I’m probably the most motivated photographer that I know. Why is that? Some theories:
1. Anti-durability
The first interesting idea is this: don’t seek durability in your photography, which means making a photo, a photo series, or a book which lasts forever.
Why not?
When you try too hard to make a perfect photo, a perfect series of photos, etc., it is anti-innovation. Even study Henri Cartier Bresson, who is definitely the greatest photographer of all time, but he lost motivation to make photos in his later years. Anti-Henri Cartier Bresson.
Because when you strive to make timeless photos, it disrupts your motivation in several ways. In striving to be a perfectionist in photos, or make a perfect photo, you become paralyzed, and stop making photos altogether. Or you become so self-conscious about your photography that you end up sharing or publishing nothing.
2. Extra small JPEG
Film holds you back, shooting raw holds you back. In order to become the most motivated photographer, I suggest just shooting extra small JPEG, with some sort of built-in preset for your photos. I prefer high contrast black and white on my Ricoh GR 3X.
Then, just keep uploading your photos to your own website and blog, like a streamer photos. My aspiration is to make 1 trillion photos before I die.
3. Don’t seek a durable camera
No Leica. No film Leica. No film camera. No brass. Seek the newest Ricoh GR digital camera, even though it is not durable. At best, a Ricoh GR digital camera might last you 2 to 3 years. The trade-off of compactness and smallness and lightness is worth it in my opinion. I think I’ve realized that at least for now, I will just keep buying digital Ricoh GR cameras until I die.
The same thing goes for phones. Ain’t nobody going to own an iPhone forever, until they die. Can you imagine giving your kid your old iPhone, when they become 18 years old?
4. Just shoot it all
A big thing is to strip away all of the boundaries of your photography. Seek to become the overphotographer, which means, you photograph literally anything and everything. Photograph your food, your kid, your wife, yourself, your muscles, your receipts, the streets, and your life. Become the ultimate vertically integrated photographer.
Also, no more labels. For example, even amongst the weightlifting community, I think a lot of people hold back their potential by putting themselves in a very narrow bucket. For example, don’t just restrict yourself to powerlifting, bodybuilding, kettle bells, calisthenics, body weight only, yoga, running, etc. I say do it all.
For example, I think every single bodybuilder should be able to deadlift at least 500 pounds. Also, every single powerlifter should have visible six pack abs. Also, long distance runners should also know how to squat and lift weights.
Why were categories even invented in the first place? My thought is it is a bunch of skinny fat nerds, who wanted to dissect great individuals in history, and make them discernible, understandable, decipherable. When a nerd puts you in a bucket and classifies you, he says:
Ah yes, I have discovered what makes this individual so much greater than me, because of reasons X, Y, Z.
For example, people just call Kanye West crazy, because they cannot understand his level of thinking, and how he is so superior to the average human.
Also, people call Elon Musk “Asperger’s†because they want to figure out why he is such a phenomenal and great entrepreneur. And therefore people will say “Because I do not have Asperger’s, I don’t need to pressure myself to become as great as an entrepreneur as Elon Muskâ€.
Even Steve Jobs, people thought: why was Steve Jobs such an asshole? “Ah yes, he needed to be an asshole in order to become great. However, I do not desire to be an asshole, and therefore, I do not deserve to become Steve Jobs.†(sour grapes fallacy). This is people just validating their own self mediocrity to themselves.
5. No pressure
What is the worst way to motivate great performance? Performance. Being tracked, recorded, observed, etc.
For example, I’ve discovered if I want 100% pure focus when attempting a very very very very heavy weight in my deadlift or squat, I cannot record myself. Why? Recording myself, even with my GoPro, definitely robs me of at least 5 to 10% of my focus. On the back of my mind, I’m thinking “is the angle right? Am I in frame?†And thus this distracts me.
For example, I found that before attempting a one rep max squat, I like to do a “power stomp†on the floor. Yet, this often messes up the framing of my GoPro, and I am low-key afraid that as a consequence, others will not be able to witness the full extent of my great lift.
Or even more recently, I’ve discovered that in order to maximize my power output, I need to hype myself up to the max. And since recording myself hyping myself up, I also distract myself, because I am too concerned whether I capture the fullest extent of my hyping up in Camera of my GoPro.
Or, the reason why I like to lift weights when nobody’s around, is I am less distracted. When there is other people around, or I know that there are people in the vicinity, I think to myself:
Will that person witness my string? Or, will they think I am caught cheatingâ€, because I am not squatting deep enough?
Also, when we know we are putting on a performance for others, this distracts us. I actually wonder if competitions, in competitions which are recorded, or recording ones, has actually prevented new world records from being made. For the deadlift, squat, benchpress, etc. Apparently there’s a lot of people who make new world records while just training in their normal gym, rather than when they are at official meet, or competition.
Why? The benefit of doing things on your own terms is that you are familiar with the environment, your tempo, your equipment, etc. Even when Eddie Hall did his record-breaking 500 kg deadlifts, he commented on how the bar was not quite to his liking, as it was different from the bar he typically uses.
Also, I’m starting to become suspicious of myself. When I hope myself up at the gym, and there is at least one or two people around, I wonder to myself:
“I just putting on a show for other people, in order to assert my own dominance? Or am I really doing it because I really need to do this?â€
Or another words, would you still care to have a Lamborghini with the Lamborghini scissor doors, if no one was around to witness you getting in and out of your car?
Or, as I asked my friend Don Dillon who has a very cool Porsche 911 GT3 RS:
If you have a cool car, but nobody witnesses you in the cool car, is it still a cool car?
He laughed, and said probably not.
6. The child is the ultimate photographer
Seneca is currently one years seven months old, and actually knows how to turn on my Ricoh GR 3X camera, and even take pictures. Yet, this is interesting thing I’ve noticed:
he requires no push or motivation from me. It is something that he is generally interested in, for himself.
He likes to look at the LCD screen and look at the pictures, and he also likes to shoot pictures, he also likes to inspect the lens retracting mechanism, and he also loves to open up the battery door, pop out the battery, put it back in, and then close the battery door. Seneca is naturally interested in mechanical and haptic things, and technological things, for the sake of understanding it, and also his own personal curiosity. I don’t even think he does it out of fun, he is simply curious.
I think what drives him is the curiosity a figuring out how things work, kind of like an engineering mindset.
Maybe in our photography, adopting a more engineering mindset is a good idea. To shoot a photo, simply we are curious because how it will manifest as a photo.
For example, even nowadays when I walk around penom pen, and I see a search in things, I’m curious to shoot a photo of it, because I’m curious how it will manifest as a photograph. Real life and our photo interpretation of it is different. Perhaps this is what makes photography our art.
ERIC
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VLOGS and video is the future.
Even when you look at the camera market, all of the new and innovative cameras are the cameras optimize for vlogging and video.
Also, look at YouTube‘s description; videos, music, and live streaming. The importance of entertainment is in that order precisely.
Once again:
- Videos, and vlogs
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This is what humanity loves the most.
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