Month: October 2022

VIDEO

I like the notion of creative thriving. Instead of survival, I think “thrivival”— at all costs, optimize for thriving, surviving is too easy and basic. Ain’t nobody in the modern world going to starve to death, or die of thirst.

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Do not drink bottled water

A first simple thought is don’t drink bottled water. Bottled water is for suckers, is extremely wasteful, and also, bad for your thinking. Just drink purified or tapwater instead.

The smallest file size as possible

Another simple idea I have is use the smallest file sizes or resolution possible. That is, when recording video, either shoot in 1080 P or 720 P, whatever is smallest, and also record in 24 frames per second, because not only is it more artistic, the file sizes are also smaller. Another hidden benefit of recording and 24 frames per second is that technically, it performs better in low light.

Also, shout out to the Apple photos team, and the Apple camera team, which now makes it available for you to record 4K at 24 FPS. I’ve been recording videos on my iPhone SE at 4K at 24 FPS, and the videos look beautiful.

PHOTO OVER VIDEO

Cinema is a fun pursuit, and I encourage anyone to attempt it, and just upload your 4K or 5K videos to YouTube. However, the biggest problem is when Apple, and the Apple marketing team creates marketing copy and promotional films which try to give people the false idea of recording cinema on your iPhone or iPad. Realistically speaking, if you are an amateur filmmaker, meaning you do it for fun, you’re not going to use an iPhone Pro or an iPad Pro. Most likely you will probably use some sort of Lumix camera, or Panasonic micro 4/3 camera. For example if I wanted to shoot a mini cinematic film, I would probably prefer to have the Lumix S1H camera, or the new Panasonic GH 6. And probably just record the whole thing at 4K 24 FPS, or 5K at 24 FPS. You don’t need higher frame rates.

have pride in your photography

Out of all the artists I know, photographers have the lowest self-esteem. How do people try to augment their self esteem in photography? If you should digital, trying to brag how you shoot in raw or fully manual. Or, bragging how you shoot and process everything in film, as a means to attempt to elevate your self-worth.

All approaches are bad, just shoot extra small JPEG, or any other JPEG in camera with some sort of high contrast black and white filter. I truly believe that any and all photographers would benefit by owning or purchasing a RICOH GR 3X digital camera. In fact, don’t buy the newest iPhone Pro, just get a Ricoh GR 3X instead. Just order it on Amazon, and if you don’t like it, just return it.

Fujifilm over Leica

I really like the new Fujifilm X pro 3 digital camera, I find it to be much more fascinating and fun than the newest digital Leica M 11 camera. Why? Even if you’re a trillionaire, it is the superior camera. Why? The xpro 3 is much more fun, not having the LCD screen easily viewable in the back is a huge benefit. The Leica M 11 is boring, and virtually indistinguishable from the prior Leica M 10. Also, the Leica M digital cameras, as well as the Leica digital Q cameras are surprisingly bulky and heavy. In the pursuit of greatness, lightness wins.

Who is Leica camera for anyways nowadays? I say for the rich mainland Chinese people, who just want to buy the most expensive luxury goods.

The really rich and intelligent people, us elevated and elite people, even us billionaire tech Silicon Valley folks would prefer to own a Fujifilm camera over any digital Leica camera. Leica is dead.

Start uploading videos to YouTube

Something that people don’t seem to understand is that if you have a Google account, or a Gmail account, or the YouTube app on your phone, you already have a YouTube channel. All you gotta do is open up the YouTube app on your phone or iPad, and click the little plus button in the bottom of the app, and just upload your videos directly from your phone.

Or, just open up a Safari tab or Google chrome tab, and type in youtube.com/upload from either iPhone, iPad, or laptop, and you could upload videos directly to YouTube that way as well.

Once you are done uploading, just type in a title, publish it, and share the link with friends and family. You could email the link to your friends or family, or just share it via text messaging. Or better yet, paste the link to your own blog. If you use WordPress, WordPress will automatically convert the link into an embedded video player. This is very fun.

Also as a pro tip, when you’re uploading videos to YouTube, disable comments and likes. Why? It will kill your motivation, if you spent a lot of time producing a video, and you get zero views, zero comments, etc.

Stop using third-party messenger services

Every Korean person who owns a smartphone, which is essentially 99% of the population, will use this funny messaging app called Kakaotalk, which is distinguishable by the big yellow icon, and the ”Akoh” sound it makes whenever you are close to any South Korean in public.

However, Kakaotalk is a trap. I am not 100% certain, but I even think that the Chinese owned Tencent corporation, which also owns riot games, which owns League of Legends, is a major investor. The funny thing is that apparently, South Koreans are supposed to be super anti-Japanese and anti-Chinese, and anti-mainland Chinese. Isn’t it a bad idea if you’re a South Korean and you’re anti-mainland China, to use a messaging service which has a large ownership by a foreign Chinese company?

Social media is for people who eat McDonald’s hamburgers, and drink Starbucks Frappuccino‘s

All social media, and social media platforms are bad. Even Twitter, which was infamously bought out by Elon Musk, is the more cool one now, but still, the fact is nobody uses Twitter, besides a small population of nerdy academics, and Facebook, the Meta corporation, owns Facebook messenger, WhatsApp, Instagram, and now the oculus virtual reality platform.

If you’re a photographer, a creative person, it seems that the only platforms available to you include Instagram, Facebook, YouTube. Nothing else.

This is very sad and depressing, imagine if you only had the opportunity to only eat McDonald’s hamburgers, and drink Starbucks Frappuccino‘s. Wouldn’t this be quite miserable?

Are you courageous enough to own yourself?

The number one most craziest thing you do as a photographer is delete your Instagram, or choose not to use it. Why? Essentially, by deleting Instagram, or deciding not to use Instagram is a sign that you are self owned. That you have high self-esteem, and you do not rely on an algorithm to augment your self-esteem.

In fact, how do I filter out people? If I know that they use Instagram, they are no longer interesting to me.

The only people I admire are solo bloggers, and maybe people who use YouTube. But even Youtubers are fragile, as they rely too much on views, likes, etc. to augment their self-esteem.

Also some thing that people don’t know, is that even the most successful Youtubers, let us say that you get 100 million views on a video, then you monetize the video, you might only earn $7000 US from it. $7000 US is still a decent chunk of change, but, you are probably going to more easily make that money driving around Uber, than trying to create a hit video with 100 million views.

The most creative people I know are the most childlike.

Everybody takes themselves too seriously nowadays. This is why I love Vietnamese people, as they know how to joke around (shoot the shit, cut the air, jjam-zoh). South Korean people are also very fun, however, they are still too enslaved by notions of neo Confucianism, new Confucianism, which was essentially a moralistic and quasi-religious state founded ideology by Mencius, the scholar philosopher and politician, who essentially piggybacked off the notions of Confucius, very much how Saint Paul piggybacked off of Jesus.

If Confucius were still alive today, I think he would be aghast of how his moral precepts were integrated into a state religion/form of social control. Very much how Jesus would probably not be too happy by seeing how his teachings were convoluted by Saint Paul, into both Catholicism and Protestantism. And yes, Catholics are Christian. (ERIC KIM IS CATHOLIC)

How to have more fun

To start off, start off by doing pointless things, like throwing rocks into puddles, or seeing how far you can throw a rock into the distance.

Also, allow yourself to “fuck shit up”, by breaking things, making loud noises, and not following any sort of normal social behavior.

Just try this when you’re at the gym next time, I call this “hypelifting”. That is before you attempt to deadlift something very very heavy, and you attempt a new personal record in your deadlift, allow yourself to scream really really loud, thump your chest like a beast, and adopt the Maori haka. See whether other people notice or care, and this is the best way to become more courageous. 1 trillion times more courageous than to pretend to be antisocial, or even drive around in a topless Lamborghini.

Just don’t break the law

Or, if you’re American, walk around the public Boulevard or Avenue with your shirt off, with new no sunglasses or hat on. Or if you’re a man, walk around in public with short shorts, or legging tights that show your curves, butt and crotch. Test the boundaries of social notions of “proper”, push the boundary far enough as long as you’re not breaking any laws.

If you’re a woman, go opposite. Go to the gym with a baggie T-shirt, and baggy sweatpants on. Don’t feel the pressure to wear those silly Lululemon tights, or some sort of Nike training sports bra. It is a better flex to show up in yoga, or CorePower yoga, wearing baggy shirts and baggy pants, then to wear all Lululemon everything.

In fact, I don’t think women should wear Lululemon, only men.

Speedo it.

“With my ego I could walk around in public with a speedo and be looked at like a fucking hero” – Kanye

If you’re into swimming, maybe just wear a speedo. And it doesn’t matter how fat your stomach is, or how pale your thighs are. Look at how these Europeans in the south of France with their huge bellies walk around in speedo‘s in public, with supreme confidence. They are my heroes.

Become Michael Phelps.

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HADONG 하동 creative photography workshop retreat 2023

You only live once. Embark on the ultimate creative experience of a lifetime. Register intent for HADONG South Korea creative photography workshop retreat, hosted by ERIC KIM.

I believe Hadong South Korea to become the next Kyoto, and also, South Korea to become the next Japan in terms of tourism, culture, and adventure.

The workshop will be roughly sometime next year, in 2023 during the summertime.

Currently the tentative date I have is August 1 to August 5, 2023

If you’re slightly interested, feel free to fill out this register intent form on Google forms/Google sheets, and I will keep you updated as the details firm up.

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SEE MINIMALIST

If your passion and interest is minimalism, check out my upcoming downtown LA minimalism workshop.

It is on November 5, a Saturday, convenient for your travels. If you’re in the bay area or in Silicon Valley, just find a cheap flight to LA, stay in the cool and trendy ACE HOTEL for a night, and feel free to go back home.

Learn more

Other random thoughts

The first one is if you want a very fun and thrilling type of work out, just find the biggest rock you can, and throw it around. I called this my infamous eric kim rock toss workout.

Also, you can just Google or YouTube rock toss workout, I think I’m on top.

For example, the hilarity was during early Covid, and all the gyms are closed down, the only way I could work out was to go to the local park. And throw around rocks and do bodyweight stuff. Surprisingly enough, I think this is the buffest I have been in my life, even more than when I was a frequent gym goer.

Just try it out. Either that or just buy a really really heavy kettlebell and work out at home.

105 pound kettlebell workout ideas

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Activities and assignments

1. Start uploading YouTube videos, directly from your iPhone. Open up the YouTube app, press the little plus button on the bottom of the app, and start uploading. Share the link with friends and family.
2. Start your own Blog. If you’re poor, just make a free blog on wordpress.com, if you can afford an Amazon prime or Spotify premium account, start your own website at 1and1.com. Install wordpress.org, and start blogging.

Motivational films

1. FURY, the tank movie with Brad Pitt
2. Akira Kurosawa 7 seven samurai

More cinema

Photographers and Youtubers To follow

1. Josh White, jtinseoul.Wordpress.com
2. Samuel Street life on YouTube
3. About photography blog, by my friend Martin K.

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You only live once. Embark on the ultimate creative experience of a lifetime. Register intent for HADONG South Korea creative photography workshop retreat, hosted by ERIC KIM.

I believe Hadong South Korea to become the next Kyoto, and also, South Korea to become the next Japan in terms of tourism, culture, and adventure.

The workshop will be roughly sometime next year, in 2023 during the summertime.

Currently the tentative date I have is August 1 to August 5, 2023

If you’re slightly interested, feel free to fill out this register intent form on Google forms/Google sheets, and I will keep you updated as the details firm up.