Not a matter of a ‘step forward’ or a ‘step backwards’. Rather, just different.

I say–

Embrace it.

Don’t stick to the old ways, even if it were in fact … ‘better’. Ride with the new.

Your aesthetic tastes will change and evolve as your life changes and evolves. Ride it!

Become less concerned with consistency. Should your life goals at age 12 be the same as age 21, or 33? Or 50? Or 120?

The sign of progress and evolution?

With technology, the march of technology is always forward and brutal. And whether we like it or not, perhaps it is best to just ride that wave?

Quick thoughts on iPhone 13 Pro:

The first thought is that I don’t actually really like the new design. I think it is big, bulky, heavy, and ugly. Yet, there are many things which are redeeming: this includes the improved battery life, the brighter screen, and the faster processor.

What is the iPhone for anyways?

The iPhone is no longer a phone. I think the iPhone Pro is just an iPad mini mini. It is an iPad which happens to fit in your front pocket.

For myself personally speaking, I actually really like the new iPhone Pro for blogging, vlogging, and processing and editing my photos.

I am also a big fan of the new 120 Hz screen, everything is so much more smooth and buttery. It makes for doing things like Zen Brush 2 and calligraphy even more fun.

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Uplifting habits:

Being outdoors, in the direct sun, walking, thinking.

Depressing habits:

Sitting on your butt all day, being indoors, also being indoors on a laptop all day on a standing desk.

Thought —

Better to just be walking around all day (30,000 steps a day) on an iPhone for work, instead of being at home on a laptop all day … even though the Laptop ix 1000x more efficient?

The minimum viable equipment you need in life:

1. Digital camera (The newest Ricoh GR III/IIIx camera)
2. Laptop (the most powerful MacBook Air)

The upside of a laptop:

The form factor doesn’t change.

Compare this with the iPhone — the form factor is always changing (with the Pro — always getting bigger, thicker, uglier).

Thus a simple idea:

Perhaps it is a good idea we keep the form factor consistent (in regards with our tools), and instead … innovate based on the artwork and things we create!

For example, Toyota seems to always be changing their designs of their cars, for the sake of it … and to perhaps drive sales?

At least one good thing with Porsche (911) — the goal is to continually refine it, perfect it, while keeping the form factor consistent.

With cameras, RICOH GR, and Leica M Rangefinder — the form factor doesn’t change, whereas the guts and engine is strengthened, improved, made smaller and more thing. More refined.

Therefore from an innovation perspective … maybe it is a good idea to keep consistent the form factor, and innovate instead by…

1. Making it thinner, sexier, more slim.
2. Making it more powerful (while keeping the same, small form factor).
3. Making the UI/UX more intuitive. Make it more fun and playful.

For example, even the future of TESLA:

No need to make a totally new design for the car designs, but to keep improving and innovating the self-driving features, and the UI/UX software on the screen.

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It seems that most people don’t have ‘taste’. But what does this mean?

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The bigger, bulkier, the uglier and the worse.

I just came back from Joshua trip, and I have nearly over 2000 photos to quickly sort through. In order to maximize speed up my workflow, this is what I did:

First, I shot both small JPEG, an extra small JPEG on my Ricoh GR 3X. I used the lightning to SD card adapter, and imported my photos into my iPhone Pro. Then, I look at the photos as aspect ratio, and favorite my best photos from the contact sheet screen.

The way I favorite my best photos is when I see them as small thumbnails, I click and hold the photos I like, and then I favorite them.

Also, a new hack I discovered is that when I like a certain photo and don’t want to lose it, I just screenshot it and crop it, and therefore it becomes their first photo in my photo stream, and I can quickly upload it to my WordPress media library.

To make a better composition, get closer, fill the frame, and make your compositions tighter.

For example, in this portrait I shot of my mom, Umma, look at how I worked the scene, and kept shooting from a distance and getting closer. Ultimately, I prefer the tightest composition, which has the maximum visual impact and intimacy.

A good way to make better compositions is this: place your subject in the extreme top of the frame.

The most fire shoe!

The reason why it is so great is that it fits your feet so well, is insanely comfortable, has a wide toebox, aesthetically looks great, and also it’s not a Croc. You can wear it everywhere, I’ve even seen a guy hiking with it. I also love that you could comfortably wear it without socks, which is great in Southern California. I hate socks.

Get it.

For the most part, I hate the design and ethos of the iPhone Pro. It is big and ugly, heavy, and too thick, not skinny and sexy enough.

Yet, I’ve discovered it is actually a very good blogging device. Also great to do vlogs— selfie front facing camera video.

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Some thing I learned from my friend Sean, who is a Japanese woodworker: the notion of honesty of materials. For example, if it is not wood, don’t make it try to look like wood. For example, the interior of cars should not simulate fake wood.

Even some thing I thought about the new iPhone Pro, with the stainless steel edges: even though I hate how shiny it is, untreated stainless steel is more honest. That is the purity of form, rather than coating it with another material.

This is why I really hate fake leather, a.k.a. “pleather”. If it is plastic, just let it be plastic. Real leather should be real leather, fake leather or “vegan leather “should not be a thing. Also this is why “fake meat“ is such a bad idea. Why are we trying to make soy beans taste like ground beef? Shouldn’t we just enjoy soy beans for the sake of soy beans?

Invest in Tesla — why? Simple thoughts:

1. The Model S might be the best car in the world. Why? It isn’t a car — it’s a mini autonomous self driving house/mini-RV. In case of a zombie apocalypse, you can definitely live out of one.
2. Unfortunately traffic — public transportation is not the future because of COVID. People will prefer to drive themselves and prefer sanitation. Autopilot is the best future to beat the fatigue of driving.
3. Elon Musk is the only interesting living entrepreneur, besides Kanye West.
4. Speed, endurance, range — what everyone desires in a car.
5. The rich are only getting richer — and cheaper to buy a Tesla than a house.
6. 30 years from now, Tesla as a company will only become greater.
7. 400 miles: The ultimate range. Eventually the Model 3 will probably get a 400 mile range battery. 400 miles enough from Norcal to Socal — the ultimate test. Even socal to Joshua Tree is only 120 miles— and there is a Tesla supercharging station next to Turtle Rock Casino closeby. 29 palms also as a great place. I cannot wait until Yucca Valley gets a Tesla supercharging station. Or make an Airbnb with a electric charging port.
8. Don’t die today: Less likely to die in a car crash from a Tesla than a normal car.
9. The minivan of the future: Rich people won’t stop having kids. Tesla Model X as the ultimate minivan— guys will be able to convince their wives to buy a Tesla Model X because it is “safe” and “good for the kids”. Why do they show the quarter mile drag race time for a Tesla Model X Plaid? To make guys who were once into sports cars (Porsche 911, etc), feel less shame driving a minivan with the kids.
10. California will eventually ban gasoline cars: Perhaps 20 years from now, California will no longer allow the new manufacture of gasoline cars.
11. In regards to battery life on electric cars — compare the iPhone 3G to the new iPhone Pro. iPhone Pro battery can easily last 2-3 days, and recharges insanely fast now. Same will happen with Tesla and electric cars.
12. Tesla is synonymous with electric car, just like when people mean to talk about Bitcoin when they talk about “crypto”, or talk about “Kleenex” instead of “tissue”.
13. $126,000 for a Tesla Model X plaid: Cheaper than an RV, camper van, and house. If I were a single millennial tech worker, I’d just be “homeless” and live out of my Tesla Model X than pay rent in SF/Bay Area.
14. When Tesla gets their Semi out — this will be the game changer for moving commerce. Great idea: The Tesla will complement drivers, rather than replace them. Also, there is currently a huge shortage of truck drivers. Imagine if your shipping company had a Tesla semi that you could drive, there would be tons of eager would be truck drivers who would sign up.
15. Solar is the future: it might take another 30 years, but we will eventually get there. Think about all the untapped sunpower left in the desert.
16. The truck of the future? It seems that Americans love trucks. And let us not forget that Tesla is technically an American company. Once the cyber truck finally comes out, I’m sure there will be a lot of people who trade in their Ford F1 50s for a cyber truck instead.
17. Tesla and Elon Musk has successfully created a cult, or a culture: This is how Apple became so successful, because honestly, Apple and Apple products are a quasi-religion and cult for atheist tech lovers.
18. The Tesla model Y is actually surprisingly affordable for what it is: In the suburbs, it seems like it is the most popular new family car. Around $60,000 is actually quite affordable for what it is, especially when comparing it to a Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, etc.
19. A super basic Tesla Model 3– $45,000. Not cheap, but, assuming you make monthly payments, even a quasi-normal person could afford one.

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Why this new cult of black?

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My great anger and disgust with Google — no I do not want notifications here!!!

Perhaps time to DuckDuckGo

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The new aesthetic — becoming an explorer.

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The basic idea —

Use Procreate app to dissect, add color gradients, add noise, grain, and other ”image destruction” or ”image obstruction“ filters to see your photos in new ways. Invert your photos to better see the darkness and tone distribution of your photos.

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Instead of learning how to code, better to learn how to blog.

Honestly at this point, blogging and wordpress is almost as confusing and technical as coding, yet blogging as a more effective way to distribute yourself and enact impact.

What do we seek as photographers and image makers? To make images which inspire — inspire movement, enthusiasm in the spirit of humanity, and the zest of living and being alive!

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Lately I’m really into camo — camouflage and military aesthetics. Function and tactical as an aesthetic.

Just go to the Marines website and see their attire.

We are interested in investing in stocks, crypto, etc … why not ourselves?

Yourself as a means to yourself

Why are we not allowed to posit ourselves as an end unto ourselves? To strive to seek to transform ourselves into the ubermensch? Why must we justify our own self development for the sake of having utility to and for others?

To become 1000x more as a photographer — in terms of photographic productivity, shooting, innovation, entrepreneurship, vision, ambition, and subject-defying genre. How can we become 1000x more insanely epic as a photographer when compared to others or what a traditional ”photographer” should be?

Simple ideas being —

1. You become a “full stack” solution. You are the author, creator, distributor and publisher of your photos. No reliance on social media, third parties, agencies, etc to distribute your work. You distribute it all yourself!
2. Extra small JPEG as an experiment. Edit and select all your photos on your iPhone. Upload straight to your blog media library.
3. You make photography the purpose, telos, and directive of your life. Don’t get distracted with all this other basic stuff.

This is what gets me up in the morning!

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Do you want to be shaped by the place, or do you want to shape the place?

The desert offers infinite possibilities. In fact, the terrain of the desert is almost like being on Mars. Isn’t it just better to live in a desert, than go to Mars?

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They got a Starbucks and Vons supermarket. Good for Airbnb and Joshua Tree travelers or digital nomads. Also check out “Invisible House”.

One Ricoh GR 3X in your right pocket, and an iPhone in your left pocket? Or a RICOH GRIII in your left pocket?

Loving the RICOH GRIIIX and Joshua Tree.

Highly recommend people from California (both Norcal and Socal) to visit for the weekend — just find a nice Airbnb. Very easy road trip!

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iPhone 13 Pro camera is very good, but RICOH GR IIIX looks at least 1000x better.

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iPhone Pro as efficient and effective for quickly important your photos from the SD card, and to quickly flag and choose your favorite photos.

When looking through your photos as aspect ratio, click and hold the photo to favorite it.

Like the old school contact sheet editing technique — small thumbnails:

Gets the ERIC KIM stamp of approval.

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The most simple and direct way to success.

Bluehost.com and install wordpress.org.

In America there is a bias to root for the underdog. But I believe it’s actually better to be part of the winning team.

For example, best to stick with Apple and iPhone than to use Android (the losing team). Or better to use Bitcoin instead of all the other “alt-coins” (losing team). Or better to be American than any other “losing team” nation.

Also better to be in bed with Google than without.

Also, better to have a Tesla than any other electric car.

Use the dominant platform. Thank goodness I used WordPress.org not Blogger (dead).

Also, don’t use a windows pc, just use a mac. All Macbook laptops at least 10000x better than any windows laptop equivalent, or chromebook.

Don’t get a hydrogen car, only hybrid or electric. For hybrid it really seems Prius is by far the best bet.

Or why it’s still better to have a Leica than a Fujifilm camera.

Or Coca Cola over Pepsi, Nike over Adidas, McDonald’s over Burger King, Starbucks over Peets. Amazon over Walmart. Apple over Microsoft.

The more followers you got, the worse. The more likely you are to become mediocre by trying to placate to the masses.

Character and personality is not really a thing. It is something we just do in order to try to moralize things and people.

The front facing iPhone Pro camera for selfies is very great for vlogging. To vlog more, just use the iPhone front facing camera!

The camera highlight protection is great, focuses insanely close, and even Kanye West said the iPhone microphone is the best microphone on earth. Similarly speaking, the front-facing (selfie) camera for the iPhone Pro might be the best camera on planet earth.

Just use the iPhone Pro front facing selfie camera video to shoot vlogs, and just Airdrop it to your laptop, then upload it to YouTube/your video WordPress media library.

Why is the new Apple website so cluttered? Simple ideas:

1. Get rid of these confusing links like ‘Store‘, ‘Only on Apple‘ (it should just say “Services” or “Subscribe”) and instead of ‘Tv & Home“, it should just be “TV”.
2. Also the banner on top is unnecessary and ugly. Just get rid of it.

Otherwise the website is very good.

Not just 10x, but strive to make things 1000x better, however you define that.

A funny bias — I am very sensitive to icons.

For example, I find the Google Maps icon as insanely ugly. I far prefer the Apple Maps icon, even though Google Maps is probably at least 1000x better than Apple Maps for real navigation.

Like Steve Jobs said with the original iPhone … the icons are so beautiful, ‘you can lick them.’

At first, I was a bit reticent about the Ricoh GR IIIX, but after shooting with it a few days, I have discovered … it is actually insanely good.

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Some personal suggestions for the iPhone camera UI-UX, and ideas for the iPhone pro camera:

The first idea is to simplify and integrate the different shooting modes better. Currently there are far too many options for shooting modes. For example, integrate the portrait mode into the direct camera mode. Also, either get rid or integrate of the Slomo and time lapse feature.

Also for the new photographic styles, assuming that the iPhone camera is a creative tool, I would suggest adding options for adding simulated grain, especially when it comes to the black-and-white high contrast noir mode. Add the ability to increase your grain from weak, standard, or high grain. Adding simulated film grain to iPhone cameras will make for more aesthetic photos.

Reconsidering the default options

Currently, there is too much feature bloat when it comes to the iPhone camera settings. Let us consider that honestly, nobody uses Slomo, nobody uses panoramic mode, and nobody uses time lapse.

99% the time people are either using the default camera app, just shooting normal photos, or shooting videos. The new cinematic mode should somehow be integrated with the video mode. If anything, the cinematic mode doesn’t need its own option, the default video mode should be the cinematic mode.

Just keep Live Photos on all the time

I actually think that the Live Photos feature is great. Being able to relive some of your favorite memories later is a great innovation. I do it all the time with Cindy, especially when looking at old photos of Seneca.

Therefore, just keep Live Photos on all the time. There is no need to give it the option to turn it off.

The ”carat” (arrow) UI/UX is not clear

One of the new defaults to hide the extra options is the ”carat”, or the up and down arrow. This icon is not intuitive. The test is figuring out whether my mom knows how to use it, and she has no idea.

Either on/off, or auto all the time.

Also, things like the flash icon. I believe that the best UI is when you push the flash button, it either toggle it on or off. There should be no auto mode.

Either that or just make the flash always auto, and get rid of the option altogether.

Don’t hide options

I also think it is very bizarre that the filters function is hidden. Shouldn’t it be one of the first ones visible? I would say things to get rid of include the aspect ratio icon, and even the timer feature. Nobody really uses it.

I think a good way to better integrate the timer feature is just make it hey Siri feature. For example, you tell Siri to shoot a photo for you. For example, if you put your iPhone on a tripod, you say “hey Siri shoot a family photo for us.”

Macro is very good

The new macro feature is actually very good. I believe the macro feature should be turned on as a default. Also, I think Apple needs to double down on their marketing efforts regarding the macro feature as a very good creative tool for the iPhone. The macro feature alone is worth the iPhone camera upgrade, especially for the photography enthusiast.

Show detected text is more of a distraction

The idea of showing detected text is a good one, yet in integration, it is very confusing. Even myself, somebody passionate about tech, I have never used it, nor do I really understand how it works. Try explaining this to my mom.

In regards to showing Detective text, I would just turn this off by default, and have the power user turn it on in case they want it.

I’ve always been a big fan of the iPad, especially the iPad Pro. And truth be told, I really don’t like and hate the new iPhone Pro. However, maybe the best way to approach it is to not think of the iPhone pro as a phone, but simply as a really really small iPad.

RICOH GR IIIx is surprisingly good; the more I use it, the more I review the photos, the more my mind is blown. Even sharper, higher resolution and detail than the GR III!

I love how black the photos are. It seems the lens of the new RICOH GR IIIX has even more contrast than the prior GR III.

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In life, we seek magic. To be amazed, blown away. Where has this wonderment gone?

Perhaps the best way to approach life–

Treat every day as carte blanche, a new day, a new beginning … without memory of the past.

No past prejudices.

PODCAST

My son:

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If you stop updating, then it is dead.

My personal favorite settings for Ricoh GR IIIx/RICOH GRIII:

1. P (Program) mode
2. Autofocus (default)
3. AE Metering (auto exposure metering): Highlight-Weighted
4. File: JPEG // Small JPEG (no RAW)
5. Auto power off / Sleep mode: 30 minutes
6. Volume: 0
7. Customize settings: Instant review (OFF)
8. Grid style: 4×4 Grid
9. Shooting info display: Just turn on the grid guide (press DISP on the back-right button of the RICOH GR III/X to scroll through the display shooting modes)
10. Image Control: Hi/BW (high contrast black and white): press FN button to customize Contrast +4, Contrast highlight/contrast shadows to +4, Sharpness +4, Grain Effect 3)

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Video review of the new Ricoh GR IIIX:

Pair it with ERIC KIM WRIST STRAP MARK II:

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PODCAST

FULL

The best technical settings for RICOH GR IIIX/III:

Technical settings:

Dear friends,

Finally had a chance to review the Ricoh GR IIIX. Check it out.

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The skinny is that the GR IIIx has superior optics and image quality over the GR III. Assuming you already have a GR III, just stick to it, and wait for the GR IV to come out.

If you have never owned a Ricoh GR camera, just get the GR III (28mm is better than 40mm as a focal length for creativity).

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Thoughts:

1. Autofocus over manual focus; RICOH GR III/X as superior to even the newest Leica M camera.
2. For cars and car design, choose the 718 over the 911.
3. What should a phone be? A GPS design with the best battery life.
4. Smaller is more clutch; especially when trying to find (tiny) parking spots at the mall.
5. The best design principle is to refine.
6. Bitcoin is a good investment to hedge against uncertainty in the future. If you think the future will become more uncertain and crazier, Bitcoin is a good bet.
7. Apple is on the way out?: I tested all the new Apple devices, and they all felt meh and lukewarm. Perhaps this is a ripe chance for a new competitor to enter the arena; Apple seems like what IBM used to be (the Goliath). Too many products, too much nerdification (the trend towards more powerful devices, not sleeker and more beautiful ones). No more visionary at the helm (after Jobs died, and now Jony Ive has left).

Creative thoughts

The goal in photography is to make more photos. I see hiking as a great option.

Thus, just go on a hike, and upload the best photos you shot on the hike to arsbeta.com

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HAPTIC

1. ERIC KIM WRIST STRAP MARK II
2. HENRI WRIST STRRAP PRO: Phantom Black or Crema Brown
3. HENRI NECK STRAP MARK IV: The Strap.

Explore all HAPTIC PRODUCTS

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BOOKS

1. STREET BY KIM // Dropbox
2. PHOTO ODYSSEY // Dropbox dl

All books

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Tell a friend!

If this gave you any creative ideas, feel free to share or forward to a friend!

ERIC KIM BLOG // NEWSLETTER LINK

Or start here.

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Autofocus is superior to manual focus. Why? Reasons:

1. You are more likely to capture the decisive/significant moment. This is by far, our #1 priority in photography.
2. In theory if you’re shooting street photography on a rangefinder camera, with a 28mm lens, at ISO 1600, at f/16, then technically the rangefinder is superior in terms of manual focusing. Because literally everything is in focus, and there is no delay with autofocus. However, can you fit your Leica M in your front pocket? No. RICOH GR III/IIIX, you can.

Therefore don’t get suckered by manual focusing; autofocus is better.