I spent so much money on this MacBook Pro (13 inch, touchbar) from 2017, and already just 5 years later, it is soooooo slow (even though I bought it maxed out). But the screen is good, and it still works pretty good. But… unfortunately the screen cannot detach.
I suppose if we are constantly nomadic and on the road, a laptop is our only option. But if we are more home-bound, perhaps then having a desktop of sorts is a good idea.
At least I like the idea if that somehow if your desktop gets outdated, you can either upgrade it (depends on what the desktop is), or at least switch out the computer component and you still can hold onto your (‘old’) display and keyboard/trackpad.
Having to spend $2,000 every 5 years doesn’t seem very sustainable to me.
Given that laptops get outdated so quickly, perhaps a more sustainable option is to just keep on buying the newest iPad (with the fastest, best chip). Like the new M-series processors on the iPad Air, iPad Pro, etc.
Greater social challenges, greater challenges in the gym with powerlifting, attempting new personal records.
After having lived in perfect weather and a perfect climate, and after living in Providence Rhode Island, in places with variable weather, I have discovered that in fact, weather is overrated. When the weather is not good, just bundle up. Like the Swedes say, there’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.
Perhaps the same thing is in life. You create your own happiness by creating your own new challenges. And what it comes down to is whether the challenge is actually interesting to you or not.
Not the product photography in the sense of doing fancy product photos to sell an item, but instead, just photograph the products you engage with every single day.
What if you said Tristan that you were not allowed to buy any car, no matter how cheap or expensive?
Even if you became a billionaire or a trillionaire, you were not allowed to buy the Porsche, the Tesla, the Lamborghini, the Bentley, the Rolls-Royce, etc.
Instead, you were only allowed to rent cars, Uber, or just borrow a car.
I am very bearish on the future of fiat currency in America. If I received a salary, and just worked a normal job, I will just funnel all of my salary into cryptocurrency.
I see the screenshot as the new form of ‘meta-art’. That is —
When you screenshot something, it is like you’re shooting a photo of it … but it is a ‘meta’ photo of something.
Because if you think about it, when you photograph something, you elevate it, you honor it. By screenshotting something, you signal its importance.
Something I did was in ‘the devil is in the details‘, I just looked through my WordPress library of all my photos labeled ‘screenshot’, and just made a little mini gallery and series of all the photos I screenshotted the details I found interesting in my photos. Perhaps you can do the same and upload it to your own blog.
2. Rust, patina, beautiful decay
I also consider photography to be my painting. What this means is that I LOVE seeing rust, patina, decay, and other ‘wabi sabi’ details (wabi sabi means something becomes more beautiful as it ages).
This gives us much creative leeway as photographers, because it means that we can approach photography abstractly. Photography ceases to be about clarity — it becomes more about emotion, mood, and your soul you impute into your photos.
Shoot more photos (macro, high contrast black and white) or just photos in general which highlight and focus shapes, forms, tones, rust, textures, grit and grain.
3. Study all forms of design
Car design, architecture, home design, shoe/sneaker design, any type of design.
Sketches are good. By sketching your compositions you better understand them, and can better imbue these lessons into your brain, so you can see them when you’re out shooting.
No carbs, sugar, starches, dairy, or fake dairy substitutes, etc. Also no starchy vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, etc. Also no nuts (even the ‘good’ nuts like almonds– very starchy).
Some thing which interests me is the tactics of everyday life. That is, following a strict routine and plan is a bad one. Why? If you’re actually intelligent and tactical, it is more wise to iterate based on every single scenario.
For example, I had this grand master plan of taking Seneca to the park, and then some other places. But then I had to go to the bathroom, And Seneca actually looked very sleepy, so it was actually more strategic and tactical for me to just go back home, nap him in his own bed, and for me to use the restroom at home. And then because I had about an hour to spare, because Seneca was asleep, I just decided to go to the gym.
And then when I was at the gym, I planned on deadlifting 405 pounds. But after doing a single rep of 365, I knew that my body wasn’t feeling it, so I just re-racked the weights, and I might just attempt it in another few days in the future.
1. Obey your body
A simple life strategy is to obey your body. That is, your body is 1000x times wiser than your ‘mind’, and other heuristics and philosophical tactics.
2. Don’t stick to any master plan
You never know until you do it, until you’re in the moment. Be tactical and strategic — just follow your gut. No clock, no rules.
3. What do you desire to accomplish?
Another very simple thought:
Think about what your end-goal is.
For me when it comes to child rearing, I desire for Seneca to become the most physically intelligent boy of all time. I don’t see him as a baby– I see him as a small man in training. Thus my tactics for him tend to be more Spartan, cold and hard, rather than ‘babying’ him.
4. Nutrition and sleep
Quite possibly the most essential thing is nutrition and sleep. They recognize this for children and babies, but why not adults?
The ideal nutrition: meat. Lots of fatty, highly saturated, high in cholesterol meat. Meat as a steroid (cholesterol as a steroid). Any foods which get your testosterone up are good.
Beef ribs, bone marrow, beef neck bone, beef liver, eggs, etc.
Even Seneca, in some funny ways I turned him into a ‘carnivore kid’ or a ‘keto baby’. Even in the early days, when he first started to eat ‘solid’ (non-puree foods), I started to feed him bone marrow as early as humanly possible (he loved it). I got the bone marrow idea from the Iliad– apparently either Hector of Achilles was fed bone marrow as a child.
5. Never compromise your personal morals and ethics
The law can be gamed. However you cannot game or play your own inner code of ethics and morals.
My new aspiration: maximize my physical fitness, my physiological strength, endurance, and my propensity for enjoying time outdoors, ideally in the direct sun.
Solution: spending more time outdoors, at the park, at the outdoor shopping mall, and even working out outdoors at the closest park with good workout gym equipment. Ideally the park has rings!
A very cool thing I witnessed when visiting the UTC outdoor shopping mall in San Diego (La Jolla)— this great 24 hour fitness outdoor fitness training area. Imagine being able to enjoy doing deadlifts and squats outdoors, in the wonderful sun! I hate working out indoors.
A simple thought: what if going to the gym was more about training your mind, and when pursuing intellectual matters, you are actually training your body?
For example, it is good to be nervous before you try a new personal record attempt in a one rep max in powerlifting. For example, being or feeling a little bit nervous before attempting a new PR you have never attempted in sumo deadlift, the nervousness is good, as it increases your adrenaline, focus, and your ability to successfully hack yourself to do it.
Also the idea of selling your car and using that money to buy bitcoin is actually a good idea. On craigslist, I’ve already seen people start dumping their model S plaids, and also selling their Tesla model three cars in order to buy crypto and bitcoin instead.
Other day I visited a Tesla showroom and spoke with one of the sales people, he told me that one of their very rich customers who has literally bought and owned every single car just sold his Tesla model S plaid, and just bought a normal long range Tesla model X instead.
Also my very rich and successful pediatrician just sold his Tesla model S, was not impressed with the model S plaid, and just bought a Porsche 911 instead (cement grey color).
Make yourself a fully integrated, vertical-integration solution. You make the photos, you process the photos, you upload the photos, and you publish the photos, and share and market yourself.
Most photographers learn how to do the first few (how to operate their own camera, how to make their own photos, then how to process their own photos on their laptop). But the last stage they are lacking– the courage to publish themselves, to ‘self promote’ themselves, and to put themselves out there.
In fact, I like the idea of ‘marketing’, because the notion of a market is quite ancestral. Also, markets are fun! I love to go there to just people watch, check out new products, and make street photos of strangers I find interesting.
Something I think about a lot– always back to first principles. Rather than think:
What is the best way for me to do x, y, z?
Better to think:
How SHOULD we do x, y, z, — wherefore, for whom, and why?
Aristotle and first principles. The root of our philosophical undertakings.
By becoming a more philosophical photographer, it will challenge you to re-think and combat the status-quo, and help you innovate, innovate new ways and under-takings and ways of approaching things and your photography.
It is not often in everyday life we can exhibit physical courage (besides powerlifting). However, when we decide to make certain design decisions which will get huuuuge backlash (pretty much every design decision Steve Jobs proposed and held onto), and now more design decisions from Elon Musk for TESLA and Kanye for his products, I say:
Exhibit more balls and courage, especially when it comes to design.
For the sacrifice of ‘functionality‘ or mass appeal. Follow your own artistic, creative, and design vision.
For the name of progress, we will need to be ruthless and cut functionality in order to advance.
For example, whenever we start using new technologies, it will never work the way things *used* to work. And perhaps we should strive to overcome this ‘having to learn new things’ bias.
For example, TESLA and cars. For the Model 3/Y, the single central touchscreen is a bit bizarre and new and unusual. But perhaps in order to progress, this is a sacrifice we must make.
Even with WordPress, there are always these new improvements, changes, and advancements. I don’t quite understand them, and it is annoying to have to learn new ways, but in striving to figure out how things *now* work, I actually end up being able to innovate new methods and techniques.
Even my new joy with the new steering wheel (yoke steering) on the Tesla Model S and X. I like the idea you can focus on driving, and not have to lift your hands to do anything. Also, aesthetically it looks super cool. It challenges what a steering wheel in a car (especially in the world of automation, self driving cars, and AI), what a steering wheel *SHOULD* be for?
It has sacrificed innovate for the sake of ‘function’ and ‘functionality’ and ‘power’.
For example, getting rid of the Touch Bar was a cowardly design decision. After getting accustomed to the touchbar on my 13” MacBook Pro Touch Bar (I actually really like the touchbar, and the deep integration with apple products and Apple Photos for the favorite/flag button), and the ability to seamlessly change audio and program/re-program the buttons to my liking. Real designers have deep courage.
Photograph all your meals, your coffees, and what you consume during the day.
‘You are what you eat’ is a simple piece of wisdom. Perhaps we should apply it to photography as well.
Wider edits
The reason why social media is a trap:
The strategy is to just upload (1) of your best photos a day, in order to maximize your likes in photography.
I say share MORE photos. In a single blog post, why not share a hundred, 200, 300, 400, 500 or 1000 photos? It is a simple way to 1000x your photography.
Whenever I’ve made a breakthrough in my photography it has always been born out of some sort of frustration. Thus let us use our annoyances, our personal frustrations, and our dis-motivations to actually motivate us!
Eat a shitload of beef ribs (and eggs, whole eggs, fried/scrambled in bacon fat — 12 of them), and this will hit you like horse tranquilizer in the evening.
Costco Business Center (a normal Costco membership suffices) as the best place:
Why I like hitting my limit: it actually gives me assurance and quality information on what my “one rep max†is. And give myself a week to rest and re-strengthen myself, eat more beef ribs and eggs and try again next week!
Or in other words, I can sleep better at night knowing what my limit is, and my personal happiness and joy in having the courage to attempt my limit!
