How to Become a More Powerful Photographer

At the end of the day, perhaps it is photography which is my Archimedes lever. I am just so insanely good at it, it is intuitive to me, and also, I am endlessly fascinated by it.

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A random musing on my mind when I was just randomly driving, what is this:

It isn’t more money, more wealth that we desire, but more power.

For example, whenever you see somebody in some sort of really big SUV, the sports edition, let’s say a BMW X6M, what they are trying to really do is assert their power and dominance. However, does driving a powerful car make you more powerful? It might make you feel more powerful, but does it make you more powerful? No.

I think I got it figured out; the reason why Americans love cars so much is because they are democratic. A car is like your external avatar, and you could assume any sort of avatar you desire, as long as you’re willing to spend the money on it, whether it be purchasing it in all cash, financing it, leasing it, renting it, etc.

For example, when you see people in some sort of high end muscle car, what is it that they desire to assert? Their manliness, their dominance, etc. However, a fun activity I like to do is whenever I see some people driving a high end sports car, I’m always curious to see who the driver is. Typically, I see them trending to be kind of younger men, trying to look hard. Or sometimes old fat dudes.

The reason why I think cars are so cowardly is because typically, even if you drive a really really loud sports car, a hyper car, a Lamborghini, a Porsche 911 GT3 RS, some sort of high-end muscle car, it looks like the trend is that everyone tints their front windows so dark, almost to limo. Therefore you cannot even see who the driver is. And they also tend to drive with sunglasses on, and often a hat. So you really cannot determine their identity.

I asked my friend Don Dillon, whether we are more interested in the car or the driver, and he laughed and told me, “of course the car!”

Be hidden or be seen?

Thus the strange paradox:

We want to show off, be loud, assert ourselves and our ego and our dominance, yet, we want our identity to be anonymous? And we don’t want other people to look us directly into the eyes?

Murdered out Teslas?

Another trend I’ve seen a lot in Southern California is people buying black on black on black Teslas. It could be a “murdered out“ Tesla Model Y, 3, X, S, etc. also a new trend with the black license plate with a yellow lettering, and also the trend for people to apply a matte black wrap to their cars, making it look like some sort of stealth bomber.

The hilarity is whenever I see people step out of their Teslas. I’ve actually seen a lot of men with murdered our Tesla model Y’s, complete with the black license plate and yellow lettering, typically they tend to be skinny fat Asian American men, often with a baby or some kids. And also I think it was my friend Elsa Morgan who told me that in the bay area and in Silicon Valley, a Tesla model X is essentially a glorified minivan for men, who still want to feel masculine, without the stigma of driving a minivan.

My funny thought is better to just fully lean into it; if I buy a new car, it will just be a white Honda Odyssey.

Back to photo

Let’s take it back to photography. What is it that we desire in photography, and out of our photos?

The first I think is we want more power and potency in our photos. The photos we make is our artwork. And what is our artwork? Or artwork or almost like our children; they are some sort of external manifestation of ourselves.

Show me your photos, and I can see who you are.

The aesthetic of the photographer is often a reflection of themselves

For example, my aesthetic. I much love extremely high contrast, black-and-white photos, complete with a lot of grit and grit. Perhaps this is some sort of reflection of my own personal mentality of things.

Crush the blacks.

Physiological power and photography

Another big thing that I’ve noticed; I can only effectively review my photos, when I am in great superabundant physiological health. For example, if I only slept two hours last night, certainly I would have no power nor desire to review my huge backlog of about 10,000 photos. However, today, I am great physiological health, I have lots of energy and power, and therefore I was able to quickly review through around 7 to 8000 photos.

Therefore, I think it is critical for us photographers to gain more physiological power. This includes going to the gym, going to yoga, doing hot sauna, taking icy cold showers, sleeping 10 to 12 hours a night, and during the day, allowing yourself to drink both green tea and black coffee. I like green tea from Hadong South Korea, and either arabica coffee from Ethiopia or just robusta coffee from Vietnam.

Also, I think the best way to gain a much bigger physiological rush is through one rep max lifting. Do this with atlas lift, rack pull, one rep max farmers carry’s.

Photo assignments

A new discovery that I found is that you could actually build a very robust WordPress.org blog through Amazon web services, through Amazon lightsail. I did this after my website went down as an experiment, successfully registering erickimphilosophy.com — and apparently you can also do this through Google cloud too.
Get an iPad Pro, the 11 inch, and just review all your photos as small JPEG‘s.
Upload your best photos to arsbeta.com
Take your camera with you everywhere you go, and always have it in your front right pocket. Also shoot photos from your car, safely when at a stoplight, when at a red light.
The other day Cindy showed me this interesting new Photoshop AI completion image tool. I thought it was very cool. However, ultimately I discovered that at least for us photographers, we just like making photos! There is no end of photography.

Power up your photography

Become a more powerful photographer:

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Other things on my mind

Ultimately, I think it is health and well-being that we seek. Not to own or drive a more expensive or a luxury car. When in doubt, just hit the gym.
The more I think about it, the more I think that homeownership is a scam. For example, even if you fully pay off your house, or, you buy it 100% in cash, often times in California property taxes can still range from $1500 a month to $2000 a month! Also, I am starting to think that condos are also a strange thing; having to pay an HOA, a homeowners association fee, every month forever, also seems like a trap.
My personal pride is that I have never spent more than $2500 USD on a car. Even my last car, the one I currently drive, a 2009 Hyundai sonata which I inherited from my mom for free, I got it for $0 and 00 cents. It cost me about $2000 to fix it up at the mechanic, and another thousand dollars and registration fees, and more or less I have a brand new car for only $3000! I think that anybody who buys a brand new car, seems like a foolish decision. Considering that even a basic car nowadays cost $30,000 USD, doesn’t it make more sense to simply use your money on going to the gym, lifting weights, and buying meat?
I have a theory that it is not protein, but consuming dietary cholesterol, like the dietary cholesterol in beef liver and beef organ meats, which acts as a natural steroid to promote your muscle growth.