offer bitcoin as an option in 401k plans.

CRYPTO THOUGHTS

Brave new world for photographers and crypto:

1. BITCOIN & UNCERTAINTY
2. Fake Money
3. Why I Bought More Bitcoin (Again)
4. How I Made Money with Crypto
5. Better to buy Dogecoin then buy a Tesla
6. NO LIMITS.
7. ALL DIGITAL FUTURE.
8. Digital over Physical Possessions
9. DIGIBYTE.
10. CHAINLINK.
11. The Excitement of Starting from Zero
12. HAPTIC INDUSTRIES NOW ACCEPTING CRYPTO AND BITCOIN
13. In Praise of Crypto
14. JUST BUY IT.
15. Why I’m So Bullish on Bitcoin
16. Bitcoin as the Simplest Cryptocurrency
17. Why I bought (more) bitcoin
18. Once You Become a Crypto Billionaire, Then What?
19. Why Crypto is Under-Hyped
20. The Joy of Speculation
21. BITCOIN AND CRYPTOCURRENCY FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
22. Why I Bought Bitcoin
23. Crypto Photography
24. Crypto Thoughts
25. On Making Money from Nothing

Another reason why it is good to look at your photos as small thumbnails (contact sheets):

Easier to see your exposure and tone in your photos.

I first thought of goats milk from the ancient Roman’s and Greeks — even back then it was common knowledge that sheep and goats milk and cheese and dairy products had less flatulence and issues processing in the stomach with cows milk.

Less lactose, also more ideal for Asian kids:

Already teaching Seneca how to do sumo deadlifts and squats:

Physical power — powerlifting. Also more power via your influence.

More power is a master morality and imperative, more productivity is a slave labor mentality.

More power via eating more meat (3+ pounds a day). Also, to stay up late to work more and to be more productive — this is a slave mentality. Sleeping more is a master way of living, and how to gain more power.

Anyone who sells their company, perhaps they don’t really got “soul” in the game, as every person who has built or started a company knows, control is 1000000x more important than any billions of dollars you can own.

For example, am I the only one who recognizes that after the owner sold Whole Foods to Amazon, Whole Foods is starting to get a lot more ghetto and janky? Poor toilet hygiene and cleaning, no more fancy condiments etc. It feels like it’s just becoming another Walmart, although of course far nicer.

It also seems that the founder of What’s App deeply regretted doing so after the fact, even though the sale was in the billions.

Also apparently even the founders of Instagram got slowly pushed out of the company after selling to Facebook. When instagram first started it was a great platform for photographers but now, it’s just kind of a “lifestyle” shitshow.

The most low key and stealth. You don’t want others to know how rich you really are.

Thus for car, you probably won’t want to drive a Rolls Royce or a Lamborghini to draw attention to yourself. Also the headache of worrying about people fucking up or keying your car. Apparently the best car which also is the most low-key is a Lexus. Even John Wick (his other car in his garage in his New Jersey home) is a Lexus RX SUV. Ideally not having to own your own car, to not have to deal with car insurance, registration, maintenance etc. Ideally just rent, borrow or lease your car indefinitely as need be.

With living, as simple as humanly possible. The smallest home possible, the least amount of maintenance. Even my very rich and successful older friends when they get older, they sell their bigass house and either move into a small condo, or decide to just sell everything and travel the world and be nomadic.

With clothing, no branding. Extreme high end quality, but no branding or badges — as high quality but low key as possible.

With time, no schedules, no meetings and no business you must attend to. Pure freedom. Maximal leisure and otium and mind space to pursue your art, thinking, philosophy, blogging, YouTubing, sharing writing and publishing. Travel freely for photography and introspection. Not having to need to own a phone, or having to check or use email.

Being able to go to the gym whenever you want or feel like it — powerlifting and increasing your one rep max personal records (PR’s). In your life, the goal for at least a 5 plate deadlift (505 pounds +), a 4 plate squat (405+) and a 3 plate benchpress (315+).

Besides the first year of your child (the worst sleep of your life), after you sleep train your kid (Ferber method, extinction method, just let them cry it out), being able to put your kid down at ~5:30-630pm, and being able to have supreme and sublime sleep. Sleeping well is 1000x more important than doing “work” and being “productive”, and also probably more important than what you eat (ideally beef ribs every night).

Leica Camera needs a true competitor.

ERIC CAMERA.

Life as an epic never ending journey.

When things are too easy and pleasant, you get lulled to sleep.

This is the death of ambition.

Alo vs Lululemon.

Competitors are good, competition is always good. The upside of capitalism.

Then perhaps you can work on higher order things, like philosophy, this is why the ancient Greeks were so productive, because they had ideal Mediterranean climate?

A badge of our honor.

My ethos on how to publish more and get more stuff out there to the world — your website, blog, the internet and the web.

Assuming that Covid will always be a thing, and road trips are the future, even a two hour road trip somewhere suffices. The secret with road trips is this: only go to places that a car can venture.

Never ending versions. Think about Iron Man suits — all the different marks (versions) up to Mark VII.

The Elon Musk approach.

The joy of finishing. Nobody wants creative or artistic ‘blue balls’.

Life is short, street photography is long.

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1. Street photography is your connection to reality

In SKIN IN THE GAME by Nassim Taleb, he has the analogy of the one Greek god who got his power from being connected to the ground. Once you lifted him off the ground, he lost his power.

Street photography is fascinating, because it connects us to the social world of people.

I find the modern notion of being anti-social strange, as ultimately we all prefer other people. Some people say:

“I hate people”

This isn’t true. The idea is

There are people I hate, but also people I love.

Thus the goal then is spend more time with those whom you love. And to love strangers (xenophila) is a wise goal.

2. Why strangers?

Truth be told in modern day life, we aren’t challenged that much by real fear. Much of our fear is man-made and constructed, mostly fear of upsetting others.

But my big aha moment about street photography:

In street photography, at worst, you’re just mildly annoying someone (YOUTUBE VIDEO).

This is not that big of a deal.

How to Overcome Guilt in Street Photography

Also

Is it OK to Piss Off or Annoy People in Photography?

I say, street photography is your best way to be connected to real-life society, through strangers. The more you can photograph strangers, interact with them, and learn to love strangers, the better.

Xenophilia: Love of Strangers

Also:

What is Your Street Photography Philosophy?

3. How to never run out of motivation or inspiration in street photography

Perhaps this is where the Russian ‘fatalist’ notion works well, in which we think:

Imagine that you’re currently living the worst-case scenario, and it will never change, but that is still okay!

For example, let us imagine COVID is never going to get better, only gonna get worse. Given that, how can you still thrive as a street photographer?

Or let’s say you can never travel to all the places you’ve wanted to in the past. How can you travel more locally, maybe plan your own street photography road trip, and have an interesting experience and make some interesting photos along the way?

More street photo motivation:

STREET PHOTO 101

MORE BOOKS >

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Master Street Photography

Conquer street photography on your own terms at ERIC KIM WORKSHOP >

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3. HENRI SHOULDER STRAP
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Beef ribs at least 1000x more delicious, tasty, nutritious, and great when compared to any other cut of meat, steak, etc:

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iPhone SE in black. Tesla Model 3 on black on black on black with all emblems and badges shaved. Same with a murdered out Tesla Model S Plaid in all black.

For clothes all black everything. Loving the worn, sun damaged, torn, ripped, wabi sabi patina clothes.