Kill two birds with one stone.

We know that skate parks are good, also, lots of fun to bring your kid to a skate park.

Why not also invent photo parks?

If you’re a homebody, you’re a domesticated herd animal. If you prefer to be out in the real world and “fuck shit up”, consider yourself a wild predator.

As much as I love laptops, and my laptop, the big problem with laptops is this: you are forced to be static.

What are the alternatives? Walking around and being mobile with your iPhone, and just using Siri voice dictate to write out your thoughts.

As a photographer how you decide to divvy up and compose your frame — this is all a design decision.

Perhaps we photographers can gain more from studying design and designers, than photography?

Design rules everything around me.

If you ever leave the house, or decide to stay at home all day … everything about existence and embodied reality deals with design.

Perhaps it is good to not have a good memory — to not let the past actions and prejudices of others affect how you treat them.

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From a design perspective, perhaps what we’re looking for is a new silhouette. For example our joy on the silhouette of the new Cybertruck, and the silhouette of the Yeezy 350 sneakers.

My design ideal — to become more aggressive.

DESIGN THOUGHTS

1. COMPROMISE DESIGN.
   ‘WASTEFUL’?
2. Tight vs Loose
3. Thick vs Thin
4. Why Lamborghini is No Longer Interesting to Me
5. DESIGN PHILOSOPHY IS AN ETHOS.
6. LESS SURFACE AREA.
7. ANTI IN-BETWEEN
8. CLASSIC/TIMELESS IS BORING.
9. Photographers are Designers
10. Why Perfect?
11. Beautiful but Boring
12. AGGRESSIVE DESIGN.
13. DESIGN IS KING.
14. WHY DESIGN?
15. THE RAGING BULL.
16. BARE BONES.
17. The Best Car for Thinking
18. Zen Aesthetics
19. Why Minimalism?
20. SPARTAN DESIGN.
21. Generic Design
22. An Elite Aesthetic
23. Not Hateful Design
24. New Forward Facing Design vs Retrospective and Nostalgic Design
25. Depressing Design vs Uplifting Design
26. The Best Design Towards What Ends?
27. Exciting or Boring Design?
28. On Design & Photography
29. A Designer Desires to Design and Create Things!
30. Delightful Technology and Design
31. Dynamic Aesthetics
32. Design vs Brand Prestige
33. Classic Proportions, Modern Design
34. Why Does Design Matter?
35. The Best Design
36. MUSCULAR DESIGN.
37. Camera Design
38. Watch Design

What we eat or how we eat might be the most important thing.

My parenting mantra and approach. Simple thought — charge your phone in a separate room when you’re engaging and playing with your kid.

Black as a dominating aesthetic.

Towards the ultimate non-boring life.

Sickness (every once in a while) is good unto our health.

Seneca loves doorways. Not being inside or outside, but in-between.

Further mediocrity. Boringness. Further passivity from media. Further dumbing down and standardization for our kids.

We can create photos faster than we can think?

“Be greedy when others are fearful” -Warren Buffet

Or in other words, this is your chance and opportunity to buy and hoard more Bitcoin.

I’ve been blogging ever since I was 15 years old. I consider myself the blogging GOAT, the greatest blogger of all time.

In fact, I even started blogging before I started pursuing photography. Therefore in someways, blogging was my first love, even before photography.

I actually see blogging as the future. More robust than social media, which is in the hands of the social media sharecroppers.

Some practical blogging strategies:

1. Education

For example, the crypto Chain.Link blog does this very well. In order for people to start adopting your technology or product, you must educate them, give them ideas, and teach them how to actually use it.

Applied to my photography, I see my blog as mostly an educational blog on photography and street photography, me sharing knowledge and information as I go.

2. Benefit

After someone reads your blog, or blog post, think to yourself: how has my reader benefited from this?

3. Go deep

Something else that is essential with blog posts, go deep. Do not be superficial.

For example how the Chainlink blog has this very deep and insightful notion on crypto really being about trust.

4. Blogging as story telling

“Richard Millie cost a Lambo” – Meek Mill

Very interesting to read the history and ethos behind Richard Mille— the notion of an “ultra high end” segment within the already high-end segment.

Nota Bene: Lamborghini Urus as becoming quite standard in SoCal, even the Rolls Royce Cullinan SUV.

Might be a smart move for Apple to keep going more high-end, like a $2000 titanium iPhone Pro.

Even for Leica camera to continuously make more epic lenses— more APO (ultra high luxury end lenses).

I would never want anyone to pity my son. Therefore, do not pity others.

Pity is actually an emotion in which you look down on others, and see them as helpless weaklings.

We often talk about social media, media, media as films and television, etc. But how come we never think about photography as another form of media?

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PODCAST

Some thing I find very interesting: how crypto.com has been killing it, especially with all their media sponsorships and co-branding.

For example, the fact that they bought the naming rights to the staple center, at around $700 million, is hugely fascinating. Whenever I drive by it, I think about crypto.

Also, I keep getting crypto.com advertisements in my iPhone App Store search bar, and it seems that they are really pushing for bitcoin and ether.

Think about it: in the next 20-30 years, do you think people will be consuming more media, or less media? I say more media.

Don’t just be trapped in “playgrounds”, thinking that a playground is the only place to play.

Perhaps in order to do more and achieve more in life, reduce your given compass in life.

Don’t commute. Don’t spend any time in a car. Only walking, thinking, working out, garage entrepreneurship, thinking locally, no travel.

Our blogging ethos.

Mando shouldn’t have shown his face, Boba Fett shouldn’t have shown his face, Darth Vader wouldn’t have shown his face, the STIG should never show his face, and Master Chief should never show his face.

With models, don’t show faces. Why not? We want to put ourselves behind the mask or helmet of others, to become them.

The darkness and mystery is what most intrigues us?

Similarly speaking when it comes to advertising, never show the face of the model. Ideally just highlight and focus on the product, not the human behind it.

It’s impossible to know how you will feel tomorrow— whether you wake up sick, having slept horribly, or your mood or outlook is different tomorrow.

Every night go to sleep like a mini death; the next day you’re reborn, freshly new.

It’s just a dosage thing.

Why thank people, and if you thank them, and they hear you, but don’t acknowledge your thanks … why does this ignite inner-indignation?

Perhaps when we thank people, we are just subjugating them under us. In other words, to thank someone is a power play.

Doing photography is good for your health!

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When Seneca tries to go from point A to point B, some clutter and obstacles are good.

Instead of just clearing the clutter for him, letting him use the obstacles in real life like an obstacle course. He learns to better navigate, balance, and move around it.

Then obstacles actually help exercise our skills, develop our muscles, and make us more advanced.

More bitter herbs and greens and spices.

Not a matter of better or worse, but different.

In praise of the new Lexus IS 500: a small compact sport sedan body, with a beefy V8 engine.

The worst type of design is that which is a compromise. For example a lot of the low-end Mercedes cars seems like a compromise, moving Mercedes away from the luxury segment, into the mass market, like BMW.

Also, iPhone SE is a compromise. As much as I love the ethos of it, the old hardware of the phone does not play well with the new software iOS.

This is where Leica is actually very intelligent: increasing the functionality of their Leica M camera, and making it more expensive, and thus more exclusive. Leica camera will do well, as long as it belongs in that elite segment.

Thus the takeaway is that one should never compromise one’s ethos of design.

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The poison in my lens
I photograph where I begin
The birth of my child, my life with Cindy
Projecting my hopes and dreams into my photos
I know though that my resources are tight
But I must shoot on, the dark and bright.

ERIC

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In my short tenure and life, I have seen very interesting things:

1. JAY Z turn into a billionaire
2. Apple to become the first 1+ trillion dollar market cap company
3. Kanye West to become a (multi multi) billionaire
4. Elon Musk making electric cars (TESLA) a reality

Then my takeaway:

At one point or another, these men of great courage had this insanely audacious life plans. And were called ‘delusional’ at many points of their career/life.

But … what happens when their ‘delusions’ become a reality?

Then thinking about it:

Perhaps it is a good idea for us to be ‘delusional’ and ignore ‘conventional reality’, if we truly desire to become something insanely great and something totally new.

Also note:

Bitcoin starting at just a few cents, then a few dollars, then a few hundred dollars, then a few thousand dollars … and who knows what the limit can be? Millions? Billions? Trillions?

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FREE EK INSPIRATION >

A new idea for your creativity:

Set a timer for 15 minutes on your phone, and turn your phone to airplane mode. Then go outside, or around your home, and shoot for 15 minutes, totally focused, undisturbed.

With your 1 best photo, upload it to arsbeta.com for real feedback.

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Creative thoughts for you

PDF DOWNLOAD LINK

CONQUER CREATIVITY ideas for you:

1. Better to make ‘bad’ photos than no photos
2. ADAP (go as dark as possible with your photos) // as black as possible
3. Creative double dipping: Think about how you can kill two birds with one stone when being creative. For example, take your kid on a walk AND bring along your RICOH GR IIIX and make photos.
4. Put your photos, art work and ideas on google slides and share the public link (Slides link here)
5. Just blog it: WordPress.com and start uploading your best photos there.
6. Make music to accompany your photos (GarageBand beats on Mac) // how
7. Shoot extra small jpeg

More thoughts >

DOWNLOADS

1. Conquer creativity recording (mp4, google drive)
2. PDF DOWNLOAD DRIVE
3. KEYNOTE PRESENTATION

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TURBO YOUR PHOTO

ERIC KIM EXPERIENCES:

1. DOWNTOWN LA // May 28th
2. NYC // June 4th

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Become creative every day

Become creative every day (Open source DL) // print edition

Discover all HAPTIC SUPPLY >

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If this inspired you, feel free to forward to a friend!

ERIC KIM NEWS LINK

Transform your home into your own (creative) zen temple.

GOOGLE SLIDES LINK

PDF DOWNLOAD PRESENTATION LINK >>>

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DOWNLOADS

1. DOWNLOAD Mp4 video of audio recording + video of presentation (Drive)
2. Google Drive JPEG folder of slides

AUDIO

PODCAST LINK

Notes:

1. Kintisguri
2. Mr Miyagi: Wax on, wax off
3. Maestro/master -> Teacher
4. ‘When one teaches, two learn’
5. BOGO (buy one, get one free) theory of creativity
6. wabi-sabi
7. Meri-hari (Jeff)
8. Pomodoro creativity (photography) technique — 15 minute timer on your smartphone
9. ‘Creative double dipping’
10. Miyazaki vs Disney films (watch Spirited Away vs Snow White)
11. ‘Existential dread’ — why do I exist?
12. “Don’t try to be so hardcore.”
13. Create (*-ker) — to grow, to nourish
14. ‘Creative upcycling’
15. ‘Accuracy is overrated’
16. DISTILL
17. Imprecision is good in art
18. Draw your photos in order to understand them (editing technique)
19. Meta-editing
20. Franz Kline
21. Buy the cheapest iPad (Zen Brush 2, Procreate app)
22. Dropbox
23. To remember is to re-interpret.
24. Back to factory defaults // don’t restore from cloud
25. Make a wordpress.com blog, and start uploading your favorite photos

I’m not interested the photos you’ve already shot, in the past, I’m more interested in what your photos could become.

In video games, people often complained that a certain character or race (Protoss) is “OP” (Over-Powered). But this is assuming that everything should be ‘fair’ in life. But unfortunately, that is not how real life pans out. In real life, striving to become OP (OVER POWERED) is good.

The modern day school and modern day office as a prison.

Don’t just criticize, offer an alternative.

Arsbeta.com instead of Instagram.

With kids, just let them do their own thing, and supervise.

It’s okay if you let them wreck some havoc and destroy some stuff.

A thought on my mind:

I think what we really desire is to become an elite photographer.

The funny thing is that in America, we have this strange puritan notion that elitism is bad. Yet, we all desire to become elite.

Some people strive to become elite through forced poverty (asceticism). Other individuals strive to ‘virtue flex‘ which is:

I am holier, and more virtuous than you, and thus more superior and elite to you, because I am so much more virtuous and a ‘better’ person than you.

But what does this mean in the context of photography? Some thoughts:

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1. The most elite photographer doesn’t use social media

Contrary to popular belief, to become an elite photographer, you must (via negativa) NOT use social media. Social media is a trap.

Digital sharecropping

The interesting thing is that it is not ‘slavery’ per-se, it is more like indentured servitude.

Essentially this is what happens:

We will ‘loan’ you this ‘free’ land, and you will populate it through your great toil, and eventually we will put advertisements around it, and low-key subtly control you (‘nudge’ you) to maximize your likes/followers, and to trap you within this golden cage of social media.

In fact, the best flex you can do as a photographer is this:

When people ask you what your Instagram is, you tell them: “I don’t have an Instagram”.

Or better yet:

I used to have an Instagram, but I deleted it.

More courage to delete your instagram, than to accumulate a trillion followers.

2. Infinite motivation

The reason I am so inspired by Kanye West:

He seems to have no problem continually making new music.

What is the greatest attribute of an artist? To be creatively and artistically prolific.

In photography, the difficult thing is to stay motivated. Even the reason why we must become more than Henri Cartier-Bresson is this:

In his later years, Henri gave up on photography.

Why did HCB give up photography? I think he became a victim of his own success. I think this is what happened:

The whole time Henri Cartier-Bresson desired to become a painter, and happenstance picked up photography (as a side hobby), but (fortunately/unfortunately) became too good at photography, and he became famous and the GOAT of photography, but the whole time, he just wanted to paint.

This is why Josef Koudelka is probably a better role model than Henri Cartier-Bresson:

Koudelka is in his 90’s and still shooting.

Even Daido Moriyama— he is a good role model because he pretty much keeps his head down, and focuses on his own photography. He has remained quite prolific his whole life.

Even myself, being born in 1988, I desire to stay motivated to shoot until I am 120 years old.

How I plan on living to 120 >

Motivation >

3. Choose a harder, more elite aesthetic

The reason why I love monochrome:

It is the most robust, hard, and strong/powerful aesthetic we can utilize for our photography.

Color is good, but color is fleeting. For example:

If you shoot digital photography, the color aesthetic will always change (RAW files always change, the filters always change, etc).

Monochrome has greater longevity.

4. What to keep consistent?

It also seems wise to keep some things consistent, while changing others.

I like the idea of keeping your equipment consistent. RICOH GR IIIX + ERIC KIM WRIST STRAP MARK II.

Also, keeping your in-camera JPEG settings consistent. Extra small JPEG, and shooting the best in-camera high contrast black and white JPEG (the best technical settings here).

Then — what to change? Go on more epic adventures, and shoot more.

Adventure awaits you!

5. Disdain

For me, Leica has lost its cache and mystique. Same goes with Apple.

I suppose this is a good thing, because I cannot recall the last time I did research on new cameras.

The true elite photographers use RICOH GR IIIX.

Also why RICOH GR IIIX? I like it because it is obscure– nobody knows what it is.

And as an aesthetic thing, to have something that nobody else owns is a good thing. This is true elitism:

To own (or not own) things that differentiate yourself from others.

For example, even the Lamborghini URUS– everyone has one now (no more interest), and also in every single color way (I’ve seen the URUS in red, yellow, black, white, orange, etc). TESLA is cool, but even TESLA is not unique anymore. I’ve seen a TESLA in all variations. Currently the only car which is interesting to me is the new Corolla GR.

RICOH IS THE FUTURE

6. Conquer the masters

Learn from the masters, then conquer them.

The greatest utility of learning from the masters of photography:

You learn the traps to avoid.

Avoid the trap of success. Avoid losing motivation.

Also–

Do not desire to become a part of a collective, group, ‘movement’, etc.

The only artists who last are the ones who have made a solo name for themselves.

Even Henri Cartier-Bresson distanced and essentially ‘ditched’ Magnum in his later years.

Piet Mondrian has lasted, nobody else in his ‘movement’.

Picasso has lasted, none of his contemporaries.

Your goal:

LAST.

ERIC

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TURBOCHARGE YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY

Take your photography to the next level at an upcoming ERIC KIM EXPERIENCE:

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HAPTIC EQUIPMENT

1. ERIC KIM WRIST STRAP MARK II: For RICOH GR IIIX and beyond
2. ERIC KIM NECK STRAP MARK II: The supreme RICOH STRAP
3. HENRI NECK STRAP MARK IV: Classics never die.

MOAR EQUIPMENT >

HAPTIC AMAZON PRIME

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More thoughts

1. Make a name for yourself (build up your first and last name)
2. Buy the dip: Looks like Amazon is down (good time to buy). Also buy TESLA when it dips, and also buy BITCOIN (or crypto) when it dips.
3. Motivational media and cinema: I really liked the new BATMAN film, the new Paramount+ HALO series (become your own master chief), and of course, JOHN WICK. John Wick as the ultimate stoic. John Wick over batman. My John Wick 1 cinema analysis.

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Just blog it.

When in doubt, just blog it.

Your blog as the ultimate creative canvas.

Even though I don’t like it, it seems that GENESIS is still the best WordPress framework for blogging.

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FREE RESOURCES

All open source everything:

1. Free open source photos (ERIC KIM) // Dropbox link // Google Drive ZIP
2. STREET NOTES MOBILE // Print Edition
3. Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Mastering Street Photography
4. HOW TO SEE: Visual Guide to Composition, Color, & Editing in Photography
5. Mini Street Photography Starter Kit // Full Version

HAPTIC DIGITAL + HARD PRODUCTS >

ERIC KIM DOWNLOADS

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If this inspired you or sparked any creative interest within you, feel free to forward to a friend!

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EK // START // BOOKS // EQUIPMENT // EXPERIENCE

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ERIC KIM NEWS LINK

When in doubt, just blog it.

Huge fan of the new BATMAN film. Darker, gloomier, more melancholic is good. More Dionysian aesthetic.

HBO max seems to be killing it. Note that HBO (parent company) owns DC comics.

When Bitcoin dips, when Apple, Amazon, or TESLA dips, buy it.